Meaning Of Being A Chinese American
Haobang Lu
Professor Connie So
AAS 350
March 21, 2015
Meaning of being Chinese or Chinese American
China has a long brilliant history. The history of Chinese American in the Unites States has three major waves of Chinese immigration to the United States at the very beginning of the 19th century. The one impressed me most is Chinese immigrants worked as laborers, on the transcontinental railroad during 19th century. The Chinese immigrants were suffered a lot at that time, full of racial discrimination from every level of the “White” society. Till now, being a Chinese and or Chinese American in the United States, is that still a case? What is meant to be a Chinese and or Chinese American?
How did I came to the United States
Saipan, Northern Mariana …show more content…
Islands are located in the far western Pacific of the United States. Saipan has created a lot of jobs for Asia in the old days. Primarily overseas Chinese came to the United States territory for building a profitable industry, such as textile industry. The fact is that they hire workers from China. Also, they imported buttons and zippers from China. In most cases, they ran their industries and factories like they were in China.
My aunt Haiyan is from China, at that time, she didn’t know any English. However, Haiyan got an opportunity to work in the United States, Saipan during 1980s. She was working in a textile industry. Like most Chinese do, Haiyan was getting low pay as a worker. Also, she would send money back to her family which is in China. Soon, she met her man, David, who is a White American. With David’s pursuing, she finally fell in love with David. They got married. When I was still a child, I was thinking the reason she got married with a White man just for staying in the United States. However, I didn’t know anything about the United States at this time. Do not even mention that is so called American dreams. Now, from my perspective, I don’t think that is a reason for her to stay in the United States. They have been with each other for almost thirty years. They did not get divorced. Isn’t that a perfect example of “true love?” My aunt Haiyan had such an opportunity to stay in the United States, and became an US citizen. It is because that my family got a chance to come to the United States. My mother is an older sister of Haiyan. When I was a child, Haiyan was applying my family to come to the United States. After that, when I turned to twenty-one years old, I realized that I had such an opportunity to come to the United States and become a Chinese immigrant.
The Reason that I Come to the United States
I am a Chinese American from Canton, kong-moon.
I came to America is for further education. I was major in Financial Management in Sun Yat-Sen University for a year and half. My parents were telling me that Sun Yat-Sun University is not good enough for international competition. Moreover, there is a great opportunity that I am able to come to America which I can start it over. I definitely should take a try. The reason I chose Seattle as the place I stay in America is that my grandparents were living there. I want to take good care of them. Also, there is a great University which is called University of Washington. University of Washington is my dream …show more content…
university.
At my first year in Seattle, I was working instead of going to college. The reason I skipped the first year is that the tuition for college is too much for me. Since I was staying in Seattle less than a year, I was considered as an American resident who is out of state. In other words, I have to pay “out of state” tuition for college. Furthermore, I chose working is because I wanted to have more life and work experience in a new place, also, I wanted to easily adapt to the new culture. I have two jobs at the same time. One is being a sandwich artist in Subway restaurant. The other is being a waiter in a restaurant which is located in downtown Seattle. From my perspective, getting work and life experience is important, however, more important is getting further education. Before getting into the real competitive world, I had better get myself ready, well built up.
For the second year in the United States, I was studying in Seattle Central Community College. At first, I was like most Asian people do, taking Business as my major. Also, I was studying Financial Management in Sun Tat-Sen University. That’s great support and preparations for studying Business. Anyway, I found out it is not something I want to focus in. At my first year working in the restaurant as a waiter, I had a great discovery that communication is playing an important role. Moreover, I was thinking if we want to do a good business, we do need professional communication skills. On one hand, that is a key; on the other hand, that would be a good start for beginning business. That is the reason I am taking Communication as my major. However, if I met my professor Connie who is teaching me Class AAS 350 earlier, I might change my mind. American ethic study is very interesting.
