Personal Story – Angela Jiang

If someone asks me, “Where are you from?” I give it a 60% probability that I would respond with Suzhou, China, a 30% probability that I would respond with Warrington, Pennsylvania, and a 10% probability that I would respond with Shanghai, China.

Let me rewind a bit and explain. I was born in the suburbs of Philadelphia, but my family moved to Shenzhen, China, when I was six. At best, I have vague memories of playing in the woods behind the house where I spent the first six years of my life. I didn’t grow up cheering for the Eagles or grabbing a snack at Reading Terminal Market. To this day, I’ve never even tried a Philly cheesesteak. So, to say I call the Philadelphia suburbs home would be inaccurate. Still, I was born there, so perhaps the correct answer to “Where are you from?” is Pennsylvania—right?

My parents were originally from the Fujian province in China, known for its tea and mountains. When I was nine years old, my family moved to Suzhou, a city rich in history and known as the “Venice of China.” The name is fitting—four large lakes were within an hour's drive of our apartment. I lived just 10 minutes from Jinji Lake and Dushu Lake, 30 minutes from Yangcheng Lake, famous for its delicious hairy crabs, and an hour from Lake Tai, renowned for its thriving fisheries. Suzhou is known not only for its stunning ancient gardens and picturesque lakes but also as a technological hub. My family moved there to pursue careers in nanotechnology.

Attending a local elementary school was a big cultural shock that taught me not only the Chinese language, but also cultural values—hard work, humility, and filial piety. Although my family left the U.S., it was an unspoken expectation that I would return there to complete my education after high school. So, I transferred to an American international school and commuted to Shanghai weekly, an hour away from where I lived. There, I reassimilated to Western culture, where they emphasized individualism and independence. Although I lived in Suzhou, I spent the majority of my week in the bustling city of Shanghai - an international hub with a mix of impressive skyscrapers and beautiful temples. If the city I spent the most time in were the correct answer to “Where are you from?”, then Shanghai would be it.

After graduating high school, I left China and the city life to the small town Northampton in Massachusetts, where I attended Smith College to pursue a biology degree. Northampton was the opposite of Suzhou and Shanghai—a quaint town adorned with colorful pride flags. The downtown rainbow crosswalk and the trail next to the Mill River quickly became my favorite spots. Fall was the biggest pleasant surprise - the blending of reds, greens, oranges, and yellows on the trees turned the campus into a painting. Living in Northampton helped me appreciate the value of an inclusive and diverse environment.

Although I returned to my birth country and will likely remain here due to the job opportunities in computational biology, I still think of home as the dazzling Suzhou city lights at night, the dancing willows next to Jinji lake and the pungent smell of rice cakes and steamed hairy crabs. My honest answer to “where are you from?” is still Suzhou, despite my multicultural background. But maybe the correct answer is all three—Pennsylvania, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Living in all of these places shaped who I am and gave me first hand experience in diverse cultural perspectives.