I am a foreigner in the UK, I think so. For historial and geographical and whatsever reasons, God placed me in a Chinese Christian fellowship together with many other Chinese (Chinese Chinese), people related to China or Chinese language (from overseas Chinese families), and people who have a heart for Chinese people.
Sounds confusing? Yes, if you are a Chinese, you know what I mean.
Over the past few years, I realized that people are sooooooooooo different although most of us have Chinese looks, can speak one type of dialects of Chinese, can use chopsticks (this requirement should be removed as chopsticks are becomming international utensils), eat rice and use soy sauce....... (Want more? There are 88 ways to know if you're Chinese)
HOWEVER,we are different because we actually do NOT speak the same language. Most of the dialects are extremely hard to be understood by other Chinese. I actually decided to give up learning Cantonese but to take a Spanish lesson.
We are different because everyone follows a certain culture according to the area and age group we're from. It took me 2 years to get over the 'Culture Shock' when I studied in Shanghai. I indeed do not practice 90% things out of the 88 ways above.
Chinese food has a huge variety. My mum thinks it's impossible to eat sweet 馒头. I told her that people in the south eat them with condensed milk. She thought I was joking. I know she'll never appreciate 腐竹糖水. (In my hometown, we only fry them.)
Most of the Chinese are very careful with the politics topics. Even if you're not voting for your government, you might still say something wrong about another goverment in Asia. This is really tough. I hurt someone on this. It's a lesson.
Due to lack of understanding and our limited knowledge, we often offend our Chinese friends in various ways. A Chinese orgin Malaysian man asked me, 'Why you Chinese do not build toilets?' I answered back at heart, 'What do you Malaysians use instead of toilet paper?'
(Sorry lah, my friends, I love Malaysia!)
We are different because .............. abcdefg, 1234567, blahblahblah .................. because we are all human beings. Everyone is specailly designed. I can never find someone who is the same as ME out of billions of Chinese. It's in the great plan of creation.
Sooooooooo, Why am I here? In a Chinese fellowship. Hey, Why are you here?
Tell me that we come to see Christ, who is the maker of all Chinese, HKnese, Taiwanese, BBCnese.... Tell me that we come to be with Christians, to expose ourselves to a family of Christ which never splits according to hometown, mothertoughue,races, dresses, school textbooks.... Tell me that we are attracted by love of God, which is so shinning that our spiritual siblings' faces have become the same glorious. Tell me that we come because we're filled with love, and we share with whoever needs love, although our neighbours are not next door but one street next to us.
Soooooooo, How? By the GRACE of God.
I thank God from the bottomn of my heart for exposing me to people who are very different to me. Therefore, I have the opportunities to see many beautiful places and know their unique cultures, and most important, to see how great God is in keeping us growing with different people, no matter they're Caucasians, Japanese, American Africans.
Once, I organized a dinner with a girl from BJ and another one from TP. They are both sincere Christians. Yet, they had a little arguement about the politics. Thank God, at that time, I already learned the lesson. We ended in praying for each other and our governments. I was absolutely amazed at God's work.
求同存异 is one of the most famous Chinese political strategies. Literately, it means 'Seek the common, Keep the difference.' Therefore, we shall seek Christ and keep our differences.
'我们被别他性和奇异性之间不可逾越的鸿沟所隔离, 我们利用自然的联系,感情或精神上的联系是难以填平这鸿沟的.人和人之间没有办法沟通,不管我们如何努力表示爱和同情,不管我们的心理多么健全,也不管我们多么坦诚和开放,我们都无法看透别人的隐情,因为我们甚至在灵魂之间同他们也没有直接的关系.基督站在我们中间,我们只有通过他和邻居保持联系.正因为如此,代替祷告是和邻居沟通的最理想的方式,而以基督的名义进行集体祈祷,则是最纯洁的交往方式.'
---------The Cost of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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