I’m talking about after going through borders and I put away the US Passport…
And the average everyday people ask me “where are you from?”
Like if the place has anti-American sentinments, could I just pretend to be… not American…
cuz you know… the US has been getting a bad rap recently due to ahem a certain person in Capitol Hill…
Like most people in the world falsely assume “American” = “White” anyways…
They’d never suspect a thing… would they?
I can speak Cantonese and Mandarin… I can try faking a Chinese person’s accent when speaking English. Or pretend to be a Hong Konger (via the Cantonese). Or pretend to be Taiwanese (most people can’t tell the difference between the sound of Mainland Mandarin vs Taiwan Mandarin).
I heard that there are people who hate Chinese tourists… so is this actually gonna backfire?
But then again, I might also get hit with the double-whammy of “looking Chinese” while “acting like an American”.
So this is basically like code switching… but with national identity…
Is this morally okay? Or am I like crossing some ethical line here? Is this like the “cultural appropriation” thing where it’s inappropriate to do?
I mean I grew up in a blend of cultures…
I’m 1.5 gen (moved at age 8) so I thought if I try hard enough I might pass…
Yes I mostly watch American stuff… my most proficient language is English, but my legal name (and the name I use everyday) is still a Chinese name (well the Pinyin Version of the name). I was born in China and was a former citizen of PRC (since no dual citizenship allowed). I did watch a lot of Hong Kong TV when I was in my early teens. I watched some Mandarin tv shows about the war of resistance against Japan. I went through school in China up till 2nd Grade.
As for food… I honestly still don’t know what “American” food is… besides McDonalds, Pizzas, Subway Sandwiches, Cheesesteaks…
My parents are 1st gen from Guangdong so I mostly have Cantonese-style Chinese foods.
So I kinda have a small claim to it, more than those born abroad anyways…
This is just a thought experiment btw, I don’t think I have the audacity to do this… cuz Chinese toursts are hated as well…
Not even planning to travel soon, just like to imagine traveling… it’s like window shopping but for travel xD
In that case you are a Chinese who immigrated to the USA very young. While you probably think and behave more like an American than a Chinese, that doesn’t erase where you were born, even if for a technicality you no longer have a passport from that place. I would say that you’re one of the few people that are correctly described by the term Chinese-american, as you grew in both cultures. Unfortunately the popular use of that term is for Americans who have some ancestor from China.
That’s cool, where are you imagining traveling to?