Undoubtedly, my last column, “Take it slow when dating Chinese girls,” has received lots of attention and has even led to questioning of the production process and ethics of The Pioneer. Therefore, I think it is necessary for me to apologize and explain my initial intentions for the column and clear The Pio‘s name.

Considering that in Fall 2010 the previous exchange student from my university, Ding Li, wrote a lot of pieces about political and economic issues in China, I figured instead, I wanted to write about something light-hearted and fun to read, such as relationships, which are universal and relate to everyone.

That said, an apology is necessary. I never had the intention of judging all Chinese women because I don’t have time to get to know them all. Even if I knew all of them, my interpretations of Chinese women still wouldn’t be accepted by everyone: We all see things from different perspectives. I did not include a clarification I originally wanted to add in my column, and yes, I would have added it if I had known my column would cause so much controversy.

I would like to add it here: It’s impossible for me to know all Chinese women. They all have their own individual qualities and characteristics. Therefore, it’s impossible that my interpretations and understandings will fit all Chinese women. However, I still deleted this and therefore I take all of the responsibility for the misunderstandings that I have caused.

I did go through all of the comments and I found most of them were concerned with my generalization of Chinese girls as materialistic and superficial people who twist their morals for personal gain. I know many Chinese women who don’t fit in this stereotype, such as my mother. I would not want this interpretation to be applied to her.

When the column was originally published, a sentence in the last paragraph read, “It might only take you one month to kiss her if you offer your credit card.” I didn’t mean it literally. I was trying to be humorous, in response to the sentence above, “Then he becomes an anxious husband, praying that his wife will show mercy to their bank account,” where I was also trying to inject some humor. Apparently, I was too confident in my sense of humor. I understand how my readers can find it offensive; therefore, I apologize.

I have never asked my editor or anyone to edit or alter any part of my columns after they are published. I would never apply to work for The Pio if I didn’t have the guts to shoulder all the criticism or feedback to my work.

Again, I am not here to quibble about all the criticism, but to address misunderstandings I have caused so far and may cause in the future. Therefore, if you run into me on campus and ask me, “Are you the author who wrote the horrible column about dating Chinese girls?” I would say, “Yes,” without any hesitation. Based on what I have said above, I hope people will not think I am looking down upon Chinese women or have a bias against them.

Read more from Editor-in-Chief Patricia Vanderbilt and Opinion Editor Kyle Seasly here.