View on Chinese American
In the middle of 19th century, southern Chinese came to America, what was called “Gold Mountain.” They came to work simply, at Sutter’s Mill, Sacramento, California, as it was well known as “Gold Rush.” At that time, Chinese afforded great labor force to the west of America. Mostly, the field they were focus on is industry, mining, farming, etc. The most famous contribution to America is the Transcontinental Railroad in the west. Chinese were making money in the United States, then sending back to their own family which is in China. What makes American angry is that, Chinese making money from them, but Chinese didn’t “pay back” (make any contribution) to them. In fact, Chinese were suffered by being discriminated by the local American. They had to pay very high taxes to the government in the United States, if they wanted to do business. Besides, Chinese had gone through “Exclusion Act.” Over a period, Chinese were banned to immigrant to the United States due to the law restricting. The second wave of Chinese migration to the United States is from 1970s to the present. With the changing of the United States, Chinese migration policies, and the relationships between American and China, Chinese begin to immigrant to America again. Chinese American eventually settle in an area that is well known as Chinatown in major cities. Those cities are San Francisco, Los Angles, Seattle, New York City,
Back to the early 1850s, Chinese had been lived in the United States.
They did bring the United States their culture, food, tradition, music, and etc. As time goes by, Chinese American has second generation, third generation, four generation, and etc. Most of Chinese American would be influenced by western cultural, being more Americanism. Chinese American care more about identity then the other ethical groups. From my perspectives, American identity has two identities, one is national political identity, and the other is passport identity. Especially, more outstanding point is being a Chinese American represents racial identity and ethical identity. In the United States, Chinese American identify themselves as Chinese American obviously. However, Chinese American would identify themselves as Chinese if they are in Chinese groups or communities, such as they are in China.
One of the most popular questions to Chinese American would be “where are you from?”, moreover, the question is asking about “where are you actually from?” Answers are obviously stated. The accent and the way how Chinese American speaking is the best piece of evidence. Chinese American are from America. The worst question for Chinese American should be “what is your real name?” Most of the cases, Chinese American would prefer not calling their Chinese name, speaking English instead of speaking Chinese, and totally being
Americanized.
One real and embarrassed story was told by one of my friends, who is a Chinese American. At her high school life, her mother would pick her up after school usually. In her mother’s car, her mother was playing Chinese pop songs. What she was actually thinking is that she would prefer listen to the radio instead of listening to the “so called” Chinese pop songs. Also, when her mother talks to her in Chinese, she would always response in English, but not Chinese. The truth is that she actually understand Chinese, however, she is good at English, which is bad on speaking Chinese. This case should be a common sense in most Chinese American families. Besides, when parents were asking Chinese American to learn about Chinese readings and writings, the answers always be “No” from Chinese American.
Another funny story is about “Bad Day”, which is told by another Chinese American friend of mine. The story happened in China, when he had an opportunity to visit his relatives in China. He was going to take the elevator. However, the door of the elevator was closing when he was trying to get in. At that time, no one was holding the door for him. That was how he got hit by the door. All people in the elevator recognized him does not speak Chinese. But actually he does speak Chinese. One of the women said, “If you saw the door was closing, why didn’t you run faster?” It totally shows the way how Chinese people treat each other differently sometimes. It was a day called “Bad Day”. In fact, my friend was calling a day “China Day.” It is a great example showing that the cultural identification and social norms are distinction between Chinese and Chinese American.
Generally speaking, Chinese American would have better chance than Chinese. For the next example, one of another Chinese American friend of mine were telling me that he can fly where he wants to go, but Chinese people don’t do. For his brother’s college graduation, the Chinese relatives can’s just fly over here and come visit them. Besides, it does the same for his sister’s wedding.
The way of thinking is different from Chinese American to Chinese. Chinese American are raised in a more open minded society. Also, Chinese American are getting more opportunity to exposal, growing up educationally and socially. It turns out that there would be more expectation on Chinese American than Chinese. Under the western cultural, Chinese American has no choice, but simulates to being Americanized more or less.
One great example is that time consciousness between Chinese American and Chinese is different. Chinese people would relatively pay more attention to the past and to the long-term future. On the contrary, Chinese American are less interested in the past and eye on the near-term future. In the other words, due to Chinese American is more Americanized, they do have a similar thought to the American. For example, Chinese people have good sense that saving money for the long-term future. Chinese American would like to spend money for fun instead of saving money. Chinese American would care more about now, enjoy the moment currently, but not the future. Besides, conception of the self is different from Chinese American and Chinese as well. The conception of the Chinese itself is collectivist. Chinese is modesty individually, and usually place higher value on the group cooperation. The conception of the Chinese American itself is individualist. Chinese American place higher value on self- reliance. Also, self-promotion is more accepted in the society.
