Although it is hard to distinguish Chinese Americans from native Chinese people from the outside, there exists many cultural differences between these two groups. This interview reveals the perspective of mainlanders on Chinese Americans. When asked if they consider ABCs (American-born Chinese) to be more American or Chinese, most thought of them as more American as they are culturally and socially immersed with American values. Nonetheless, their parents also give them an opportunity to connect with their Chinese roots at home. Thus, people believe that Chinese Americans tend to be more open-minded and individualistic than local Americans and Chinese. Some mainlanders do not think it is a huge problem getting along with Chinese Americans especially when it comes to small things like hobbies or favorite foods, but many do think that bigger issues such as politics will cause a greater divide just from the differences in the environment they grew up in. Chinese Americans may think that the native Chinese are too traditional and conservative in their thinking while they seem to think that Chinese Americans are arrogant and prejudiced . It seems to be that it is easier for Chinese Americans to find jobs in China, especially in foreign companies, as they have the advantage of being bilingual. Although it was once a rare opportunity to emigrate to another country, many mainlanders would not consider moving outside of the country anymore as they are satisfied with their current lives. The recent developments and successes in China’s economy has made the Chinese people hopeful about their futures in their native land. Studying abroad in the US or another country is no longer uncommon and big cities like Shanghai are actually attracting a lot of foreigners instead. Generally speaking, Chinese people seem to have a good understanding about Chinese Americans and are able to recognize the differences they may have from growing up in a foreign Western country.
This comedic video pokes fun at some of the Western vs. Chinese dating stereotypes. Their taste and actions very much reflect their cultural values in various dating scenarios. For instance, when it comes to physical attraction, it shows how a Westernized Chinese likes girls with tattoos while a mainlander would disapprove and prefer someone who is more “conservative” and “cute”. Of course, everyone has different types, but it is generally true that Chinese Americans have more diverse types as they are used to being around different people in a very open and expressive environment. On the other hand, China still has a very traditional patriarchal society where women are expected to look and behave a certain way. Thus, a native Chinese man might gravitate towards an innocent and pretty girl that better fits the Eastern beauty standards. Similarly, when they are getting ready for a date, a Chinese American guy dresses differently than a native Chinese as well. The Western date look is more casual and laid-back while the Chinese is more formal and serious. Additionally, when it comes to getting to know each other, the Chinese American talks about normal everyday hobbies such as sports while the mainlander talks about how he makes money and how many houses he owns. Although the latter may be a bit exaggerated, it is not unusual for Chinese guys to treat a date almost like an interview to be more appealing and impressive in front of their date. There are positives and negatives in both dating styles. For example, the video shows the Chinese guy to be more responsible and caring when they are actually in a relationship such as offering to carry bags when their partner goes shopping. While the native Chinese guy is thinking about meeting the girl’s parents, the Westernized Chinese guy is thinking about when to break up. Overall, it seems to be that more mainlanders take dating more seriously while Chinese Americans follow the westernized dating culture where everything is more relaxed and casual.
Often times, young Chinese Americans struggle with their identity. In this speech, Canwen details her experiences as growing up a Chinese American, being raised in the United States since she was two years old. Canwen speaks about the blend of culture she has experienced growing up, and the both internal and external conflict she has experienced growing up in predominantly white areas. She felt self conscious about conforming to some stereotypes that people perceive about Chinese people. She details her experiences with people who aren't racist, but just clueless Due to these perceptions of others, over time many Chinese Americans try to abandon and reject their own culture and heritage in order to fit in, whether it be knowingly or unknowingly. Trying to conform to the "American way" ends up feeding into itself - the more like others you are, the more you feel accepted, and the more you reject what makes you different. Often in the United States, white is considered the norm, and immigrants are forced to conform to a certain extent. Fitting certain stereotypes is not a good thing or a bad thing, it is just something that occurs by chance. While it may be useful in some ways to conform to "American way", it should not come at the expense of a person's culture and their identity. Over time, once a person leaves certain aspects of their culture and identity behind, they will be unable to get it back. The "American way" is no longer a melting pot where everyone takes a bit of each other but comes together as one culture at the end, but each person has their own culture and identity of their own, regardless of those who surround them.
