Saturday, July 27, 2013

Chinese May All Look The Same to You, But We Chinese Don't See Ourselves As The Same

Michelle Ling asks Bill Moyers:  

"You and George W. Bush are both white, and from Texas, 
Are you guys the same?"


Bill Moyer produced an excellent documentary  in 2003, "Becoming American: The Chinese American Experience-No Turning Back" and portions of it can be viewed online on YouTube.

One part deals with the issue of Chinese, and other Asian Americans, being viewed by non-Asians as 'model minorities,' a view that is a double-edged sword.  But what are the ethnic identities that Chinese themselves hold? 

In a brief interview with Michelle Ling, a Berkeley student, she uses an ingenious approach to convey the idea that we Chinese do not all think alike or see ourselves as homogeneously as non-Asians do.  During her interview, Ling poses a rhetorical question to Moyers about his own identity as a white person that questions facile generalizations of many non Asians about Asians.

In another exchange, Ling poses a zinger to Moyers (which has been edited out of the revised posted segments) in which she points ou to  Moyers:  
       "You and George W. Bush are both white, and from Texas, Are you guys the same?"

The edited version omitted that exchange but did include a brief few seconds (3;47-3:57 )in which Ling states :

        "I AM an American but  I have to... become an American to everybody else....all the time" 

           Somewhat puzzled, Moyers responds, "Why,...Why?"

Ling adroitly tosses the ball back to Moyers with her reply:

  "I don't know why....You tell me, you're the white guy"

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