I believe everyone watched the broadcast of the Winter Olympics this past Spring Festival. Among them, Gu Ailing, who grew up in the United States but played in the Winter Olympics as a player from China, has always been the focus of news pursuit. Her nationality and her attitude towards the two countries have also triggered discussions among netizens. In addition to the second-generation immigrants born in the United States like Gu Ailing, there is another group that also faces these problems, and finds its own foothold in the collision of two countries and two cultures.

generation 1.5 immigrants: refers to those who immigrated to another country when they were young. Usually, parents settle abroad first, and then take their children there. There are early childhood immigrants and adolescent immigrants. This group went to live in another country with memories of their hometown and their identity as China people. So, what problems will they face? What do these new immigrants think of themselves and the people around them?

in my first few years abroad, I was often asked: how was my foreign language learning? Is life there really like in TV series? Their words reveal curiosity and a little envy. I think this is undoubtedly a beautification of what I don't know. Life, no matter in which country, is much the same. Some people spend money like water, while others are in hot water. Language, however, is only the first obstacle that new immigrants have to overcome, and it is not difficult at all. "Adaptation" is the eternal theme of new immigrants.

I met many friends who immigrated in junior and senior high schools. Immigration in this sensitive period is a great challenge for parents and children. First, they have to learn the language. Adolescent immigrants learn languages more slowly than those who immigrated in childhood. Secondly, it is the problem of adaptation. We should know that adolescence is a stage when we begin to establish values and seek self-understanding, but teenagers' understanding of themselves is not comprehensive enough and their values are unstable. In this turbulent period, it is not easy to go to a strange country and be baptized by another culture. In addition to language and cultural differences, new immigrants may also face prejudice and discrimination, as well as self-identity.

prejudice and discrimination have always existed. Not to mention new immigrants, we are always full of gender prejudice and geographical discrimination. I have met friendly people and people who are biased against foreigners. The decency of adults will not let them directly express their prejudice, but we can still feel each other's attitude between the lines and subtle expressions. Prejudice and discrimination are usually invisible.

When I first entered high school, I met a teacher who lived in a small city in China many years ago. Knowing that there were many China students in her class, she began to talk about her life in China at that time, mainly focusing on how inconvenient it was to live in China. She said that she was shocked by culture at that time. I guess she may want to get closer to us through this experience, but I did hear her attitude.

I have seen unfriendly words on the wall near the subway station, such as "Why don't XX people stay in their own country and come here to compete with us for jobs". Indeed, after the arrival of new immigrants, it is also a real problem to have a job competition relationship with local people. Don't residents in some big cities in China also dislike foreigners disturbing their hometown? However, these problems occur in China, which is only a prejudice between regions, but when they occur abroad, they rise to the issue of ethnic discrimination.

According to my observation, people around me probably have three attitudes towards their new identity after changing their nationality:

1. Acceptable type: completely accepting their new identity. They are eager to integrate into immigrant countries and accept local values and lifestyles. Trying to get rid of their original identity, and even feel ashamed of their original identity. For example, they prefer to make friends with local people and try to avoid talking about their origins.

2. Resistant type: This kind of friends are unwilling to accept their new identity and refuse to integrate into the local culture. They hold a negative and critical attitude towards immigrant countries. I have a strong homesickness complex, but my parents have settled there. In this case, it is difficult to leave my parents and return to China. Because it is difficult to change the status quo, I am dissatisfied with my existing life and attribute all my misfortunes to this country.

3. Contradictory: Confused between two identities and cultures. I don't fully agree with my new identity, I don't have a unified attitude towards who I am and what I want to live, and I don't have a sense of belonging.

I belong to the third type of contradiction, and I think I have to choose between my new identity and my old identity. Living in this country, accepting my new identity seems to be the easiest choice. Although I am no longer from China legally, I am still from China psychologically. I remember chatting with my friends at that time and talking about a topic. My friend said, "What do you know as a foreigner?" This joke made me feel uncomfortable, because I never felt that my nationality had changed and I was no longer from China. I also regret that I took my parents' advice and became a citizen. The fact cannot be changed, but this contradiction bothers me, and I feel that I have lost a part of myself. I don't know who I am or where I belong. It seems that both are, but neither is. It took me a long time to solve this problem. "Foreign Chinese" is my view of my identity.

I fully understand the "accepting" and "resisting" attitudes mentioned above, but I think there is a better way. I think that erasing one's birth may be due to inferiority, which may be caused by prejudice and discrimination, or by the experience of exclusion. Whatever the reason, we can't deny our origins, because it's not shameful. On the contrary, blindly refusing to accept the reality will also bring some problems. When you come to a new environment, you must make some changes to cater to or adapt to the new environment. If you don't accept change at all and don't adjust yourself, it's hard to adapt to the new environment. This kind of "rejection" will also push people who approach them with goodwill further, and eventually make them fall into the predicament of isolation and helplessness.

Perhaps the best way is to find a balance between the two, and live with the recognition of China people's identity and cultural self-confidence. No matter which nationality you choose to be, you deserve to be respected.

after all this, I told myself to look at myself as far as possible without "nationality". The law has the final say on the question of where I come from, and I have the final say myself. What I think of myself is the most important thing. Nationality does not affect my requirements for myself. Because, I have always been myself: always kind and always sincere.