We hear of many immigrant stories about families from all over coming to the United States to start a new life or make something of their lives. There are some families who immigrate and stay in America for many years but never really assimilate to American culture and they rather stay close to other people of the same ethnicity or never really leave their neighborhood where it’s familiar. On the other hand, some other families come to this “land of opportunity” and completely adapt to American culture and start to lose the culture of their homeland. Many, however, move to this melting pot of a country and while they start to practice or take on certain American values, ideals, and traditions, these families never really lose their own cultural identity. These new lifestyles are now a mix of their own original culture identity and American identity. Such a cultural mix describes the family of Anthony Chen’s.
America is made up of many ethnicities
Anthony Chen is a very reserved guy who prefers to keep to himself. At first, it was difficult to elicit any personal stories or information from him, but once he became more comfortable, he was more than willing to share his story.
Anthony was born in New York Tisch Hospital in 1997. He, as the only child, lived in Elmhurst, Queens with his parents until he was in second grade. Then, the family of three moved to a nice, quiet suburban area in Plain view, Long Island where they would remain there. When asked about how he likes his neighborhood, Anthony tells me with a chuckle, “I like how it’s very quiet, throughout the days. What I dislike about it, is that you don’t see many people around. There’s not many people around my age. It’s all old people”.
Plain view, Long Island
Nevertheless, Anthony really likes his neighborhood as he fondly tells me, “the neighbors are definitely friendly. It was built through time. Many of them help us if we have any issues or problems.” Anthony goes on to say, “[the] community is very competitive. In Plain view, many are Jewish so at a young age they are taught to support themselves and educate themselves. It is similar to Chinese culture.”
The quietness and calmness, and the better academic environment in Plain view, Long Island is what made Anthony’s parents choose this place to live and enjoy where they are living right now.
Jane, Anthony’s mother, grew up in Shanghai, China, while Robert, Anthony’s father, was from a Chinese Province named Hunan.
“My mom. . .. she worked hard in school. She went to a local Chinese university because she wanted to stay close to home. That’s why she wanted me to stay close to home when I started to attend college. My dad worked hard to get himself out of the countryside to live in America.”
Hunan, China
Both parents immigrated to the United States in the 70s and Jane received a teaching degree at City College while the dad finished his masters in NYU and earned a computer engineering degree. They both met when they were in college, and when they finally got married, they moved to a place somewhere in Queens. Both had similar goals as they wanted to make a living in the “land of opportunity”, like so many other Asian immigrants. For his parents, Anthony says, “It was definitely a culture shock. Because this is America. Only now they are familiar with New York. The only other place we’ve ever been to was Washington D.C. Other than that, they wouldn’t go out to Kentucky or some other place.”
Because Anthony’s parents came to America at a relatively older age where they have fully grown up in China, it was certainly a culture shock for them. However, they slowly but surely integrated and assimilated themselves into American culture. They can both read, write, and speak English fluently and New York in America has truly become their home.
Where Anthony’s family lives is an example of their assimilation to American culture. Living in the quiet, isolated suburbs of Long Island, Chinese culture is not prevalent outside of their home. The community is totally different than the mother’s home community as Shanghai is a vibrant and bustling city filled with people. However, the parents enjoy where they live, as does Anthony. He likes the sense of quietness and calmness in the suburbs. In addition, he also enjoys the city as he can connect with many more diverse peoples. Anthony does have the best of both worlds as he lives somewhere peaceful and quiet, while during the day he receives an education in the busiest and most diverse city of the world.
City of Shanghai
Past the quiet, calm streets of Plainview suburbs, and into the home of Anthony’s, is a house that sticks to its Chinese roots. Anthony tells me, “My family is very in sync with traditions. We don’t eat out much; we don’t really eat American fast food. I haven’t even eaten McDonalds in six to eight years”. One set back in the neighborhood is that there aren’t any Chinese supermarkets, but the parents make do as they shop in local markets such as John’s farm. The traditions are the same as his family celebrates Chinese New Year, but they do not celebrate Christmas. Also, Shanghainese and Mandarin are both spoken at home.
Although Anthony has lived most of his life in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and attended a predominantly-white school up until Baruch College, he has a very interesting and unique understanding about the waves of immigrants from Asia, specifically China, today.
“I feel, overall, about my feelings about Asians around me, we are all competing for opportunities and it’s hard for us to get the opportunities because of the high competition. You see families pushing their kids to play musical instruments, to be talented in many things, to balance academics and extra curricular activities. It’s very tough in an Asian community”.
He goes on to say that because of what these parents do for their children and what they make them do, many other people have that perspective that the Chinese are over achievers and are very competitive. “People right off the bat think we overachieve, and that’s pretty much it”.
However, Anthony continues that with the way how Asian parents push their children, “[there are also] parenting values that come with it to help us as the children to think for ourselves about what to judge of others.” Although it may seem that the parenting style of the Chinese can be strict, these parents teach their children how to think for themselves and make their own decisions.
Anthony has never visited China but he would love to one day. As for his parents, Anthony says, “they want to go back to visit. They miss their relatives. But, since they’ve been so integrated, America is their home now”.
Anthony’s family may have moved to the predominantly white Long Island neighborhood where there is an absence of Chinese culture and Chinese supermarkets, but the Chinese culture and the traditions still remain in their house. Jane and Robert, Anthony’s parents, speak and write the English language perfectly and have comfortable jobs in this country, but they still cook and celebrate Chinese foods and celebrations, and speak their native tongue at home. Anthony and his family have never strayed too far from the familiar environment of New York City, but all of them long to go to China. Jane and Robert may have physically left their home nation and their family members along with leaving a whole culture, but when they came to America they both took with them a huge chunk of Chinese culture which has been instilled into Anthony’s life. This cultural mix many can relate to.
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