I come from family that originated from the mid-west of China. My last name has dominatds China for over thousands of years. According to the data collected, over 940 million people in China share my last name. My family had moved to the east coast of China, which is the most populated area in the entire country. In Chinese, it means king or monarch, hence it was first used by emperors in China, and was spread across the country either because the emperor got degraded to ordinary people or people changed their last name in memory of a place or a person long ago.

Chinese families do not usually have religions, and the same goes with my family. But it’s also true that everyone had their beliefs once. People in ancient China believed in gods, but not just one almighty god, as different gods have different obligations. People built grand sacrificial altars and offered sacrifices to gods in times of need. If it was a year without much rain and the crops were suffering from deficient rain, they would hold a sacrifice ceremony for “the God of the Sky” (Tianshen in Chinese) and pray for more rain in the coming months. If the crops weren’t growing well without an obvious reason, they would pray to “the God of Agriculture” (Nongshen in Chinese). Thousands of years ago when China was still an agriculture-based country and farmers couldn’t control the weather or the forces of nature, such spiritual support was strongly needed. Even until today, people still sometimes visit the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor (also one of the Gods in China), the altars built for sacrifice ceremonies, and celebrate the Spring Festival to wish for a good year ahead. Talking about how the beliefs influenced my family means also talking about the traditions we keep. These given by our ancestors are now deeply rooted in every one of us, and that’d also become a very important part of the Chinese history. They’re not only an essential part of China, but also an essential part of me. And the festivals and holidays we celebrate nowadays mostly come from our ancestors’ sacrifices.

For example, Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional Chinese festival that is celebrated on August.15th of the lunar calendar every year. It is a time for family members and loved ones to reunite and enjoy the full moon - an auspicious symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Moon cakes are eaten on this special day.

According to my grandpa’s knowledge, our family hadn't faced extreme challenges or difficulties in the past. They’d been living quiet life in a small village in the mountains until my dad got admitted by the best university in China. Even then life did not change much for them. But they’d always been struggling with poverty and famine, as my grandparents were both farmers and how much food they could eat depended on how well the crops grew. Sometimes there were not enough food for everyone and they had to starve. During times of food shortage, they ate wild herbs picked from the roadsides. But no family members had ever been imprisoned, enslaved or persecuted. Nor were they forced to leave their homeland.

I’ve learned from my family the resilience that they preserved during hard times, and how my dad went after what he wanted with tenacity and saw it through to the end. And I wouldn’t be here today if my dad didn’t walk out of the mountains and go on to pursuit his dream, so these spirits did not only shape me, but also became part of me. Therefore, perseverance and toughness are what I learned from my family. That's the uniqueness of my family and I love it more than anything else in the world.