Hello and welcome to this edition of CRI May Day holiday series, Growing up in China. I'm Li Peichun. As China opens up, more and more foreign opportunity-seekers move in and settle down in the country, bringing their families along. As a result, many more cross-culture kids are growing up in China. How do they cope with adapting to a new social backdrop? Does the blend of cultures make their life confusing or interesting? Let’s follow our reporter Manli to step into their lives and listen to their stories of growing up in China.
Reporter:
Twelve-year-old Valtter Lehtonen is having fun playing with Chinese diabolos, or Kongzhu, a folk toy for performing many tricks. He is also engaged in other Chinese cultural activities such as martial arts, juggling with a Chinese broadsword, and baton tricks which he calls “Chinese suicide.”
Living in Shunyi, the most international crowd of all the districts in Beijing, Valtter and his two sisters are typical cross-cultural kids. His mother, Requal Martins, is a Brazilian passport holder. His father, Matti Lehtonen, originally comes from Finland. Technically, the children of the Lehtonens’ are Finish and Brazilian; however, when asked where home is, the answer comes without fault:
“Here China.”
“China.”
Their identification with China is also evident in their food preferences:
“I like mapodoufu, tudousi and jiaozi”
“I like jiaozi, tudousi, and I love hotpot.”
They also recognize Chinese movie stars:
“Jackie Chen, Jet Li, Bruce Li, Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi.”
“I also like Jackie Chen’s movies; he is my favorite Kongfu Star.”
And, as always, expressive Chinese names and Chinese speech:
Vallter is the second generation of his family to grow up in China. His mother, Requal, traveled far from Brazil with her parents to China in 1960s, when she was still an infant. Requal finds huge differences between her experience and the experience of her children.
“Every year we had to go to farms, factories and armies to learn from them. We always strived to be the same. But my kids, who speak four languages, have the ability to be flexible. ”
Nowadays, diversity defines the life of expat children in China: they go to international schools, embracing world-class curriculums and modern performing arts.
Lance Witte is communication director of the International School of Beijing, or ISB, where Vallter is enrolled. He says their students come from 52 nationalities and are offered not only academic opportunities, but also a dynamic feeling with a diversity of cultures.
“In an international school, you have different cultural experiences coming together in one location. So learning goes on between one another. It is dynamic and exciting.”
At ISB, there are over 1800 boys and girls who have the same backdrop of international upbringing. Part of a global phenomenon and as China’s economy booms, there is an increasing number of foreign employees and a group of thriving, cross-culture kids.
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