Her mother's tyranny informed Tan's fiction, in which her Chinese female characters are silhouetted through their mothers' remarks and thoughts. Yet it was also through her mother that Tan gained an understanding of a culture totally alien to most American people.

"My mother was a concubine at first, and it was a social kind of life," said Tan. "Understanding this aspect of her life helped me to see her in a different way." The popular author called this phenomenon of feeling bicultural emotions "spiritual biculturalism".

Like Tan, Ma had a similarly cross-cultural upbringing. Born to Chinese parents in Paris, Ma's awareness of cultural differences was awakened when the family moved from France to the United States. "That was a huge change because everything looks different," Ma recalled. "The sky looks different, the buildings are different." Ma also commented wryly that even the cheese is different.

His family encouraged him to study cello at the age of four. "To be a good musician, one must have an individual view," said Ma. However, this is contrary to the common idea that a musician should first be well disciplined. Ma relayed a joke which elaborated on the conflict: "A boy tells his father that he wants to be a musician when he grows up. The father replies 'you cannot have both!'"

Half jokingly and half seriously, Ma questioned the common prejudice, stating that he is a human being first, musician second and cellist third. He spoke of his appreciation of individualism and humanity, and said that his great love is people. "There is no contradiction between being a musician and loving people, because music is a great way to explore culture, wisdoms and voices," he said.

Despite being raised and educated in the West, Tan and Ma still carried the imprint of immigrants, visible in their physical difference. "We were all dislocated," said Tan."I was now in the same shoes only I loved it." According to Tan, she never had a date because she was the only Chinese girl in her school. Thinking she must be ugly, she asked her mother if she would be considered pretty in China. "You? No," her mother replied. "Maybe you would be average."

Tan commented that self-worth alone could conquer such an attitude. "When you travel to different places, you discover that beauty is not variable," she said. "But how you feel about yourself goes beyond simply beauty."

For Ma, being an immigrant meant being endowed with a sense of curiosity about everything new. "Whenever I go to a new place, I get really excited," he said. "I think hey, maybe I can live here."

"I feel I'm part of the human race. My goal is to feel comfortable, wherever I am in the world."

(China.org.cn by Wu Jin December 19, 2011)

媽媽的專制成為譚恩美小說靈感的來源。在她的小說中，那些中國女性角色通過她們母親的言談和思想被勾勒出來。同時，也正是通過她的母親，譚恩美了解到了一種完全不為大部分美國人所熟知的文化。

“我媽媽起初是一個妾，那是在當時社會的一種生活，”譚恩美說道。“對她生活這一面的理解幫助我從一個不同的角度去審視她。”這個暢銷書作家將這種雙重文化情結稱之為“精神上的雙重文化主義”。

與譚恩美一樣，馬友友也是在跨文化的背景下成長起來的。出生于巴黎一個華裔家庭，馬友友對文化差異的認知在舉家遷離法國去往美國后被喚醒。“那是一個巨大的改變，因為每樣東西都變得不一樣了，”馬友友回憶道，“天空看上去不一樣了，建筑不一樣了。”他揶揄道，甚至連奶酪也不一樣了。

在家人的勉勵下，馬友友四歲開始學大提琴。“要成為一個好的音樂家，一個人首先要有自己的見解，”馬友友說道。然而，這與普世的觀點——音樂家首先要循規蹈矩相抵觸。 馬友友隨即講了個笑話，進一步解釋了這一沖突。“一個小男孩跟他的父親說他長大了要成為一名音樂家，他父親回答道，‘你不可能同時成就兩樣’。”

馬友友半開玩笑半認真地質疑起這個普世的偏見，并宣稱，他首先是一個人，然后才是音樂家，最后才是大提琴手。他說，他贊賞個體價值與人性，既而說道，他的最愛便是人。“熱愛大眾與成為一個音樂家并不矛盾，因為音樂是一條探索文化，智慧與不同聲音的偉大之路，”他說道。

雖然在西方接受了教育，長大成人，但是譚恩美和馬友友依舊帶有移民的痕跡，這從他們的外形便看得出來。“我們都曾經歷過文化的錯位，”譚恩美說道，“現在也是一樣，只不過我開始喜歡上這種感覺。”譚恩美說，因為她是學校里唯一的華裔女孩， 所以沒有任何一個男孩會約她出去。她認為自己一定長得很丑，并問母親在中國的審美觀里她算不算是漂亮的女孩。“你？不會。”她媽媽回答道，“你也就相貌平平吧。”

譚恩美隨即評論，這樣的態度是可以被自身的自我認可克服的。“游歷過不同的地方后，你會發現世上的美并無多大差異，”她說道，“而你如何看待自己將遠遠超出單純的美的范疇。”

對于馬友友而言，移民者的背景賦予了他對新事物強烈的好奇心。“每當我去一個新的地方，我真的感到興奮，”他說道。“我想，嘿，也許我可以在這里定居。”

“我覺得我是人類的一分子。我的目標是在這個世界的任何一個地方都感到舒適自在。”