I am an international student in St. Cloud. I am from Wenzhou, China, which is located in southeastern of China. I came to USA in August, 2009. Before I came to America, I have nerve gone to other countries. Therefore, there are many differences between my city and Saint Cloud. The great culture shocks really affect me. Once many people asked me about my city, my answers are simple; it is time for me to introduce my city to others with detailed information. Furthermore, I love my city and Saint Cloud; it is worthy and meaningful to write something about them. Firstly I will introduce Wenzhou.
Introduction of Wenzhou city
Location and Climate
Wenzhou city is located in the southeast of China, it belongs to Zhejiang Province. The east of Wenzhou is near to the East Sea, the south is adjacent to Fujian Province. The whole city lies in between north latitude 27.03'~ 28.36'and east longitude 119.37'~121.18'. 
The total square of the whole city is 11,784 square kilometers, among which, the urban area is 1082 square kilometers, and the sea area is 11,000 square kilometers. There are two satellite cities (country-level city) and six countries included in Wenzhou area. The population of Wenzhou is 7,645,700 (according to the permanent residence registration), including 1,471,800 urban residents.
Wenzhou derives its present name from its mild climate. “Wen” means warm, mild in Chinese. Wenzhou is a part of those subtropical marine regions with a humid climate. Summers are long, hot and humid; winters are mild, dry and short. Wenzhou is noticeable for its alternating dry and monsoon periods, with distinct seasons and abundant rainfall, there are many typhoons in summer each year. The monthly temperatures range from 8.0 to 28.0°C (46.4 to 82.4°F) in January and July respectively. The duration of sunshine amounts to an average of 1700 to 2000 hours annually.
History
Wenzhou was once a famous town of the Eastern Ou (the eastern part of the Oujiang River valley) with a brilliant cultural history. In 192 BC it was the capital of the Kingdom of the Eastern Ou and AD 323 it became Yongjia Prefecture. It was also called the City of White Deer, as the legend said: when the city was being built, there a white deer passed by holding a flower in its mouth. In AD 675 it began to be called Wenzhou, the name was remained and used until nowadays. After the 1911 Revolution on November 8th, a branch of Zhejiang Military Government was established in Wenzhou. On May 7th 1949, Wenzhou was liberated peacefully and Wenzhou Military Control Commission was established at the same time. In the same year on August 26th, Wenzhou City was established. After the establishment of China, its name and the counties under it changed few times. In September 1981, Wenzhou District and Wenzhou City were merged into Wenzhou City.
Historically, Wenzhou has been a city which is renowned for its handicrafts and also as one of the birthplaces of celadon. Wenzhou's papermaking, shipbuilding, silk, embroidery, lacquerwork, as well as its shoes and leather products, achieved a fairly eminent position in the history of China. During the period of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was opened up as a foreign trade port, enjoying a reputation as p prosperous coastal city comparable to Hangzhou. Wenzhou is the hometown of Nanxi Opera or the Southern Opera. The Tale of the Pipa, written by the famous Wenzhou playwright Gao Ming in the mid-fourteenth century, has been translated into a number of foreign languages and achieved worldwide renown. Wenzhou has given birth to many outstanding people and great scholars in China. They played a significant influence in the history of Chinese thought, literature and science.
Economy and Business culture
Wenzhou’s economy has developed fast in recent years. There are ten main industries in Wenzhou: leather products, general equipment, electrical machinery, power supply, plastic manufacturing, textile and garment, transport equipment, chemical products, metal products and metal processing, each exceeding 1.5 billion dollars. The foreign trade volume in Wenzhou has greatly increased. The export of glasses, lighters, air-conditioners and motorcycles have gained up to 169 countries and regions.
In China, most people know Wenzhounese. Once they hear that a people who are from Wenzhou, they will ask whether you do business or not. There are a lot of Wenzhounese doing business in China or other countries. Since to Wenzhou is surrounded by many mountains which make its geographical remoteness, besides, it lacks of natural resources, then the Chinese government had not paid many attention on Wenzhou, just left the people of Wenzhou relatively autonomous. About twenty years ago, Most Wenzhounese was still very poor. I remember one of my teachers in high school, she told me that because of too poor, then Wenzhounese began to do business, they are very brave in business field. Due to many reasons, they make Wenzhounese are more self-reliant, independent and generally more business-oriented. When China began the economic reforms in 1978, Wenzhou was the first city to set up individual and private enterprises. Wenzhou was also the first to launch a market economy in China.
