One of the themes of the US Pavilion is the involvement of Chinese-Americans in the society of the United States. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton highlights this in her opinion-editorial piece at Global Times.
She mentions both the more famous ones…
One of the most moving exhibits they will find there is dedicated to the millions of Chinese-Americans who have contributed so much to the cultural and economic development of the United States. From Yo-Yo Ma to I.M. Pei to my Cabinet colleagues Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Chinese-Americans have achieved great success in business, government, the arts and sciences.
…and the rest of the Chinese-Americans in general.
But at the US Pavilion, we also celebrate the lives and contributions of all the Chinese- Americans whose names are unlikely to ever end up in the newspapers. Thousands of them have sent photographs and testimonials documenting the Chinese experience in the US, parents and children, teachers and students, small business owners and hardworking professionals – a true pageant of American life.
Probably the largest cultural group in the world are the Chinese. This is because an indication of cultural survival is the continued use of traditional language and dialects, and Mandarin has the largest number of native speakers in the world. You would be surprised to know that English ranks only third.
Joy Luck Club
The Chinese diaspora began many years ago. This mass emigration mainly occurred in the 19th century to 1949 due to harsh lifestyles and political unrest in the Mainland. Many of these oversease Chinese have established themselves in specialized industries in the places they are residing. For example, Southeast Asian Chinese have made a name for themselves in the field of business. And like Clinton mentioned, Chinese-Americans (generally North American Chinese) are known in the arts, academics, and sciences.
However, the one thing I noticed is that even with this worldwide diaspora, the Chinese relate to each other more in terms of ethnicity rather than nationality. For example, one is not just an American. Even if you are not ethnic Chinese (meaning you are “mixed-blood”), you are still Chinese-American. Think “Joy Luck Club”. [This is my observation only from my interactions. Feel free to contradict.]
Going back to Hillary Clinton, it’s interesting to note how she bridged the Sino-American relations through their people (and emphasized heavily on it in fact). In one of the videos showing inside the US Pavilion, she described the United States of America as a “nation of immigrants”. I wonder how other mass-Chinese-immigrated countries are taking this topic (or if they are taking it at all) especially that the main visitor to their pavilions are the native Chinese themselves.
But then, I think this has also something to do with how assimilated a Chinese-[insert nationality] is with their surrounding Chinese community and China. Intermarriages are common in the United States whereas maintaning a communal identity among themselves is still regarded as important in other overseas Chinese communites.
Aside from the architecture-and-learning-from-each-other’s-culture publicity, the World Expo can be seen like a Chinese homecoming of sorts. It is when the younger generation touches down to their ethnic roots and discover more about themselves.
Last year, I read about the homeland tours where Chinese orphanage adoptees from the United States are encouraged to come to China so that they could simply connect to their “homeland”.
That term again–”homeland”. What is home and homeland? Relative terms which I think are subject to debate.
In Thailand, intermarriages between Sino-Thais and ethnic Thais are also quite common. I guess they integrate pretty well into local society.
Your post reminds me of the story of Japanese American – National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita. Yamashita grew up in the States but spoke Japanese. After graduating from the university, he decided to ‘return’ to the homeland of his ancestors. Somehow, after spending some time in Japan, he discovered that he “could not be a Japanese”. He was more American than Japanese.
Hi khengsiong,
I think this is the feeling of many mixed culture kids. In Yamashita’s case, he may be more American; but probably he is not completely American too.