One of the two lions in the Lion Dance Performance. Photo by Julie Yu.
The Chinese Culture Collaboration in collaboration with Malden Reads, hosted an event centered on the novel, ‘Beijing to Boston.’ The novel is written by Gordon Mathieson and Hengjia Liu and has a unique feature, where the storyline is written in both English and Mandarin.
The story features 4 Student exchange students from China visiting Boston for the fall term and four American 17 year-olds, spend spring semester in Beijing. Mathieson stated that “each chapter has the two main characters, Lanhua and Kayla, experiencing culture gaps and overlaps from their own native upbringing.”
The book took about three years to research and write. Mathieson and Liu “talked to students, teachers in the U.S. and in China.” The inspiration for the storyline came from a “student exchange program,” and they used that “as [a] vehicle to support” the series of events that occur in the book.
Mathieson stated that “the purpose of Beijing to Boston is to educate Chinese and American people about the two cultures.” He added that Beijing to Boston was “the first book to educate in an entertaining way [where the] topic [engages] readers of all ages.”
Liu explained that “[they wanted] to encourage people to be brave enough to travel to different countries to explore different cultures.”
Mathieson thought that by using both English and Mandarin it “[encouraged] students to have their parents read the books,” and it also provided an enjoyable reading for “Chinese kids to improve their English, and for westerners to improve their Mandarin.”
Mathieson’s hopes that from reading the book, the reader will learn that “we must all learn to understand and respect other nations’ cultures if we are truly becoming a global society.” He added that he and Liu discussed what kind of resources would help student who are learning Chinese. They decided on a book about building and developing the “cultural bridge” between cultures.
Liu found that she “shared a lot in common [with Mathieson] [...] [they] decided to work together on something [that] will benefit students and young adults that are trying to explore [the] Chinese and American cultures.”
The US government sent Mathieson to Yale University to study Mandarin. Roughly, one year later he visited Taiwan to work and study the culture. He returned to Yale and tutored students in ESL (English as Second Language) from Taiwan. Mathieson learned that their deficit in American culture could use additional assistance. He believes that “this book [has been] long overdue to help Chinese and Americans understand respectfully each others’ culture as well as language.”
Mathieson originally met Mei Hung, the executive director of the Chinese Culture Connection, at an event in Boston many years ago. She reached out to him in the past to speak at CCC (Chinese Culture Connection) in Malden, since “[he had] published a Young Adult, Chinese American amateur Detective series.” Mathieson explained that he “wanted to wait until [he] had the book that was a good match for her organization.” After the publication of ‘Beijing to Boston,’ he contacted Hung and they began planning.
Hung explained that Chinese Culture Connection has collaborated with Malden Reads numerous times in the past. She expressed that the members of Malden Reads are eager to learn more about Chinese culture, and many other diverse cultures in the Malden community. Hung further explained that “[they] will continue to support that interest and continue building bridges between the Asian community and the mainstream community.”
The mission of Chinese Culture Connection is to promote “intercultural harmony [which] fits nicely with the theme of the book depicting the experiences of two high school students,” stated Hung. She hoped that the book with “inspire people to take more interest in learning each other’s culture, especially in our diverse [Malden] community.” Hung further explains that she believes that “our world has become so interrelated in so many ways [...], it is very important for all of us to become more knowledgeable [...] [of] other cultures beyond our own.”
During the event, three Malden High Students recreated a wedding scene, since one of the characters in the book was invited to go to China to be one of the bridesmaids at a wedding.
In the book, one of the students from Boston was invited to China to be a bridesmaid at a wedding. During the event, Malden High School students, Katrina Chang, Daniel Huang, Neima Joseph, and Lily Chen.
Alongside the wedding performance, the Malden High Asian Culture Club Lion Dance made their debut with a traditional lion dance performance. The group of performers practiced a few hours everyday after school for two weeks, learning the different stunts and improving and altering their dance along the way.
Sophomore, Jimmy Ton stated that he has been lion dancing since the age of four, making this year his 11th year. “Growing up [his] family lion danced,” which meant he did not really have a choice. He explained how at first he did not find much interest in lion dancing. Although, throughout the years he has developed a strong connection and passion for it. Ton stated that his favorite part of the performances were when the lions got to play and interact with the crowd, and seeing the crowds reaction excited him even more.
Sophomore, Suiyenah Chen said that she joined Lion Dance Club to not only get a better understanding of her culture, but to also “[embrace her] culture.”
Chinese Culture Connection and Malden Read hope to host more cultural centered events in the future, for students and families to get a sense of the diverse cultures we have in the Malden community.
