Beginning with “Xie Xie” Thank You
(Original in Japanese)

Erina Suzuki
(Age 12, Japan)

“Chinese people look scary.” This was my image of Chinese people before I came to China. An unforgettable news broadcast had burnt this impression into me. “Why do they throw plastic bottles at sportsmen who have done their very best?” “Can’t sports become a bridge to link the world together?” This is how I felt when I saw a news program showing Chinese people surround Japanese sportsmen after a game and shower them with uncontrolled anti-Japanese sentiment and violent behavior. I imagine a lot of other people also felt sad upon seeing this news and got a bad impression of China.

So when I came to China, the thing that surprised me most was how kind Chinese people were. For example, when we went shopping, shop ladies were extremely friendly even though we could hardly speak Chinese. On the bus, both men and women readily gave their seats to elderly people and small children. These are just little things but they made a big impression on me. Although it was just a news broadcast, I had preconceived ideas about Chinese people being scary, and I regretted seeing it simply from a Japanese person’s viewpoint and automatically deciding that the Chinese were in the wrong.

Now, I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to live in China and to have been taught that it is wrong to regard the Chinese and people from countries worldwide with arbitrary preconceived ideas. At the same time, I have also come to wonder how I can become friends with the Chinese people who show me great kindness.

In Dalian where I live, I am often surprised to see taxis driving recklessly without a thought for traffic rules, bus drivers and shopkeepers arguing with customers, and other things inconceivable in Japan. But the kind smiles on the shopkeepers’ faces and the kind way older boys give up their seats have made a much deeper impression. Gradually it has become natural to say “Xei Xei” when getting out of a taxi or off a bus. And when I say “Xei Xei”, the taxi driver who had been driving recklessly as if he were angry or the bus driver who had been shouting at a customer looks back and nods or waves their hand and smiles at me. At such times, drivers with whom I can’t even communicate seem familiar and kind.

So although it may just be a very little gesture, I want to continue saying “Xei Xei”. Because perhaps, continuing to do this little, taken-for-granted thing might just help join our hearts.

Through war, the Japanese have caused many Chinese people to suffer. This fact can never be erased. However, in the twenty-first century, if Japanese people living in China can say “Xei Xei” in Dalian and indeed throughout China, we will come to understand the value of each others better and better.

Nearly two months have passed since I left Japan. The part of me that thought “Chinese people are scary.” was really me. That is why I want to record the changes in how I felt before coming to China, how I felt immediately after getting to China, and how I felt after witnessing the kindness of the Chinese, firmly in my heart. And at the same time, I want to remember that it is only when people go to a country and encounter various cultural and environmental experiences that they begin to see the real picture.

I want to begin by saying “Xei Xei” and learn to speak Chinese, I want to interact with lots of Chinese people by shaking hands or exchanging smiles, and I want to deepen our mutual understanding so that I can hold my head high and say, “Chinese people are kind.”