Living conditions of American Indians

Q: Many China immigrants of the older generation have become American citizens, and their descendants naturally become China people. What is their life like?

Let's look at some interesting things first: Chinese American humor/what kind of Asian are you? I'm not sure what kind of answer the questioner wants, just talk about my life and friends.

About identity

If someone asks, I will answer that I am Asian. If I keep asking, I will answer that I am from China.

Few people will answer "Chinese-American". Few people say this, so I think this word sounds strange.

Few people will answer "American-born China", but people born and raised in China often use this word to describe me.

My friends and I think we are Asian Americans mainly because of our education. Since kindergarten, schools have different racial classifications: white Americans, black Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Indians. Moreover, all documents involving race are required to fill in "Asian" instead of "China". Most Asian community organizations are also named like this, such as the National Asian Professional Association. Organizations whose names include China people in particular are usually set up for those who grew up in China.

Like many friends who have been to China, I am in Meisihua. I call this feeling jet lag confusion, being in Cao Cao and being in Han. In the United States, when people of the same age in China fight in Chinese, I always feel lost and out of place in their world. And when I really return to China, sometimes I will be distressed by cultural differences.

In a word, being a Chinese American is not difficult, simple and not simple. If you are sharp enough, you can switch freely between Chinese and American identities, but it is also possible that you are confused in these two identities.

About education

Public primary and secondary schools

As you expected, most of what I learned was about America. I can sing the stars and stripes instead of China. I know the history of the United States and Europe, but I don't know China. My math has always been "great" because I learned it before I taught multiplication in the fourth grade of primary school. Since then, I have been a top student in math.

In primary school, almost all homework contains some stories, such as

Susie went to the bank to deposit coins. She has 15 coins, which makes a total of $2.25. How many different combinations can her coins have?

In addition, we have some research topics, such as

Write your favorite historical figure and describe his/her contribution.

or

Investigate people you know and draw their birthdays in the table.

or

Design a scientific experiment. What is the result of the experiment? What's the scientific reason?

Occasionally, there will be some tests and recitations, but generally no more than five questions a day. In a word, homework takes about half an hour every day.

Junior high school homework is also in this form, but the topics will be more complicated and there will be more group cooperation. It takes about one hour to write homework a day.

In high school, I was admitted to the magnet school (note 1), so my experience is a little different from that of ordinary students. My ordinary high school classmates do homework 1-2 hours a day, while I do homework for 2-3 hours plus reading for 2 hours. The class is mainly about discussion, so you need to consult the information about the topic at home.

take for example

Discuss Shakespeare's comments on British economy in Hamlet.

This paper discusses the connotation of weather description in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.

Discuss the influence of industrialization on German unification.

We ask each other questions in class and learn how to analyze problems. Because what the teacher wants is not a correct answer, but the best answer we can give by studying reasoning, all this is very laborious. It is not only more difficult than rote memorization, but also more comprehensive.

After class, I also

Take part in a theatrical performance

Join the ranks of boys

The literary magazine of my school.

Lead the local robot team

I know it sounds like the story of a typical Chinese-American headmaster, but I did it because it was interesting. I could have gone straight home after school, done my homework for two or three hours, and played games, so I could have finished my day's work. My parents also want me to stop extracurricular activities and have a rest. But I think what I learned from extracurricular activities can make me go further than what I learned in class.

About Chinese

Almost all my Asian friends have attended Chinese schools. Schools in China are different from ordinary schools. They are usually organized by local communities and have several hours of classes on Saturday or Sunday.

Although the pronunciation is not very standard (when/when, Chang/Cang is not clear), most of my friends can speak basic Chinese. These are enough for them to communicate with their grandparents at home (simple expressions such as "put this there" and "I have eaten"). Some slightly better friends can speak Cantonese or Shanghainese at home, but Mandarin is still not very good. Usually, their parents speak Chinese to them and they answer in English. Later, their parents sometimes switch to English to continue the conversation. Some friends try to speak Chinese often at home. I have two friends who can take a fancy to documents.

When I was five years old, my parents sent me back to China to live with my grandparents for a year. At that time, I learned pinyin and some basic words (and math in American elementary schools reached the fifth grade level). That year was of great significance to my Chinese study. Later, when I was in junior high school, my parents enrolled me in a Chinese school. Being able to read Pinyin really sets me apart, because I can.

Use Chinese dictionary

Read simple phonetic articles

Read vocabulary correctly

My excellent performance in Chinese school prompted me to continue learning Chinese. In high school, I studied Chinese as my second foreign language. I began to speak Chinese at home, and I was very happy to ask my parents some unknown words. I went to China for a year when I was in college. There are too many differences between Chinese and American universities, so I won't elaborate here. Wait until you have related questions. )

About economy

My family was poor when I was a child. At that time, my father was still studying for a PhD, and my mother didn't get a work visa. All our furniture and my toys were donated by others or bought at a low price in the yard. At school, you can enjoy free meals because your family income is close to the poverty line.

In those years, we moved 16 times, and one of them even crossed more than half of the United States because my father pursued a better job. Now, we are in the upper middle class: my parents and I both have high salaries. We buy a house with a mortgage, and we can buy most of the daily necessities we want, but we can't buy luxury goods in magazines.

