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I was wondering if the following sentence is correct:
Born into an intellectual family in China, I was brought up in the traditional Confucian culture that values modesty and hard work, and at the same time, witnessed how modern technology revolutionized Chinese society in the past two decades.
I’m not quite sure if “at the same time” and “in the past two decades” conflict with each other.
Thank you for your answer.
Best,
L
There is no conflict.
“At the same time” refers to the fact that the process of your growing up in a traditional Confucian culture occurred in parallel with your witnessing how modern technology revolutionized Chinese society; “in the past two decades” merely specifies the period in which these parallel processes were unfolding.
You could clarify by saying "...hard work; yet, during those same two decades, I witnessed..." --- Note that because you are making a contrast, I used a semicolon.
