I doubt that many Americans know the power of English. Outside the United States, understanding and especially speaking fluent English is quite the novelty. Parents in Korea spend literally thousands and thousands of dollars just to have their child learn English. I was fortunate enough to learn English since kindergarten when my family moved to the Czech Republic.
I can closely relate to Min-Zhan in many aspects. Like her parents, my parents extremely valued education -- well, maybe this isn't a good example since 99% of Asian parents do as well. The section where Min-Zhan writes how she took "pride in [her] ability to speak [English]" in her classroom in China is something I had also experienced. I, myself, have also lived in China for a year and starting from the first day of class, I immediately attracted students with my ability to speak English fluently. I earned an extra level of respect just because I knew English. (I also knew how to speak Czech, but no one seemed to be interested in that). My friends around me were struggling so much just to learn the different between "had been" and "have been". Until then, I didn't realize the power of language. I took my blessings for granted.
Reading about the parts when Min-Zhan had to write a new book report with "censorship" reminded me of all the online censorships I faced while in China. For example, do y'all know that Facebook is banned in China? Google Image search "Tian'anmen Square" in China and you get completely different results. I remember sneaking in to the Internet Cafe because I was not over 18 (Shhh, don't tell anyone!). The server randomly crashed whenever I went to MySpace.
Wow that whole thing you said about the censorship in China was really interesting i never knew that. kind of makes you feel lucky for what we have here. that really opens my eyes to how there are a lot of things in the world we fail to see. But pertaining to the " speaking english" section of your blog post i jsut wanted to say its funny how you say how much of a power of knowing english is when really english is all i know and i wish i could speak another language both my parents are filipino and they speak fluently because they didn't move here till they were adults. i wish i had a chance to learn my own language; well i guess my parents language, my heritage. I also am amazed by your life story. its crazy all the places you've been. i wish i could go out and experience all those different places.
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