I was talking about religion with Mr. Wu, my grad school lab-mate, 15 years ago,
when I asserted "You can believe or refute Christ, but you cannot ignore him." I
was adamant as he was defiant. "I WILL ignore him. So what?!" my friend retorted.
Those were the golden years of globalization. Life was simple and we worked in
Silicon valley and vacationed in the old country. Our circles consisted of people
like us, young, well-educated, and well-paid IT workers from mainland China. Our
kids were small. The climate was great and the air clean. Amid a flourishing
Chinese population in the SF Bay Area, we found we could live just fine without
even speaking English. We got together often and talked about cars, IPOs,
careers, and houses, and griped about commute and the lack of authentic dishes
and entertainment which we were so used to in the big cities back in China. We
were a spoiled bunch.
In comparison, our university years in Canada were far more educational as we
were inducted into western life. We were invited to picnics, homes, churches
where we studied the Bible, shared food, and celebrated Christmas. Our new
Christian friends helped us with moving, grocery-shopping, airport shuttling,
etc. It seemed as international students, we were welcomed everywhere in the
Canadian mid-west. Well. Looking back, I think we took many things for granted.
But for me, there was born an association of the west with religion.
What I tried to tell my mate was that we shouldn't forget the big picture. We
had come from a land that recently abolished all gods to a deeply religious
society that spoke a different language. We were doing fine financially but that
was not the whole story. Ignoring the mainstream culture would mean that we
spend the rest of our lives in that bubble of Chinese community. The Internet
served only to delude. As much as we would like to think that this was a more
advanced age and we were modern and better, our turf differed little from the
brick-and-mortar Chinatowns for most folks that came ealier.
Today, against the backdrop of withering Sino-American ties, my interest is
renewed in learning about the land I have adopted for myself and posterity. I
have to know as much as I can about what we have got ourselves into.
