Learn more about Jade

Hello everyone!

Remember our friend, Jade from Xing Jiang, China? Hope you still remember her because this entry will share a lot more about her background. So let's not waste time anymore and let's go to Xing Jiang.

BELIEFS

Jade’s family holds dear the phrase ‘Allah is one’ in their everyday life. They believe in Allah and follow the teaching of Al-Quran and hadith. However, not all families in China believe the same thing, as according to Jade, most people are atheist and therefore only prioritize money. It was different during Jade’s time but now Jade told us that competition about material things in school becomes a common situation where the students keep on showing their gadgets and tease those who cannot afford to have it.

NORMS

We learned that people in China like to greet each other with ‘HELLO’ regardless of the religion. Men prefer to shake hands with one another.

However, for some minority people, they will kiss the cheek when meeting with their friends. The norms depend on each minority since there are a lot of minorities in China and these norms somehow make each minority special.

One norm of hers that is quite interesting for us is regarding gifts when visiting friends.

She said bringing gifts when visiting is a basic thing that people should not forget. Milk, tea and fruit are the common things to give to the hosts. However, it is quite different during fasting month where people in Xing Jiang will bring meat or chicken as a gift. Wow, I think it is very fascinating to have this norm in her culture.

VALUES

After listening to Jade’s story, we can conclude that Jade comes from a family-oriented background.

This can be seen when they are having meals together, the use of phones are not allowed as they want to have a quality time together. Moreover, the dining will only start when the family members that are currently home are complete. Jade compared her family with other cultures and according to her, her family does not prefer to make any noise during meals’ time. Even her parents will talk only after finishing the meals.