Describe the preparations
My preparations for this interview where pretty easy. I like the sentence structure that I had from my first two so I used the same questions in the same order. The recorder I bough works very well so I keep on using it. Jordan and I had lined up an interview through Ni with two of his friends. We set a time and where fortunate enough to be able to go to their apartment for the interview.
How did you approach people?
Ni set me up with one of his friends and I really appreciated that. It was nice that he was willing to take his time to help.
When, where, and how did you conduct and record the interview?
I did my interview on Sunday April 3rd, at around two. Jordan and I went to Ni’s apartment and meet up with two of Ni’s friends. I conducted the interview in a very casual way. Yanjung was in his own environment so that made things very easy going.
Whom did you interview?
Yanjung, Li
Describe the interview. What did surprise you?
This interview was different then how my first two went. I got along with Yanjung well and he was very nice to talk to, but it was hard to get the information I was after. I had a difficult time with the language barrier that day, and for some reason couldn’t think of a way to reword what I was trying to ask. Although, I would say it was my most fun interviewee because I feel like we had a lot in common. When the tape recorder was turned off we could talk about anything, but I struggled getting information about China. Also, when I listened to the interview I didn’t keep asking question on information I already found out on my second interview. If I do an interview that would be something I could concentrate on. Overall the interview went well. I had a good time meeting someone with similar interests as me, but we almost got along to well to get the information I need. Yanjung was a cool person and I’m very grateful he took the time to let me talk to him.
Transcribe the interview
Chris: Is it ok with you if a record this it’s one of the requirements for the class?
Yanjun: Yeah no problem.
Chris: So do you have a lot of homework to do today?
Yanjun: Yeah I have three classes, for one I have to write a paper on nuclear power, and the events that are happening in Japan. It shouldn’t be too bad it’s only a rough draft.
Chris: How long does it have to be?
Yanjun: 1,500 words.
Chris: So why do you guys have two Xbox’s? Did one break?
Yanjun: One is his (pointing to his roommate) the other is his friends. The PlayStation is mine, the one in the box. The one on the T.V. is Ni’s. I play Ni’s, but I also have one. I kept mine because I’m moving to another apartment next semester.
Chris: whose T.V. is that?
Yanjun: That is Ni’s also.
Chris: What do you guys play on the Wii?
Yanjun: We don’t really play that. He’s a fan (talking about Ni) of PlayStation, he always buys a new one. But he’s a fan of pink and red so that’s why he got the red Wii.
Chris: So are you living with different people next semester?
Yanjun: Me? Yeah I think you know them, because you played basketball against them. You know that day I met you in Hollenbeck? Yeah those guys. How is your roommate doing?
Chris: Austin is doing well.
Yanjun: Is he in your dorm room now?
Chris: Actually he went home for the weekend.
Yanjun: O you are a resident of Minnesota?
Chris: Yep, Him, Jordan and I live about thirty minutes down the road. So we go home all the time.
Yanjun: Yeah that’s nice. Home is good.
Chris: Do you miss your home?
Yanjun: Yeah I miss it, my home town. I’m going to go back this summer.
Chris: For how long?
Yanjun: Two or three months.
Chris: Just coming back when school starts?
Yanjun: Yeah.
Chris: What your name, I know you said John, but what’s your real name?
Yanjun: Yanjun Li, he I’ll write it down.
Chris: So is Li considered your last name in American terms?
Yanjun: Yeah it is. And I tried to write it in American form.
Chris: So in Chine’s form would you write your last name first?
Yanjun: Yeah, and first name is second.
Chris: Can you read that?
Yanjun: O yeah that’s very good, thank you. Yanjun Li, Yanjun is my first name and Li is my last name.
Chris: O that’s really interesting. My middle name is Lee too, but they’re spelt differently. So how many people do you have in your family?
Yanjun: There are three people in my family, well actually now there are four. My grandfather moved home now. When I came to the United States my grandfather moved in with my parents.
Chris: So do you have any siblings? Any brothers and sisters?
Yanjun: No, I am the only child in my Family.
Chris: So what’s your mom’s name?
Yanjun: My mom’s name is Li, Dio, and my father’s name is Sipen, Li.
Chris: Do they work?
Yanjun: Yeah, my mother is in management, and my father bids. He works for a restaurant.
Chris: Within your family who pays your bills and does stuff like that?
Yanjun: My mom.
Chris: Is that something that females normally do?
Yanjun: Yeah, in China they do.
Chris: In my last interview my interviewee told me that it was because they didn’t want the male to know how much money they had or something. Is that true?
Yanjun: Yeah.
