Tell the truth. Why am I neither a U.S. citizen nor a returnee from overseas?

Tell the truth. Why am I neither a U.S. citizen nor a returnee from overseas? Chen Wan's Blog I have lived in the United States for nearly twenty years and still retain my Chinese nationality. This not only makes me...

To tell the truth, why am I neither a U.S. citizen nor a returnee from overseas? Chen Wan's Blog I have lived in the United States for nearly twenty years and still retain my Chinese nationality. This not only puzzles my friends who came to the United States at the same time as me, but also puzzles netizens who have never met me. Why don't you become an American citizen? If you refuse American citizenship because of your patriotism, then why don’t you return to your country? These two questions really made me stupid. To put it simply, I don’t want to become an American citizen because I don’t have the need for it at the moment. This has basically nothing to do with whether I am patriotic or not. Some Chinese people seem to have an unshakable consensus that giving up their nationality is unpatriotic. Compatriots who hold this view have really wronged us overseas wanderers. For us overseas Chinese, the motherland is like our natal family, and the United States is like our in-laws’ family. Just like the palms and backs of our hands are full of flesh, our natal family and husband's family are indispensable to us. The two are coexisting, not antagonistic. Just think about it, after marrying into her husband's family, which woman would turn back and hate her mother-in-law's family? If you can think about this, it is not difficult to understand why so many Chinese have become American citizens. A U.S. green card or U.S. citizenship is actually just like the household registration system in Beijing back then. With a green card or U.S. citizenship, Chinese people in the United States will have many conveniences in finding employment, loans, and buying houses. Taking the story of my family’s personal experience as an example can illustrate this problem. A few years ago, when my husband was applying for medical residency in the United States, he faced an obviously embarrassing reality. Many hospitals in the United States only accept applications for residency from U.S. citizens, especially those applying to U.S. military hospitals. Having U.S. citizenship is an essential condition. In order to find more application opportunities, my husband had to give up his Chinese citizenship and become an American citizen. In the process of his nationality change, the issue of survival and employment rather than the issue of patriotism played a leading role. If the motherland is compared to the mother, we overseas travelers are the children born and raised by the mother. Living a good life, working well, and not letting your mother worry is another way to honor your mother. In the same way, we do not live in poverty in a foreign land and do not embarrass our motherland. This is another form of patriotism for us overseas wanderers. Indeed, seniors such as Li Siguang or Qian Xuesen who returned to China early on did join the patriotic ranks with their practical actions. Compared with them, we today are insignificant. But history is a process of development, and we should not look at problems from a rigid perspective. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the motherland was in desperate need of a large number of talents. And now? Nowadays, not only is there an explosion of talent in the country, many units also have so many restrictions on the age of employment for women. Even if I want to go back and serve the motherland, which unit in the motherland can accept me? A few years ago, in order to find employment opportunities at home, I was particularly interested in a medical editing job in China. When I learned more about the recruitment requirements for this job, I couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. First of all, this job not only requires female applicants to be under 35 years old, but the funniest thing is that this job also requires applicants to look good. What about being dignified and elegant, what about being generous? I thought to myself, are you looking for an editor or a partner? A few days ago I read an article about the latest medical research progress in the United States. Recently, American scientists discovered that people's most active mental period is not in their twenties, but in their forties to sixties. It can be seen that the domestic strict requirements on the working age of women are not in line with scientific principles. If this continues, it is very likely that older editors who are qualified for the job will be excluded. What a shame. In various job advertisements in the United States, it is clearly stated that applicants will not be discriminated against based on age or gender. Regardless of whether they are true or false, at least their attitude is there. I boldly imagine that if major units in the motherland can relax the age limit for returnees, more overseas tourists will definitely return to serve the motherland. Take me for example. When all three of my children go to college, I will definitely still be able to work, and my brain will still be at its most active period, but I will definitely not be 35 years old. Because of my age limit, I have no hope of serving the country. I guess I can only travel in the United States. In the eyes of some compatriots, nationality and patriotism always go hand in hand. In this case, let me just say a few words about the patriotic behavior in my mind. Patriotism is our sincere wish, and God’s blessing for the motherland is the blessing we look forward to. Americans like to say God Bless America (GOD BLESS AMERICA), and we Chinese like to say God Bless China. Although the sayings are not exactly the same, the truth is the same. Many Americans believe in Christianity and have their own clear God in their hearts. For example, when Americans say that God bless the United States, they will indeed put down their humble hearts and pray earnestly to ask the God in their hearts to protect the United States. What about us Chinese? Which god is the word "Heaven" in "God Bless China"? Is it the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara or the mysterious Buddha? People who like to shout "God bless China" should understand the word "Heaven" before persuading others to be patriotic. Otherwise, they are just shouting slogans in vain. Meng Lang, a Chinese poet living in the United States, wrote the following poem: Expeditions are no longer necessary, because the front is neither home nor a holy land. For us, America is that place. The United States is not our hometown, nor is it the holy land in our hearts. It is just a foreign country where we live and raise our children. Therefore, having U.S. citizenship is not absolutely important. Whether we can adapt to American culture and survive is what matters most. When we fall into another country, only the motherland is the hometown we yearn for. This is just like when we have to go back to our parents' house to complain and seek help when we are wronged. Discussing nationality is like peeling an onion layer by layer. Peeling, peeling, tears came out.