Q&A with Rosalind Kong

What inspired you to discuss the role of Christianity in Chinese immigrant communities? Why is it important for the 阿姨们 to maintain a relationship with God in order to "carve out [their] place in the world?"

I think that a unique combination of cultural factors combine to form Christian Chinese-American communities: Chinese churches reflect adaptation to a country where Christianity is the majority religion, but they also create a space for bonding over shared Chinese heritage. The Chinese church represents assimilation, but it also represents the creation of community.

When it comes to religion, I think community is just as important as belief. Part of the draw of Chinese church is the Chinese community that one might not otherwise have. Yes, the 阿姨们 have a relationship with God, but what is equally important are the relationships they have with all the other 阿姨们 at Chinese church who have a relationship with God.

Most of the dialogue in your original piece is in Chinese. Why was it important for you to keep the language intact when writing the story? How do you think the inclusion of Chinese dialogue affects the message?

I didn’t want this piece to be predominantly in English or predominantly in Chinese; instead, I wanted this piece to be bilingual because my intended audience for it is bilingual. Specifically, this piece is for second-generation Chinese Americans like me who navigate Chinese-speaking communities in an otherwise English-speaking world. For me, leaving the dialogue in Chinese indicates a distinct cultural context and strongly associates it with the Chinese-speaking communities I grew up in. The constant switching between languages also reflects how I navigate Chinese-speaking spaces: while I naturally speak and understand Chinese without translating in my head, my inner monologue and thoughts come naturally in English.

I find that spoken language is inherent to my experience as part of the Chinese diaspora. I speak Chinese to my family at home, to the 阿姨们 in my neighborhood, to the 阿姨们 at art class, and so on. Despite having spent many Sundays at Chinese school, I still find reading and writing Chinese beyond an elementary school level difficult. In my daily life, I rarely need to read or write Chinese; in this way, written Chinese feels distinctly more foreign than spoken Chinese. Writing Chinese dialogue feels familiar to me; writing Chinese prose does not.

The large swaths of Chinese characters are intentionally alienating to those who cannot read the language. Not translating creates a barrier. It makes it clear who the piece is not written for.

There is still value in translation, hence why I included an English translation of the piece. Translation breaks down barriers and makes a piece more accessible. But by marking it as a translation, it emphasizes the distance present from the original meaning. The Chinese words hold a different history than the English ones. “God” has a different history than “上帝”. The address “老师” reflects a specific cultural attitude that “teacher” does not. In translation, some of the original meaning has to be lost, and I think the awareness of that loss is important.