Interview of Color: Ziqi Le

Ziqi Le is a genuine, sweet, Chinese international student here at Penn State. She lives on the same floor as me and getting to know her was a real privilege. She is a very genuine, polite, and funny girl. I am happy I got to know her. Ziqi was born on August 10, 1996 in China and came to America last year as exchange student for her senior year of high school. She lived with two older parents in Norristown and Ziqi Norristown Area high school, which we figured out is only about thirty minutes to where I live at home. Ziqi really liked the exchange family she lived with and said they were very nice and that they keep in touch while she is at college. Ziqi enjoyed her time at Norristown, however she found it challenging to make friends. This was not only because she came from a Chinese culture and was attending an American school, but also because everyone at the school already knew one another and had their own friend groups. Ziqi knew she wanted to go to college in America and applied to Drexel, Ohio State, and obviously, Penn State. Ziqi chose Penn State because she visited her neighbor from Norristown over her senior year and loved the school.

Ziqi loves Penn State, but also finds it challenging at times to be living and studying in a completely different culture. Back in China, Ziqi said that college life is very different than here in America. For starters, Ziqi described how there is a lot less “partying” in China than America. In addition to this, boys are restricted from girl dorm buildings completely no matter what the circumstance. I found this very surprising because there are always boys walking around on my floor and boys live on the floor right above and under me as well. Ziqi explained how she finds college work a lot more tedious than high school and the work load is much more heavy. Ziqi often has to use a translator when studying in her textbooks, however she is not allowed to use it during tests which she finds very challenging. Although college is a lot of hard work for Ziqi, she still finds it manageable and not all that bad. In addition to this, Ziqi finds it hard to relate to people on campus. Not because they are not nice or rude, but because it is hard to relate and converse with people from a different culture because the cultures are two completely different backgrounds.

The Chinese celebrate holidays and traditions in which I was not familiar. For example, Ziqi was telling me about the Mid Autumn Festival where all of China gathers with their families to celebrate the coming of the biggest new moon of the year. At the mid autumn festival, families eat moon cake that Ziqi said is very delicious. When I asked Ziqi if families ll prepared their own version of the moon cake she giggled at me and explained how everyone just boys the cake which I found very interesting. In addition to this, Ziqi and the rest of the Chinese culture celebrate the Chinese New Year. On The Eve of the Chinese New Year, Ziqi and her family have Chinese food including chicken, pork, dumplings, rice, and fish. Her family helps prepare this extravagant meal at home for the celebration or they go out to a Chinese restaurant. Another popular Chinese tradition that Ziqi celebrates is National Day which takes place on October 1 and is celebrates China’s independence as a nation.

Living in another country as an international student is very difficult. There are constantly stereotypes thrown at you in which you may or may not find insulting or offensive. Fortunatley, Ziqi is not offended by the stereotypes Americans depict of Chinese people. When I asked Zuqi to explain some of the stereotypes she knew Americans had of her culture she replied, “people think the Chinese are good at tests”. This is true people are always making jokes about Chinese people being extremely smart and studious, but I never really thought about how ignorant this sounds until I heard an actual Chinese person say it. Along with this, Ziqi told me how Americans also stereotype the Chinese as very conservative and she explained to me that they were, but not at all excessively. When I was asking Ziqi about the stereotypes she knew Americans had of her, it made me interested in what the Chinese people think of us, Americans. Ziqi revealed how the Chinese depict Americans as “crazy” and “fat”, but I guess we had this coming considering over half of our nation is obese.

I really loved learning about Ziqi’s culture. I was very interested with the information she gave me and I loved comparing it too our American culture. Ziqi said that popular music back in China is actually American music. Her friends love American music and so does she. In fact, her favorite singer is Jason Marz. It was surprising to me when she told me this because I was expecting her to say she listened to Chinese music and artists so it was cool to see that we shared something in common. Another aspect of culture we discussed was obviously food. Ziqi told me that she enjoyed the food here and also informed that the Chinese food here is nothing compared to China’s. Along with this, Zuqi commented on how American girls dress. She explained how their outfits can be very revealing and expose their bodies and that back in China, girls would never dress this way.

When talking with Ziqi about keeping in touch with her friends and family back in China she told me that she Skypes, texts, and calls them. Then I proceeded to ask her about social media. She has a twitter and Instagram, but not a Facebook. Why? Because the government of China banned Facebook from all citizens. I was shocked when I heard this and couldn’t wait to write about it in my report. Ziqi explained to me how back in China, the Chinese use a similar social media page similar to Facebook called “RenRen”. Along with giving me the inside scoop of the Chinese social media websites, Zuqi also revealed to me how she and her friends would hack the Internet restrictions on Facebook so that they could still use it!

Overall, Zuqi and I are very much alike. We both love and miss our parents, she has pet turtles, and I have a pet bunny, she talks with her friends, and gets overwhelmed with all the college work. I’m really happy I got to know Zuqi because she really is a sweet girl. I hope we grab lunch or something sometime because I really enjoy her company. We definitely sparked a friendship and we are already friends on Facebook, which is legal in the US, and follow each other on Instagram. Thanks Zuqi!

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3 thoughts on “Interview of Color: Ziqi Le

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  3. This was a great activity that you had to do for class! Really shows great diversity at Penn State!!!

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