Who Am I ?

My name is Yipeng Liu, I come from China in Hunan Province, and I was 21 years old. I came to the United State when I was 18 years old, and I am going purchase the bachelor degree of international business from George Fox University in Portland, OR. In 2012, I transfer to St Cloud State University and now I study a junior course of majoring in management. I can learn a lot of culture cultural background and society between China and United States. For me, I was the only child in my family and I live in a big villa in the city with my parents and grandmother. Despite that, my mother is the primary caregiver in my family and the strong one in the family and also in the family business. My mother works for the family business, so she does not have much free time like others mother.

In my family, high power means older age and higher generation in a family. China has a long history about traditional manners; elder people in the family must be respected and have the most power. Parents respect older people who know a lot of things, because they want to learn knowledge from other people and books. Parents also think the elder people must have more experiences, and they should have much knowledge. For example, in my family, I have to listen to my parents’ idea. My parents want me to have a good future because learning more knowledge is helpful for me to go to a good school. So, my parent want me study in the United State. Then I cannot give my own opinion; I should follow parent’s opinion about life. If I disagree or say no, that is different and such familiarity should be considered disrespectful to people of such higher power distance. This thing should show large power distance in my family.

For me, tradition holiday it’s very important in my life’s. Chinese traditional festivals in various forms, rich in content are our long history of the Chinese nation as an integral part of culture. There are a lot of holidays for Chinese people, such as the New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival. On that day everybody dress up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. At night, family members ate dinner together and burning fireworks was once most typical custom on the Spring Festival. The middle-Autumn Festival is one of the traditional Chinese festivals, it is often held in September or October. During the festival, family members get untied and have moon cakes together. There are various kind of moon cakes, such as bean paste, egg-yolk or meat. The shape of a moon cake is round as it symbolizes a big moon. Moreover, in the evening of the Middle-Autumn Festival, people get together in a vacant place, eating delicious moon cakes while appreciation the beautiful moon hanging in the dark sky.

I really learned a lot of information about different countries’ culture of culture background between China and United States. I think it is good for the families to treat children equally. However, it also depends on the cultural background and society.