My Cultural Background

As a Chinese, I have my own culture background. My parents are both native-born Chinese citizens. They were born and grew up in the same Southern town in China. The father of my mother and the father of my father are also good friends. Therefore, my mother and my father got married naturally. In China, it will be easier to get married for a man and a woman if both families are very familiar with each other. This is an old tradition. Maybe it is just because they have the same cultural background and living habits, so they can communicate without difficulty. At the year of 27, my mother gave birth to me, and I became the only child of this family, so as to respond to the Chinese policy of family planning. My parents do not have the experience of studying abroad. However, they decided to send me to the city Sydney in Australia for further study at my age of 16. They hope me that I can not only have a high education but also experience different cultures.

With respect to my earliest memories of people with different skin colors, I think it is on TV that I saw those people with different skin colors for the first time. I got to know their cultures from my childhood. In my memory, the white people have an impressive face with a high nose, high cheekbones, deep and blue eyes. Generally, they are tall and strong. And they have distinct personalized labels. Americans are more open; Frenchmen are more romantic; Germans are more rigorous. I also know they like perfume. Many perfume brands are from overseas. And they represent and guide the forefront of fashion. By contrast, the black people do not have many good labels. From their appearance, they have black skin, curly hair, big eyes, thick lips, and flat nose. The special geographical environment leads to their bodily feature. From the perspective of history, they are always in poverty and enslaved. Their living conditions, health, and education are all terrible. I know the famous black leader Martin Luther King, who made contributions to liberating the slaves and winning the equal rights with the white people for the black people. Anyway, the black people have been struggling and striving for their equal rights and happiness. I will continue to respect them and be proud of them. Besides, they also have talents in music and dance. I have seen many black people stand on Chinese stages and obtain great achievements.

With respect to the attitudes my family have towards people who had different cultural, ethnic, linguistic, racial, or religious backgrounds, I think they attitude towards them is gradually changing. When I was young, what they conveyed was the belief that the white people are noble and a good example to imitate, and the black people are poor and a bad example. Now I know this is their prejudice. Maybe this prejudice is closely related to economic development. We always like following after the pace of the developed countries, and, therefore, tends to follow suits. My parents, who can represent most of the Chinese citizens, ever blindly liked any object the white people like and propagate. They ever thought all the white people had were good. Instead, in their minds, the black people were the symbols of poverty and low status. It can not be denied that any nation lagging behind other nations would be vulnerable to attacks. Fortunately, previous prejudice is gradually disappearing. Nowadays, my family have become wiser to evaluate and appreciate different cultures, languages, religions, etc. They become more comprehensive and inclusive for all the cultures.

Everyone has his/her own cultural background, and we have no right to discriminate any culture, race, language, religion, etc. Instead, we should treat every culture equally and appreciate it with an inclusive attitude.