Asians bitching about Western Racism

[mrcfo]

I recall back in university I had a rather mixed group of friends from most major Asian countries - South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong (Ok it's not big physically) and Malaysia. Anyhow, some were born/raised here (came mostly between ages of 5 to 10) and went through what I would call a "going back to your roots/realising you're still Asian" phase.

So they came to realise and perhaps moaned and groaned and pretty much dwelled and perhaps then started to overstate how rife racism was in (in this case Australia). Pretty much all of them then had ambitions to go back to their respective countries and big big aspirations of living there permanently though here coems the irony, they obviously all want to return someday to Australia and would want to hold onto the passport.

Somehow, I thought plans of going back either meant one of two things:

* They knew they were f*cked in Australia, either they didn't have that Aussie culture to make it to where they wanted (but I admit most had really far fetched dreams).

* As they weren't "king and queen" here due to obvious glass ceilings, theyd want a superioty boost by going back home. Again, ironic how they use the fact that they have well honed English skills and were educated at a Western university to "show off" back home.

Of them all, I knew at least one from each country that did some sort of 1-2 yr stint back home. I pretty much caught up with all of them and pretty much all had bad comments about the majority of their "pilgrimage back to the mother land".

Personally having done a round trip of Asia some years ago, I think Asia in general with the exception of Japan still had a long way to go in terms of customer service and manners. The problem I suppose many of these now acquaintences had was that they were so use to the "Western way of life and amenities and customer services" that they either don't realise it or want to admit it. Furthermore, this trip exposed how crap they were speaking their "mother tongue" (which in my view was English but of course, they thought otherwise).

I suppose during my trip I can perhaps say some some degree of confidence that the most hyped up country/ethnic group would be the South Koreans. Boy, all those soapies and movies did a good brainwash on me and conjuring up thoughts about the country. Maybe that and plus that I didn't have any real expectations of China, Vietnam or Taiwan...because I knew they were still far off the West in the first place.

Bitch, moan and groan...all those who took their trip vowed never ever to do some sort of stint be it 3 weeks or 30 years back in their ancestoral native land again.

[hooligan]

Um, I wanted to go back, but for none of those reasons stated above. So, by definition, your story is ... false.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Mrcfo, what do you have against Asian people and society? Are you ashamed of being Asian in a Westernized world, something that you equate with being "more developed" and thus "better" and more "positive'? I know we don't exactly have the best history in terms of getting along on this forum but I can't help but sense this type of self-hatred or self-contempt as you from from criticism to criticism regarding various aspects of Asian (particularly Chinese) culture or practices and constantly compare them to that of the West. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you aren't what I think you are, but these are the types of people that give us Westernized or overseas-born Asian people a bad name (in the eyes of other Asian people). People like this are just as guilty of having some sort of superiority/inferiority complex toward their native countries as the ones they accuse of going back there for a so-called "ego boost".

[SunWuKong]

Originally Posted by mrcfo

* As they weren't "king and queen" here due to obvious glass ceilings, theyd want a superioty boost by going back home. Again, ironic how they use the fact that they have well honed English skills and were educated at a Western university to "show off" back home.

there are some Westernised Chinese that go back to HK and basically act like they're the shit. nobody likes these ABCs and they usually just hang out with other expats.

but a lot of returnees, especially if you're talking about Australia, emigrated when they were little kids and have basically hung out with other HK immigrants when they were growing up in Australia. these people never really stopped identifying themselves as HKers, or at least HKers by culture and way of life. these people generally do feel like they're just "going home" when they go back to HK.

it's two different ways of identifying yourself - either as an immigrant that's displaced from home, or as a discriminated minority in your own home. the latter don't identify as much with the culture in "the motherland" and they're where Chinese media gets the stereotype of the arrogant Overseas Chinese from a western country. the former, for the most part, just blends in with the locals.

i can't speak for any other places besides HK, but that's generally how i see it over there. actually to be honest, i don't remember having any friends that are arrogant Overseas Chinese back in HK. most that i know are either eager to absorb more Chinese culture and language and don't act arrogant, or they're Canadian returnees who are just like the locals to begin with. there was one girl that was like an arrogant Overseas Chinese, but i think she's from a rich family in the Philippines.

[Fireblade]

mrcfo you just hang out with a bunch of whiners. I know for a shitload of my friends, the reason why we want to go back is for family. To discover where our parents grew up, and explore the sites and culture. Not for some notion that I'll be treated better or what-not. That's retarded. The only way you'll be treated better is if you have a lot of money, in which you toss around. Then you can buy better treatment. Works in all forms of culture and nations.

[yoMAMA]

australia is an asian pacific nation.

so what's wrong with asian people going back to asia and bragging about degrees from another asian pacific country?

[deez nuts]

Originally Posted by yoMAMA

so what's wrong with asian people going back to asia and bragging about degrees from another asian pacific country?

i would brag. i'd get tons of chicks. parents would be begging me to date their daughters. that's also why my parents refuse to let me visit china or taiwan on my own now.

[yoMAMA]

Originally Posted by deez nuts

i would brag. i'd get tons of chicks. parents would be begging me to date their daughters. that's also why my parents refuse to let me visit china or taiwan on my own now.

there's a saying for that in chinese:

guang zong yao zu, yi jin huan xiang.

光宗耀祖，衣錦還鄉。

[deez nuts]

Originally Posted by yoMAMA

there's a saying for that in chinese:

guang zong yao zu, yi jin huan xiang.

光宗耀祖，衣錦還鄉。

that's right!

[Paradox]

Well, i'm an ABC and I just spent 5 months in Thailand and I had the time of my life. I met interesting people, experienced an interesting culture, and lived around "native" asian people 99% of the time. I loved it and I have talked about expatriating myself somewhere in Asia before. A lot of it is plain economics if I could make the same money there that i'm making here I would leave the U.S. permanently in a heartbeat. I'm not kidding either, as it is i'm already going back in November to stay as long as I can. While i'm at it i'm going to try my hand at the import/export business.

The people that gripe about the west in the ways that the original poster mentioned probably have immature or unrealistic views about life in general. I don't believe Asia is flawless but I prefer living in an asian society. I don't care to deal with the social constraints and annoyances that stem from being a minority in western society.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by deez nuts

i would brag. i'd get tons of chicks. parents would be begging me to date their daughters. that's also why my parents refuse to let me visit china or taiwan on my own now.

They are like that everywhere. If you're a western born asian person you get a lot of that once they find out. The problem is filtering out the good girls from the obvious green card hunters and gold diggers. If you just want to knock boots with every female you come across then it's a grand thing but then you're no different from the white western sex tourists who use asia for that purpose.