“Cerise” in French actually means “Cherry”. My parents chose this name because I was born on a street of Paris called “Cherry Tree Street” (la rue de la cerisaie). Both of my parents are Chinese. As I was born in France, I belong to the so-called “banana generation”. We children of Chinese immigrants in France call themselves “banana” because we are “yellow outside” as we look Asian but “white inside” as we grew up in a Western cultural environment, fully integrating the French culture.
When I was studying French modern literature at the University of Paris, I met a girl who was born in Korea but was adopted very young by a French family. We were sharing the same deep interest for literature, and for the French and Latin cultures in general. Once she told me that she felt somehow like a “tree without roots”. Though for my part I know well my origins, it is probably in order to get closer to them that I decided to come to Taiwan. Also, I always wanted to improve my Chinese.
In this garden of my own, I think I am more like a weeping willow: well enrooted in the soil, my branches are still bending to be soaked by the running waters of Chinese culture.
weeping willow: well enrooted in the soil, my branches are still bending to be soaked by the running waters of Chinese culture.
