加拿大和美国

小熊笨笨

[送交者: Old_Fox 2003年2月13日]

I have both US green card and Canadian PR status. I have lived in Canada for 2 years and 4 months. I lived in the US for 8 years before I came to Canada. I should say that there are pros and cons living in each side of the US-Canada border.

Frankly, Chinese immigrants in Canada are spoiled kids. They only know to complain. They are legal permanent residents from their first day stepping on this land, entitled to all rights (except the right to vote) and social welfares. They can openly look for jobs; they receive free health care, child benefits, GST benefits, free English language training, etc; they can get graduate or undergraduate education to strengthen their beckground and to gain a stronger footing in the job market with expenses that are trivial in the US standard; they can even easily get student loan to cover their tuitions and family expenses for their education. All those are only in the dream for those Chinese students struggling in the US schools.

In the US, it is not rare to hear insulting words targeting at Chinese; it is not rare to hear of someone being yelled at or even beaten by the Americans. But in Canada, those, if exist at all, are extremely rare. That is not to say that there is no racial discrimination in Canada. There sure is. Canadian racial discrimination is more of a hidden and under-the surface type: the employers insist hiring people with "Canadian experience"; foreign professional credentials are not well recognized here.

In the US, there is a strong mainstream culture, thinking, ideology or social convention dominated by the WASP. In Canada, the apparent mainstream thinking is multiculturalism (I don't really like the Canadian multiculturalism). The Chinese community in Toronto is much more aggressive and visible than their counterparts in New York, San Francisco and LA. In average, Canadians are better educated and more liberal, while Americans are morally and socially more conservative and hard working.

In my impression, the Chinese living in the US have a more positive and active attitude toward their life in their new environment than the Chinese living in Canada. Most Chinese students in the US understand that they have to go through many years of hardship to realize their dream, while many, if not all, Chinese living in Canada had dreamed they could find a good job and buy a house in no time.

Canada is a large country in terms of surface area, but a small country in terms of population and size of economy. It is smaller than the State of California in terms of population and economy. Therefore, suppose you have legal immigration status, US offers you much more opportunities and a larger stage to prosper and excel, while Canada is a safe, clean and relaxed place to live. US is like your living room and Canada is like your kitch or bathroom: your living room is much bigger and better decorated than your kitchen and bathroom, but you can never relax yourself in your living room as much as in your kitch or bathroom.

It is really hard to compare which country offers the best living, all depending on what you want and what you value for your life.
If you are ambitious and want a life full of changes, challenges, surprises and opportunities, I think China is the best place for you. If you want big houses, big and expensive cars (maybe boats too), and fat bank accounts and stock shares, you better go to live in the US. If you like a life full of inspiration from art and culture, if you have interest and taste in history, tradition, culture, art and philosophy, you may want to live in Europe. If you enjoy a relaxed and peaceful life, if you love real outdoors and real clean environment, if you like enriched and harmonious communities, you should come to live in Canada. Unfortunately, we seldom have the luxuary to choose, often our first priority is to survive. In the US, you enjoy greater job opportunities, but you suffer the hell in waiting for your green card; in Canada, you enjoy a easy "green card", but you suffer a magre job market.

No matter where we Chinese live, no matter what situations we are in, we should keep optimistic. Bread will come, milk will come, everything will come. I am not comforting you, it is true; look at those who have come earlier, they have well settled down. Patience, endurance, and hard work will eventually pay off.

There is no need and no sense to argue who is supeior and who is inferior between Chinese living on both side of the 49 parallel. We are all new comers on this continent, we are seeds for the following generations of Chinese on this land. We all contribute to the Chinese existence on this continent. You may not want to stay being a Chinese, that's fine. But it will be sad if you desperately want to join "them" or if you feel that you are already one of "them", while "they" still regard you as an "alien", an "outsider" by your skin color, accent and habits. Japan has once aspired to "leave Asia and join Europe", but they have never regarded or accepted as "one of us" by the Europeans and Americans. In terms of culture, history, morality and civilization, as a nation, we Chinese are next to none. We should be proud of that.

As long as you still consider yourself a Chinese, you have no reason to fight against, look down on, tease or humilliate your fellow countrymen. We are minority and somewhat discriminated on this land. We should offer comfort, encouragement, sympathy and any possible help to each other.

changfengivy

really good article, it deserves carfully reading.