How do China people immigrate to Canada?

I have been in Canada for seven months. Feeling a lot, I really want to use this holiday time to sort out my thoughts, first as my diary, and second as a reference for people who want to go abroad. But the time is not long, many things have not been fully understood, and I dare not make reasonable imagination casually, so I can only talk about my psychological feelings in a simple way.

However, it doesn't matter whether you come back or not. When you first land, you can't help but think about it. Going abroad must be a broad vision. There must be a lot to go in life, so it must be better than home. Before I went abroad, I had no doubt about these problems. However, people who have been there have warned me that Canada is like this. You can't fit into the society here. We tried it at first, but later we knew it wouldn't work. So, it's hard to get along here. At most, I just mix a nationality and almost go back to China to mix. Everyone is like this.

Does this cold water make sense? In order to answer this question, I spent half a year and gradually got my own opinion.

First, draw me a picture of new skilled immigrants from the mainland: at first, I was a new immigrant who was afraid of, taking pictures everywhere; Then, the language is not good, I entered a language school and made a group of friends in China. Then go to work or go to school, in order to find a professional job; Alas, I finally found a slightly satisfactory job, and the days passed like this. A little boring, but think about the next generation.

Language barrier is the most deadly for many people. It is like a wall. How do people get through it? Fortunately, despite the fragmentation of speech, it can still meet the needs of daily life, such as shopping and asking for directions, and will not suffer from dumb loss. If you want to talk to white people more, you can't squeeze a few words even if you grind your roots. It is best to be friends in China, and they can communicate well in language and emotion. So, let's play together. We don't play with white people. China people, Hongkong people, Taiwan Province people and Indians who grew up here all stay in private plots, so we seldom see them and don't play when we see them.

Do you think if you put different cultures together, they will automatically merge? Can people with different skin colors be classmates and friends if they are put in the same school class? I won't. It is difficult for cultures to blend together. In my opinion, there is actually only one kind of multiculturalism in Canada, that is, the mainstream culture, and the cultural similarities and differences of other ethnic groups are assimilated. The culture brought by China people, except the culture of eating, is used for assimilation. So the cultural weakness of new immigrants is very obvious, and it is almost impossible not to feel marginalized. Many new immigrants consider themselves a vulnerable group.

The so-called marginalization naturally means that there is a boundary to divide different ethnic groups. When we realize the existence of this boundary, we will naturally live in the small circle of China people, get together after work and study, chew new people and things together and enjoy mutual recognition. When we all put our sense of identity on these friends, we don't care what white people think of us, and we don't care what the values of this fresh society are, because that has nothing to do with us. Surrounded by the values brought from China, we built a little China in Canada. Therefore, in Chinatown, Fujian villagers still safely sweep the garbage into the street. Although he also knows that in many other places, the ground is so clean that he can sit everywhere without being afraid of getting his pants dirty.

At this point, the answer is already obvious. When we came to a free country, our world has shrunk into a group of people. Although we can feel the information bombarded by the media, we often use a sieve to filter this information, and only those related to my small group can pass through and enter our nerves. This kind of poor information, coupled with the salty and miscellaneous letters between friends, constitutes the whole of our spiritual life. Although we have seen many things that people living in China can't see, we are like nannies living in rich people's homes. Although we also live in a mansion, all luxuries have nothing to do with her.

At home, we talk about the cycle of life. In Canada, the circle seems more obvious. Koreans have Korean circles, Japanese have Japanese, Greeks have Greeks, and they all live in their own fences like China people. In a big way, the French have a French circle, but their circle is too big, occupying the whole of Quebec, but in essence, they also surround themselves, don't they? But in contrast, we Canadian China people live in a small circle, which is smaller than that of China. Because the domestic life circle is still extended, but there is no extension here. Let's talk about it Although there are millions of immigrants from China, it is difficult for China people to get together. For example, farmers and graduate students who have been human snakes will become a circle even though they package jiaozi in hotels. In addition, there are China people's complex interpersonal psychology and other factors.

Cultural Parents and Cultural Identity

Enough cold water. Let's have something hot.

Dwelling in a humble abode is not the fate of all new immigrants, and naturally a few have broken through from fireflies. Here, because I know there are very few such people, I am not sure to draw a conclusion. I can only say that it is not easy to do this.

At a shallow level, cultural differences are the so-called cultural shock in English. Let me give you an example: once, my white teacher was going to China on business and wanted me to help him with some daily language before going out. He said he would pay me, and I immediately said "no, no". Later, he was afraid to ask me.

