Guest Post: Cuong in China

As a Vietnamese American Minnesotan, my identity sometimes feels muddled.  My identity
ricochets and amplifies when I travel. I’m Minnesotan in Wisconsin.  I’m American in Viet Nam.
I’m Bruce Lee in Africa.  I’m Vietnamese in Europe.

When Ilse invited me to come to China, I expected Viet Nam to be displayed on my forehead for
the Wuhanese.  I have always thought I looked classically Vietnamese. Yet in China I was
Chinese because China is the giant of Asia.  Its shadows encompasses so many cultures and
nations.

Then my two footedness identity disappeared when a car blasted into me 2 weeks prior to my
trip to China, leaving my lovely 5th metatarsal cracked apart.  So I became the Man with a Cam
Boot.

Armed with my boot, I armpit-crutched or knee-scootered from Minnesota straight to China.
Never before have I experienced any disability so visible. At MSP airport, I scooted to my gate
with glee. My scooter was checked in at the gate and I was always first on the plane.  The
scooter would reunite with me at the next gate. This was the High life.

Then came China.  When I landed in Wuhan, my scooter lost its way from the gate.  So I limped
with my boot to the gate agent.  Mandarin rapid fired from the agent until she recognized my
confusion.  After wild gesticulations and English Manderin audio app translations, I realized my
scooter was at baggage claim.  Then after a few more minutes of me exaggerating my limp, she
realized that she had to find me a wheelchair to get to my baggage. 30 long minutes later my
right knee was once again leaning on my 4 wheeled assistant and more wonderfully, I got to roll
into Ilse’s arms.

I stuck next to Ilse like velcro in China but the sight of an Asian man with a disability next to a
White woman was like staring at the mighty sun.  Unnecessary double takes were abound.
Other times, a ​Nǐ hǎo would come my way with an expectation I would return it with more
Mandarin melodies.  Instead the wonderful multilinguist Ilse would magically greet them with her
Mandarin.  The Chinese were mesmerized by her Manderin and confused by my lack of
Mandarin.  This moment was recycled exponentially over throughout China.

Yet the Chinese have flung itself into the future. China is Viet Nam on steroids.  Density was in
humans, cars, malls, and mechanical cranes.  Street vendors prefer app payments via QR
scans.  Cameras claimed every corner. 200 MPH bullet trains took us to Beijing, Huangshan,
Guilin, and Hong Kong. My boot did not stop us from seeing the enormity of the Great Wall, the
mystical fogs of Yellow Mountain, and paved bikes paths amongst the Karst mountains.

But China was not built for disability.  In China, broken bones are treated with 100 days of rest
at home.  I broke this image of disability and in the process learned to be appreciative of my
feet.

I am thankful that Ilse have always embraced all my identities.  She accepts my under height,
my over perfectionism, and my ultra tech ways. She loves diversity and China represents
underdiscovered layers of diversity.

So come to China to see this legendary giant in action.  And stay to see the beauty and feel the
warmth that is Ilse: empath feminist, winter biker, ferocious reader, and karoake queen.