I returned to America a few weeks ago to be with my family. The entire trip from the front door of my home in Urumqi to the front door of my home in New Jersey was 29 hours. If people can travel half way around the world in such a short time then our world truly is small. It is a Global Village in which neighbors are strangers. One thing I was curious about was the questions Americans would ask me. The first person I spoke with in was the customs agent in the airport. When he found out I had been in western China the first question that came to his mind was “So what do they drink out there”

几个星期前我回美国探家。从我乌鲁木齐的家门口到美国新泽西州的家门口的旅程一共是２９个小时。要是人们在这么短的时间可旅行半个世界的距离，那么我们的世界确实很小，这就是一个地球村，但是邻居间并不熟悉。令我好奇的是，美国人常问我关于中国的问题。第一个问我的是机场的海关人员，当知道我从中国西部来，他就问：“那里的人喝什么酒呢？”

I have been in China so long that I have forgotten the simple questions I had in the beginning such as what people drink. At the time I had no idea there was such a thing as baijiu. I did not know anything about the climate or social customs either. It is no wonder people who have never been to a certain country tend to have rather simple questions about it. For example my cousin asked me the other day if China has all four seasons like we do in America. She was surprised to learn that our climates are basically the same. Winters are cold in the north summers are extremely hot in the south and Xinjiang is quite similar to our Southwest. 

因为我在中国待了很长时间，所以都忘了最初我曾思考的问题，如人们的饮酒习惯。当时连白酒是什么东西我都不知道了。我对当地的气候和民俗习惯也不熟悉。难怪从没有去过某一个国家的人会问很简单的问题。我表姐是个很好的例子，近日她问中国是否跟美国一样有四个季节。了解到两边的气候差不多时，她很惊讶。北方的冬天冷，南方的夏天格外热，而且新疆与美国西南部的气候很相像。

Many of the questions my friends and family asked were not as simple as the climate. Some have been outright quixotic while others have been more thought provoking How is real Chinese food different from American-Chinese food Do you worry about your health there Is it true that everyone has only one child What is it like working for a newspaper Do Chinese speakers and English speakers use different sides of their brains to process language Is there discrimination in China Should we fear China?

朋友和家人的许多问题并不是像问气候那么简单。有的问题就很奇怪，有的问题更深刻，比如大陆中餐跟美式中餐有什么不同？在那里你担心身体吗？每个家庭只有一个孩子是否真实？给报社工作怎么样？接受并创造语言的时候讲汉语的人和讲英语的人用大脑的不同面吗？中国有没有歧视?芽我们要不要害怕中国？

While in Xinjiang I talked with people about a lot of these questions in reverse. Usually people cite what they have seen in movies as their primary source of information.

Americans learn about China primarily through news reports but they lack cultural depth. It is very difficult to ask thoughtful questions if one does not have a solid understanding of the cultural context. Without this knowledge questions seem nave and have a childish anxiety because we are afraid of what we do not understand even if it is about our neighbors.

在新疆时，我跟当地人从相反的角度谈一样的问题。人们常常说电影是主要的知识来源。美国人主要通过新闻报道了解中国，但是这些报道缺乏深刻的文化解释。要是没有文化语境的知识，很难提出有意义的问题。缺乏这种知识，人们的问题好像是幼稚的，并且有一种孩子气的忧虑。因为我们害怕那些我们还没有弄懂的邻居的事。