A Journey of My Life in Pins: Li Yan by lili月野兔

Luohu Hospital, Youyi Road, Luohu, Luohu District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China

angelaleeliyan — 2024-09-13 14:38:04 UTC

I was born here!

Shenzhen

angelaleeliyan — 2024-09-13 14:41:45 UTC

Shenzhen is the city where I was born, and I grew up there till I was 16 years old. It really does hold a special place in my heart. I have grown up watching the city transition from some quiet place to this busy metropolitan city that it is right now. It's really hard to describe how deeply connected I feel to Shenzhen, it's more than just my hometown; it's where my identity was formed. I carried all of that identity with me when I moved to Canada. In turn, my ethnicity was the product of these contrasts: strongly attached to the roots of tradition yet constantly in evolution. Shenzhen is not just my place of origin; it is also the grounds on which I base my identity.

Mentor College, Forest Avenue

angelaleeliyan — 2024-09-13 14:42:29 UTC

When I turned 16 years old in 2017, I moved from Shenzhen to Mississauga, Canada, and began attending Mentor's College. It was one of the major transitions that happened in my life, not only geographically but also culturally. My relocation to another country was because my family wanted to have a better quality of life, and they did not want me to experience the high-pressure educational environment in China. Doing school in Canada felt like a system reset-a chance to redefine myself outside of an intense expectation founded on Chinese education. It is at Mentor's College that I came across a more multicultural environment, which helped in broadening my exposure to more developed understandings of my own ethnicity, taking me from a very Chinese-dominated space into one of many mixed cultures.

UTM, Mississauga Road

angelaleeliyan — 2024-09-13 14:42:50 UTC

Another major turn in my journey was attending the University of Toronto Mississauga directly from high school. I started attending UOFT when I was 18, and now I am 23. The transition from Mentor's College to UTM was even more challenging. At UTM, with a larger and more diverse student body, I had more opportunities than ever to connect with those from a similar cultural background, such as when I met more students of Chinese descent. This feeling of familiarity and the general shared experience made it easier for me to adjust to university life. The commitment to cultural diversity opened my eyes to different perspectives and traditions, deepening my understanding of my own ethnic identity. At UTM, I had the opportunity to explore both academic subjects and cultural clubs and events, which helped me reconnect with my roots and make my sense of belonging come alive.

Flushing, Queens, NY, USA

angelaleeliyan — 2024-10-18 20:19:59 UTC

Flushing has become like a second home to me. My boyfriend lives there, and I go there quite often. Starting from 2022, I visited Flushing once every two months. Flushing does not fail to hold familiarity and excitement within it, as it hosts New York State's greatest Chinatown. This is a place where the resonating mix of cultures touches my heart, for this place never lacks a rich Chinese community. Walking through the streets of Flushing puts me in mind of Shenzhen amidst a unique multicultural diversity that only New York offers.

Flushing's electric atmosphere, as Mandarin, Cantonese, and other Asian languages echo through its streets, beckons me. It is here that I feel connected with my own ethnicity, yet at the same time, I connect to the international community who bring their traditions into the new space. The blending of the cultures together makes Flushing one of a kind in reflection on the concept of ethnicity, even more so on how an identity can evolve in a diaspora.