If I were to introduce Chinatown to a friend I would say that Chinatown is where everyone would treat each other as family and spread our culture around the town. 

Chinatown is very festive, so they would have red and gold banners, cultural building structure, and more, everywhere in stores and outside. They would have a detailed arch way of a dragon right in front of Chinatown for good fortune on your way in. They would also have red lanterns hanging around China wishing everyone good health, fortune, good education, etc. 

Once you enter Chinatown you would be hit by a strong breeze of different food shops like, Dim sum, Boba Tea (milk tea), noodles, and more! 

Then there would be different stores with cute plushies, and a market that sells food, or restaurants! Each store would treat you like close family so don't be shy to start a conversation!

The food at Chinatown is so phenomenal that each flavor will melt on your tongue and sink into your body, tasting every ingredient! Each food would be Chinese cultural food that they want you to feel like you are in China! Also in each restaurant they would have menus outside their windows so you can see what you would want to eat before going in, or see what they have!

 Then you would see a store that would sell clothes, toys, etc. One store would sell clothes that are comfortable and soft as silk sheets. They would have some outside for people to see before going in!

Another store would sell toys, plushies, and keychains. They are so adorable! It's like they just came out of a cute cartoon! Each plushie is so fluffy, it's like you are petting a ginormous fluffy dog! Each of these toys, plushies, etc, would remind you that it is like China. They would always have these displayed outside where it is visible for people to see!

There would also be jewelry stores that sell jade bracelets and pendants that would protect you from bad luck and the pendants you can choose which design you like! They mostly have your Chinese spirit animal to represent you!

There would also be markets with fresh fruits and vegetables on tables outside of the markets making people go in and check inside! Their fruits are filled with such flavor and juice that just slivers its way down into your body.

 Mind you that some people would give you an apple on the streets outside markets. Don't be scared to take the apple, they just want to wish you better health. You would also see people sitting on colorful stools outside some stores laughing together like if they were family.

 Also China town is a place to remind everyone about China even though it's not in China.Chinatown is a wonderful place where they spread their culture and have a good time with friends and family, they are not just there to make money.

(First Prize)

By

Ella Zhuang 韩予婕 英文高中组 2025-12-17

Imagine this: it’s a Friday night and before putting on your favorite show, you need to make yourself dinner. However, it is a Friday night, which means take-out is the way to go. Among the many options of cuisines, one of the most famous is Chinese food. Food is what connects people. Food, specifically Chinese food, is what I would introduce to my friends when talking about China.

Chinese food is a window to culture. In fact, most people’s first understanding of culture has to do with something they eat. For such a big country, it is no surprise that Chinese food and cooking varies from region to region, city to city. It doesn’t matter where you are, you are bound to discover a new dish local to the area. In the United States, there are Chinese restaurants that range from carting around dim sum to making Szechuan cuisine to serving up raw ingredients for the perfect hot pot. By experiencing what food has to offer, people are able to learn different types of food, tastes, and ways to cook. While orange chicken, fried rice, and spring rolls are not the complete definitives of Chinese food, accepting and being willing to try cultural dishes is certainly one way to bring the world closer to each other.

Chinese food is a form of community. Many traditional holidays have to do with coming together, cooking, and eating with the family. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the circular mooncakes have the meaning of “tuan yuan,” unity within one’s community. During the Winter Solstice, it is always tradition for everyone to get together and make dumplings. For the Qingming Festival, families go to cemeteries, using food as a way to make offerings and remember loved ones who have passed. In my community, Chinese families make dishes for Lunar New Year, bringing them to my local high school as a way to express gratitude for our teachers. Apart from holidays, going to an auntie’s simple house party often requires the action of bringing homemade food, showing that love is effort, even if it is amongst a chosen family.

One Friday passes, and another Friday comes. The action of buying Chinese take-out is always more than what it seems. It is being introduced to a new or different part of a culture. It is also being able to connect with those you love and those who love you. The world today is messy, but however lofty it may be, Chinese food can help make it a better place!

