Finding Her Place
As a young girl growing up in the South West city of Chongqing, China, Lynn Fu would lose herself in books and English-speaking TV shows. It was her way of escaping the world around her. In university, Lynn’s eyes were opened. She started to see her world in China differently and began to question its values and structures. By becoming a journalist, she thought she could change things in her homeland. But after working there for eight years, she realized that in order to be the kind of journalist she wanted to be, and to have a life of her own, she needed to leave China.
Lynn is the only child to Jinxian Fu (her dad) and Hualian Wu (her mom). She was born in 1987, during the time when Chinese families were allowed only one child per household. Lynn’s father was in the military for more than two decades, and now works for the Chinese government. Her mom runs her own restaurant in their hometown. She comes from a good family and has the loving support of her parents and relatives. However, the expectations for a young Chinese woman were high, leaving Lynn feeling lost and like an outcast. Longing for freedom to be her own person, in 2017, Lynn made the decision to leave China and come to Canada.
Lynn applied to a post grad program at Sheridan College and was accepted. In order to come to Canada to study, she needed a student visa. Lynn had concerns that perhaps Canada would think she was coming here to get married in order to become a permanent resident. But that was not her plan and when the visa came through, Lynn was excited about the opportunities that lay ahead. “They gave me the visa, which means they gave me their trust,” Lynn says.
She landed in Toronto in September 2017 and began her studies, right away. Lynn has a vibrant personality – she easily made friends. After completing her studies, she headed back to China, but it wasn’t long before she was back in Canada. “I want to build a real life here,” says Lynn. “Canada is a place where I can have my own rights, I can protect myself, protect my parents, and protect the people who I care about.”
I felt like I was a foreigner in China before because I was different.
Lynn challenged the status-quo with her different opinions about the Chinese ways and their government. Her peers never understood why she saw things differently than they did, or why she wanted a different life altogether. “I’m a foreigner here (Canada) but mentally I don’t think I’m a foreigner,” she says. “I share similar opinions and understandings with my peers in Canada. I felt like I was a foreigner in China before because I was different.” Today, you will find her walking about the halls of Sheridan, sporting gray-green hair and funky clothes, with a smile from ear to ear. Lynn is home.
Lynn believes that if you can live in a society where people have the similar opinions to your own, it makes life easier. “It was me who chose Canada,” says Lynn. “It was not Canada who chose me.”
