I met her some years ago and there was a warm smile from Virginia.
Oddly enough, Macau sometimes seems to be big, as we didn't meet too often, but empathy can draw people together.
Virginia always made me curious of her. She is a Macau native, but many of her friends were not. I observed curiously her openness. Later I learnt that she graduated in Philosophy from Seattle University and returned to Macau 15 years ago. She worked at the Macau Cultural Institute. She then left .... years ago and chose Lisbon to live, in the typical Alfama quarters, from where she freelances in events and performance.
I am very curious, in the positive sense, about some people. People that touch me. I wonder what drives them to make some choices, what attracts them, and so forth. It is all about human beings.
ACJ: Virginia, having been born in Macau what drove you to such a distant place like Seattle, and why philosophy? Was Macau not giving you fulfillment for your aspirations?
After I graduated from secondary school in Macau, like the majority of my classmates, we looked to continue our college education somewhere else other than Macau, while universities in the next door Hong Kong at the time were difficult to get admitted to. We applied to more than one place, and a community college in Seattle accepted my application, and after two quarters of studies in improving English, Seattle University accepted me. The education system was pretty relax in the U.S. and we got to change majors many times. Influenced by some freshly grad professors at the time, who truly loved and enthusiastic in teaching philosophy, I kept taking more and more classes and at the end it became my major. At that time and age, coming from a small and somewhat closed society like Macau, before the popularity of internet, we were trying to understand many things by thought and by physically going to places: the environment, social issues, racial relations, our time, how we thought and have been thinking about things… In that sense, perhaps yes, Macau did not have the psychologic space to offer us the opportunity to broaden our horizon in thought to crystallize our aspirations.
ACJ: I have noticed that many of your relations in Macau encompassed non-Chinese friends and now, I suppose that all in Portugal are none Chinese. What drove you to cross the bridge to a "different culture and environment?"
The bridge is "crossed" or "getting crossed" the minute we stepped out of our home environment and our comfort zone and stepped into the openness of trying to understand the others. From knowing people of difference places, they bring the world to us, or nearer to us. There is still much to be learnt.
ACJ: The curiosity is mine. Is there a difference between Chinese young people and your non Chinese friends? Would you identify the differences?
I guess the difference is not so much the culture or race as the social upbringing and cultural awareness. I find the same kind of young people in all societies and cultures that I have experienced, who are not so open to people from different environments and cultures, and who are more interested in the mainstream such as their own security, social status and good jobs, which is a choice… but I also find others who are open to diversity and changes, for themselves and also for the others. Yet, I do think that people, young and old, without travel and experience cultures and environments other than their own, would be more difficult to be open to the differences.
ACJ: In your view, what really differentiates the Chinese philosophers from their Western counterparts? What are the main cultural differences in your opinion.
My university only offered Western Philosophy studies and that was the sole genealogy of thought I learnt. But because by cultural upbringing and ethnicity, I am Chinese, i found intuitively some premises in forms of analysis, points of departure to begin the works, did not apply to our eastern psyche, or perhaps to ways of thinking that are close to and inclined towards eastern thoughts. In this sense, it's more difficult to merge the two.
ACJ: What made you chose Lisbon of so many countries in Europe? And then Alfama... I am really curious.
Because I was born in Macau before the handover, so naturally I am Portuguese by birth. And Lisbon feels like home because the way the old city is laid out, some buildings, the calçada (cobbled stone) streets, the mellow inclusiveness, warmth and sense of humor of the people, and the diversity nowadays adds to the flavor of the place. Nostalgia for the old attracted many included myself to the old neighborhoods of Lisbon, such as Alfama, Mouraria or Graça… among others. For me, simply, I just feel more safe living with old things rather than new.
Oddly enough, Macau sometimes seems to be big, as we didn't meet too often, but empathy can draw people together.
Virginia always made me curious of her. She is a Macau native, but many of her friends were not. I observed curiously her openness. Later I learnt that she graduated in Philosophy from Seattle University and returned to Macau 15 years ago. She worked at the Macau Cultural Institute. She then left .... years ago and chose Lisbon to live, in the typical Alfama quarters, from where she freelances in events and performance.
I am very curious, in the positive sense, about some people. People that touch me. I wonder what drives them to make some choices, what attracts them, and so forth. It is all about human beings.
ACJ: Virginia, having been born in Macau what drove you to such a distant place like Seattle, and why philosophy? Was Macau not giving you fulfillment for your aspirations?
After I graduated from secondary school in Macau, like the majority of my classmates, we looked to continue our college education somewhere else other than Macau, while universities in the next door Hong Kong at the time were difficult to get admitted to. We applied to more than one place, and a community college in Seattle accepted my application, and after two quarters of studies in improving English, Seattle University accepted me. The education system was pretty relax in the U.S. and we got to change majors many times. Influenced by some freshly grad professors at the time, who truly loved and enthusiastic in teaching philosophy, I kept taking more and more classes and at the end it became my major. At that time and age, coming from a small and somewhat closed society like Macau, before the popularity of internet, we were trying to understand many things by thought and by physically going to places: the environment, social issues, racial relations, our time, how we thought and have been thinking about things… In that sense, perhaps yes, Macau did not have the psychologic space to offer us the opportunity to broaden our horizon in thought to crystallize our aspirations.
ACJ: I have noticed that many of your relations in Macau encompassed non-Chinese friends and now, I suppose that all in Portugal are none Chinese. What drove you to cross the bridge to a "different culture and environment?"
The bridge is "crossed" or "getting crossed" the minute we stepped out of our home environment and our comfort zone and stepped into the openness of trying to understand the others. From knowing people of difference places, they bring the world to us, or nearer to us. There is still much to be learnt.
ACJ: The curiosity is mine. Is there a difference between Chinese young people and your non Chinese friends? Would you identify the differences?
I guess the difference is not so much the culture or race as the social upbringing and cultural awareness. I find the same kind of young people in all societies and cultures that I have experienced, who are not so open to people from different environments and cultures, and who are more interested in the mainstream such as their own security, social status and good jobs, which is a choice… but I also find others who are open to diversity and changes, for themselves and also for the others. Yet, I do think that people, young and old, without travel and experience cultures and environments other than their own, would be more difficult to be open to the differences.
ACJ: In your view, what really differentiates the Chinese philosophers from their Western counterparts? What are the main cultural differences in your opinion.
My university only offered Western Philosophy studies and that was the sole genealogy of thought I learnt. But because by cultural upbringing and ethnicity, I am Chinese, i found intuitively some premises in forms of analysis, points of departure to begin the works, did not apply to our eastern psyche, or perhaps to ways of thinking that are close to and inclined towards eastern thoughts. In this sense, it's more difficult to merge the two.
ACJ: What made you chose Lisbon of so many countries in Europe? And then Alfama... I am really curious.
Because I was born in Macau before the handover, so naturally I am Portuguese by birth. And Lisbon feels like home because the way the old city is laid out, some buildings, the calçada (cobbled stone) streets, the mellow inclusiveness, warmth and sense of humor of the people, and the diversity nowadays adds to the flavor of the place. Nostalgia for the old attracted many included myself to the old neighborhoods of Lisbon, such as Alfama, Mouraria or Graça… among others. For me, simply, I just feel more safe living with old things rather than new.
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