I Am Bi-Cultural
TweetWanna know a secret?
Yes, I am. I am bi, as in bi-cultural.
Here’s how I came out. When I was a kid, I remember feeling disappointed that I would never be a blond, blue-eyed cheerleader. If you think this sounds like a strange thing to pine over, consider the thoughts of a tender twelve-year-old, realizing the blond girl with the drinking problem, who would later sleep with most of the high school football team, would be selected for the best social activities over the geeky Asian girl with the glasses, with a penchant for classical music and punk, and an interest in computers and electronic keyboarding.
I gazed into the mirror one day and said, “This is who I am.” And with something of a wistful sigh, I made a promise to myself not to lose my family’s cultural distinctives, though I had never really possessed the linguistic side of things. I wish I knew back then what I know now: that being bi-cultural (and in some way, tri-cultural with art) could be so fun and incredibly useful. Being bi-cultural truly makes the world your playground.
Two women named I-mei: Grandma and I
The woman pictured to the right is where it all started. My paternal grandmother lives in a small town in Taiwan. Of the many things she did in her active years, she was a practitioner of Oriental Medicine, a city council woman, a representative of women countering domestic violence, a board member of a bank, and a sprite sword dancer. If it wasn’t for her progressive nature, perhaps she would not have encouraged my father to come to America, where I would be later born in Seattle, WA. Because family life can be insular, It would take until I was about four years old when figured out that I was not only American, but Chinese too.
Signs you just might be Chinese:
Your parents speak a Chinese dialect, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, or Taiwanese
You eat things like Pigs Blood Soup (congealed) without questions
You drink hot water all the time, even when it’s warm outside
You learned to eat with chopsticks first
(but didn’t know they were called “chopsticks”)
You’re really good at karoke from being forced to sing all the time
You own at least one “chop” of your signature
You own a bunch of solid gold (soft gold) jewelry from your relatives
You ate rice soup instead of cold crunchy cereal with milk for breakfast
You pronounce “Android” as “N-droid”
You might queue for the train, but push and shove your way onto that train anyways
No random button pushing, ya hear?
Signs you might also be American (and thus, bi-cultural):
You get teary when you hear the National Anthem being sung at ball games
You prefer to text in English, even if you can read characters
You never once thought of buying underwear or red bean popsicles at 7-11
You understand the strange national sensation associated with bacon
Your T-shirts are devoid of Chinglish (unless you collected Chinglish on purpose)
You are free from the strange fascination with fluffy eyelashes
If you are a man, you don’t carry a man purse in public
Your meals are typical no more than three types of food on the plate
Chinese drumming with Ten Drum of Tainan, Taiwan
All jokes aside, the best thing about being bi-cultural is the addition of another lens on life, art, and beauty. Like language, culture can be a lens that creates boundaries or frees you of them. Truly owning both cultures allows me to float between worlds, to accept things others may reject, and fuse aspects of each into new options. The third culture — that is, art — adds an additional texture through musical language, color, and movement. Without a single word being shared, we can all enjoy a performance of Chinese drums and feel its powerful beats in our belly.
I grew up with so much emphasis on purity and wholeness that I had no idea how wonderful fusion and hybrid could be. Over the next weeks, I’ll be pumping out blog posts about everything from dating online (follow up), Taiwan art, culture, language, and the effects of technology on urban life. You’ll hear about the Old Rainier Brewery Artwalk May 14, 2011, and how Seattle’s art community is being revitalized by a fusion of artists and collaborators. All I can say is this: it’s a whole new world.
P.S. Speaking Chinese again is both a delight and a challenge for me. Imagine what thinking in another language does to the way you see things. On a funny note, my English regressed by the end of my two week trip to Taiwan in April. More on how that shapes the way we look at art in a future blogpost.
7 Responses to “I Am Bi-Cultural”
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“Being bi-cultural truly makes the world your playground.
Well said.
I grew up in small town Ohio. There was virtually no cultural diversity. During my middle school and early high school years, I did become good friends with the only Asian kid in our community. He was a year behind me in school and our families had attended the same church since we were quite young. During our middle school years his family moved to our neighborhood and we spent several years hanging out at each other’s house. I always liked staying for dinner at their house, quite a change from standard Americana fare in our kitchen. They moved away after his freshman year in high school to Boston. I helped them move and still remember my first dim sum experience with them in Boston’s Chinatown district. His mother was very big on trying everything, which wasn’t a bad thing to me at all. He and I managed to stay in touch for many years and recently regained contact after a decade or so of having lost track. I can appreciate both the difficulties and the advantages of biculturalism, not because I’ll ever be able to experience it myself, but because my friend was able to share his with me at an early age. He also was Taiwanese incidentally.
Chad,
Thanks for sharing. I’ve been fortunate to be able to connect with others who have had bi-cultural and tri-cultural upbringings, and I realize that we have many similarities. What I once perceived as disadvantage has become a tremendous gift in terms of a lens on the world. How fortunate for you to experience this through your friend’s life and your connection to him. What do you think this will mean for the what the next generation may be?
This is fascinating from a mono-cultural perspective.
Were you only speaking in Taiwanese or did you speak English with non-native English speakers in Taiwan?
Looking forward to reading more about your experiences there.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for commenting.
I was speaking in Mandarin, because this is the only Chinese language I’ve ever attempted to learn. My parents switched me to English at the age of four or so, concerned that I would either be confused, or that I would not do well in school. This is well before there were studies that conclusively show how children manage to learn several languages at once with nominal confusion. Therefore, my Chinese is not very good, but tonally correct most of the time (enough to be understood) compared to non-native speakers of Mandarin. I did speak English with post-graduate students and younger people towards the end of my trip, but for the most part of my travels, I had to speak Mandarin or I would go hungry!
Speaking English with non-native speakers is difficult for me while I am trying to improve my Chinese. The structure of Chinese language is superimposed, and what I found is by the end of the first day I spent with students, my English had de-volved into something strange (Chinglish), and I become acutely aware that I could not understand certain words because of inaccurate enunciation. For example, the word “party” may sound like “potty”, because the “r” sound was dropped. At the same time, we’d be alternating between the languages, and each of us had the urge to return a comment in the other’s language, only to find that my brain has a “brain fart”, and some combination of words from both languages would come out!
That’s funny. Latinos I know also pronounce party as potty . . . and Ford Focus as Ford Fuckus. lol
Imei,
I actually considered teaching English in Taiwan for a little while, then a friend told me about her experiences. I’m now not so sure I want to pursue that. Among other things, she spoke about the relentless heat and humidity. I’m not a big fan of either. I think it would wear on me after awhile.
She also had problems dealing with a different food culture. I guess that can be a problem for some people…
So you spoke mostly Mandarin. Is Mandarin the primary language in Taiwan? I heard Taiwanese (Hokken?) is used at least as much as Mandarin Chinese.
Also, how big is Japanese over there?
Tonal languages are very interesting; the idea of pitch changing vocabulary is just mind-boggling.
Hi Mike,
The heat and humidity is quite difficult for those not used to a tropical environment. I for one enjoy the heat and humidity, and then use air con for the rest. The food is diverse, but from what I can see, the foreigners catch on to where they like to eat, and they become more adventurous over time.
Mandarin is the official language of Taiwan, but Taiwanese is also common. There is a popular soap opera running at night which is in Fukinese, so many people are learning this language as well. Japanese is still very popular in Taiwan. If you know some, you’ll enjoy the shopping areas, food, and especially older people who are still fluent in Japanese.
Tonal languages allow for word pun fun and games. Talk about double entendres and such! You can easily become a modern poet simply by bending the words to your will.