In a word, this is a steady and slow economic growth, not as rapid as China's economy.

When my family was poorest 20 years ago, our quality of life was much better than that of our friends at home. For example, we have a Toyota Corolla, and we can shop at Wal-Mart (at the same time, people in China who walked into Wal-Mart for the first time were shocked).

Now, we are not as rich as those friends. For example, my parents' friends sent their children to universities abroad (many of them went to America). As international students, they have to pay extremely high tuition fees and spend a lot of money on travel and shopping. On the contrary, because students in our state have low tuition fees and have the opportunity to get scholarships, I chose to study at a state university. Besides, I also worked in my spare time for three years.

Most of my friends' families are upper middle class. Our parents are doctors, engineers, accountants, research institutes and professors; They also let their children engage in similar occupations. But we are still young, and our careers may change quickly. A friend of mine quit a good financial consulting job and joined an impromptu comedy.

Some of us feel that our parents went through a lot of hardships to give us the opportunity to receive such a good education. If you just do an enviable job and get an enviable salary, it is a waste of their sacrifice. We should try our best to enter the higher social classes in America to be worthy of them.

About socializing

Browsing my Facebook friends will reveal that about half of them are Asian Americans.

When I was growing up, almost all my friends were not from China, but this was not my choice, because there were almost no China students in my school. Most of my friends are Jews, and the rest are African-Americans and Americans from other Asian countries.

When I was in high school, there were many Chinese students in my college preparatory course (Note 3) and international preparatory certificate course (Note 4). Although they don't go out with my non-Asian friends, I have a group of China friends for the first time. Both types of friends grew up in America, watching the same programs and listening to the same music. Although onlookers may think they look very different, I don't feel that way.

About family

parents

I have never talked to my parents about their cultural identity, so I can only speculate. But I can tell you which state they are in.

My parents are American citizens now. In fact, they even changed their names to American names. But they speak Chinese at home, watch Chinese programs (my mother likes to watch You Are the One and The Voice of China) and cook Chinese food (my father can't make a decent sandwich so far).

Their friends are all from China. A few years ago, when three other China families lived in the same street with us, my parents were very happy. In summer, they go out for a walk and chat every night. At the Olympic Games, they cheered for China in every event (I usually cheer for China and the United States). They will also complain about the sharp political stance of the United States towards China.

On the other hand, they have adapted well to America. Most of their colleagues are not from China, but they get along well. My father voted in the last two presidential elections and was proud of it (my mother was too lazy to wait in line to vote).

I don't think they will move back to China. Twenty years later, my hometown became a memory. Every time I return to China, my parents always look helpless and have to rely on the help of relatives. They no longer know the streets and bus routes in their hometown, and they don't know the subway system there. Sometimes they don't even know the names of the most common supplies and activities.

They tried to integrate into the local environment like ordinary China residents, but soon gave up. For example, when they get into a taxi, they will consciously fasten their seat belts. Moreover, they are not used to living in some convenient conditions that are not taken for granted in the United States, such as unlimited hot water, central air conditioning, public wireless networks, clean public toilets and so on.

They miss China very much, which means reuniting with their relatives and friends, but they soon feel relieved and drive back to our own home. So I think they are in a dilemma. They are always proud that they are from China, but at the same time they are happy that they are American.

relationship

My relationship with my parents is very close, and so are my grandparents. My grandparents also raised me, so they are like my second parents. My parents set a good example for me in treating my grandparents, and I also tried to be a filial grandson. Although I live in an apartment near my work place now, I will still spend the weekend with my parents, which is rare among Americans.

I am also close to my cousins in America. But this is because we are all Americans.

My cousin in China and I are more distant than I thought. A year in China as a child helped me to establish contact with them, and I also regarded them as close family members. But in fact, we seldom talk.

The language barrier is great. It is difficult for me to tell interesting facts in Chinese, and my cousin seldom knows English. What's more, there is still a time difference of 12 hour, so it is difficult to make a phone call. Mail? Well (expressing hesitation, etc.) ... let me study Chinese hard first.

Want to know more about their dynamics. Some technology products, such as WeChat, help to bring us closer together.

That's it, a short but possibly biased story of a Chinese American in his twenties.

This is really a difficult question to answer, because I want to describe something that is normal for me, but it may be extremely unusual for everyone. Besides, I can only talk about me and my friends. We are the second generation Chinese Americans. But our experience will be the same as the fifth and sixth ... generations of Chinese Americans. Besides, these are just my experiences. If you find that Chinese Americans are different from me, please believe what you see. After all, people all over the world are different.

Some notes

Note 1. Magnet school (this term began in the United States 1965, and it is a public school, which attracts students from various backgrounds with special curriculum design and teaching methods, hoping to contribute to the integration of all ethnic groups);

Note 2. Courtyard sale (also known as garage sale, porch sale or mobile sale) is a unique way of selling goods in the United States. Owners put unwanted items in the yard, garage or porch for sale);

Note 3. AP (abbreviation for AP(advanced placement) refers to a college course provided by the College Board in the United States, which is taught in high school. American high school students can take these courses, take AP exams after completing the courses, and get college credits after obtaining certain results.

Note 4. IB (International Diploma Course) is a two-year course designed by the International Diploma Organization for senior high school students.