According to Wenzhou Daily Newspaper: There are about 1.6 million natives of Wenzhou now are doing business and running enterprises in all parts of the country. Over 30 thousand limited liability companies and joint-stock enterprises and over 700 thousand trading households are founded. Besides, Wenzhou is the famous hometown of overseas Chinese. About 400 thousand Wenzhounese now reside in 65 countries and regions of the world. They have brought funds, technologies and scientific management to Wenzhou and carried Wenzhou products to all parts of the world. The Wenzhounese have also set up over 400 thousand sales networks and windows at home and abroad, it successively built commercial centers in Brazil Holland, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Germany.
There is a popular saying in China: Wenzhounese is the “Jew of the Orient”.
Language
In Wenzhou, we don’t speak Chinese. We speak our own dialect-Wenzhou Hua, it also call Wu Chinese. Actually Wenzhou hua is the main dialect in Wenzhou city area or nearby counties. Some areas have their own dialects. Since to Wenzhou’s geographical features (many mountains), it leads to form many dialects even in a same town. Wenzhou hua is really difficult to understand for people from all over China. There is a famous rhymed saying in China that goes, "Do not fear the heavens and the earth (i.e. anything), but be afraid of hearing a person from Wenzhou speak in their local tongue." Now most young generation all speak Chinese in school, but they all speak Wenzhou hua at home with family members.
Nowadays with the development of immigration, Wenzhou hua is also spoken in some communities oversea. The largest three ones are: In Flushing and Chinatown New York City, USA; In Paris, France; In Prato, Italy.
Religion
In Wenzhou, most people are non-religious or atheism. Because the education people received that there is no God on this world. But for the old generation, they are Buddhist. Some people are influenced by their family, they also claim they are Buddhist. So there are about 80% of residents are Buddhist. In Wenzhou, there are lots of temples. Some of them are located in mountains. They think it is much more close to their God and good for them to practice their virtue.
In recent years, there has greatly increased of Christian in Wenzhou. It includes the Catholic and Protestant. There are about 600,000 of people are Christian, it has approximately reached to 8% of the whole population. The amount of churches has gone to 1100. Due to the churches are intensive, believers are numerous, therefore Wenzhou is known as the “Jerusalem of China ". There have the lower Taoists in Wenzhou.
Temple Catholic Church (built in 1888)
Food
Wenzhou food has a long history; there are many kinds of food in Wenzhou. Since to Wenzhou is closed to sea, we have many dished are about sea food. People use various of sea food to cook. The fish cakes and fish balls are famous in China. Besides the sea food, there are hundreds of local appetizers. The famous one is the Wenzhou dumplings (also call Hun dun), it is quite delicious. It is wrapped by thin wrappings, and stuffed with fresh pork. Actually, Hun dun is good at its soup. People add a lot of materials in it. Such as the egg, small shrimps, vegetable, meat floss, hot pickled mustard tuber (I am starting to drool). Then it’s the Lamp Cake which is a king of fried cake. We can stuff it with pork, shelled fresh shrimps, eggs, meat and beef. In Wenzhou, there is a place named Tian yi ge restaurant, it is located in Wu ma street which is a busy pedestrian street in the middle of Wenzhou city center. Like most Chinese, rice is the main food for us, too. We eat rice every day. Wenzhou’s dishes are not spicy; it is more closed to the light taste. Because of the warm weather, Wenzhounese don’t really like eat spicy food comparing to other parts of China. (I regret to write food of Wenzhou, it makes me missing my city’s food so so so much!!! Lol~~~)
Fish cakes hun dun (dumpling)
There are many cultural landscapes and the natural landscapes in Wenzhou. Since to Wenzhou’s long history, there have lot of ancient architecture and buildings which are still reserved well. It is really a good way for us to know our ancestors’ acknowledge.
Scenery spots
Due to the geography, Wenzhou is surrounding by mountains, there are many spots are about mountains. The most famous one is Yan dang Mountain. It is the first group of national important scenic sites in China. According to the China Geography Magazine, “Yandang Mountain was formed 120 million years ago. It is a typical ancient rhyolite volcano with area of 450 square meters in total, 550 scenic sites and 8 scenic zones included.” Lingfeng Peak, Lingyan Rock and Dalong Qiu Waterfall are called as "Three Famous Scenic Sites of Yandang Mountain". In Wenzhou, there is a noted river named Nan xi River. The river is really clean and with lots of rocks under river. The river is not deep, but it is long. There are many nice spots around the river. Grotesque caves, wonderful falls, classic villages and amazing beaches and forests.
Yan tou Nan xi River
Introduction of Saint Cloud
The location and climate
Saint Cloud is as beautiful as its name. I think it is a nice city when I heard this name at first time. Indeed Saint Cloud is a pretty good place. Saint Cloud is located in North latitude 45.33’, west longitude 94.10’. It is in north-central of USA, it is one of cities in Minnesota state. There are many lakes in Saint Cloud, and the famous Mississippi River is flowing through here, which provide abound of hydroelectric power. The area of city and land is 80.1 km2 and 78.1 km2 respectively. The population of Saint Cloud is 65,842.