Chinese Food and Chinese American Food
Most Americans love Chinese food, dining in a restaurant, or taking out with a little, folded white box with the wire handle. However, the so called Chinese food I have in the United States is Chinese American food, which is definitely different from the one I had in China. There are many differences between authentic Chinese food and westernized Chinese food. America is a melting pot, with different ethical groups from Asia, Europe, and other continents all come together. The truth is that different cultural groups brought their customs and cuisines. They all changed to something totally different. As Chinese immigrant came to the United States looking for work in the 1850s, Chinese opened a Chinese restaurants for Chinese themselves. Eventually, Chinese cuisines changed along the way to reflect the western tastes. In other words, Chinese cuisines in the United States are actually Americanized Chinese food.
Common westernized Chinese dishes would be Chop Suey, General Tso’s Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Egg Foo Yung, Chow Mein, Crab Rangoon, and etc. Personally speaking, I didn’t have them all before, I couldn’t tell it tastes good or not. However, when I see some Americans order those food, firstly I can tell the food looks extremely weird, which is something I have never seen before. Authentic Chinese food does have some kinds of them, the names are the same, and however, the looking and tasting are totally different. For example, Chop Suey is a dish that consists of meat, eggs and vegetables. Simply speaking, Chop Suey is something “Odds and Ends”, something Chinese people don’t really eat and something wastes. Chop Suey is considered the “Nation Dish of China” to Americans, although it was unheard of in China. The dish Crab Rangoon is another example of westernized Chinese food. A wonton consists of imitation crab meat and cream cheese. Then, it is cooked in deep-fried style. In authentic Chinese food, deep-fried wonton does exist, however, cream cheese is not real Chinese ingredient. Similarly, fortune cookies are definitely American food. Also, most popular Chinese food in the United States tastes salty and sweet.
Besides, China is huge. China dose have all kinds of different food from different parts of China. Basically, they all taste different. For example, the food in Canton tastes light and easy. The most important part of the canton food is the food ingredient, which is fresher, better. For example, cooking a fish in canton, if you really want a traditional tastes, you have to get a lived fish. If the food ingredient is great, you don’t really have to worry a lot about the sauces. From my perspectives, if the food is putting over sauces and too many cooking techniques, like deep-fried, I might think the food ingredient should be bad. The reason is that the way to cook food overly is to hide something away, like the food ingredient is not fresh. In other words, if the fish is deep-fried, I can’t really tell the fish is lived or dead. Next, the food in Szechwan tastes spicy and heavy. The most important part of Szechwan food is to make it spicy. A typical Szechwan dish consists of hot pepper, which is the signature of the Szechwan food. Even though it doesn’t have to taste that hot, it has to be smelt hot. Besides, the food in Shanghai tastes sweet and sour. The famous dish of Shanghai food is “Pork Dumplings.” The food in Beijing tastes heavy. The way to cook the Beijing food is deep-fried and roasted. The famous dish of Beijing food is “Roast Duck.” Therefore, it is hard to tell how authentic Chinese food tastes like. It depends on where the food comes from.
The experience of dining in China is different from eating at a restaurant in the United States. Also, the menus and manners are different. Menus in China are typically 15-20 pages, with beautiful pictures of the food. In the United States, the menus are 1-2 pages, with detailed written descriptions. Moreover, the waiter would take the orders pretty much when you sit at the table in China. In the United States, people would sit at the table and have a little talk for couple minutes, then the waiter comes to take an order. The dining environment in China is noisy, which is meaning joyful. However, westerners would prefer have a quite environment to enjoy the dinner. Also, if you need to call a waiter in China, you have to call loudly, or even wave your hands. However, it considers rude in the United States. For drinks, there is no ice water in China. There is also no cocktails or mixed drinks in a traditional Chinese restaurant. Alternatively, “Bai-jiu” (Chinese distillate Spirits) is a common liquor in China, which is well known as “The Whisky of China.”
In conclusion, there are a lot of differences between Chinese and Chinese American. Being a Chinese, you can’t forget where you are from, you can’t forget a faith to strengthen China, you can’t forget you are a Chinese. Being a Chinese American, forced to straddle two cultures, no matter how others look at you, no matter what the color of your skin looks like, no matter how far away your blood might come from, the heart of a Chinese American beats in the United States.
