My boss has been living in India (I like to joke that my management has been outsourced), but he is moving back to the United States. One of his concerns is how his daughter will deal with the move. She originally lived in the US, moved to India, and is now moving back again. This article from the Mercury News talks about Asian-American kids who move from the United States to India and their experiences. When I was growing, going back “home” (that’s how the parents called it) was a rare and special event. Asia was a place your parents immigrated from and that you visited on rare occasions. It certainly wasn’t a place to where you moved. With the growth of India and China and other Asian economies, a growing number of Asian American kids are moving to Asia, or at least visiting much more often. In addition, those trips back to Asia were looked at as a pain, a visit to an unpleasant and backward place. Talking to a lot of The Daughter’s friends, they don’t look at it that way, and often talk about what a wonderful time that had going to Vietnam or China.
The article talks about how this new generation of kids will be able to move easily between East and West. Some of the kids profiled spend their summers in the US and the rest of the year in Asia. I have known kids like that. The article doesn’t mention this, but a lot of Asian-American kids I know spend a lot of time in Asia – sometimes going there every Christmas or summer. Philippe Nover, the Filipino-American MMA fighter, did that. This kind of traveling back and forth was practically unknown in my youth, but is common at my sons’ mostly Asian-American school. Those trips generated so many missed school days that the administration asked parents not to take extended trips while school is in session.
A number of Asian Americans have gone back to Asia to start careers, often in entertainment. Yoobin Kim (pictured – thanks for the picture, Jun) of the Wonder Girls spent time in San Jose. Sam Milby is successful in the Philippines. Jero went to Japan to start a career doing Enka. My nephew who does hip hop and electronic music and one of the last people I would expect to go to Asia, goes to the Philippines and other parts of Asia to perform almost every year. I am sure that there are many others that I did not mention.
I have occasionally thought about making that career move to Asia, but never that seriously. I do regret not taking my own kids there. It will be interesting to see how this new generation of Asian American kids evolve. Will they become totally assimilated into American culture, as some people say, or will they start forming a new hybrid global culture combining Asian and American?
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6 Comments to “Asian-Americans Kids: Moving Back and Forth Between Asia”
Aleksandar M. Velkoski wrote:
I was just talking with a few people last night about this. They were form Europe, however. They said that the exact opposite was true for them. As time passes, they find themselves “going back home” less and less. They mentioned that price, time, and other factors were the reasons they haven’t gone back as much. One guy mentioned that he hadn’t been back to visit his family for a few years. Interesting.
Posted on 01-Jan-09 at 11:32 am | Permalink
stan wrote:
I spent seven years from when I was 6 till I was 13 studying in Singapore, and living with an aunt. Summers and winters were spent back home in Puerto Rico and the States. This experience experience has definitely created a different mindset for me when dealing with different environs and cultures. I definitely do feel that I have grown up into a sort of hybrid of all of my experiences, and that is defintitely something i will teach my children. I don’t think I would be one of those people who would move to Asia for my career, but I definitely do think that my experience would make that easier.
Posted on 01-Jan-09 at 12:43 pm | Permalink
CaliStunna wrote:
I think there will be a mixture of both, kids who are exposed to more than one language and culture. Then there will be the ones who won’t. However, I think the main difference is for the ones who aren’t exposed to more than one culture and language. Where do they fit? Do they want to eventually learn about their heritage? are they even accepted or outcasted by others? There’s a number of factors.
I think something the article probably doesn’t talk about is how also military plays a role. There are more and more bi-racial/multi-ethnic people of Asian descent because there are military stationed in those countries. Countries like the Philippines or South Korea are a good example.
Also, depending on who they grow up around…not everyone accepts the view of “Asian” nor do they want to even socialize with other Asian ethnic groups. Also do their parents also understand that the child may struggle identifying with others moving back and forth?
So on one side, a person can grow up very multi-cultural and benefit from both sides. However, there are ones who may not and grow up with an identity crisis and looked down upon by others.
The celebrities are a different manner because they are trained when they are very young. They don’t necessarily have to live the average everyday life as someone who is just living there. An example would be Jessica and Tiffany from the Korean pop group, Girls Generation. They were picked by SMTOWN to train under, so it’s not like they live and visit there and worry about attending the top Koreans school.
The one thing that is still talked about is how the traditional old-fashioned parents more or less order their kids around, vs actually creating a positive and beneficial relationship for them.
I’ve already visited several Asian countries and have family over there, which includes both China, Philippines, and Vietnam. If anything, going as a tourist is different because your going for vacation so of course you would try to visit the nice places. There’s still many families who live in poverty and struggle just to make a living, that is the parts of Asia I’m not sure everyone can deal with.
Posted on 01-Jan-09 at 3:43 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
When I was growing up in the 80s and early 90s, I was able to “go back home” to visit my relatives in Taiwan (note: I was born in the U.S.) three times – once in the 4th grade, for a month; once during college one summer for two weeks on the way back from an academic related trip to Japan, and after graduating college and going on the “Love Boat.”
I think air travel has gotten a lot cheaper internationally, especially since the early days of airline de-regulation in the late 70s and early 80s. Also, there is just more business trade and cultural trade. The world *is* more global now than when I was growing up.
I have a Caucasian high school friend who has lived most of his adult life overseas, primarily in Asia (Hong Kong, Australia) and is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese to name a few languages. I have two other friends, one Caucasian who speaks no Chinese, and a Taiwanese American friend who speaks Mandarin, who have their startups based in Beijing.
I say, if you can afford it, definitely let your kids travel overseas to Asia!
Posted on 01-Jan-09 at 9:50 pm | Permalink
BumScientist wrote:
Yoobin is so hot, hot. Best of all, she wants nobody, nobody but you. I hope BoA and Min, and J Lim do well in the United States. This might be the floodgates opening for Asian entertainers in the US.
Posted on 02-Jan-09 at 9:47 pm | Permalink
jun wrote:
off the top of my head,
thinking about everyone I know that went back to asia (China, Korea, & Japan) to visit family/study abroad/touring all LOVED it. thats including me.
I think the vast important of the quality of living has a big part to do with it but I think the larger and more important reason is the internet and cable tv.
When I visted Korea this past summer for the first time in 2 years it seemed less foreign because of how easy it was to follow along with Korean pop-culture on blogs on the internet and watching Korean news on cable tv.
its just the 1700 dollar plane ticket thats the bitch.
Posted on 02-Jan-09 at 10:24 pm | Permalink
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