The object that means the most to me and the culture that I came from is a graphic novel written in Mandarin that I received from my cousin. At the time, I was only in second grade and I hadn’t really fully learned English or Mandarin because I moved to the United States before I had learned Mandarin and I hadn’t learned English yet. This graphic novel was one of the first books that I could read in Mandarin and it led to my journey of trying to learn to understand, speak, read, write and type in Mandarin. It was the first book that got my interest in Mandarin and this is extremely important to me since most of my relatives can only speak Mandarin and Fuzhuonese so the only way to communicate with them is to either speak Mandarin or Fuzhounese. Having this shared language allowed us to connect back and retain contact with them.
We lived in a city in the southern part of China called Fuzhou. I was born there and I lived in Fuzhou for 5 years before my parents decided that we would be moving to the United States.Our family is unique in our story because my dad came to the United States a little bit before us and then we came later. I still remember when he came to pick us up at the airport when we got to the United States. However, my family story is also similar to the family stories of others from China. We all had to learn a new language, blend in, change our way of life, meet new people and keep moving on. Like many other families that have come from China, my parents came to seek a better opportunity and a better life for their children.

– SYC

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child