Chris: Because they can buy a new wife then? Is that right?
Yanjun: Yes.
Chris: Is there a story behind that?
Yanjun: Actually, I don’t know the story. But most of people in China just think this. Cultural I guess.
Chris: So you guys have anything you celebrate every year?
Yanjun: Normally, weekly we go outside, because my grandfather, so we go out together for dinner, or lunch when we can.
Chris: Don’t you guys have tivers? Or moon fests tiver? Do you guys celebrate that?
Yanjun: Yeah, but we also celebrate on the weekend. On that day that you say is a big celebration and the cousins will come. My aunts and uncles will come.
Chris: Do you guys have any other big celebrations?
Yanjun: Yeah the spring festival, and after Chris: 5 after spring festival we have another celebration. Moon festival is also a big day.
Chris: So what do you guys do when you celebrate?
Yanjun: We just have a festival, and maybe watch a T.V. show. But that’s pretty much it. Get together with the family and talk, nothing to exciting.
Chris: So what do you yourself do for fun?
Yanjun: I play basketball a lot with my friends, we also do that. And we sing songs, KTV, and also play video games. Sometimes we go to the bar.
Chris: What bars do you guys go to?
Yanjun: It’s not like the American bars. We play different games, but I don’t know how to describe it.
Chris: Have you ever traveled anywhere else in the United States?
Yanjun: Last winter break I went to Boston. I have my father’s cousin, who lives in Boston, and I went to see him. I had a fun winter break.
Chris: What did you guys all do out there?
Yanjun: I learned skiing. It was a fantastic sport.
Chris: Did you go down really steep hills then?
Yanjun: Yeah, you know the speed is really fast, and really cool. That is my first time to have the Christian feel. It was really good really fun. It let me feel peace.
Chris: So within your country what kinds of sports do they all play?
Yanjun: Most of the boys play basketball, and soccer. The girls will play tennis, and bad mitten, and ping pong.
Chris: Do you play a lot of ping pong?
Yanjun: Me? No, I don’t play at all.
Chris: What made you decide to come to St. Cloud instead of somewhere else? What you decide to come here?
Yanjun: My teacher recommended it.
Chris: What are you majoring in?
Yanjun: Finance, but my mother wanted me to change to accounting.
Chris: So how far are you? How many years you have left?
Yanjun: Three years left.
Chris: So is it your first year here?
Yanjun: Yeah, because I just graduated from the intensive English program.
Chris: How old are you then?
Yanjun: Almost, 21, my birthday is in July.
Chris: You going to go party then?
Yanjun: No I will be back at home for my birthday, so that’ll be really nice.
Chris: What is the drinking age in China? Well what part are you from first I guess?
Yanjun: Near shun Hi. I went to the same school as Ni.
Chris: So what’s the drinking age there?
Yanjun: Actually there isn’t a drinking age. So here it’s kind of weird to me. Where I come from when you’re a child you can drink, but the parents don’t allow that.
Chris: What age did your parents let you?
Yanjun: Eighteen.
Chris: Are you going to try and find a job here? Or are you going to go back to China?
Yanjun: I want to get a job here, but you know it’s hard to get a job now. It’s like a prison.
Chris: So do you guys have a dictatorship for a government?
Yanjun: Actually, I’m sorry we can’t talk about this, I don’t know how to say any of it in English.
Chris: O ok, that’s just fine. What’s the weather like there? Is it warmer or colder then here?
Yanjun: My home town is warmer then here. Actually I don’t like the weather here at all. The ice and snow I’ve never seen before, and I don’t like it.
Chris: Have you ever been on a lake yet?
Yanjun: I want to, but our teacher told us not to do that. If you fall down that it would be terrible and I don’t want to do that.
Chris: We’ll you just have to go with someone who knows what they’re doing. I could take you out sometime.
Yanjun: O cool that’d be a lot of fun.
Chris: I live on a lake so I could take you out on it.
Yanjun: What you live on lake?
Chris: Well not on, beside.
Yanjun: So you can go on the lake?
Chris: O yeah we go fishing, do you know what that is?
Yanjun: Ice fishing, o that’s so cool.
Chris: You ever done that before?
Yanjun: No but I heard that it’s very interesting.
Chris: You going to be here next year?
Yanjun: Yeah.
Chris: Well I’ll have to take you out next year. The ice is getting to the point where you probably wouldn’t want to walk on it if it’s your first time because it’s going away. But next year I’ll take you out for sure. Have you ever been swimming in a lake before?
Yanjun: No not at all, but I want to.
Chris: Have you ever herd of a jet ski?
