GLOBALIZATION: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?
My grandpa was among the first group of Chinese English teachers sent to Australia (to study) by the Chinese government back in the 1980s, when our country opened its doors. Off the plane, the hospitable Australian taxi driver asked him, “Where are you going today?” “Where to die?” Grandpa was shocked. With very limited access to authentic English, he had no idea of the Australian way of pronouncing “today”.
My mom was luckier when she went to college in the 1990s. She had tapes of recorded BBC and VOA news to listen to. When she got the chance to step on the soil of England, she was much more confident than grandpa had been. The first morning after arrival, hungry and tired after a long flight, and with a Chinese stomach longing for hot food and drink, her only wish was to have a big and hot breakfast. The restaurant waitress asked with a British accent completely comprehensible to my mom’s trained ear, “Would you like a Continental breakfast or an English one?” Well, the European continent is much bigger than England, so must be the breakfast. She said to herself. Without hesitation, she replied:“Continental Breakfast, please.” The waitress took the order and Mom was very satisfied about herself until she saw the tiny breakfast of cold milk and iced juice, instead of fried bacon and hot sausages.
I went to an American university for a summer program last year. One evening after watching a movie in the cinema, I went to the bus station to take a bus to my apartment. But somehow the bus didn’t arrive as scheduled. After waiting alone for about 20 minutes in the darkness, I was getting anxious and uneasy. I stood there, eagerly staring into the direction which the bus should come from. I saw no bus but a street singer singing some unknown songs with his noisy guitar. The night wind brought a feeling of chill, and as more and more stores closed and fewer and fewer people passed by, I couldn’t help shivering in the cold darkness. Suddenly, a piece of familiar music flowed into my ear. The best-known Chinese folk song: Jasmine Flower! He was playing Jasmine Flower with his guitar. Automatically, I tuned my Chinese ears to the familiar and nostalgic melody, with my heart warmed and my eyes wet. He played the song again and again until the bus came and I went aboard.
From strangeness and misunderstanding to cross-cultural resonance, it takes three generations. The driving force behind the change is globalization, which provides opportunities for cultures to meet, breaks down barriers between countries, and brings peoples together. When a Chinese song played by an American street singer got me through coldness and fear, I realized that cross-cultural resonance and intimate connection brought about by globalization will also get the world through difficulties and disputes.
If you would ask me whether globalization is enough, I will definitely say “no”.