Sunday, July 31, 2005
'The Chinese are strange' said the towhead boy crossing the street on his way to the swimming pool. My thoughts corrected him. No they are not so strange kid. They just look strange here. Here being a yacht club where leggy blondes and golden tans are de jure. 500 Chinese indeed looked out of place on the green lawns of the club. Somebody was having a wedding reception. A Chinese reception. Right then and there it occurred to me that in my sixteen years walking by this particular spot, I had never seen anyone Chinese before. Or, for that matter, any other ethnicity other than white.
I thought of my high school in San Francisco that was predominately Chinese although I had not one Chinese friend. The Chinese kept to themselves and more often than not spoke Chinese to one another. When they did speak English, most spoke with Chinese accents. My friends were white, black, hispanic and all high (it was San Francisco in the seventies after all). I have no idea what became of my former Chinese classmates since 1977. All I know is that I nearly missed my name being called at the graduation ceremonies -- sandwiched in as I was between hundreds of Changs, Fongs, then my name read very quickly and on to the Hongs.
As I walked past the yacht club, the wedding reception was letting out. Pearly white skin and black hair returned to their cars laden with bouquets of leftover flowers. A thought passed my mind that if the Chinese were ever to become seriously interested in sailing, they would have to opt for colored boats; the white of the boats backdropped behind their translucent skin was mis-matched I decided. All of the Chinese guests were speaking English. Even more surprisingly (at least to me), all spoke accent-free -- even the elders. By accent-free I mean CNN/Fox media English, Jennifer Anniston English, Sandra Oh English. A mixture of good-education English and trendy colloquialisms. In other words, were I to close my eyes and listen to the passing group speak, I would not know they were Chinese. Where as back in San Francisco 1977 I most certainly could! Odd I think. I can to this day usually tell if a person on the other end of the phone is African American or Latino. Or further that the person is an African American from NY say, or a Latino from Texas (as opposed to someone white from NY or Texas). A study group of 500 Asians walking back to their cars from a wedding reception is of course a ridiculous basis on which to conjecture that Asians have jettisoned any and all linguistic identity linked to their Asian-ness. Though frankly there is not much to go on in mainstream America either given that Asians are still very much under represented. But take Sandra Oh as an example....
I thought of my high school in San Francisco that was predominately Chinese although I had not one Chinese friend. The Chinese kept to themselves and more often than not spoke Chinese to one another. When they did speak English, most spoke with Chinese accents. My friends were white, black, hispanic and all high (it was San Francisco in the seventies after all). I have no idea what became of my former Chinese classmates since 1977. All I know is that I nearly missed my name being called at the graduation ceremonies -- sandwiched in as I was between hundreds of Changs, Fongs, then my name read very quickly and on to the Hongs.
As I walked past the yacht club, the wedding reception was letting out. Pearly white skin and black hair returned to their cars laden with bouquets of leftover flowers. A thought passed my mind that if the Chinese were ever to become seriously interested in sailing, they would have to opt for colored boats; the white of the boats backdropped behind their translucent skin was mis-matched I decided. All of the Chinese guests were speaking English. Even more surprisingly (at least to me), all spoke accent-free -- even the elders. By accent-free I mean CNN/Fox media English, Jennifer Anniston English, Sandra Oh English. A mixture of good-education English and trendy colloquialisms. In other words, were I to close my eyes and listen to the passing group speak, I would not know they were Chinese. Where as back in San Francisco 1977 I most certainly could! Odd I think. I can to this day usually tell if a person on the other end of the phone is African American or Latino. Or further that the person is an African American from NY say, or a Latino from Texas (as opposed to someone white from NY or Texas). A study group of 500 Asians walking back to their cars from a wedding reception is of course a ridiculous basis on which to conjecture that Asians have jettisoned any and all linguistic identity linked to their Asian-ness. Though frankly there is not much to go on in mainstream America either given that Asians are still very much under represented. But take Sandra Oh as an example....
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