A little deeper, it is the same topic. In particular, do you think it is easy to find the same topic outside of work and study? Further down, it is emotional communication. I think it is necessary to make friends with people of mainstream Canadian culture at this point. Many new immigrants have been in the stage of cultural shock for a year or two, and there is still a long way to go before the Long March.

I want to remind you that what I said is aimed at adults, and middle school students are completely different because of their different ages.

In English learning, there is a very important but easily overlooked aspect, that is, cultural adaptation (mentioned in psychology textbooks), which I translate as "cultural identity". My understanding is that "cultural identity" means imagining yourself as a white man and thinking and acting like a white man. The reason is that language is only a part of the cultural system. If we can understand other parts of the cultural system on which language depends, it will certainly help us master the language. Many people in China believe that English will advance by leaps and bounds as long as they live in an English environment. I don't think so. Do not believe me, go and see how many returned international students can speak fluent English. The key point is that it is not enough to live in an English environment, but also to realize "cultural identity". To achieve cultural identity, as mentioned above, we should be able to break through the circle and deal with more people of mainstream culture. People in the circle are caught in a vicious circle: if the language is not very good, there will be fewer opportunities to create "cultural identity", so the progress of the language will stagnate after a certain degree. Middle school students lack culture, which is one of the reasons why they learn languages quickly.

People who want to go abroad often want to know what the weather is like there, how to eat, how to live, whether people are good at dealing with each other, whether I have financial ability and so on. These questions all have specific answers, so I won't talk about them. What I said above is trying to provide a thinking angle for the non-"yes or no" question of whether I can adapt to the new environment psychologically and whether I will be lonely and confused. In the final analysis, it is a question of language and culture. After knowing where these problems are, what kind of attitude do we take? We have to ask ourselves: Why do I want to go abroad and what am I doing here?

Everyone has his own reasons for going abroad. I want to take immigration supervision or study abroad for money, to take root or semi-root, or to transfer assets for children. I think most young people still come out with the expectation that "tomorrow will be better" and are full of ambitions. After coming, I have met many people who are unwilling to step out of the small China world because of laziness. Personally, I think so. Now that I'm out, I don't know what the world is like. I believe many people have made a lot of efforts to get out before going abroad. Isn't that for nothing?

Going abroad to see, this primitive impulse is shared by many people. But what do we want to see? I don't think it's to see how magnificent the urban buildings are here, to see the beautiful mountains and rivers here, to eat hamburgers, to compare whether the moon here is more round, or to know something strange and tell it to friends. I think it depends on the culture here. Western society develops not only GDP, but also culture. Developed culture can broaden our horizons, broaden our thinking and make people smarter (believe it or not). My personal view is that in the 2nd/kloc-0th century, China's economy is booming, but its culture, as some intellectuals have said, is desperate and pathetic. Many people say: In foreign countries, the people with the lowest quality are from China, and the people with the worst quality are from China, and our own people harm our own people. This is actually a manifestation of cultural backwardness. I feel that if I stay here for a few years and then go back to China to deceive people, I might as well admit that I need to absorb cultural nutrition, learn something down-to-earth and improve my quality, so that the world will become bigger, not smaller. Sometimes, utilitarian heart really shouldn't be put too heavy.

One of the reasons why I went abroad at that time was that I thought the hidden rules in China were boring. I want to go to a free country. Are you free when I come? Actually, I didn't. I used to feel like a boxer with my hands and feet tied. Now I can punch freely, but no one fights with me. In other words, what the mind wants is still not satisfied. Another example is to bring a university professor who can't speak English to the streets of Toronto. He enjoys all the rights of freedom and equality, but who will take him seriously? When he goes shopping, he doesn't understand the salesman's words, and he may even be suspected of mental retardation. Will he think that the lonely life here is better than that in China? The problem here lies in our attributes, our destiny. So, after studying or getting a Canadian passport, do you choose to go back or stay? As for me, I choose to change my attributes and stay. Maybe I will often run back to China in the future, but at least I will leave my heart and trust here. Since fate is arranged in this way, I regard this place as the beginning of a new round of life. Forget your age, and think of yourself as a studious student when you start school. What motivates me is that I want to change my destiny as an ordinary China person, because at home, I have no ability to control my destiny like some people. I want to live for myself and live like myself.