You Are Just as Asian as You Think

Addressing what it means to be an Asian in America

This post blew up on twitter about a month ago and I want to talk about it:

In terms of reactions to this tweet, there are 3 possible camps you may fall into:

1. How dare this yt bitch wear a dress that is of cultural significance to Chinese people!
2. She is just appreciating the culture by wearing this beautiful dress!
3. Indifference.

Admittedly, I was part of the first camp. When I saw this tweet, I was enraged. Americans have a tendency to take bits and pieces from other cultures that they like, and use them as accessories. The Bindi, Henna, Kimono, and Qipao, among a never-ending list of other things, have been adapted explicitly for fashion in North America.

I’m fucking Chinese and I’ve never worn a Qipao in my life.

I was mad that a white woman was wearing a symbol that shouldn’t belong to her. I was mad that, out of the infinite designs she could’ve chosen to wear to prom, she chose a design that was supposed to mean something to me. But I was also mad because I didn’t know myself what it was supposed to mean.

I didn’t know if I was offended as a representative of the Chinese community, or if I was up in arms because I felt that I needed to re-assert my belonging to the Chinese community.

I am culturally Filipino, and ethnically Chinese. My parents moved to Canada from the Philippines while my mom was pregnant with me, and I was born a Canadian citizen. I’ve never been to China. I don’t read or write in Chinese. I barely understand my own dialect. Sometimes my parents describe memories of home in words I don’t understand. They decided that teaching me Hokkien, Bisaya, and Tagalog — their native languages — would hinder me from properly learning English. The crowning achievement of my Chinese comprehension was the time I understood what my Taiwanese taxi driver was muttering:

“I have no idea where I am.”

Same.

I have no idea where I am.

Am I Chinese enough to have an opinion on this? Am I simply too driven by my Western ideology? Is there a spectrum of Chinese-ness? As if, by virtue of being born Canadian, I am a diluted version of a ‘real’ Asian person?

There is a dissonance between Asian culture in the West and Asian culture in Asia. As many mainstream media outlets will tell you, people in China actually don’t care, or are supportive of her choice to wear that dress:

Teenager's Prom Dress Stirs Furor in U.S. - but Not in China

The news that Chinese people in Taiwan or Hong Kong were not offended by the dress has been touted by American media outlets like ABC News and Cosmopolitan, as if to say that Chinese people living in Asia have a superior opinion when it comes to matters of cultural significance.

The aforementioned NYT article notes that “Asians and Asian-Americans do not always see eye to eye,” providing controversial examples such as The Great Wall featuring Matt Damon as the lead actor, and Crazy Rich Asians which boasts an ‘All-Asian’ cast, but takes place in Singapore, an East-Asian country. In her article Why ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Isn’t Really A Win For Diverse Representation, Kirsten Han said this which I find rather poignant:

Asians — a population of over 4.4 billion people — are not a monolith, and our need for representation and empathy can’t be addressed by non-white casting.

…

It’s touted as a win for representation in the U.S. because of its stated goal to have an all-Asian cast, but the focus is specifically on characters and faces of East Asian descent (as dictated by the book). This is already a misrepresentation of Singapore at the most basic level, obscuring the Malay, Indian, and Eurasian (and more) populations who make the country the culturally rich and unique place that it is.

- Kirsten Han, Singaporean freelance journalist and writer

The whole essay is a good read, and I would highly recommend it, but essentially, there is a clear divide between Asians living in Asia and Asians living in North America. What is seen as cultural appropriation on this side of the ocean is seen as cultural appreciation on the other. What we may champion as a win in Hollywood and representational media, the other may see as a perpetuation of the falsehood that Chinese people are the main form of ‘Asian’.

I believe that the difference between Chinese in Asia and Chinese in North America is significant enough that it would be fair to consider them two divergent branches, two different cultural ecosystems. But this does not mean that either one is more or less Asian. I am not a dilution. When I have to declare my race in job applications, I check off the box next to the word ‘Asian’.

I am just as Asian as I want to be.

I am just as Asian as I think.

So when I see shit like this:

She insists there was no racial undertone intended, adding, “I want to everyone to know that I respect the Chinese culture and every culture.”

- Quote from Keziah Daum, an excerpt from an article by Stacy Chen found on ABC News.

I am understandably upset. Because being a Chinese-Born-Canadian (CBC) in and of itself is its own culture. For a white woman who claims to respect “every culture”, you are discrediting the identities of the millions of Chinese-American people living in your country.

So when I see the amount of backlash from Asian-Americans regarding Keziah’s prom dress, it makes complete sense. Because we live in a culture where we are the minority, we hold our cultural symbols with more reverence than the average Asian living in Asia. She is a white woman merging into our lane without warning, so she shouldn’t be surprised when we honk back.

I am just as Asian as I want to be.

I am just as Asian as I think.

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