I just read this interesting article in The New York Times on “Class Divide in Chinese-Americans’ Charity” where the premise of the story is that “Rich Chinese-Americans are more likely to donate to mainstream institutions than to the poor, nonprofits say.” If you read a little bit more into the article though, it discusses that there are differences amongst Taiwanese-Americans, Hong Kong-Americans, and mainland-Chinese Americans. I definitely agree on this point, and it does matter. One of my favorite speeches I have ever heard in-person and live given by Kristie Wang was that of “How I Became a Taiwanese-American and why It Matters”
HOWEVER, I do think that all Chinese-Americans, no matter what our origin is from, should embrace what we have in common, because at the end-of-the-day, in America (especially if you live outside of California – especially outside of the San Francisco Bay Area & L.A.), if you look Chinese (or Asian in general), your average American will just mentally assume you are “all the same.” So let’s of course celebrate what we have in common that is great, rather than concentrate on our differences!
