Unit 2 Draft

     I was born in Taiwan, so I never thought I would leave that place. My experience of relocating from Taiwan to Beijing, due to my parents' job, highlights a significant moment of tension in my life. In Taiwan, the culture served as a powerful lens through which to examine different values, beliefs, languages, and ways of life. 

Moving to Beijing made me realize that I was unfamiliar with my own identity, primarily due to the tension between Taiwan and China. I needed to adapt to the new environment and the cultural changes associated with living in Beijing. My journey began when my parents moved to Beijing for their jobs. Beijing is a city with a rich history and culture. In this essay, I will delve into my personal journey of moving to Beijing and explore a particular moment of tension that I faced during my time there. 

This move was unexpected and came as a surprise. At the age of five, I was enjoying my life in Taiwan, attending kindergarten and making new friends. Then, one day, my parents informed me about the opportunity to work in Beijing, which was one of the most surprising events in my life. The first few weeks of living in Beijing were challenging because I was enrolled in an international school, where the primary language of instruction was English. At that time, I didn't know any English, making school an experience that I detested. It was difficult to understand what the teacher was saying, and interacting with my classmates was equally challenging. 

During this period, I truly wished to return to Taiwan, as I was not enjoying myself as I had in Taiwan. This phase of my life was one of the most difficult, and I felt uncertain about what to do. After attending multiple English tutoring and writing classes, my English abilities started to improve, and I began to adapt to the international school environment. As I got more and more used to the new environment, I started to feel like I belonged to the community, something that I had not felt in a long time. However, that doesn't mean that I was fully aware of my own identity and culture. 

As I began 2nd grade, my parents encouraged me to take up a sport for both social interaction and the health benefits. In my school, the available sports were soccer, swimming, and badminton. Since I had only played basketball in Taiwan, I decided to explore new sports. I chose to start playing soccer, a sport I had never watched or played before. The reason behind this choice was that all of my friends had joined the soccer team, and I believed that playing a sport with friends would make the experience more enjoyable and fulfilling. During this time, I approached my parents about discontinuing basketball, as I was more interested in soccer. However, they were reluctant to let go of basketball. The tension between my desire to play soccer and my reluctance to disappoint my parents by quitting basketball created a unique internal conflict. This was a feeling that I had not experienced before, and it was somewhat perplexing. As I expressed my passion for the game of soccer, they began to understand that I was serious about the sport, and their initial reluctance turned into enthusiastic support. Their only wish for me was to enjoy myself. 

This was just a small tension I felt when moving from Taiwan to Beijing, learning new things, and trying out different sports. The main thing I learned was the tension between Taiwan and China. When I first moved to Beijing, I was too young to fully understand the tension, as I did not really know what was going on. The tension between China and Taiwan, also known as the Taiwan Strait or Cross-Strait tension, has been a long-standing issue. The primary point of contention is that the People's Republic of China claims that Taiwan is a province of China, while Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state with its own government, military, and constitution. Because of this tension, it left me feeling confused about my own identity and culture. At one point, I believed that I was from China. This is due to the various influences that shaped my perspective.