Professor Connie So
AAS 350
March 21, 2015
Meaning of being Chinese or Chinese American
China has a long brilliant history. The history of Chinese American in the Unites States has three major waves of Chinese immigration to the United States at the very beginning of the 19th century. The one impressed me most is Chinese immigrants worked as laborers, on the transcontinental railroad during 19th century. The Chinese immigrants were suffered a lot at that time, full of racial discrimination from every level of the “White” society. Till now, being a Chinese and or Chinese American in the United States, is that still a case? What is meant to be a Chinese and or Chinese American?
How did I came to the United States
Saipan, Northern Mariana …show more content…
Islands are located in the far western Pacific of the United States. Saipan has created a lot of jobs for Asia in the old days. Primarily overseas Chinese came to the United States territory for building a profitable industry, such as textile industry. The fact is that they hire workers from China. Also, they imported buttons and zippers from China. In most cases, they ran their industries and factories like they were in China.
My aunt Haiyan is from China, at that time, she didn’t know any English. However, Haiyan got an opportunity to work in the United States, Saipan during 1980s. She was working in a textile industry. Like most Chinese do, Haiyan was getting low pay as a worker. Also, she would send money back to her family which is in China. Soon, she met her man, David, who is a White American. With David’s pursuing, she finally fell in love with David. They got married. When I was still a child, I was thinking the reason she got married with a White man just for staying in the United States. However, I didn’t know anything about the United States at this time. Do not even mention that is so called American dreams. Now, from my perspective, I don’t think that is a reason for her to stay in the United States. They have been with each other for almost thirty years. They did not get divorced. Isn’t that a perfect example of “true love?” My aunt Haiyan had such an opportunity to stay in the United States, and became an US citizen. It is because that my family got a chance to come to the United States. My mother is an older sister of Haiyan. When I was a child, Haiyan was applying my family to come to the United States. After that, when I turned to twenty-one years old, I realized that I had such an opportunity to come to the United States and become a Chinese immigrant.
The Reason that I Come to the United States
I am a Chinese American from Canton, kong-moon.
I came to America is for further education. I was major in Financial Management in Sun Yat-Sen University for a year and half. My parents were telling me that Sun Yat-Sun University is not good enough for international competition. Moreover, there is a great opportunity that I am able to come to America which I can start it over. I definitely should take a try. The reason I chose Seattle as the place I stay in America is that my grandparents were living there. I want to take good care of them. Also, there is a great University which is called University of Washington. University of Washington is my dream …show more content…
university.
At my first year in Seattle, I was working instead of going to college. The reason I skipped the first year is that the tuition for college is too much for me. Since I was staying in Seattle less than a year, I was considered as an American resident who is out of state. In other words, I have to pay “out of state” tuition for college. Furthermore, I chose working is because I wanted to have more life and work experience in a new place, also, I wanted to easily adapt to the new culture. I have two jobs at the same time. One is being a sandwich artist in Subway restaurant. The other is being a waiter in a restaurant which is located in downtown Seattle. From my perspective, getting work and life experience is important, however, more important is getting further education. Before getting into the real competitive world, I had better get myself ready, well built up.
For the second year in the United States, I was studying in Seattle Central Community College. At first, I was like most Asian people do, taking Business as my major. Also, I was studying Financial Management in Sun Tat-Sen University. That’s great support and preparations for studying Business. Anyway, I found out it is not something I want to focus in. At my first year working in the restaurant as a waiter, I had a great discovery that communication is playing an important role. Moreover, I was thinking if we want to do a good business, we do need professional communication skills. On one hand, that is a key; on the other hand, that would be a good start for beginning business. That is the reason I am taking Communication as my major. However, if I met my professor Connie who is teaching me Class AAS 350 earlier, I might change my mind. American ethic study is very interesting.