Yanjun: No I have never heard of such a thing.
Chris: Well it’s like something you drive, I have one I’ll let you drive it.
Yanjun: O that would be so much fun, we should do that. O I think I’ve seen one before, and I really want to do that. That’s so exciting now I really want to do that.
Chris: I have you number too so I could call you. Do you think you’re going to have a hard time finding a job?
Yanjun: Yeah, the major is kind of hard to me, so I don’t think I can get all the way through it. I want to change it, but I should talk to my parents about that first.
Chris: Do have a problem with all your classes being in English?
Yanjun: Yeah because all the teachers are not American. Maybe from India, South America, so their language is different, and hard to understand.
Chris: Before you came here, is the United States what you though it was going to be like?
Yanjun: It’s not completely different, a little bit different. When I first come here and I can see the tall building.
Chris: Does china have a told of tall buildings?
Yanjun: Yeah Shun Hi, all the buildings are very tall and you can’t see very far. The environment is kind of bad. There is a lot of air pollution, not like the weather here. I have a thing with my noise, and if the air is not clear I will have a hard time breathing.
Chris: So do you have to wear a mask at home?
Yanjun: No, but my noise gets really bad.
Chris: Is there anything you can do about it? Does it make you sick?
Yanjun: Yeah it is kind of sick, my noise keeps running and it’s very difficult to breath.
Chris: What’s like chine’s culture? Do you have anything that’s totally different then the way things are done here? Are the people here more mean?
Yanjun: No, the Chine’s are more mean. One thing that is totally different is car driving. Here if you’re in the cross walk the car will stop and wait, in China they just keep going. The person has to wait until there is no car to cross.
Chris: So do you know what racism is?
Yanjun: Yeah I know.
Chris: So when you came here where people racist towards you?
Yanjun: No not at all, I had only one experience with this so far, and that was only it, a name calling that’s it.
Chris: So what do Chines people normally eat for food?
Yanjun: Well the north and south part of china are different. I’m from the south part and rice is the man food.
Chris: What else do you eat with it?
Yanjun: We eat a lot of things with it. We make the vegetable mixed together, and put a lot of sauce with it.
Chris: Is it really spicy?
Yanjun: No, the southern part of china we like to sauce, and not spicy. We like sweet.
Chris: Do you like spicy food at all?
Yanjun: Yeah I like it. You don’t like it?
Chris: No, my tongue burns too much. Is getting together with your friends and eating something chine’s do a lot?
Yanjun: Yeah, show’s respect to friends and that you’re friendly.
Chris: We’ll that’s all the questions that I have for you today. Do you have any questions for me?
Yanjun: No, not that I can think of.
Chris: Well thank you very much for your time, I appreciate it.
Yanjun: Yes no problem.
Culture Report
China
Every country has something that they’re known for, something that makes them stand out from everyone else. China is no different; they are the most populated country in the world.1 As of July 2011, China had over 1.3 billion people.1 Also, In 2010 China became the world’s largest exporter.1 One would think that a country with so many people would struggle to fill the needs of everyone. This is kind of the opposite of who China is. When I look at the statistics of China I can’t help but to notice that they are top ten, or lead many areas. Actually, come to think of it, they are the whole package. They are the fourth largest nation in the world, lead the world in population, labor force, current account balance, internet users, exports the list goes on.1 Not to mention they are top ten in an endless amount of catigories.1 This is amazing to me. It’s one thing for a country to lead one or two categories, but China blows everyone out of the water. If China was a sports team overall they would be ranked number one. I would challenge anyone to try and find another country to come close to leading as many categories as China does.
Countries don’t become powerful just out of luck, normally it’s a proses that takes a very long time, and very thoughtful planning. China economy is one of the reasons why they can lead many categories. Chances are if you want something China makes it. Their economy ranges from clothing and toy cars to space satellites and military weapons.2 This is a huge benefit to a nations if they don’t have to solely rely on one export. Yet, the backbone of Chinas economy lies in its rice crops grown in rural China.2 This part of China reminds me a lot of the United States and their farming. It’s necessary for a powerful country to have a backbone like Chinas rice crops. Deng Xiaoping also played a huge role in helping in China’s rise.1 When he took over Deng concentrated on market-oriented economics this made Chinas economy quadruple.1 It’s astonishing to think that one guy could have such an impact on a Country. Overall China is a nation that many countries today are looking to for ideas on how to become successful.
References
1.CIA, Initials. (n.d.). China. Retrieved from http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/goes/countrytemplate_ch.html
2. UNICEF, Initials. (n.d.). China. Retrieved from http://www.planusa.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/88330
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