On heritage

[powpowparn]

I'm always slightly hesitant when someone asks me "Are you Chinese?" I know it probably sounds weird, as it should be a relatively easy answer, but for some reason I always have to think about the answer. A part of me wants to say "Of course, I am Chinese." Another part of me wants to say "No, I am Taiwanese." In reality, it's kind of stupid, because there is and there isn't a difference. But who wants to listen to me explain the details such as, "Oh well, I am Chinese, I guess, but actually my parents are from Taiwan. But see, Taiwan is sort of part of China, but I guess you could say I'm Taiwanese.... etc. etc." Nobody cares. Why can't it be just something simple like, "Yah, I'm German." "I'm Japanese." I could take the easy route and just say I'm from China, but I just can't say that because a) well, I'm not from China, b) I don't feel like China is equivalent to Taiwan. And I always have to clarify, "Actually, I was born in the US, but my parents are from Taiwan." Again, complicated and boring. In any case, I just want to be able to answer in confidence with a short and concise statement when someone asks me "Where are you from?" or "Are you Chinese?" Unfortunately, several attempts of me saying "I'm American" turned into longer explanations. "No, I know, I meant like, where are you from?" Yes, they usually will ask the same damn thing except with some kind of different inflection, hinting that they're asking more along the lines of, what Asian continent do you associate yourself to? How do I respond to this? "Oh? You mean where am I from? Let's see, yep, I'm still from America, born and raised." Or perhaps go into some lengthy family history, "Well, my parents were born in Taiwan, so I guess I'm Taiwanese. But technically, Taiwan is/was sort of part of mainland China, so I guess I'm Chinese, too." Usually, I favor using the latter. In which their response is usually something along the lines of, "Huh," or "OK," followed my a moment of awkward silence.

Anyway, I'm not really sure where I was going with this entry, but earlier, I thought I had a clear point to this rant, but clearly, I don't anymore.