Haiyan Wang, assistant director of the China Center, appeared on "A Nation of Immigrants" to share her life story, professional career, and reflections on cross-cultural communications and collaboration.
"I came of age when China gradually opened up its economy and also its society to the Western world," Wang said. "I grew up watching Tom and Jerry, Transformers, Growing Pains, and Titanic. These were my first impressions of U.S. culture."
Wang came to the U.S. in 2003 to get her master's in history at Stanford University.
"Despite the language barriers, cultural shock, and all the other challenges a newcomer would have, I felt very welcome and well-accommodated to this country with generous help from everyone I met," she said. "This is also one of the reasons I chose international education as my career, because I personally experienced this and I benefited so much from this."
After graduation, Wang spent eight years as a lecturer at Cornell University before joining the University of Minnesota China Center.
When questioned about the idea of assimilation, Wang noted the idea of assimilation presumes that there is just one dominant culture in the U.S. and that minorities need to become indistinguishable from that culture over time.
"To me, the spirit of being American is not about having one dominant culture and silencing the others. It's not about having a unanimous society where everyone follows the same routine," Wang said. "People of different cultural backgrounds came to this land and together they made it their home. This country was designed to be inclusive, adaptable, and diverse under the core value of freedom and personal liberty."