The Asian Diaspora

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A community for Asian people around the world to share their cultures, news, life stories.

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WongKaKui@piefed.social

WongKaKui@quokk.au

Saigon@piefed.social

[OC] My Lunar New Year in USA, Chinese-American Edition (Philadelphia, PA) (media.piefed.social)

submitted 5 days ago by WongKaKui@piefed.social to c/theasiandiaspora@piefed.social

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So this is like a table my parent put right by the door, then they get the fake money stuff and hold it in between the palm of their hands, do some prayer thing, then burn the "fake money", so the ancestors in the heavens can... checks notes ...get money to spend? Idk I'm so confused, as a 1.5 gen I don't even understand my own heritage either.

(Also why is Heaven run under capitalism? lmfao, but hey, at least we can relate to our "ancestors in the heavens", money struggles both in coporeal and non-corporeal forms 😆 (meant as a joke, pls don't bring the seriousness of politics here lol))

Honestly idk if I'd even do this stuff with my future chosen-family... I'm just very leaning towards atheism and, no offense to my ancestors, but this just seems kinda silly to me IMO.

I feel too Americanized already and doing this now makes me feel like I'm a "phoney" (as if I'm a "pretender to Chinese Culture"... like idk my mind doesn't feel very "Chinese" exactly... I haven't participated in the prayer thing ever since like teenage years and I read about atheism)

Also now its new years and I'm not allowed to mention "bad words" like... "death" and like no yelling allowed

Oh yea mom maybe can you do the "no scolding your children" thing 365 days a year? thanks xD

Bonus:

So anyways: Enjoy your Lunar New Years! (enjoy the few days of being immune from getting a scolding xD cuz it's bad luck to scold your children on New Years apparantly)

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[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

as a 1.5 gen

I'm curious as to how this is calculated. Child of a 0th and 1st gen couple?

[–] WongKaKui@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

In the US:

1st generation refers to those that immigrated as adults.

2nd generation refers to their children that was born in the new country and (presumably) grew up there.

I came to the US when I was 8 years old. I went to school in China for 1st and 2nd grade. Then from age 8 up now, is in the US...

So although I'm technically in the "1st gen" category, there's another term for those like me: the "1.5 generation"

So I didn't get the "full Chinese experience" enough to be Chinese... since I have no idea what life is like in China beyond 2nd grade.

But also not the "full American experience" since I didn't spend Kindergarden in the US, and I had to spend the first several years being like "wtf" in a classroom full of people speaking a language I didn't know, didn't make much English-speaking friends in the beginning due to language barrier and feeling foreign and lack of confidence self esteen issues from the first few years of feeling "alienated".

So I'm in between a 1st gen and a full 2nd gen's experiences... like a bridge between the two worlds

I know enough to be able to just embrace which ever side, which ever "culture" I chooses to identify with. I'm like standing right in the middle of a gateway between the worlds.

I would say anyone from grade 1 to grade 12 to be on a spectrum of 1.5gen-ness, the earlier you emigrated, the closer you're to a 2nd gen, the later, the closer to a 1st gen.

I struggle to express myself in Chinese so I'd consider myself leaning more towards "2nd gen" but not fully 2.0 gen.

That's why its called a 1.5 gen.

Or I guess if I were to invent a new term, I call myself a "1.8 generation" since I'm SOOO CLOSE to being native, except I didn't get birthright citizenship so I can't run for US Presidency. But I primary language is English, so I think I could theoretically "pass" as an American-Born Chinese.