Chinatown loud and proud! Despite being the cliché and cheesy answer, I must say the neighborhood that I identify most with is Chinatown. Growing up in Chinatown, I have seen stores come and go, I have seen the residents slowly shift from Cantonese people to the new waves of Fujianese immigrants. However, one thing remains the same it is still Chinatown. Living there for seventeen years, it has definitely played an important role to shaping my identity. For one thing, it is a constant reminder I am and my family is different from Americans. To a certain degree, I can attribute my Chinese pride to growing up in Chinatown, growing up knowing I was different. Another point that shaped my identity is that when others speak of Chinatown one of the first things that they say to me is that it smells and it is dirty. Chinatown’s connotations to the ghetto, the slum, the place for new immigrants, reminds me that I come from a very humble background. Knowing that I come from a lower socio-economic status and that my parents’ were born thousands of miles away has taught me to stay humble, to never forget my cultural roots. As of result, I don’t think that just because I am born in America, that I am any better than people who are “fresh off the boat.”
Alice Liu
