#chinese american culture

[oharabunny]

thank you for unapologetically featuring EA y/ns in your work and art, specifically chinese-american. there's so little representation in majority fandoms, even when the reader is supposed to be "vague" so what you're doing is great and very relatable <3

Yeah I notice most fandoms don't include chinese-americans representation. If they include EAs then it's only korean or japanese, otherwise, i seen more SEAs. I will always unapologetically feature my fellow chinese-american y/ns!! :)) I write what I want, and I gotta make sure my people get what they want!!!

And I totally feel you about "vague" readers because the catch is that it's quite impossible to be culturally neutral because that doesn't exist. Every human has a culture and tradition. Some may differ from one person to another. So, when writing any kind of reader, there's a bias to what the writer knows and lives through. That's why chinese-americans like me gotta step up and write from our perspectives, authentically, at least to what we individually know.

I can't speak for all fandoms, but I generally don't see a lot of Chinese-Americans in this particular fandom, the Spiderverse one, or Marvel in general. Anomalies we are. 💀 I urge you and any Chinese-American to participate too! We gotta do it for each other!! 😭 Even if we don't get clout from other people, we can give that to each other.

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[rachel-sylvan-author]

"Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture" by Rosemary Gong ❤️ Happy Lunar New Year! ❤️

Thank you @the16stories for recommending this wonderful book! 🥰

[davidaugust]

Xiaohongshu = RedNote app

[longreads]

What does it mean to be a citizen of the world?

In this new Longreads essay, Thomas Dai writes about a formative year he spent living and working in China in 2017-18, in an apartment complex called Manhattan 2, when US-China relations were on the cusp of unraveling.

In Chengdu, I eventually lost track of my backstory, my wants. Was I an aggrieved American sheltering abroad? A diasporic Chinese recalled to his mother ship? The reality is I was many things. . . .

I came to Chengdu not knowing that a time of cosmopolitan dreaming was coming to an end—not just for me, but for so many other navel gazing expatriates. Now that I’ve left China, and don’t know when I may return, I feel more chagrin than ever about how much I took my time there for granted. That’s the thing about cosmopolitanism: It bamboozles you into thinking the world’s interconnectedness will always win out; that borders may shut, but only for so long. And in the meantime, you never actually feel like you’re living in Chengdu, or Bangkok, or Paris, because to really be in a place, you have to recognize you might lose it.

Thomas explores the ways that expat life rarely delivers on its promises, especially for those born in between cultures. This essay is an adapted excerpt from his new book, TAKE MY NAME BUT SAY IT SLOW, published by W. W. Norton.

Read the full essay, “Letter From Manhattan 2,” on Longreads.

[belowtheworldin80days]

feeling weird about americans flooding xiao hong shu because a lot of the viral posts that i've seen online have an undertone of asian fetishism to them mixed with treating chinese people like zoo animals doing a trick

[crazycatsiren]

I've been thinking about the "it's not that autistic people don't know how to communicate, it's that we communicate differently" statement. True. Very true. 100% agreed. Absolutely and totally valid. But, hear me out: communication is also highly culture dependent.

In the USA, my being direct, literal, honest, frank, answering what I'm asked, and speaking what I'm thinking, is often considered "rude" and "mean". In Germany, it's neutral, appropriate even. In China, I'm being nice because I'm not actually insulting anyone.

Example: "Does this dress make me look fat" when it actually does.

USA: "Of course not! You look great!"

Germany: "Yes."

China: "It makes your ass look as big as the Yellow River."

Another example: "How are you?"

USA: "I'm very well, thank you!"

Germany: "I have diarrhea."

China: "I need to go shit my brains out for the eighth time, you idiot, go away."

[kirby-the-gorb]

[neechees]

Recieved a warning from tiktok that my account could be under review for a comment that was me talking about misogynist men

[factsilike]

One of the things I very much hate about modern AUs in MDZS is how the fic writers Americanise everything about the characters until the only thing Asian about them is their name.

[superioronion]

seeing people Americans who are switching from TikTok to rednote weaning themselves off the American exceptionalism kool-aid, only to fall hook line and sinker for Chinese exceptionalism propaganda is.... comical.... to say the least

[oharabunny]

Hi! I really like your page. I'm looking to find a Chinese-American community on Tumblr. Do you have any recommendations?

