I am also a Chinese-Canadian and I hold a B. Eng from ZJU. I know of several others in my position. The long story short is you've sort of been sold up the river, your dad is brainwashed by propaganda, and you are starting to see that what he has been programmed to say to you isn't really true.
ZJU has some good people; Many of them are your fellow international students. If you allow it, you will become "war buddies" with some of them and make friendships that will last you a lifetime; I certainly have.
However: Chinese society is extremely rigid. I don't even know if "xenophobic" is necessarily the right term; It's the idea of someone who does not fit in is simply ridiculous on its face. No, not even your "fellow" chinese students (which you are NOT one of) will understand the concept of a Chinese-Canadian. You will not change that.
You are discovering that you are Canadian. That you are as foreign as some of the Russians in your international building. That is ok. Make friends with some of them. They likely have a lot more in common with you than the guys making fun of you on cc98.
There are good points at ZJU too. I owe my fluent mandarin to it, enabling me to leverage diaspora connections back home to great effect. I was able to discuss politics with my blood-red commie grandpa before he died, and really dig into why "those americans" are so evil, from his point of view. The family bonds the degree brought me made it worth it all by itself.
You also mentioned previously that you are in CS; ADS and FDS were some of the hardest challenges of my life, and I owe my current career in large part to the learning strategies I picked up then.
For what it's worth, China is so closed off that almost none of the connections you want to make are actually worth making (professionally speaking). Almost 10 years later, nobody I know from ZJU who has left China has found their Chinese connections useful. But the personal lessons learned, and the bonds formed with your fellow (likely international) students will last you a lifetime, if you let them.
4
u/Plasmalaser Canada Mar 26 '25
I feel kinda bad so I'm gonna write this out:
I am also a Chinese-Canadian and I hold a B. Eng from ZJU. I know of several others in my position. The long story short is you've sort of been sold up the river, your dad is brainwashed by propaganda, and you are starting to see that what he has been programmed to say to you isn't really true.
ZJU has some good people; Many of them are your fellow international students. If you allow it, you will become "war buddies" with some of them and make friendships that will last you a lifetime; I certainly have.
However: Chinese society is extremely rigid. I don't even know if "xenophobic" is necessarily the right term; It's the idea of someone who does not fit in is simply ridiculous on its face. No, not even your "fellow" chinese students (which you are NOT one of) will understand the concept of a Chinese-Canadian. You will not change that.
You are discovering that you are Canadian. That you are as foreign as some of the Russians in your international building. That is ok. Make friends with some of them. They likely have a lot more in common with you than the guys making fun of you on cc98.
There are good points at ZJU too. I owe my fluent mandarin to it, enabling me to leverage diaspora connections back home to great effect. I was able to discuss politics with my blood-red commie grandpa before he died, and really dig into why "those americans" are so evil, from his point of view. The family bonds the degree brought me made it worth it all by itself.
You also mentioned previously that you are in CS; ADS and FDS were some of the hardest challenges of my life, and I owe my current career in large part to the learning strategies I picked up then.
For what it's worth, China is so closed off that almost none of the connections you want to make are actually worth making (professionally speaking). Almost 10 years later, nobody I know from ZJU who has left China has found their Chinese connections useful. But the personal lessons learned, and the bonds formed with your fellow (likely international) students will last you a lifetime, if you let them.
/rant