Where I belong to

(This post is entirely based on my own opinions and perceptions)

Individualism or collectivism? I feel that i am in the middle, a bit of both as i grew up in a very chinese environment which is a collective culture but due to the different aspects of influence when growing up, i am becoming more of an individualist.
I grew up in a traditional Chinese family where my parents cultivated certain thoughts and culture in me. One is to maintain the harmony in the family and not quarrel with my siblings and the older siblings should always give in to the younger siblings. I also feel that i have a duty towards my parents as they took care and supported me all the way to university and i should support and take care of them in future when they are old.

My parents have taught me to be thrifty since young and not to spend money unnecessarily as earning money is not easy and we will experience it when we grow up. But as i start working and earn money, i tend to spend more on personal items that can satisfy me. Like a gucci bag for example, I do not really need a expensive bag but it just satisfies me after buying it. It is like a form of self indulgence to reward me at the end month with my pay check. I believe that majority of traditional Chinese families have parents who want their kids to be obedient and listen to them all the time, but it is quite difficult to have kids listening to their parents all the time now with a more open society. I also had this problem where i had to break the barrier in my parent’s old thoughts and let them know that we are no longer the same kind of children in their generation and need our own freedom, thoughts and speech. So i feel that it is not only us who are struggling to find out who we are but also our elder generations who are trying to, they are caught in the old culture but have to try to adapt to the new culture.

In the past, people are not so concerned with our own comfort and social recognition but only want to bring the money home for the family so they can have proper meals. But now, majority of the youngsters want comfort where they go dine in expensive restaurants, watch shows in theatre instead of home and also drink coffee in cafe instead of coffee shops. They want social recognition by dressing up in the latest fashion and publicizing themselves in blogs. The change in culture is also brought about by our progression of our society -  we are no longer the village but a prosperous city.

As our country now is a mix of both East and West, it is difficult to truly identify which culture you belong to. I feel that as long as we keep the cultural values important to us and not forget them, we will be able to have our own identity.