Personal Narrative: My Family Immigration

What is your name?
My full name in english is Andy Chang, and my chinese name is 张滔(Zhang Tao).
I do not think there is a meaning behind my english name. My parents told me that the reason they gave me the name “Andy” is because they wanted a name to be easily remembered and called.
How do you define yourself & WHY?
I consider myself as a Chinese racially, culturally, and ethnically. First, I am racially Chinese because my genetic is pure Chinese. My physical appearances are black hair, black eye, yellow skin, and many other factors that all Chinese have. I am culturally Chinese because I lived in China for most of my life. All my childhood memories and experiences happened in China, and it affected me a lot throughout my life. Secondly, what makes me
culturally Chinese is that my comfort languages are Mandarin and Cantonese. In my opinion language plays a big role on cultural because many cultural aspects are reflected in one's language. If you are fluent in that language, it means that you understand their cultural well enough to be culturally part of that country. Also I lived in China for over 10 years, so I am culturally Chinese no matter what. Thirdly, I am ethnically Chinese because throughout my life I normally hangs out with the Chinese community.
I have been atheist throughout my life. I do not believe in the existence of God however I am interested topics of religion and God.

Does your name have any cultural, ethnic, racial, or religious significance for you or your family? If so, please explain. If not, tell briefly how your family came to give you this name.
My chinese name was given by my grandma and it has a meaning behind it. My chinese name is 张滔. 张(Zhang) is my family name, and it means to be brave and open minded. The name张 first originated during 255 A.D., and the first person who was named as 张 was the Zhao Emperor’s body guard. The second part of my chinese name is 滔(Tao). 滔 is the last name of my chinese name. It means overflow, strong, and brave. 滔 represents the element of water and because I was born in the months of fire, I need water to cool me down.

If you were to change your name, what would you name yourself? Please explain why. I would change my english name into Bob because the name Bob reflects how troll I am as a person. I would not change my Chinese name because there is a meaning behind it and also my grandma gave me that name, so it is really meaningful.

Part 2 – An Exploration of Your Family Immigration History (written)

During middle school I told my parents that I want study in America for college.
And in order for me to understand American cultures and english before college, I decided to come to America in 2013.
My parents already knew each other before immigrating to America during the 1980s. It was my dad who came to America first for a better life, while my mom came to America later. Both of them became US citizens later on, and I will become a US citizen too when I am borned.
My dad lived in a small village in Guangzhou during his childhood years, then went to Hong Kong during his teenage years. After that he came to San Jose during the early 1980s, and then moved back to China during 1999. For my mom, she lived in a rich town in Guangzhou at the beginning. In her 18, her family seeked a better life opportunity by coming to the US. So my mother came to America during 1986.
Paste some pictures of your family AND a picture of at least one artifact from your family that is CONNECTED TO ONE OR MORE GENERATIONS into your document. The artifact could be a picture of your ancestors, or a keepsake/heirloom, or a recipe, etc. Put this into the Google
Doc.