This is a comedic skit about American Born Chinese (ABCs) who can't read or speak Chinese well despite learning it from a young age. This video draws a comparison to a native Chinese person who works at the restaurant and can read and speak Chinese fluently versus the American Born Chinese man who comes in to order food. He is initially given the Chinese menu, but the hostess quickly switches it out for the American menu that is in English. To try to make a point, he embarrasses himself by trying to read and order off of the Chinese menu. This highlights the common American Born Chinese experience of being considered not as Chinese as those who are born in China. Often times American Born Chinese are invalidated by those around them in their identity of being Chinese because they can't speak or read it. This is a common experience among Chinese Born Americans who have attended Chinese school but hated the entire experience and did not retain much of the information they were supposed to learn. Often times these American Born Chinese feel invalidated in their Chinese identity when they are immediately given the English menu and the assumption is they are one of those American Born Chinese who know no Chinese. Additionally, often times the Chinese menu and the American menu are different, so while they are Chinese and enjoy more traditional Chinese dishes, they are deprived of some of these dishes as the American menu offers dishes that are more familiar and popular with the American palate.
This video documents a snippet of the daily life of Chinese American, Gary, living in China for the first time.. He describes the immediate culture shock that he encountered as soon as he got into the terminal and realized he wasn’t able to retrieve any cash. With the fast growing technology in China, almost everyone uses wechat and makes payments through the app. Gary quickly found out that he couldn’t use his credit card anymore and needed other people’s help to settle in. Gary also revealed that he didn’t feel like he fit in with everyone else until he looked in a mirror. Even though he looks Chinese and blends in with the rest of the population on the streets, he is unable to speak Chinese fluently and therefore still feels like a foreigner wherever he goes. Other Chinese people find it surprising when they encounter someone like Gary who looks like one of them, but can not actually speak Chinese, which can easily perpetuate the feeling of not belonging. Another culture shock is the amount of noise that is constantly there, Gary mentioned that it was something he had to get used to. Because of the huge population, there are always so many people outside no matter the time of day, doing all sorts of activities like singing and dancing. Even in the big cities in the US, it wouldn’t be this noisy unless it was the holidays, so having to hear these types of commotions every day is definitely a big shock. It is important to realize that no matter how much you prepare yourself or how much you think you know about China, it is likely that you won’t be able to truly know the Chinese lifestyle unless you experience it for yourself.
The model minority myth is a stereotypical term that describes all Asians to be intelligent, obedient, hardworking, and a prime example of how to overcome discrimination. Although this video focuses on the struggles of Asian Canadians, the ideas and problems described are shared across all Chinese American and Asian communities that are living in a diverse western country. The model minority myth is problematic in many ways. First, it perpetuates a culture of silence as there is a pressure to conform to the idea of being a “good” immigrant by keeping your head down and just moving on. Thus, it makes it hard for Asian people to speak out against various social injustices and recent anti-Asian hate crimes as a result of the COVID pandemic. The second problem is that it masks the challenges and hardships within the Asian community. It erases individual struggles as they are all categorized into one group. Others expect all Asians to be smart and live a rich future when in reality, many are just working-class and often lack work stability, education, and/or access to citizenship. Different asian ethnicities are often discarded as well and everyone just assumes Asians share the same cultures. The last problem of the model minority myth is that it divides Asian Americans from other minority groups. By the label of being a “model minority”, this naturally picks out the Asian race to be better and is shown as an example of what other minorities should also be like. This diminishes the struggles of other racialized minorities and minimizes the role of systemic racism plays which only further perpetuates inequality.
