JING

IMPOSSIBLE

My name is Jing and I grew up in China. Since I am little, my parents never asked how I am doing or if I am happy. I received an education exclusively focused on academic success. Very early, I became interested in foreing literature, French or English. It is therefore quite natural to choose the foreing language option at university but also computer science because it was the most secure way for a “social success”. My academic years were not always simple. I felt in discrepancy. But it was the way it was. My education and my culture did not allow me to dream something else. What matters in China is to make a living, buy an apartment and have a family.

SURVIVE

One day, at the university library, I discovered the book “A life” from Guy de Maupassant. I opened this book and I read it straight, standing in the library. At the same time, my doormates told me that I was dreaming in English. My taste for foreign languages was confirmed but I had to think about making money. After my studies, I moved to Beijing to work, but my salary only allowed me to survive and everything was difficult. After two years, all these difficulties led me to leave Beijing for a city further south, Shenzhen. I work in import-export, mainly in English. I travel more and more for business. Thanks to this new job, my hobby for foreign languages resurfaced and one day I decided to learn French.

AWARENESS

During a business trip to Taiwan for a colloquium, I met an European student. I realized that if he can come all the way here for his studies, maybe that it is possible for me ? I started gathering information but I quickly gave up in front of the exorbitant amount of money generated by such a project. So I went back to my life and became the owner of an apartment in Shenzhen

THE SPUR

As part of my job, I went to work three month in Germany. I met a French person, who during a weekend, take me to visit Bordeaux. I enjoy the visit but I don’t thing, at this moment, that I will go back one day. It is not possible for me, as a chinese, to think as such. Around the end of my stay in Germany, I had to go to paris to meet a client. One morning, I sat on a bench of the Saint Sulpice square with a coffee and a viennoiserie/pastry like many others around me. At this moment, it was a revelation. I like Paris and it is there that I want to live. I manage to extend my stay of three month in paris. I quickly met my companion and we lived three magical months. The separation, the day of my departure is not easy but I feel alright because I know there isn’t another solution. I am coming back to live in Paris.

I’M_POSSIBLE

When I am back in Shenzhen, I am decided. I give myself a year to sell my apartment and prepare my departure. Thus, I decided to apply for the business school of Grenoble for a year of financial studies. The day I received my letter of admission, it was a liberation. That is it. I was leaving China to live in France. Then one thing led to another. I lived a year in Grenoble, then I reached my partner in Paris. After a year, we moved to Bordeaux. The installation and the acclimation were not easy, but I am learning to make myself happy, I know that I am where I wanted to be and I am learning to reconnect with myself.

Illustrations © Amélie Orhant