Rediscovering culture and sense of self....
My brother and I are pretty different people when it comes to certain subjects as I imagine with most siblings. One of it is concerning concerning Chinese culture, and more specifically interaction with other Chinese people. Generally speaking even being a related to a friend of a friend you get treated as if you were family. I usually accomodate going out with my grandma with her friends and relatives trying to get to know them even if a bit. My brother on the other hand has a more pratical approach. It's not to say that that he is without manners, but he's not for one for wasting his time or effort into something he doesn't really believe in. In this case forging a relationship with someone he would otherwise ignore had it not been for my grandma introducing him to them.
It's not to say that he rejects Chinese culture, but he has a more of a realistic stance on how he wants to live. Chinese culture itself isn't a part of his life and I don't think at any time he would want to integrate it into his life either. I suppose one could say he doesn't want to superficially keep up appearances anymore than he has to. Me on the other hand, I feel there's a sense of duty to at least know a bit about my ethnic background. Feeling the same sense of superficiality my brother does, that usually prevents me from diving into books, articles and history about Chinese culture or even trying to learn about it.
I never really feel bad for wanting to know more about Chinese culture and not having the motivation to do so. But in recent years while my life kinda settled down in a boring repetitive fashion, one option proposed by my mother was to go to Hong Kong and try out to be an Chinese Soap Opera actor. What appealed to me wasn't the fact that I'd be on TV if I could potentialy be; but the fact that I'd be living in Hong Kong and become immersed into the culture I've been talking about. There's something very intriguing about this propostion.
I don't know why I feel that I have the need to rediscover my culture whereas my brother seems to want to seperate himself from it. What's more interesting is how split we are in a single generation. Usually there is a sort of trying to reclaim of one's culture in the second or third generation. We'll have to see though.
It's not to say that he rejects Chinese culture, but he has a more of a realistic stance on how he wants to live. Chinese culture itself isn't a part of his life and I don't think at any time he would want to integrate it into his life either. I suppose one could say he doesn't want to superficially keep up appearances anymore than he has to. Me on the other hand, I feel there's a sense of duty to at least know a bit about my ethnic background. Feeling the same sense of superficiality my brother does, that usually prevents me from diving into books, articles and history about Chinese culture or even trying to learn about it.
I never really feel bad for wanting to know more about Chinese culture and not having the motivation to do so. But in recent years while my life kinda settled down in a boring repetitive fashion, one option proposed by my mother was to go to Hong Kong and try out to be an Chinese Soap Opera actor. What appealed to me wasn't the fact that I'd be on TV if I could potentialy be; but the fact that I'd be living in Hong Kong and become immersed into the culture I've been talking about. There's something very intriguing about this propostion.
I don't know why I feel that I have the need to rediscover my culture whereas my brother seems to want to seperate himself from it. What's more interesting is how split we are in a single generation. Usually there is a sort of trying to reclaim of one's culture in the second or third generation. We'll have to see though.
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