Outekai Aini: I am a cross-cultural kid of Xinjiang and the City of Shanghai. I know both places very well, so I can say with pride that I come from Xinjiang.
My name is Outekai Aini. I was born and raised in Shanghai, and my place of origin is Atux County, Xinjiang. I am a student at Xinfuxing Junior High School in Shanghai. I am 14. My head teacher is surnamed Zhou, my math teacher is surnamed Wang, and my Chinese teacher is surnamed Tang. Our class is a very harmonious family. I am doing poorly in school, not because I don’t like school, but because it’s too competitive and too much pressure for me.
In class, I like to follow up on what the teacher has just said in order to enliven the classroom atmosphere. There is nothing negative about it because it makes classroom learning more fun and brings the class closer together. My head teacher has me participate in a lot of extracurricular activities, including dancing performances and speech contests.
My favorite sport is basketball. I started playing it since fifth grade in elementary school. Since I am outgoing by nature, I can hardly stay still for too long. Basketball is a team exercise that involves good cooperation. You literally have to pass the ball out with your eyes closed. When I was in second grade at junior high school, I participated in a basketball championship that my team stood a good chance of winning. In the final battle, however, my right hand got hurt and we lost the game by two points, which made me feel very bad.
Frankly, before attending second grade at junior high school I was so impulsive that I would get into a fight with someone just because of what he or she was saying. In the aftermath of the “Cut Nut Candy Incident,” for example, a classmate called me “Cut Nut Candy Seller” while I was walking in school. I struck him on the spot and we started fighting, leaving both of us badly injured.
Thereafter, my father had a conversation with me. “You didn’t have to walk into his shoes, since you are not the type of person he was referring to,” he said, “His intention was to make you angry. You should have refrained from that just to defeat his purpose, if nothing else. He will be embarrassed and bored if you simply stayed away from him.”
His words gave me a lot of food for thought. Later one day, while walking through the corridor of the classroom building, another guy came over and said, “Hey! Is that a terrorist?” I took no note of him and walked straight away chatting with friends. I had a great sense of success when I looked back and saw the awkward look on his face. It felt better than beating him up. Since then, I realized that staying calm could be helpful in many situations. For example, if something unexpected happens and your mind is a mess, you would be at a loss what to do. In basketball, you need to stay extra calm to tell instantly the direction in which the ball moves or even determine to whom your opponent is going to pass the ball by just looking into his or her eyes and get ready to counteract the moment he or she moves. You get easily hot on the basketball court, and when you are hot, your head gets hot too, which may then lead to conflicts. When that happens, either side needs to take a step back. In my opinion, the side who steps back is the actual winner.
Our school has a long history and I am the first Uyghur student enrolled. I differ from other people in looks and dietary habits, but that’s natural, because everyone is supposed to be a little different. I see myself as the crystallization of the culture of Xinjiang and Shanghai, both of which I am well-acquainted. So, I am proud to say I am from Xinjiang. My parents are Xinjiangers for real. My dad is a wise and quick minded man who can easily read my mind. For example, if I ask him a question, he will immediately know what I am thinking. Sometimes I find it quite scary, but at the same time I feel I owe my high IQ to him. My mom is great too. With a high EQ, she has a loud voice and a lot to worry about and is very strict with my sister and me. Maybe that’s the case with all moms in the world. My dad is different. He prefers to leave us alone and let us do our own probing.
My dad was the firstborn in his family. He had a tough childhood taking care of his siblings and doing other chores besides going to school. He became quite independent since he was just 10. The people of Atux train their kids in ways that cause them to become independent when they are still young. When an Atux boy turns 16, his parents would give him a purlin and let him carry it as he travels far off on horseback or donkey back. If he came back with the same purlin several weeks later, it would mean he was mature enough to be on his own.
My dad’s adventure to Shanghai was very interesting. In 1984, there was no TV in Atux, but there were movie projectors. So, he rented one to show movies in the family courtyard. In those days, at the beginning of each movie, Chinese characters such as “Beijing Movie Studio” and “Shanghai Bayi Movie Studio” would show up on the screen. My dad didn’t know Chinese, but he found the spelling of “Shanghai” interesting, so he asked what it meant. When he knew it was Shanghai, he made up his mind to go there.
In 1986, at age 17, my dad came to Shanghai and began a tough life opening a restaurant right across Bayi Movie Studio. Now he has several and the city has developed into a megacity of about 30 million people, up from 6.5 million in the first year of his arrival. Dad loves Shanghai because it’s fast-paced, and he is the type who likes being busy and never grows weary. He speaks Shanghai dialect and refers to the city as China’s New York.
When I got hurt playing basketball during one game, I still wanted to play the finals. My dad appreciated my drive, but told me to stay calm and wait till I got better. “Don’t count on becoming a champion all at once,” he said, “Think in terms of one year, two years, even three to five years.”
But I couldn’t wait. I dashed back to the court against all odds in the final match. This was probably due to my mom’s influence, because she has taught me to be a brave man at all times. She herself has been a kind of amazon. She ran very fast when she was younger. I could beat her neither in 50-meter races nor 1,000-meter races. She was very strict with us kids, but was never nagging. And she could be fun too. For example, when I got home one night, I found the house all dark. As I opened the door, I saw standing before me a shadow with disheveled hair. I was scared out of my wits until I recognized it was her! I love her for who she is. In my opinion, the most terrible thing about parents is that they don’t care about you at all.
My mom hates to see me play with my cellphone, so I never play any online games at all and I never check on my phone in her presence. In fact, I wouldn’t even charge it when she is around-not out of fear, but out of respect. When she went to Xinjiang to work for more than a year, I would suddenly miss her in class and weep bitterly and freak my classmates out.
My parents settled down in Shanghai after finishing college and getting steady jobs over here. They grew up with the city, witnessed its growth and became part of it. I travel back to Xinjiang during holidays. Xinjiang is more fun and gives me a stronger sense of home because all of my relatives are there. Shanghai looks more modern, but Xinjiang makes me comfortable because it makes me feel as if I am one with nature.
I want to be an actor when I grow up because I am good at using body language and I want to find out what it is like to work in a wide range of jobs and professions. I want to experience different things and find out how I can change for the better.
(selected from Xinjiang: Beyond Race, Religion, and Place of Origin by Kurbanjan Samat, translated by Wang Chiying, published by New World Press in 2017)