View on Chinese American
In the middle of 19th century, southern Chinese came to America, what was called “Gold Mountain.” They came to work simply, at Sutter’s Mill, Sacramento, California, as it was well known as “Gold Rush.” At that time, Chinese afforded great labor force to the west of America. Mostly, the field they were focus on is industry, mining, farming, etc. The most famous contribution to America is the Transcontinental Railroad in the west. Chinese were making money in the United States, then sending back to their own family which is in China. What makes American angry is that, Chinese making money from them, but Chinese didn’t “pay back” (make any contribution) to them. In fact, Chinese were suffered by being discriminated by the local American. They had to pay very high taxes to the government in the United States, if they wanted to do business. Besides, Chinese had gone through “Exclusion Act.” Over a period, Chinese were banned to immigrant to the United States due to the law restricting. The second wave of Chinese migration to the United States is from 1970s to the present. With the changing of the United States, Chinese migration policies, and the relationships between American and China, Chinese begin to immigrant to America again. Chinese American eventually settle in an area that is well known as Chinatown in major cities. Those cities are San Francisco, Los Angles, Seattle, New York City,
Back to the early 1850s, Chinese had been lived in the United States.
They did bring the United States their culture, food, tradition, music, and etc. As time goes by, Chinese American has second generation, third generation, four generation, and etc. Most of Chinese American would be influenced by western cultural, being more Americanism. Chinese American care more about identity then the other ethical groups. From my perspectives, American identity has two identities, one is national political identity, and the other is passport identity. Especially, more outstanding point is being a Chinese American represents racial identity and ethical identity. In the United States, Chinese American identify themselves as Chinese American obviously. However, Chinese American would identify themselves as Chinese if they are in Chinese groups or communities, such as they are in China.
One of the most popular questions to Chinese American would be “where are you from?”, moreover, the question is asking about “where are you actually from?” Answers are obviously stated. The accent and the way how Chinese American speaking is the best piece of evidence. Chinese American are from America. The worst question for Chinese American should be “what is your real name?” Most of the cases, Chinese American would prefer not calling their Chinese name, speaking English instead of speaking Chinese, and totally being
Americanized.
One real and embarrassed story was told by one of my friends, who is a Chinese American. At her high school life, her mother would pick her up after school usually. In her mother’s car, her mother was playing Chinese pop songs. What she was actually thinking is that she would prefer listen to the radio instead of listening to the “so called” Chinese pop songs. Also, when her mother talks to her in Chinese, she would always response in English, but not Chinese. The truth is that she actually understand Chinese, however, she is good at English, which is bad on speaking Chinese. This case should be a common sense in most Chinese American families. Besides, when parents were asking Chinese American to learn about Chinese readings and writings, the answers always be “No” from Chinese American.
Another funny story is about “Bad Day”, which is told by another Chinese American friend of mine. The story happened in China, when he had an opportunity to visit his relatives in China. He was going to take the elevator. However, the door of the elevator was closing when he was trying to get in. At that time, no one was holding the door for him. That was how he got hit by the door. All people in the elevator recognized him does not speak Chinese. But actually he does speak Chinese. One of the women said, “If you saw the door was closing, why didn’t you run faster?” It totally shows the way how Chinese people treat each other differently sometimes. It was a day called “Bad Day”. In fact, my friend was calling a day “China Day.” It is a great example showing that the cultural identification and social norms are distinction between Chinese and Chinese American.
Generally speaking, Chinese American would have better chance than Chinese. For the next example, one of another Chinese American friend of mine were telling me that he can fly where he wants to go, but Chinese people don’t do. For his brother’s college graduation, the Chinese relatives can’s just fly over here and come visit them. Besides, it does the same for his sister’s wedding.
The way of thinking is different from Chinese American to Chinese. Chinese American are raised in a more open minded society. Also, Chinese American are getting more opportunity to exposal, growing up educationally and socially. It turns out that there would be more expectation on Chinese American than Chinese. Under the western cultural, Chinese American has no choice, but simulates to being Americanized more or less.
One great example is that time consciousness between Chinese American and Chinese is different. Chinese people would relatively pay more attention to the past and to the long-term future. On the contrary, Chinese American are less interested in the past and eye on the near-term future. In the other words, due to Chinese American is more Americanized, they do have a similar thought to the American. For example, Chinese people have good sense that saving money for the long-term future. Chinese American would like to spend money for fun instead of saving money. Chinese American would care more about now, enjoy the moment currently, but not the future. Besides, conception of the self is different from Chinese American and Chinese as well. The conception of the Chinese itself is collectivist. Chinese is modesty individually, and usually place higher value on the group cooperation. The conception of the Chinese American itself is individualist. Chinese American place higher value on self- reliance. Also, self-promotion is more accepted in the society.