(Third Prize)

By

Grace Chen 陈行敏 英文高中组 2025-12-17

Introducing an oblivious friend—even a close one— to the vast universe that is Chinese culture is a difficult endeavor, to say the least. Because Chinese culture is so prevalent in society today, even a student living under a metaphorical rock knows about dragons, avid rice consumption and the fact that it was China that started COVID-19 (more on that later). As a proud player on the Poolesville High School varsity football team, there is a certain degree of tact I must employ in artfully dispelling a myriad of racist, systemically imbued stereotypes that have been ingrained in my (mainly conservative white) teammate’s minds about the Chinese race (mainly in our cuisine and upbringing), and general confusion in differentiating the main East Asian countries (Japan, Korea, China, etc.).

I recall an occasion last year (my sophomore year of high school) where one of my white teammates from football was assigned a presentation on Chinese culture in an AP World History class. Being the sole Chinese player on the entire football team (and one of two East Asian players overall) and knowing that I was (as a person) deeply rooted in Chinese traditions and culture, he’d naturally come to me for help (or so he said, as I later found out he had first gone to the other East Asian on the team, a Korean fellow, and, after a tirade of insults, was kindly informed that Korea was NOT in fact a city in China). I was beyond excited—finally, this was an opportunity to genuinely express my deep-set love and appreciation for Chinese culture by someone who showed genuine interest! Yet there was also a degree of apprehension, as I knew I’d been given this opportunity to influence and effectively establish all that he’d know about China for certainly quite a while, and I was determined to paint the truest image possible.

I began with an introduction to the cuisine of China, as I find often that there are the most common misconceptions there. I was quickly proven right, as my friend asked right off the bat what dog tastes like. I then patiently explained that the vast majority of Chinese people do not eat dogs or cats, and that the belief stems from a racist stereotype perpetuated by a general lack of knowledge in the public. After clearing that up, I launched into a deep dive on true Chinese cuisine, from the meat-stuffed bao bun and delicious, crispy scallion bing to the charred lamb chuan and sticky nian gao. My mouth watered as I pictured the delicious aromas, and I saw rapt fascination in his eyes at all the delectable dishes China had to offer. Internally, I felt sorry for him, knowing he didn’t have the memories I did of these comforting, deeply traditional Chinese dishes, and made a mental note to take him to a Chinese restaurant (which I did!). At some point, I got lost in my reverie of wonderful Chinese food, and he had to physically shake me to snap me back to reality. To prevent another such incident, I quickly moved on to Chinese architecture and style. 

When I asked what he knew of Chinese architecture and Chinese clothing style, he was surprised to hear that China actually has buildings and wasn’t just a country of farmers living in dirt houses (looking back, I think he had China confused with pre-revolution Russia…), and was even more surprised to learn that Chinese people do not all wear straw, cone-shaped hats. After again dispelling the stereotypes, I again delved deep into the true beauty of Chinese architecture and style, telling of flowing silky gowns and beautiful high-rise buildings rising so high they seemed to graze the clouds. Chinese architecture is famed internationally for its efficiency and sleek design, a fact I remain eternally proud of. His eyes widened as he heard of towering Chinese architecture and ancient relics like the Great Wall of China, and even more as he heard of the army of Terracotta Soldiers buried in the tomb with emperor Qin Shi Huang. He promised to do more research into the topic, and wondered how it was that the Chinese managed to construct such a vast structure as the Great Wall (spoiler: it was a brutal but fascinating process). I could see him genuinely thinking and processing the information I was telling him, which only spurred my enthusiasm. Finally, I moved onto Chinese traditions and upbringing.

He was astounded once more to learn that Chinese people did not ritually eat bats (COVID-19 was an isolated incident), and even more so that I was not beaten severely for getting a 95 instead of an 100 on assessments. I later found out he’d wrongly employed the use of syllogism to surmise that since I only got straight A’s, and I was not regularly beaten, that all Chinese children must be severely beaten for anything lower. I quickly corrected him, as Chinese traditions are much more progressive these days, and that the tradition of ambition among Chinese people is not generally forced by the parents, but voluntarily pursued by the students. I slowly started seeing him draw parallels between Chinese upbringing and his own Western upbringing, and coming to the eventual conclusion that our childhoods weren’t really so different after all; our parents simply wanted the best for us, and it’s something I’m truly proud of.