This is a video of two ABCs (American/Australian Born Chinese) speaking about the ABC experience and discussing 10 things that many American/Australian born Chinese people have in common. They discuss only knowing how to order dishes their parents have ordered, struggling with bargaining, native speakers refusing to speak in mandarin, lack of vocabulary, only knowing main stream Chinese movies and relying on English subtitles, feeling like a disappointment to elders, reliance on pinyin, having more freedom being raised American/Australian, standing out in China even though you visually fit in, and disconnect from distant family members. While it is a generalization and a stereotype to state that all American/Australian born Chinese people have these experiences, the majority of this group of people do experience some of these. These experiences define their own type of identity in being a American/Australian born Chinese, as many people who fit in this group relate to these similar experiences. This video not only reveals the American/Australian born Chinese experience, but it compares it to the Chinese born experience and how differently these groups are raised. With more western ideals, their heritage is emphasized less and they assimilate more to the American or Australian culture. While this is the case, they also hold onto essential parts of their heritage and still appreciate their heritage and culture, but Chinese people view them differently. As an example from the video, often while in China trying to speak Chinese, they will get a response that is in English, as if the Chinese think their broken English is better than the other party's broken Chinese. All of these experiences contribute to this group of people not feeling accepted as Chinese people but have not completely abandoned their heritage and culture so they are not just Americans or Australians.
This is a video of American Born Chinese children calling their parents and speaking only Chinese. Some of the children go through the script they are given with ease while others struggle to recognize the characters and pronounce them. This video shows how much American Born Chinese people vary, and how they are viewed by Chinese born people. Each of their parents seemed surprised and happy their child is trying to practice their Chinese and speak with them in their heritage language. Often times American Born Chinese are viewed as less Chinese because they are unable to communicate in Chinese or their pronunciation or grammar is not that of a fluent speaker. Many American born Chinese also speak what is referred to in the video as "Chinglish", where when speaking with a person in Chinese they mix both Chinese and English when they don't know the word for something in Chinese or a Chinese word has more accurate meaning than an English one. Many American born Chinese often speak English to their parents because they are unable to speak the language but understand what their parents are saying when they are speaking Chinese. Additionally many of these American born Chinese don't speak fluently or accurately, and their grammar is not correct and they tend to speak broken Chinese.
This video asks both American born Chinese and Chinese students about their dating habits and romantic life. It shows the contrast as to how similarly and differently these groups feel and view these topics. While often times Chinese people are viewed more conservative in terms of their romantic relations, both groups reveal they are similar in terms of number of partners they have had. Additionally, most Chinese people are taught to focus on education and have a career before finding a partner, but similar ratios of participants in university are dating as well as single. Both groups express while they are not biased to dating Asians, they often do because they have more in common and their social circles are typically Asian. Where they differ is dating multiple people, where Chinese people want to be exclusive, some American born Chinese think it is okay at their age to be dating multiple people at once initially. While many people view Chinese people as more conservative in dating, American born Chinese share a lot of the same ideals in terms of first dates, marriage age, etc. American born Chinese do share more of these ideals than most people assume due to them being raised in western culture. While they may be less conservative in some aspects of dating, both groups are compatible in many ways they may not realize. It is almost that both groups succumb to the stereotype of the other, and are often do not gravitate toward each other for this reason.
This podcast highlights the differences between Chinese Americans and FOBs (“fresh off the boat”), a term used to describe Chinese immigrants. While both are Chinese, there are still major differences between the two groups that creates internal conflict that many outsiders do not recognize. For instance, it was mentioned that for a native Chinese person to be in Chinatown in the US is a totally different experience than being back in mainland China. The stereotype being that FOBs have no sense of what American culture is like. Similarly, a Chinese American going to China for the first time will probably experience the same amount of culture shock as a non-Asian American. Internal conflicts such as the new Chinese American generation having the generational privilege that their parents and ancestors have gone through creates a divide between the recent Chinese immigrants. However, with the recent growth in China’s economy, the new FOBs are likely not put in that much of a disadvantage from the Chinese Americans as they likely have a wealthy business family supporting them overseas. In the podcast, they used the analogy of bamboo to describe the Chinese Americans and the FOBs. The Chinese Americans were described to be the hollow part of the bamboo and the new Chinese immigrants the solid knot of the bamboo. Although these parts are different, a bamboo needs both parts to become strong and stable, illustrating the idea that both groups need to come and work together if they want to be resilient and thrive in a western country like America.