Saint Cloud is humid continental climate. It is warm, humid in summer and cold with really heavy snow in winter. In January, it is extremely cold in Saint Cloud, the average temperature reaches to 9°F. It is too cold to do exercise outside, it feels like we are in refrigerator. After experience the cold months from December to March, the warm weather is coming. The white land is changed from white to green; it is really cool and nice.
The history
Before European came, there was some Native Americans living. They were the Anishinaabe, the Dakota, and some other small tribes. Hunting was their main life source. After the Europeans came to Minnesota in 17th century, they started to mine the resources, there had changed a lot. There were more and more Europeans came to Minnesota. In 1851, Saint Cloud seat was settled; in 1854, the “Father of St. Cloud” John L. Wilson platted it. The history of the county says: "The choosing of St. Cloud as the name for his new town was due to the fact that while reading the life of Napoleon I, Mr. Wilson had observed that the Empress Josephine spent much of her time at the magnificent palace at St. Cloud, a few miles out of Paris, a circumstance which appealed so strongly to his fancy that he adopted it."
Most of the people in Saint Cloud are German descent, some are Irish. In recent years, there some other groups came to settle. They called Hmong from Vietnam. Then it is Somali. It makes Saint Cloud’s culture more multifarious.
In Saint Cloud, there is 50.75% of population believing Catholic. The Protestant occupies to 18.57%. In recent years, with the new immigration‘s coming, they bring the new religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Food
Economy
There are four major industries in St. Cloud: the national paper suppliers, printers, optical lenses, and the granite in the area. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the economic output of St. Cloud metropolitan statistical area was $7529 million. The rate of GDP has grown 2.5% in 2010. During the years of 2001-2008, St. Cloud GDP grew at an annual rate of 5.7% in nominal terms and in real terms the economy grew by 2.9%. The St. Cloud economy is the 206th largest metro economy in the United States.
Language
The English is the major language in St. Cloud. With the development of new immigration, they bring new languages. There are some groups speaking Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese.
ReligionIn Saint Cloud, there is 50.75% of population believing Catholic. The Protestant occupies to 18.57%. In recent years, with the new immigration‘s coming, they bring the new religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
Food
The most famous and distinctive one is Hotdish. It contains meat, starch, vegetable, potatoes, canned soup or other protein. According to food writer Hallie Harron, "You need a starch (grains, noodles or potatoes ... anything but rice), some sort of protein (beans, tofu, etc.), some liquid to moisten everything, and last, a crust or topping to make it crispy and golden brown.” From the above introduction, we can know that Hotdish it is easy and convenient to make. It is quite suitable for church dinners, potlucks, family reunions. I still remember my first hotdish was in church. Father told me this dish was really famous in Minnesota. It was quite delicious. I like hotdish. Besides, the other food in Saint Cloud is like the common American food. Such as Pizza, chicken, hot dog, Salad, cookies and so on.
Scenery spots
As for me, St. Cloud is a scenery spot city for itself. It is a small but so nice city. We can take a local tour by sightseeing in the surrounding area. There are many beautiful parks in city, and it is also a home to variety of historic buildings and museums. In winter, we can enjoy the beautiful snow and get a lot of fun. We can ski, skating, make snowman, winter fishing and so on. In summer, we can cycle in a silent road, boating in Mississippi River etc. I joined the boating activity last year. It was exciting and interesting. But we should remember that we have to protect us from the sunshine.
As for me, St. Cloud is a scenery spot city for itself. It is a small but so nice city. We can take a local tour by sightseeing in the surrounding area. There are many beautiful parks in city, and it is also a home to variety of historic buildings and museums. In winter, we can enjoy the beautiful snow and get a lot of fun. We can ski, skating, make snowman, winter fishing and so on. In summer, we can cycle in a silent road, boating in Mississippi River etc. I joined the boating activity last year. It was exciting and interesting. But we should remember that we have to protect us from the sunshine.
The differences of living in Wenzhou and Saint Cloud
There are many differences between these two cities. Obviously, the area and the population of Wenzhou is much larger than St. Cloud. While as for personally experiences, I will pick up several sectors.
The first one is the climate. Wenzhou is subtropical marine regions with a humid climate, it is much warmer than Saint Cloud. When I was in Wenzhou, I have never seen the snow. I looked forward to seeing the snow when I prepared to come to St. Cloud. Since I came to St. Cloud, finally I have enjoyed the snow. In winter, it is so so so cold. Besides, Saint Cloud is much drier than Wenzhou. Because Wenzhou is closed to sea, the sea brings the wind with humid moisture. While Saint Cloud is a humid continental climate, the air is not really humid. There are many heavy rains in Wenzhou each year; the amount of rainy is much higher than Saint Cloud. In summer, Wenzhou is much hotter than Saint Cloud. The period of summer is much longer in Wenzhou. As for me, I like the weather in Saint Cloud. It is more comfortable. Furthermore, the good environment makes me relax.
