Interview II - Report followed by Transcription

Andre Tavares Silva English 191 Section 99
Yuan
Suzhou, China
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

First Report
Interview Transcript

Interview Report

My second interview was again supported by my position in the field of foreign languages, as well as the knowledge that I have about the organization of this Department at St. Cloud State. The fact that I am a tutor in this school provides me resources to reach other students in the same job as me. This is how I reached my second interviewee.

I decided to keep the same technology as in the first time, as well as the questions. My point in keeping them was solely to use it as an instrument of comparison between the answers of the first interview and the current one. The conversation took place at the tutor room at Lawrence hall, on Tuesday, March 30, at around 3:30 p.m. The whole process took a little more than half an hour. I recognize that I used certain improvisation upon carrying on this interview, as I never contacted my interviewee. It happened that I took a schedule of all tutors in the Department and looked for the Chinese ones. I simply showed up at the room ten minutes before the Chinese tutor arrived and then I introduced myself and asked if she would contribute with her answers to my interview.

My interviewee is called Yuan. She is a 21 year old and she is a junior at SCSU. It was really interesting having talked with her and having asked the same questions as I did to Jiawen, two weeks ago. In contrast to the majority of the international students in this country residing, she had a feeling of dislike towards the U.S. She came up here more due by a stereotype of America than for her own will. She graduated from High School in China and then she came to SCSU, at age of eighteen. What most surprised me during the whole process were the answers and comments made, which somehow opposed my first interviewee’s. After the talk, I got a proof that culture might vary within a country, especially if it is a territory with big dimensions, such as China.

This interview, though, was conducted a little differently than the prior. In this case, after every answer I made comments about what I already knew and what has been said before by Jiawen. There was sometimes where Yuan would stop me and ask: “What did he answer for this question?” The advantage I have found was that some points she made were not anymore unfamiliar to me, and therefore confirmed a cultural aspect of China, as I have researched and heard from its citizens. The part that really impressed me was when she described her hometown and its culture. That is because it seemed intensely different from Jiawen’s city. That also made me realize how diverse and contrasting can China be.

Yuan’s city is called Suzhou. It is a place with population a little over six million and located in the Chinese coast. About one hour drive away from Shanghai. This proximity really contributes to the development of Suzhou, once a great slice of its population, somewhere around 80%, are not native from there. Most migrate daily from Suzhou to Shanghai to work.

This provides a very diverse society, which includes since Chinese from other parts of the country, as well as neighbor countries citizens, and a lot of Europeans. This leads Suzhou to become an international city. Moreover, the high influx of non-natives, more specifically foreigners, makes the province of Jiangsu more liberal than the other provinces along the Chinese territory. Another aspect of Suzhou is that once it consists of a rich town, local cultures require people to fit under these standards. In other words, citizens are expected to be really gentle when speaking, achieve academic excellence and be good workers. All this information was actually provided by my interviewee.

Interview Questions (Transcript)

1. Where are you from?

“My name is Yuan; I am from Suzhou, China. I am 21 years old and I am a junior in Special Education. My province is similar to California if comparing the two areas. It is also more liberal due to the income of outsiders, different from other parts of China. It’s becoming an international city, in fact, 80% of the people living in Suzhou are not natives from my city.”

2. What is the family structure/social life like in your country?

“Families are formed by two parents and a kid, usually, as we have the one-child law, but you can find families with more than one child. Most of moms work and take care of finances, while dad takes care of cooking. Social life aspects are pretty similar to the U.S’s. However, the fact that moms stay at home here is weird to me.”

3. What type of government does your country have? How is it different from the US government?

“We have a Communist government. The main differences are that US government has two parties. China has one and no elections. From an American perspective there is not much freedom of speech, in China there is a great censorship with movies, music, and TV. You can talk and criticize about it to another person, like your friends and parents, though, publicizing critics is not really allowed. Some people get mad with this. I actually understand why there is such a censorship in my country. I think that the fact that we have one party makes it difficult for people to make change. In the U.S, if you don’t like the Republican Party, you criticize it and go for the Democrats. In China, talking good or bad, you are talking about the same Party; you don’t have where to go.”

4. How did you find out/decide to come to SCSU/US?

“I was initially planning to go to Canada or Australia, but my mom had the dream of me coming to America, even though I didn’t like it. Then, I attended a conference of American schools in Shanghai. I matched my grades and I was told that MN was the safest state to study. No 1 state. Also school is cheap and provides me financial aids.”

5. What do you plan to do, where do you want to go after you graduate? Will you go home?

“First get my teaching license, after graduation I would live wherever I could find a job, it doesn’t matter if it is China or America.”

6. What is your daily life like in your home country? How is it different from your life here?

“I went to school every day, comeback home and did homework, just like here. The difference is about making friends, in China you make new friends every day, maybe because of our huge population, whereas in the U.S it is harder, because people will mostly talk to you if they have an interest. Besides, I look different, like a foreigner, I believe they think that just because I’m different they need to hesitate talking to me, maybe they don’t know if I speak English or not. It’s an aspect that I don’t like about here.”

7. What is the greatest influence the US has had on you?

“My English has improved. Also I got more open-minded, because there are different people here that I need to socialize with, especially by the fact that I am a teacher and I got the chance to talk to younger people, such as H.S or elementary. Also the TV shows, which I love watching even when I was back at home.”

8. What is the image of the US in your home country? What do you think now?

“U.S’s image in China is very positive; they still think it is the best country in the world to live. I didn’t believe it was the best. Actually I disliked many aspects in this country, personally. It turned out to be ok with me; I saw that is not really that bad, although I miss home and still dislike it, in most parts. In addition, people in China talk about the U.S as if they knew all about it.”

9. What is the food and clothing like in your country?

“Clothing is similar to the one I use in the U.S. About food, we eat a lot of rice and dishes with steamed vegetables. We also prefer more Stir fried foods instead of deep-fried. Other items with great consumption are the products from the lake, like its fishes. The truth is that most of the food is very light, not much flavor. But I like it.”

10. What are some of the social "norms" or "customs" in your home country?

“The culture of my city, which is very rich, says that everybody is supposed to be gentle with words and actions, such as having good manners, being a good student, good worker. It is pretty boring. That’s why I think that people here are wilder, and not every time they treat others with the behavior I expected. It’s all a question of culture, I guess.”