266 replies to this topic

[Mok]

It means you have to rock everyone's socks off because it rocks to be Chinese.

That's making being Chinese cool and hip!!!

[sg_han]

You know what ...

If you can be a hua qiao, you therefore can be a mainlander?

If you can be a mainlander, you therefore can be a hua qiao?

Just rambling now.

Zhuang Zhou once dreamt he was a butterfly. But the dream was so nice, he did not know if he was Zhaung Zhou anymore, or was that he was a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuang Zhou?

Well, that is the last thing I want to say for a while until the next round, ... other than ...

" both terms are completely different...a huaqiao is already living overseas and their descendents overseas are known as huayi.....mainlanders are those chinese nationals in china...

[Sephodwyrm]

Being Chinese is an advantage, but you must realize that you don't exactly choose your ethnicity...

[KaLing]

i don't think overseas chinese are really chinese anymore, given that the cultural revolution purged the country of all confucian thought and historical perspective. they have redefined themselves as the new chinese civilization. overseas chinese are a backwards people, like the xiongnu of ancient times -- they can only emulate, they can never be.

I'm Australian-born but I feel that I am Chinese. I'm someone who is very interested in and loves the Chinese culture and language - with that said, would I still be less Chinese than someone born in China who doesn't appreciate his/her culture and history?

Anyway, I feel that as an ABC, I have a special way of understanding Chinese in that I have another point of view and experiences to compare it with and see both sides of.

[WangEnlai]

with that said, would I still be less Chinese than someone born in China who doesn't appreciate his/her culture and history?

No, the one who loves their culture and history more is more chinese in my eyes.

[KaLing]

No, the one who loves their culture and history more is more chinese in my eyes.

I agree...Thankyou!

[Mok]

Being Chinese is an advantage, but you must realize that you don't exactly choose your ethnicity...

That much is true, but when all is said and done, I'm glad I was born Chinese.

[mawguy]

I'm Australian-born but I feel that I am Chinese. I'm someone who is very interested in and loves the Chinese culture and language - with that said, would I still be less Chinese than someone born in China who doesn't appreciate his/her culture and history?

Anyway, I feel that as an ABC, I have a special way of understanding Chinese in that I have another point of view and experiences to compare it with and see both sides of.

i see my sarcasm became sarchasm. i agree with you and applaud you!

[Centaur]

I suppose for me, being a Chinese would be standing in front of the mirror and seeing my reflection. I am Chinese through and through, I may be born away from China, but my genes came from China, 5000 years ago, my forefathers too have a role in Chinese history. The Chinese from China may not recognize or accept me as a Chinese, at the most, I am just another Overseas Chinese. This fine with me, as far as I am concern, it is not the skin of my color that defines me. It is not my ethnicity that defines me. It is how I live my life and what I am doing that gives me an identity. If we keep looking at the color of our skin or how much we know of our Chinese culture, it is just shutting people out, putting people into a box... this is not necessary. We know we love our Chinese culture; we have a collective past. Is that not sufficient?

[Suren911]

^Eh, discrimination always happens. It's part of human nature. I was born in China but my father is not Han Chinese (he's a mixed Central Asian) and so sometimes people tend to not look at me as one of their own but truth is, I am fluent in Mandarin and have always read up on history. I can't stand those who stereotype me as being lazy and violent like a barbarian and tell me I have no right to know Chinese because I
"not even really Chinese". Believe me, I've been told that by American born Chinese who can't even write their name in Chinese. To them, blood is what dictates one's. But deep down, I know I am Chinese culturally and identify as Chinese. It just that people use their ethnicity in vain and that's sick in my opinion.

[sg_han]

erm ur fatehr is mixed so its his father chinese or hsi mother chinese...

if u are a uzbek uighur kazakh tajik or something u can still be considered a chinese because of the zhonghua minzu concept

[Minty]

Well, my lineage and descent are Chinese so I am. As for Chinese culture I like some of it and some I believe need to be modernized.

[WangEnlai]

Curious, what do you think needs to be changed?

[Boarhuntr]

What does it mean to me to be Chinese ?

I was born an overseas Chinese and lived most of my life away from China and Chinese communities. I did not get really interested in Chinese culture and history until late adulthood. Then I realized that if I do not respect my own culture, then others would not respect me. I can be knowledgeable in all the history of American, Europe and the Middle East, and none of those people would accept me into their societies.
My first serious book about Chinese history was Ray Huang's "China, a Macrohistory." I read and re-read it in both Chinese and English. Little by little I realized that the Chinese have built a tremendous civilization over a huge land area, a civilziation unmatched for its longevity and vastness.
When I visited the Forbidden City for the first time I stood there over the huge plaza in front of the Tai Ho Dian and imagined the Chinese Emperors sending their armies far away, thousands of kilometres away, maybe to fight the Xiong Nu, or the Mongols. I got the same feeling standing on an ancient wall in Xian, it was such a feeling of grandeur and humility.... that my ancestors had the physical strength, the indomitable character, to conquer vast frontiers far from their wells and villages.
Also along the Yantze River gorge I saw the hanging coffins, and marveled that a people lost in time could have the ability to put their dead loved ones so far up a cliff. The technology and determination of these Ba Shu people was unfathomable.
And the immense size of the country... I've lived in the U.S. all my adult life, and I have never seen a river as majestic than the Yantze. I look at pictures of ancient temples and pavilions perched on cliffs that even a mountain goat would fear to climb, and yet my ancestors were able to build these things.
I climbed the Great Wall and my legs cramped. Then i appreciated what those workmen had to endure, to carry those huge blocks of stones and bricks up those steep hills; and the soldiers that had to patrol the Wall, they must have been very strong and in shape.
Here in the U.S. a lot of American born Chinese only know Chinese as people that operate restaurants and sell roast duck. I feel sorry for them. They do not appreciate that they come from a country that is as big as the U.S., has a longer history, and is probably due to re-assume her old role as one of the world's dominant civilizations.

Boarhuntr