English Essays
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Why Is There No Second Google in China?
China’s lack of a second Google cannot be explained by technology or censorship alone. Google once operated in mainland China, while Baidu became the country’s dominant local search engine after Google ended its mainland search service in 2010. Yet China’s… Continue reading
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What Does It Actually Feel Like to Have Two Mother Tongues? My Husband Used a Vivid Metaphor: It’s Like Opening Drawers
Having two mother tongues is not simply a matter of speaking two languages fluently. It means being able to access each language directly, without first translating from another—like opening the right drawer for a particular person, relationship, or situation. Through… Continue reading
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Why Do So Many Mothers Eventually Conclude That a Child Can Have Only One Mother Tongue?
Many Chinese-speaking mothers in Germany watch their children use less and less Chinese after starting kindergarten or school, while German gradually becomes the easiest and most natural language for everyday life. This often leads parents to conclude that a child… Continue reading
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2025 | A Christmas Eve Without a Christmas Tree
On a quiet Christmas Eve without a tree or celebration, illness and uncertainty reshape one family’s holiday. As her daughter begins to understand that parents are the ones behind Christmas magic, her husband struggles simply to get through the day,… Continue reading
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If You Had to Choose Between Love and Staying Alive, What Would You Choose?
When illness, vulnerability, and survival enter a relationship, is love still enough? Being cared for so completely that one never has to handle real life may look like happiness, but it can also leave a person unprepared for crisis. This… Continue reading
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Can There Really Be Only One Mother Tongue?
A debate in the comments made me reconsider whether a person can truly have only one mother tongue. Multilingual children may not be translating from one language into another at all, but accessing different language systems directly and naturally. The… Continue reading
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After More Than Twenty Years in Germany, My Husband Said I Was “Not Integrated Enough” — and I Felt Relieved
After more than twenty years in Germany, my husband still thinks I have not integrated enough. But I have slowly come to see that the distance I kept may also have helped me preserve my Chinese language, cultural memory, and… Continue reading
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For a Long Time, I Held Deep Resentment Toward My German Mother-in-Law. Later, I Slowly Came to Understand
For years, I carried resentment toward my German mother-in-law, until I slowly realized that I had been judging her through the expectations of a Chinese family system. What once looked like coldness was, in her world, often a matter of… Continue reading
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Five Thousand Years of Civilization Does Not Mean Every Ordinary Person Had the Same Dining Tabl
A piece of butter becomes more than a question of food knowledge. It opens up a deeper misunderstanding about China: the difference between historical records, regional traditions, today’s supermarkets, and the actual dining tables of ordinary families. Five thousand years… Continue reading
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Having Cows Does Not Mean Having Butter
This essay continues the reflection on butter and common sense, asking why the existence of cows does not necessarily mean that butter became part of ordinary people’s everyday lives. China had cows, and dairy products did exist in certain regions… Continue reading
