ADVANTAGES OF BEING ASIAN AMERICAN

or some the only downer to being Asian American is being lumped with all the whiners.
     The problems that afflict us? No different from those faced by all Americans, they argue. Vincent Chin? Won a barroom fight and was ambushed in the parking lot by a pair of drunken sore losers with a baseball bat. Happens to white guys too. Media stereotypes? Would you rather be cast as a beer-guzzling milquetoast with a spare tire and a perpetual sunburn? Not to mention being unable to jump, dance or multiply.
     Weigh the trivial irritations against the big advantages, exhort the upsiders. Like being raised in two-parent families that provide emotional stability, a solid educational foundation, a multi-cultural perspective and healthy eating habits. Like being seen as innately more intelligent, diligent and honest. Like having a full head of hair past 30 and never having to shave your back. Sure, the new immigrants have a rough time, they concede, but compare apples to apples. The Census Bureau stats show that U.S.-born Asians do as well as any group and better than most.
     So what's your take? Are we getting a raw deal or are we just too busy complaining to appreciate our many advantages?

(Updated )

No wonder Caucasians in America and elsewhere are cowering over the inevitability of the post-20th centuries as owned and dominated by Asians.

Hate to burst your bubble, but this is simply not true.
me
   Tuesday, May 07, 2002 at 13:14:27 (PDT)
"Of course, this why ABCs are called Jook Sings simply because their parents think of them as empty minded...can't completely understand one culture or the other culture. I would assume this is the case because many of them often complain about their "identity crisis", and are humiliated by their own people and sometimes, by society at large."

Illuminating cultural phraseology/elements such as the "Jook Sing" concept prove to me that the first-generation (and our brethren and sisters over in Asia) are smarter and more perceptive than I had ever imagined. The "parent" culture/s' insight sometimes takes me by surprise. No wonder Caucasians in America and elsewhere are cowering over the inevitability of the post-20th centuries as owned and dominated by Asians.
How the West Was Won (and Conquered)
   Tuesday, May 07, 2002 at 08:10:35 (PDT)
It is very Chinese for parents to insult their kids in order to motivate them.
Unlike positive re-enforcement methods shown in America. Most immigrant parent still subscribe to negative re-enforcement to motive the kids.

It's very Chinese or Old World type thinking.

Instead of feeling insulted. There should be some confort that they care and are in the same country as the kid.

I know of so many abandoned JH and HS asian kids growing up. Parents who couldn't make it in the USA would go back to asia, leaving the kids here unsupervised. They would send them a stipend every month and expect them to make it into college.

Ambitious ABC. You sound like a DWG. Either you are assertive in your confusion or you're grasping at what confusion is.

The "identity crisis" only occurs to those in the middle with no cultural grounding. Those the see themselves as Americanized have no issues. Those that see themselves as native Asian have not issues. It is only those that which to accelerate the acculturation process from one group to another that will have an "identity issue," but only for a short time until they adjust.
AC Dropout
   Monday, May 06, 2002 at 12:30:18 (PDT)
Man of Lha-sa(mancha) ,

Okay the proper chronology of foreign invaders and woes to the Chinese people.
late 19th century
Annexation of Taiwan by Japan (cash settlement)
Opium War (cash settlement)
Annexation of HK and Macau
Boxer rebellion (cash settlement)

Early 20th century
Open Door Policy (cash settlement)
Over throwing of Emporeror by KMT Annexation of Mongolia and Tibet by Russia and UK
Civil War of KMT and CCP
Japanese invasion of Manchuria (cash settlement).

Those Japanese sucked back then too. The turned over their Chinese Human Experimentation projects to get more favorable tribunal hearings.

AC Dropout
   Monday, May 06, 2002 at 11:54:34 (PDT)
AC Dropout,

"Because during the turn of the 20th century the 5 western powers (Germany,
France, USA, England, and Portugal) agree on the "Open Door" Policy initiated by the USA. To make a long story short they annex Chinese land, demanded large cash repariation for the Opium War. And basically robbed China by
gunpoint."

Not to nitpick, but I think the Opium War was more like the mid-19th Century. And wasn't it just the Brits?

I think there was a big Boxer War "indemnity" at the turn of 20th Century. (You evil Chinamen! How dare you try and assert sovreignty in the capital city of your country!! Now you must pay.)

The Japanese were also part of the Western Powers then too. Chinese war reparations from the First Sino-Japanese war were very heavy.

Man of Lha-sa(mancha)
   Monday, May 06, 2002 at 09:18:58 (PDT)
"It mean "Bamboo Heart/Center." And What's in the center of the bamboo? Nothing. It's hallow. Get it. No soul/heart."

Of course, this why ABCs are called Jook Sings simply because their parents think of them as empty minded...can't completely understand one culture or the other culture. I would assume this is the case because many of them often complain about their "identity crisis", and are humiliated by their own people and sometimes, by society at large.

Ambitious ABC
   Sunday, May 05, 2002 at 18:47:26 (PDT)

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