Chinese Americanness

I don't usually write about topics like this, but I want to share something I learned in my history class, "Chinatowns: Then and Now." This might seem obvious to others, but a mind-expanding idea for me was the concept of "Chinese American" as distinct from "Chinese" and "American."

It should not matter that Chinese American culture is not authentic when compared to Chinese culture and it also shouldn't matter that Chinese American culture is foreign compared to American and Western culture. Chinese Americanness is its own concept that isn't trying to be either one.

For myself, a lot of tensions around my identity has come from the conflict between desiring to stay authentic and wanting to fit in. I think this is why I've found it easier to make friends with Asian American peers. There is a, at least a little, bit of mutual understanding that my shortcomings as a Chinese person and strangeness as an American are a feature rather than a bug.