Identity

What makes us Chinese? What is American exactly?

Identity was not an issue at all before we came to US. In fact, we know nothing about identity and identity crisis. Even though we have 56 shaoshuminzu in China, most of us belonged to Han. We are taught that no matter what minzu we come from, we are Chinese. And foreigners are Lao Wai. literally meaning people from outside. But identity conflict became very obvious right start from the first year studying in US. All of a sudden, we are foreigners, and international students. I did not know the deep meaning of international students until my junior year that I somehow feel like we are actually not even belong to the minor group but "International Student". Our school has a huge diversity and we have students from 75 countries. Moreover, what we find shocking is that, there are actually different groups people even we are all Chinese. There are ABCs, American born Chinese. There are adopted Chinese girls raised by American families. There are Chinese from Malaysia. They all call themselves Chinese so what is the difference between us and them? The funny thing is, as a generation of 90s, we grew up with huge amount of western cultures. Thank you for the globalization and capitalism. If culture experience does not split us apart, it is actually the politics and law. We are not American citizens and we share different political views. Some of us become even more Chinese in a foreign country when they realized the Chinese traditions are the only thing that can make them feel like Chinese. But the ABCs and adopted girls faced a tougher situation on identity crisis. My personal suggestion for them is, when in America, say you are an American and when you are in China, say you are a Chinese.