The second one is the diet culture. As we all know that most Chinese eat the rice and use the chopsticks. And we like to eat the cooked food. While in Saint Cloud, people use the forks and knives to eat food. Some of their food is uncooked. As the Salad, they just directly add the sauce into vegetable together. In Wenzhou, we never eat like that way. Except some sea food, people eat them without cook in, they think it is more delicious. But I never try it, I don’t like to eat uncooked sea food. In Wenzhou, people like to share dishes on the table together. For example, like our hot pot. We put food in pot, people together sit around the pot, and every one put their chopsticks into the pot to get the food. In St. Cloud, people like to use single plate for each other; The food of Wenzhou has many kinds of food and with long history, the most important is that Wenzhou food is much own the local characteristics. It is due to Wenzhou is much larger than Saint Cloud, the history is much longer than St. Cloud.
The third one is education. I will mainly talk about the difference about colleges. The greatest one is the performance in Class. In St. Cloud state university, students can interrupt teachers’ talking and ask questions during the class. If you don’t understand teachers’ course, you can raise your hands up and ask. And students never feel embarrassed even that question is very easy or simple. While in Wenzhou, it is not good to disturb teachers ’talking during their classes. It is thought that we don’t respect teachers. We should ask questions after classes. If some students do not understand a question, they feel embarrassed to ask out in class. However, with the development of our society, with the influenced of Western culture, it is much better than before. Some teachers encourage students to ask questions in class, as for some interrupting, they don’t think it is a rude way. Even studying in Saint Cloud is much freedom, there are few restriction for students’ studying life, I still believe Wenzhou’s education will be better and better in future.
The fourth one is traffic rules. This one leaves deep impression on me. When I crossed the road in St. Cloud at the first time, I stopped my steps to wait for a car’s passing. To my surprise, that car stopped. The driver showed me that I could go first. In Wenzhou, people wait for cars’ coming, then we cross the road. We know that there are many cars and bikes on the roads in Wenzhou. It is quite crowed. The traffic is not well. There are many accidents happened each year. The government has carried out many rules, the awareness of obeying traffic rules has been improved gradually in recent years.
The last one is sports. There are many sports in both cities. In Saint Cloud, the common ones are baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey; Saint Cloud is also home to the St. Cloud State University Division ice hockey team, a collegiate summer baseball league. In Wenzhou, we have the Badminton-team, ping-pong team, Shooting team. One member named Qinan Zhu who came from the Wenzhou Shooting team, got the Olympic Champion of the Men’s 10m Air Rifle in 2004. In Wenzhou, due to many mountains, people like climbing, too. There are some common and particular sports in both cities. Such as run, basketball, ping-pong, cycle and boating.
Conclusion
After comparing these two cities, we can see there are many differences between two of them. However, there is the one which it is quite important that people come from both cities are really nice and enthusiastic. The nice people I think we have already felt and met in Saint Cloud. The local people are so nice to us. It makes me comfortable to stay in St. Cloud. Each American holiday, they invite international students to celebrate and have dinner together. It improves our knowledge of American culture, furthermore, it feels like we are not far away from our family, it decreases our feeling of homesick. However, Wenzhounese is also nice. They are very hospitable. They will prepare and cook a lot of food for guests. Two cities are all meaningful and vital to me. Wenzhou is a place where I grew up; Saint Cloud is a place where makes me more brave and independent. I love both of them.
After comparing these two cities, we can see there are many differences between two of them. However, there is the one which it is quite important that people come from both cities are really nice and enthusiastic. The nice people I think we have already felt and met in Saint Cloud. The local people are so nice to us. It makes me comfortable to stay in St. Cloud. Each American holiday, they invite international students to celebrate and have dinner together. It improves our knowledge of American culture, furthermore, it feels like we are not far away from our family, it decreases our feeling of homesick. However, Wenzhounese is also nice. They are very hospitable. They will prepare and cook a lot of food for guests. Two cities are all meaningful and vital to me. Wenzhou is a place where I grew up; Saint Cloud is a place where makes me more brave and independent. I love both of them.
Pictures are from:
References
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8. Ojakangas, Richard W.; Charles L. Matsch (1982). Minnesota's Geology. Illus. Dan Breedy. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
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10. Theodore Christian Blegen. Minnesota: a history of the State. Second Edition. U of the Minnesota Press, 1975.
11. Damian Harper, Andrew Burke. China-Lonely Planet China Country Guides. 10, illustrated. Lonely Planet, 2007.
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