Picture of me and my twin sister.
I am an American citizen and a second generation immigrant who is proud to call herself an American-born Chinese. My parents on the other hand, were born outside of the United States and took some time before they finally settled in America and met each other. Having come to America at different points in their lives, my father and mother had different experiences that they wanted to share with my sister and I. My father came to America when he was six years old and grew up in a more American lifestyle. He taught my sister and me English after we turned five years old so we could adjust to the American lifestyle as well. In the first five years of our lives, my grandparents raised my sister and me and they taught us only Mandarin Chinese.
When my mother and my grandmother first arrived in America, they experienced racial discrimination and regularly heard remarks to “go back to where you belong.” My parents did not want for my sister and me to experience those hardships. As a result, they put us in a dominantly Caucasian school so we would assimilate better and have fewer difficulties fitting in later on as we grew older. They always encouraged us to join clubs and get involved in our school in efforts to make the most out of living in America. Although I can not say much about my immigration experience since I was born here, I feel as though living in America gave me many more opportunities for educational growth than I would have had in Taiwan or Hong Kong. In the United States, I also have been exposed to a greater variety of ethnic groups because America is such a diverse nation.
