Comments on: Asian-Americans Kids: Moving Back and Forth Between Asia

By: Boogerhead

Boogerhead — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:00:24 +0000

It’s better to be working class in America than Hong Kong but it’s better to be middle class and higher in Hong Kong. Ultimately, I think that America wins out i.e. the Western First World countries over the Asian cities no matter how glamorized by the media.

By: bigWOWO

bigWOWO — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:34:45 +0000

Man, you posted this two years ago, Jeff. I guess I’m a little late to the party.

By: bigWOWO

bigWOWO — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:33:48 +0000

I have trouble imagining a situation where it would be a bad thing to move to Asia, assuming people are moving to safe areas. In fact, I would think that it would be awesome for any Asian American kid to spend time in a country where Asian people “get it done” themselves. It would be good for building confidence, learning a new language, finding good Asian role models, seeing some positive examples of AF/AM, learning Asian aesthetics, etc.

By: Emma

Emma — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:10:00 +0000

“Back and Forth Between”???! Grammar fail come on now.

By: jun

jun — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 06:24:24 +0000

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.

By: BumScientist

BumScientist — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:47:29 +0000

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.

By: John

John — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 05:50:46 +0000

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!

By: CaliStunna

CaliStunna — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:43:00 +0000

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.