Chinese Food and Chinese American Food
Most Americans love Chinese food, dining in a restaurant, or taking out with a little, folded white box with the wire handle. However, the so called Chinese food I have in the United States is Chinese American food, which is definitely different from the one I had in China. There are many differences between authentic Chinese food and westernized Chinese food. America is a melting pot, with different ethical groups from Asia, Europe, and other continents all come together. The truth is that different cultural groups brought their customs and cuisines. They all changed to something totally different. As Chinese immigrant came to the United States looking for work in the 1850s, Chinese opened a Chinese restaurants for Chinese themselves. Eventually, Chinese cuisines changed along the way to reflect the western tastes. In other words, Chinese cuisines in the United States are actually Americanized Chinese food.
Common westernized Chinese dishes would be Chop Suey, General Tso’s Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Egg Foo Yung, Chow Mein, Crab Rangoon, and etc. Personally speaking, I didn’t have them all before, I couldn’t tell it tastes good or not. However, when I see some Americans order those food, firstly I can tell the food looks extremely weird, which is something I have never seen before. Authentic Chinese food does have some kinds of them, the names are the same, and however, the looking and tasting are totally different. For example, Chop Suey is a dish that consists of meat, eggs and vegetables. Simply speaking, Chop Suey is something “Odds and Ends”, something Chinese people don’t really eat and something wastes. Chop Suey is considered the “Nation Dish of China” to Americans, although it was unheard of in China. The dish Crab Rangoon is another example of westernized Chinese food. A wonton consists of imitation crab meat and cream cheese. Then, it is cooked in deep-fried style. In authentic Chinese food, deep-fried wonton does exist, however, cream cheese is not real Chinese ingredient. Similarly, fortune cookies are definitely American food. Also, most popular Chinese food in the United States tastes salty and sweet.
Besides, China is huge. China dose have all kinds of different food from different parts of China. Basically, they all taste different. For example, the food in Canton tastes light and easy. The most important part of the canton food is the food ingredient, which is fresher, better. For example, cooking a fish in canton, if you really want a traditional tastes, you have to get a lived fish. If the food ingredient is great, you don’t really have to worry a lot about the sauces. From my perspectives, if the food is putting over sauces and too many cooking techniques, like deep-fried, I might think the food ingredient should be bad. The reason is that the way to cook food overly is to hide something away, like the food ingredient is not fresh. In other words, if the fish is deep-fried, I can’t really tell the fish is lived or dead. Next, the food in Szechwan tastes spicy and heavy. The most important part of Szechwan food is to make it spicy. A typical Szechwan dish consists of hot pepper, which is the signature of the Szechwan food. Even though it doesn’t have to taste that hot, it has to be smelt hot. Besides, the food in Shanghai tastes sweet and sour. The famous dish of Shanghai food is “Pork Dumplings.” The food in Beijing tastes heavy. The way to cook the Beijing food is deep-fried and roasted. The famous dish of Beijing food is “Roast Duck.” Therefore, it is hard to tell how authentic Chinese food tastes like. It depends on where the food comes from.
The experience of dining in China is different from eating at a restaurant in the United States. Also, the menus and manners are different. Menus in China are typically 15-20 pages, with beautiful pictures of the food. In the United States, the menus are 1-2 pages, with detailed written descriptions. Moreover, the waiter would take the orders pretty much when you sit at the table in China. In the United States, people would sit at the table and have a little talk for couple minutes, then the waiter comes to take an order. The dining environment in China is noisy, which is meaning joyful. However, westerners would prefer have a quite environment to enjoy the dinner. Also, if you need to call a waiter in China, you have to call loudly, or even wave your hands. However, it considers rude in the United States. For drinks, there is no ice water in China. There is also no cocktails or mixed drinks in a traditional Chinese restaurant. Alternatively, “Bai-jiu” (Chinese distillate Spirits) is a common liquor in China, which is well known as “The Whisky of China.”
In conclusion, there are a lot of differences between Chinese and Chinese American. Being a Chinese, you can’t forget where you are from, you can’t forget a faith to strengthen China, you can’t forget you are a Chinese. Being a Chinese American, forced to straddle two cultures, no matter how others look at you, no matter what the color of your skin looks like, no matter how far away your blood might come from, the heart of a Chinese American beats in the United States.