| Sunday, August 20, 2006 |
| An Identity |
| Had an interesting conversation with a client the other day. He asked if I was CBC (Canadian Born Chinese) or an immigrant. I said the latter and he mentioned he said I could have 'passed off' as a Canadian Born Chinese, I was puzzled by why he'd think someone would care to be thought of as Canadian born or American born. Why does it matter? Do I get differential treatment if I were? Well, the client himself was a CBC. I was surprised at the boldness of the question and how unrelated it was to the cause for our meeting at my place of work. Well, as we were killing time for some forms to print, we started having a friendly conversation. He went on to say how he felt being CBC, growing up and attending school in Vancouver, he felt he lacked the 'Chinese' identity. He called himself a banana which to me always made no sense as banana is yellow on the outside and beige on the inside, not white, beige! Anyhoo, he said he did not know what to think of himself as he did not grow up in an asian country and even celebrating Chinese New Year with his family meant little. He commented he felt somewhat ripped off of the experience not growing up in Asia. When he left, I started to contemplate what he said. I wonder if I'd felt the same if I were CBC. I guess I'll never know. I somehow did not feel different or more fortunate just because I had the 'experience' of growing up Chinese in a country where I was the majority. Should I? |
posted by movetothis @ 10:17 am   |
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| 5 Comments: |
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I don't think growing up in Asia is necessarily more fortunate. I mean most immigrants left for a reason. If I had kids I would not want to raise them in Asia. Asian societies are so harsh on kids. I also don't think growing up in West means ones has to be denied of Asian culture. I have numerous coworkers in interracial/intercultural relationships with kids and they make a serious effort to make sure the kids learn both cultures. Sometimes I think CBCs are drama queens....whining about being denied of roots yet many are sitting on their fat asses not making attempts at learning Asian languages etc.
I sometimes am mistaken for CBC or ABC too. Momentarily I am flattered and think "gawd, I can fool people." But why should I be flattered? Being flattered would only mean it's "better" to be CBC/ABC. Me bad!
Banana is white on the inside! You keep your banana too long on the shelve!
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LOL, the bananas are indeed left out too long, its dark on the outside and beige inside, although i much prefer green bananas.
i thought about it again and maybe we are somewhat fortunate, not better, just fortunate to have the best of both worlds.
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i think people who grew up in Asia have more of a sense of identity. They know who they are because they're surrounded by it on a daily basis, whereas growing up in the Western world, we are inundated with images of other cultures rather than our own. I'm a total Banana, though I do speak Cantonese, eat Chinese food, and follow certain Chinese traditions!
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that's right, you are a BBC! Next time we get together, let's converse only in Cantonese for fun LOL. JL told me u only eat white food, no? :)
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My daughter LOVES her trashy white food: meat loaves, meat pies, anything on Mickey D's menu, cream-based pasta, bacon, KFC, you name it! :) I seriously cannot remember us 2 going for Asian food (Japanese does not count because it's so commercialized & fetishized).
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I don't think growing up in Asia is necessarily more fortunate. I mean most immigrants left for a reason. If I had kids I would not want to raise them in Asia. Asian societies are so harsh on kids. I also don't think growing up in West means ones has to be denied of Asian culture. I have numerous coworkers in interracial/intercultural relationships with kids and they make a serious effort to make sure the kids learn both cultures. Sometimes I think CBCs are drama queens....whining about being denied of roots yet many are sitting on their fat asses not making attempts at learning Asian languages etc.
I sometimes am mistaken for CBC or ABC too. Momentarily I am flattered and think "gawd, I can fool people." But why should I be flattered? Being flattered would only mean it's "better" to be CBC/ABC. Me bad!
Banana is white on the inside! You keep your banana too long on the shelve!