He walked away from our conversation with a newfound curiosity for Chinese culture, and I did the same with a sense of pride that I’d represented Chinese culture as best as I could. As a Chinese football player, I am often reminded of this fact by my teammates and I may as well be the only Chinese person in the universe for all that they ask me. I love introducing Chinese culture and tradition to my friends, and I take every opportunity, every occasion I can to say more and more. It’s quite amusing, dispelling the often outrageous stereotypes my friends hold about Chinese culture, and watching a new light dawn in their eyes at how Chinese cuisine isn’t just rice and dumplings, how Chinese style isn’t just straw hats, and how Chinese architecture isn’t simply mud houses. Every time I’m able to introduce Chinese culture to another, I find myself more and more enamored with it myself, even when I didn’t think it possible to love my culture more. The interaction was not only inspiring for my friend, but it refreshed my own memory of just how vast and beautiful Chinese culture truly is, and gave me a newfound appreciation for the person I was and the colorful history I’d come from.

(Third Prize)

By

Allen Du 杜乐尧 英文高中组 2025-12-17

“Where did everyone go this summer?” a teacher asks during the icebreaker. It’s my first day of high school, full of students stuffed in the halls like sardines and an agenda book already full of homework. I rack my brain for everything I did over my 3-month-long vacation. I’m met with memories of scrolling on my phone, mindless homework, and much-appreciated sleep. But through these dull memories, something exciting stands out. Vivid gardens and sweet blooming flowers flash across my mind. The kind faces of relatives and family friends whom I hadn’t seen in years whish past. The acute smell of delicious food blurs in my mind. All of these experiences culminated in my annual visits to China. 

When I visited China last year, what I most clearly recall is seeing my family. While most of my friends in the US see their grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins relatively frequently, I lament about how I only see them once a year. Yet they say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. So through my relatives' kindness, I understood that even though we don’t know each other very well, they do love and care for me. From showing us around the city to inviting us to a birthday banquet to simply making small, homemade meals every day, their actions make us feel like a true family. 

Even those whom I may not be as familiar wth, such as family friends, treated us with such kindness. I particularly remember the family of a friend my mom went to medical school with, who took us all around Changsha. When we visited their house, they introduced us to the traditional tea process. The warm, earthy scent of the tea leaves seemed to bloom as she poured boiling hot water into the pot. The ridged table underneath steered spilled water away as they handed us clay cups, small and warm in my hands. Her daughter treated us to a famous milk tea, which my sister and I would later beg to buy later on, and brought us to museums about ancient embroidery and the rise of the Communist Party. Though the complex characters blurred in my head at times, she explained what each of the plaques said with patience and clarity. We even visited a developing medical center and museum dedicated to her grandfather, one of my mother's mentors. There, I of course had to take pictures of what my parents looked like when they were younger, and the old, yellowed texture of the photos only made the experience more enjoyable. Despite not being as close, they still offered their time and patience with us as they welcomed us to China, just as much as my blood relatives did. 

The only parts of my experiences in China without relatives were when we visited new cities where my parents had never been, such as Yangzhou. Despite the boiling temperature that led to a sheen of sweat after walking a couple of steps, I can still recall the beautiful gardens, freshly made food, and handmade crochet items. As we walked at night through the cobbled street market, roasting meat and fresh fruit filled my nose, and the shops each lit up with a warm glow despite the darkness. Each of these places and people greeted us with warmth and human connection, describing the history of the gardens and their inhabitants or their daily lives of waking up early and sleeping late to master their craft. Even the hotel we stayed at, akin to an Airbnb, greeted us every time we returned seeking refuge from the heat with smiles, small talk, and snacks. 

So, when the time came for me to answer the question of where I went this summer, I introduced China. I describe its ancient history that probably would make our heads spin, the amazing cuisine, and most importantly, the hospitality of the people there. Though I may have been a foreigner from thousands of miles away, the people there, no matter my degree of familiarity with them, treated me with kindness and made me feel like I belonged. Like I was family to them.

(Second Prize)

By

Larissa Deng 邓睿莎 英文高中组 2025-12-17