Paperjam: Please, introduce yourself.

Li-Chuan Lin: I arrived in Luxembourg on 24 April 1985. At the time, I was six months pregnant. I was wearing a simple mackintosh and carrying a small piece of luggage with a few changes of clothes and a Chinese-French dictionary. I remember going through customs without too many formalities. Almost without noticing.

When I left the airport, I was first surprised by its size: it was so small! Then what really struck me was the landscape: bare trees, dry branches, a cold, silent atmosphere. I asked myself: what country have I come to?

I had come from Taiwan, a country where nature is always green, whatever the season. And here I was faced with a startling contrast. I had left a teaching job that I loved dearly, and suddenly I found myself in a place that was so different, almost unreal. I had trained for five years at a teacher training college in Taiwan before going on to study Chinese literature at the Normal University. I then taught in a primary school.

So, arriving in Luxembourg, I asked myself: what can I do here?

And did you find an answer?

Well, I started by looking after my children, learning French and volunteering to teach Chinese to children in the Chinese community. Then, in 1989, at the invitation of the Sun Yat-sen Cultural Centre, I started teaching Chinese to adults in evening classes--something I still do today.

As the number of residents of Chinese origin in Luxembourg grew, so did the need for integration support. Children needed structured teaching in Chinese, and Luxembourgers were increasingly curious about Chinese culture. It was in this context that I founded the Chinese Cultural Centre of Luxembourg [editor’s note: Association Culturelle Chinoise de Luxembourg or ACCL] as a nonprofit in 1997. It had around 120 members at the time. It was the first community organisation founded by Chinese people in Luxembourg.

Thanks to a partnership with the Centre de Langues de Luxembourg, we were able to open a Chinese language school. Around 50 children were enrolled, divided into four classes according to age and language level. Classes for adults have grown from a single class to six today.

The ACCL isn’t just a school, though, right?

Right. We also organised a weekly reading circle for adults, an annual concert of traditional Chinese music, children’s performances for Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving, an annual barbecue, as well as cultural excursions, painting exhibitions, conferences and a quarterly magazine.

And how many members do you have now?

It now has around 180 members.

How would you describe the overall mission of the ACCL?

Its aim is twofold: to help the Chinese in Luxembourg integrate better into Western society, and to enable non-Chinese to discover the richness of Chinese culture. It was with this in mind that I created the O² logo: East meets West.

For 28 years, the association has acted as a bridge between cultures. To date, I have probably taught Chinese to almost 2,000 adults.

Over the last ten years, more and more Chinese immigrants have arrived and the Chinese diaspora community has grown. Against this backdrop, and as means of communication have also evolved, the ACCL has also evolved. Today, it focuses mainly on teaching Chinese language, literature, culture and calligraphy. It’s actually been five years since I last organised concerts in large venues, although I continue to hold small, intimate performances in the classroom for my students, as well as film screenings at school.

I also founded the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association of Luxembourg (DDMBA-LUX) in 2015 to teach Chan [editor’s note: also called “Zen”] meditation in the Chinese tradition--so, for the last ten years or so, a Chan meditation course in the Chinese tradition has also been integrated into the programme. In recent years, there have been many events related to Chinese culture in Luxembourg, which is why I’ve gradually decided to dedicate my limited energy to promoting Chan, which I find more practical and more valuable than language itself.

Is there anywhere in Luxembourg that reminds you of home?

I find that, wherever there is bamboo, the atmosphere immediately becomes very Chinese. That’s why I’ve also planted some in my garden.

For people coming from China, what stands out about Luxembourgish culture?

The Chinese are often surprised to see that in Luxembourg, at family dinners, it’s the elders who pay the bill, not the younger ones!

And the way Luxembourgers start a meal with soup before moving on to the main course is very different from Chinese eating habits. In any case, any ingredient can be cooked the Chinese way. In Luxembourg, meat consumption far exceeds that of vegetables in the daily diet.

But everything here is clean, calm and bright. And, almost without realising it, you can already be abroad--you can visit several countries in a single day. Although you often have to wait a long time for a doctor’s appointment, which can be stressful.

What’s something that people here typically don’t know about China?

Behind Chinese behaviour lies a culture of perseverance and hard work, as well as a pragmatic and flexible attitude--these traits are difficult for others to understand.

Any advice for recent arrivals?

I recommend that Chinese people who like Luxembourg and want to live here for the long term learn the essential languages of communication, take an active part in events organised by the authorities and be open to making friends and forging harmonious links with others.

This interview was originally conducted in French.