As I mentioned in American Born Chinese study guide from a Chinese American perspective – Part 1, our local school district decided to add the graphic novel American Born Chinese to the middle school curriculum.
After answering some questions about the book at the teacher event, I realized that it may be helpful to categorize the students who will be studying this book in class in terms of their familiarity with Chinese culture.
As I mentioned in my talk, I got this book in 2007 thinking that it was written for Chinese Americans. Once I began reading it, I quickly realized that the book’s intended audience is actually the general public who are unfamiliar with Chinese culture. The self-loathing, the uncharacteristic adaptation of the Sun Wukong the Monkey King, and the blatant over-exaggeration of stereotypes are written with perhaps a white audience in mind, to showcase the challenges of being an ABC.
When teaching this book to middle schoolers, I feel that it is important to understand who the audiences are. Every kid is different, and how they perceive the book will depend on their own experiences.
Here’s my breakdown of students in order of least familiar to most familiar with Chinese culture and the Chinese American experience:
- General population. These are the students with little to no exposure to Chinese culture. They may have an Asian friend, they may have seen some TV shows with Asians in it, they may have attended a cultural event. But there’s no general understanding, just a peripheral acknowledgment that Asian Americans exist.
- Asians adopted by non-Asian families. They may be perceived as Asian by others, but their cultural identity is similar to that of the general population. They know nothing, yet they are expected to know, expected to be different, and that impacts their self-identity.
- Asians who are not Chinese. Others around them may assume they are Chinese. People may assume all Asians are the same. But every country has its own unique cultural values, experiences, and social norms. There are additional layers of assumptions among different Asian groups.
- American kids with Chinese education. At the Kalamazoo Chinese Academy (KCA), the vast majority of our language students are actually non-heritage students (they do not speak Chinese at home). These are mainly elementary school students. Their parents enrolled them in Chinese school to learn a language that may help them succeed in the future. Or the kids themselves are just interested in Chinese culture and want to be involved. As our performing arts groups and cultural events become more visible and gain more interest in the local community, more kids are getting a taste of Chinese culture. Only a few of these kids continue their Chinese education through middle school. Currently, not many local public schools offer Chinese as a second language in high school. Still, there are a few rare students who truly love the language and culture and go on to major in Chinese in college, and travel to or live in Asia.
- Half Chinese or hapa kids. My own kids are half Chinese, along with many of the kids in KCA. Because only one parent might speak Chinese, it is unlikely for Chinese to be spoken frequently at home. Still, they get some cultural influences from their parent. They may be involved in the Chinese community. Their appearances come with different expectations that I can spend a whole other article discussing. There are some nice Youtube videos on this topic. I’ll try to link to those when I get a chance. Or just explore on your own. 🙂 The main character in the YA fantasy I’m writing is half-Chinese. This is an overlooked population that’s growing increasingly more visible.
- American Born Chinese. They get Chinese cultural influences from their parents, and maybe from their community. At home, their parents may speak Chinese, they may eat Chinese food, they may have learned some Chinese; however, English was probably their first language. They may have visited China, but never lived there. There tends to be a significant generation gap between ABCs and their parents.
- Children of American expats born in China. In the last 2 years, the Kalamazoo Chinese Academy has seen several expat families enroll their kids in our programs. These are kids of white parents who were born in China, who spoke Chinese at home with their nanny, and who experienced life in China at a very young age. Many expats came home to America, fearing border closings and changes in policy following COVID. They don’t want their kids to forget the Chinese they’ve learned and want to still be a part of the community.
- 1.5 generation Chinese Americans. These are kids like me who were born in China to Chinese parents, but grew up in America. We remember what China was like. Chinese was our first language. Chinese is spoken at home. We share common early experiences with our parents. However, the longer we stay in America, the further away our cultural identity drifts as we are influenced by our environment during our formative years.
Those who are unfamiliar with the topic may be introduced to Chinese racial stereotypes for the first time. Or they may get a skewed view of Chinese lore, and Asian American identity. Those who are familiar with Chinese culture may feel uncomfortable (to put it lightly) when forced to encounter the material in an academic setting. That’s why I think it’s important to put American Born Chinese in context by sharing other representations of Asian Americans in the media. Not just the ones focused on ridiculing racial stereotypes, but depictions of real people, that are perhaps more relatable.
In recent years, there have been many books published by Chinese American authors. One book I can suggest that better represents my own experience is an Arrow to the Moon by Emily X R Pan. There’s Invincible comic book/tv series who’s main character is half Asian. I should probably write a whole separate post of just book recommendations for the Asian American experience.