Unfortunately I can't really help you there because I'm not in those spaces on Tumblr. It might be super niche that even Tumblr might not have an obvious one. I would love to join in if there was one. But, sadly, I don't know anything about it. :((

I think you can try looking through the tags to find something. You could probably try to start your own. It's why I started writing Chinese-American readers for some of my Miguel fics because there's not a whole lot of Chinese-American representation. The fact that Miguel's first girlfriend being Asian/possibly Chinese should've lured more Chinese-American girlies in, but, alas. But hey, I'm here. Good luck finding the community, and if you do, please let me know! :))

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[rachel-sylvan-author]

"Interior Chinatown" by Charles Yu

Thank you @amandatacklestbr for the rec! ❤️

[thedreadvampy]

The thing is. Bad/gross food is rarely a DISH - when food is bad it's because it's been badly made, whether because of skills or available ingredients. but a dish p much only exists recognisably and has a name because someone likes at least one version of it.

which is to say. there isn't really a way of naming a dish, school of dishes or specific food culture and going EW ISN'T THIS DISH UNILATERALLY CONCEPTUALLY DISGUSTING without denigrating quite a lot of people.

like you don't have to like it in any form. but it's eaten and shared because it's good to a not insubstantial number of people when cooked right.

(and I don't really understand how you approach that with total incuriosity when it's a dish you haven't tried like. ARE rocky mountain oysters good? Maybe! I would very much eat some to find out!!!!)

this is actually something the British food poll did in a way the American ones I've seen haven't really - they described how the food they're imagining is, specifically, badly prepared (grey meat and veggies; unseasoned shepherd's pie). which is wildly tipping the scales by calling it British Food but. like. that is an on point definition of why that food is gross.

(this also applies to American chocolate, which like. Broad category but I think most of us understand this refers to low-cocoa high-sugar chocolate, probably with bucolic acid. so we are being invited to imagine Badly Made Chocolate not. the concept of chocolate)

personally I just think it's very rarely a good or funny idea to shittalk how gross any given food culture is. partly because food is important and culturally evocative for most people, partly because it's very...alienating? to be like WHO COULD EAT SUCH A THING? just because you wouldn't, and largely because to be frank it says more about you than about the food that you have so little imagination or curiosity that you can't imagine why a food might be enjoyable to folks who aren't you.

yes this includes jello salad, I would like to try it. ONCE. if it wasn't appealing to someone it wouldn't be so widespread.

[breaking-noose]

Chunbo Zhang

Born and raised in Shenyang, China, Chunbo Zhang (Bo) is a painter and printmaker currently living in Chicago. In her words:

My current work reflects the anxiety I have experienced as a foreigner living in America and adapting to its culture. In examining this matter, I choose food as the subject because it is not only the essential in our daily life, but also an entry point for a foreigner to understand an unfamiliar culture.

In my existing paintings, I use realistic style and surrealistic approach juxtaposing Chinese antique porcelain wares with American food. The juxtaposition of two cultural references contrasts the differences between hard (raw) vs soft (cooked), inedible vs tasty, ancient vs modern, high vs low in a humorous way.

[variantpeach]

For the record I just want to say I liked xiaohongshu before the tt ban, and I have always fw chinese people. I am really happy and excited about the cultural exchange happening rn!! I feel hopeful that the bond between citizens will supercede any oligarchy and shatter the propaganda they make to keep us apart. I love the people of China. I love Liberal, leftist, democratic and (most) libertarian Americans. I love people and they deserve to be free whether they want to be or not.

[grabby-smitten]

Please do not normalize bad translations. No matter if it’s books, games or shows.

Someone (prob a group of ppl) worked hard writing this story, trying to convey something and built it. Mistranslation not only sends a wrong message and changes a narrative, but we'll be loosing the original meaning at end. No matter how small the details.

Also, there's cultural sensitivity involved. Why is it so wrong to try and understand a different culture? It should enrich people, not have everyone arguing about pseudo-incest. Adding to the culture thing, as much fiction as LaDS is, it also has so much of the authors' real world and it's a good thing so many people from different parts of the words are able to share and learn.

Let's remember that English is not only a language for one country. For a reason it's called global server.