Post 1 Pilot - China
10/2/2023
This is Suixi. It's a small town in Guangdong Province, China and the place where I was born during the time of the One Child Policy.
                                                                                            Suixi, Guangdong Province | June 25, 2018
I was adopted from the Suixi Social Welfare Institute at the age of 1. My assigned name was SuSu, meaning humble, which I still carry to this day.
In 2018, I visited my home and the orphanage.
It was summer and the weather extremely humid —the kind where the instant you step outside, it's like a sauna. When my parents adopted me, Suixi was a small town with dirt roads. Now the streets are ruled by mopeds and the beginnings of high rise developments. It's not uncommon to see entire families riding on a single moped in this rural town. Upon arrival to the orphanage, staff was waiting in the front to welcome us. The director of the orphanage, Director Han, was the one who took me in. He still remembers me to this day, calling me SuSu. Inside the orphanage, the walls are painted a bright green with colorful collages. There are modest cribs and play equipment inside.
                                                                       front of the Suixi Social Welfare Institute | June 25, 2018
                                                                        welcome banner at the Orphanage | June 25, 2018
My visit was nothing short of a humbling experience. I thought of the home and resources I had that the people there didn't. A main thought was "what if I had grown up here?" My life would have been so different. I felt so grateful I had the chance to see the place I'm from, meet locals, and connect with my culture on a deeper level. Even more grateful to have been adopted by loving parents and moved to a place with more opportunity.
I grew up in a suburban city in Southern California in a multicultural household with a Caucasian father and Japanese mother. Growing up, I never felt like I truly belonged in school, social circles, or even in my hometown. I was confused about why I couldn't have blonde hair and the classic Barbie look my classmates all around me had. People ask me about my ethnicity and I say I'm mixed because it makes it easier for them to understand, afraid to tell them about my true self.
When I started at Berkeley, one of the top things on my bucket list was to visit Chinatown in San Francisco. I fell in love with the neighborhood and local community the first time I visited. It makes me feel closer to my culture and people. One of my simple pleasures is to visit the neighborhood just to walk around and hear the noises that remind me of home, not to mention the excellent food.
Last semester, I took a class about the history of China up to the present day that deeply touched me. Gaining a deeper understanding of the One Child Policy's effects not only made me realize my luck in even being alive, but the pride I should take in being a survivor.
As I've grown, I've begun to realize the importance of owning your story and being different. I don't have to fit any label that's given to me. I am proud of and grateful to my origins because they remind me I always have a community, a home, a place where I belong.