Hi, 3rd gen Chinese Anon again. Thanks for answering my ask. Do you have any concrete tips about what to do next? I already have Chinesepride!friends and am involved in Chinese stuff but I still struggle and worry people will find out. Also, I know lotsa y

Anonymous asked: Hi, 3rd gen Chinese Anon again. Thanks for answering my ask. Do you have any concrete tips about what to do next? I already have Chinesepride!friends and am involved in Chinese stuff but I still struggle and worry people will find out. Also, I know lotsa young Chinese peeps who want to be Korean and it's hard not to get swept away too. I just think Korea/Japan have preserved their traditional culture/ethnic dress better and promote it better. I get envious and want to dabble in other cultures.

optimistic-red-velvet-walrus:

thisisnotchina:

so you?re clearly internalizing some biases here especially with your belief that ?korea/japan have preserved their traditional culture/ethnic dress better and promote it better.? what i would suggest is becoming more actively involved in chinese cultural events or organizations. if you?re still in school, it should be easy to seek these out!! being surrounded by your people will help you to understand the ways in which our own traditions and cultures still survive and are still an integral part in many of our lives. maybe try consuming more chinese media - this might be difficult because the popularity of korean and japanese media is more widespread (i think this is what you mean by ?promoting it better??) but it?s out there and it?s really not that difficult to find once you know what you?re searching for. all of this is in the goal of learning to appreciate your culture and trying to stop glamorizing other cultures/putting other cultures on a pedestal above your own. it?s 100% ok to be interested in other cultures but you want to learn to appreciate your own and not be ?envious? of others.

also, i think having candid conversations with your chinese friends will help you come to terms. maybe instead of hiding your insecurities, talking about them openly will be more useful in your healing process. they might be dealing with similar identity crises!

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The notion that some nations have ?preserved their traditional culture? is Orientalist claptrap. Culture is not something to be preserved and cultivated; it lives in and through us as a dialogue between contemporary humans and our historical heritage, between us as humans of diasporic families and globalized communities.

The idea that ?Chineseness? is trapped in a specific form of Chinese language, written and/or spoken, or in a specific form of dress is a broken conception of Chinese culture as an artifact preserved in amber or glass, that can be captured and admired. The conception can come from a mix of influences, whether it?s Orientalism or Chinese nationalism or whatever, but regardless, I reject it. I claim Chineseness as a person who faces anti-Chinese and anti-Asian racism, I claim Chineseness as a person who is a member of a family spread across the globe whose past countless generations have resided in contemporary China, as someone who has legal residence in Hong Kong, as someone who speaks Cantonese. I claim Chineseness as a person who recognizes that we are narrative beings that my personal narrative is threaded through the narratives of the Chinese people and that through me, the story continues.

Source: http://polygonal-lasso.tumblr.com/post/60930866034

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