Something about Cuba By Sijia Li (Scarlett)

I was a victim of stereotype. Before I came to America, the only way I gained knowledge about the world was through TV and books. I knew nobody but Chinese. But now, studying in Penn State, I meet many people who come from different countries. I always ask them some silly questions. Once upon a time, I chatted with an Arabic friend. He comes from Saudi Arabia. I asked him should they wear white robes when they come back to their countries and what would happen if they wore T-shirt. He replied that they would kill you and then burst into laughter. The truth was nothing would happen. He also told me that although according to their law, man could have four wives, few people really did that. Most of them just had a wife, which was the same as us. Another example is about Korean. In China, most of people hold a stereotype that Koreans are all poor at English pronunciation. What’s more, most of my friends and relatives don’t believe that Koreans will like Chinese. As a matter of fact, I know many Koreans who live in the same Hall as me and all of them do well in speaking English. Friendly and humorous, they always tell jokes with us. Some of them have learnt Chinese for several years. Last night, a Korean girl told me that she always loved Chinese people without any reason, which really made me happy. I think that Koreans’ attitude towards Chinese just varies from person to person.

It goes without saying that Hollywood is a big machine of stereotypes. Movies like High School Musical do attract many Chinese students to America. I still remember the feeling that my blood was boiling after seeing High School Musical. However, all of my classmates that attended high school in America found that it was just illusion. Moreover, Hollywood’s film always makes my parents worried because America is described as a country that is frequent to be attacked. Most of Chinese maintain that America is a land of sex revolution, which is also a reflection of Hollywood’s movies. Actually, a large amount of Christians keep their purity before getting married.

Now I am learning to conquer stereotype. Can we judge people by their nationality, religion or appearance? Can we know a kind of people only through movies? We have a lot of questions to think about.

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