Throughout these past few weeks, we’ve been learning about Asian Americans trying to assimilate into American culture and having trouble finding their own identity. As a resident of a dominantly Asian community, I grew up thinking that I didn’t have this problem. Pretty much everyone around me had the same ethnic background and were raised if not born in America. We followed Chinese traditions, and it felt like I was pretty much living in an English speaking Asia.
After Alex Luu’s one man performance, the question of what my identity was resurfaced in my mind, and although I let that question sit on the backburner, I nevertheless would revisit that question periodically.
Now that I’ve moved to Berkeley for college, the ethnic mix around me has become much more diverse, thus forcing me to realize that I am ethnically different from a lot of the people around me.
One or two weeks ago, I went back to my home in Cupertino to visit my parents. One night, my mom asked me, “Are you Chinese or are you American?” I couldn’t answer, because I just didn’t know which side to identify with. On one hand, I practice Chinese martial arts as well as Chinese calligraphy. I also speak Mandarin at home. On the other hand, I speak fluent English, follow American trends, and am aware of the happenings in American media. A while later, I asked a friend of mine whether he thought he was an Asian or an American to which he promptly replied “Asian American”. At that point, I reached a sudden realization. Someone like me, who was born in Taiwan but raised in America, can’t be forced to pick and only identify with one culture/ethnicity since that would mean that I ignore another essential part of myself. I recently met a friend who is half Chinese, half Mongolian, and she told me that her parents encourage her to tell people to say that she is both Mongolian and Chinese when asked, instead of just saying Chinese. Just like she embraces both cultures which are a part of her, so should I. I may be Chinese by blood, but because of the culture in which I grew up, I am not just Asian. I am also American.
-Tiffany Wang
After Alex Luu’s one man performance, the question of what my identity was resurfaced in my mind, and although I let that question sit on the backburner, I nevertheless would revisit that question periodically.
Now that I’ve moved to Berkeley for college, the ethnic mix around me has become much more diverse, thus forcing me to realize that I am ethnically different from a lot of the people around me.
One or two weeks ago, I went back to my home in Cupertino to visit my parents. One night, my mom asked me, “Are you Chinese or are you American?” I couldn’t answer, because I just didn’t know which side to identify with. On one hand, I practice Chinese martial arts as well as Chinese calligraphy. I also speak Mandarin at home. On the other hand, I speak fluent English, follow American trends, and am aware of the happenings in American media. A while later, I asked a friend of mine whether he thought he was an Asian or an American to which he promptly replied “Asian American”. At that point, I reached a sudden realization. Someone like me, who was born in Taiwan but raised in America, can’t be forced to pick and only identify with one culture/ethnicity since that would mean that I ignore another essential part of myself. I recently met a friend who is half Chinese, half Mongolian, and she told me that her parents encourage her to tell people to say that she is both Mongolian and Chinese when asked, instead of just saying Chinese. Just like she embraces both cultures which are a part of her, so should I. I may be Chinese by blood, but because of the culture in which I grew up, I am not just Asian. I am also American.
-Tiffany Wang
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