You Zhi San

By Olivia Yang, 17, Massachusetts

Medium: colored pencils

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This piece is a depiction of a young girl with a traditional Chinese oil paper umbrella in southern China. As a Chinese-American visiting the home country of my parents, I felt alienated because I wasn’t native. I didn’t speak as well or know as much as people who grew up in China. I struggled with coming to terms with the two parts of my identity as I felt like I didn’t belong as a Chinese nor as an American. Now that I have embraced my Chinese heritage as something to be proud of, I created this “You Zhi San” (oil paper umbrella) to signify the unification. Although I was born in America, there are aspects of my culture that I love and can still be proud of.

@oliviayangart1