Alysa Young

I was born and raised in the United States, but American TV shows just aren’t my cup of tea. It’s undeniable that I’ve enjoyed watching random episodes of Spongebob on hotel TVs, but I prefer watching Chinese TV shows (aka C-dramas for short).

I grew up in an immigrant household with Chinese parents and an older sister in Pooler, GA (which neighbors Savannah). My mom was the one that first got me into C-dramas since she watched them regularly at home. Instead of wondering what Phineas and Ferb’s next invention would be, I grew up guessing which royal concubine would get poisoned next in the historical Chinese dramas Empresses in the Palaceand The Empress of China. I began watching C-dramas around first grade with a very limited Chinese vocabulary, so watching historical dramas was quite the challenge for me. The grammar and phrases used in those shows were very unfamiliar to me, but I was lucky enough to have a VERY patient mother that tolerated me hitting the pause button every five seconds to give her a confused stare. Although she put up with me interrupting her shows, I did not put up with her doing the same. To be fair, not only did she limit my daily screen time, but she was also frequently unavailable to watch shows with me (either busy working or making meals). I did what anyone would do and started watching shows by myself. One show at a time quickly became five, and I pulled all-nighters watching C-dramas to my heart’s content.

Fast forward a couple of years, my mom is learning Chinese slang from me since she rarely watches TV anymore. I am not only fluent in Chinese but I can also easily pass as a native (not to brag but it’s true). Chinese is one of the few things that I’m exceptionally good at, and the skill I am most proud of. When compared to my cunning sister who got a near perfect SAT score, Chinese is the one thing that I am undeniably better at and can rub in her face. I’m usually the average type of person that conforms to norms, but in regards to TV shows, I’ve never felt the need to do what everyone else was doing. Watching C-dramas religiously is something that millions of people around the world do, but to me it’s the one thing that I think makes me special.