ABC = American Born Chinese
There are other stereotypes as well:
- “Charlie Chan”
- Bucktoothed rickshaw driver (acutally puller) with wide-rimmed hat
- Evil mandarin with long fingernails
- Triad gang member
From the other end of the Pacific, the stereotype of American Born Chinese tends to be along the lines of the L.A. Boyz.
More stereotypes: Materialistic. Sexist. Clueless.
Sorry for the popups on the LA Boyz link.
Reilly, that second link looks like a poor imitation of “The Asian Prince”.
“Wo Hen Nankan” Was this hoax site set up by a chinese person, or a bigot who took the time to take beginner’s mandarin? The funny thing is how many people take it at face value.
Ooh, ooh, how can anyone forget the Overzealous Japanese Tourist, obsessively taking photos of everything?
Nope… and I’m sure this story wouldn’t have been picked up by anyone, much less become the meme-of-the-moment, if the couple had been from Southampton. :bigol’rolleyes:
Getting very drunk from a very small amount of alcohol and the resulting “Asian flush.” I’ve heard that an enzyme deficiency that makes it a bit difficult for one to metabolize alcohol is responsible for this, and that it’s more common among some groups of Asian people.
My favorite stereotype in that it makes me chuckle is the “AzN” stereotype–adept with computers, l33r-sp33k, and street slang, hip, rAvEr types with highlighted/bleached hair that start Counterstrike clans. My roommate when I was a freshman was a bit like that.
Then there’s the karaoke bar steretype, usually applied to the Japanese but sometimes Koreans as well.
My best friend, who’s half-chinese, spent a couple years working as a server in a place she only refers to as “karaoke hell” – according to her, the mainly-korean clientelle were the most accomplished drinkers she’d ever seen. (And she’s seen some boozing up close, I guarantee it.) The stories she’s told about that place. The depravity! The toxicity!
I am now living in the People’s Republic of China and am married to a Chinese woman here, and I have lived in a city where I was the only westerner in a city of 500,000 people (a mere village here).
The Chinese I have known are from all different backgrounds and personalities. Some were very nice people, some were the worst assholes you want to meet. I will say however that:
1.Chinese do things one way and one way only and they are always right and your not!
2.Chinese will never tell you to your face that they do not like you or despise you. This is why working or dealing with Chinese is very difficult.
3.Chinese love money. Money is everything, your success in life depends on how much money you have in the bank. I have some of them ask me how much money I make. The reason that they did not laugh at Mao is because people were desperately poor in the 1920-30s and there seemed to be no other way.
4.Chinese in China do not use clothes dryers or deoderant (they don’t sweat or smell).
- I teach English here and the Chinese learn only one way and if a fact is not in their books, it is wrong. They are learning “British English” here which has different pronunciation than American speech and I actually had a debate with an adult class on the proper way to say the word “NEWS”
6.Chinese will eat anything that moves except human flesh. Beef, Pork, Chicken, Duck (never had it until now, delicious), snake (also good), all kinds of fish and weird crap like turtle, snails, scorpion, and yes dog. I however have only been at a meal where dog was on the table, and it did gross me a bit, but this is my culture. Pigs, cows and chickens are filthy animals who live outdoors and will eat and walk in their own dung, but I will eat them, so who is the crazier?
7.Chinese love the company of other people and there is no such thing as a hermit here. Chinese people love their children, and most back in the day had as many as they could afford. My wife’s family was 6 children and a friend of mine’s father had 11 children in his. This is why China has four times the populace of the USA. This is why the government had to introduce the one child policy, because the counrty is running out of resources.
8.China is a capitalistic country under Communist rule. I have seen all levels of income from old women eating out of garbage cans and filthy beggers to Chinese men in Armani suits driving BMW and looking cool. Actually the Communist party is mainly supported by the middle and the upper classes because they like the strong controls that they offer, and without Jiang Zemen and his boys in power, that there would be a vacuum of authority and anarchy would develop.
9.The Chinese language is a royal pain in the ass. It takes 3,000 characters to read the newspaper and there are 100,000 characters in all. On top of that there are four tones to speak and Chinese (Putongwa) makes sounds that English does not do.
10.)China, Korea and Japan and its respective people’s are very different in language and cultural identity. The Korean language (Hangul) is nothing like Chinese, and its langauge family comes from Mongolia and from Eastern Europe. Koreans also like to get drunk a lot and by and large more rude than Chinese. I lived and worked in Korea for six monthes so I know them a little bit.
LASTLY: I find that my wife and her family are sweet kind people, as are most of the people in this wild vast nation.
I hope I have not offended you.
Zaijin (Goodbye)
I don’t know if we have the most stereotypes for a minority group, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Not because there are fewer stereotypes, mind you, but because, I believe, ours have gotten more than their fair share of time in the limelight. (And by limelight, I mean popular media.)
Brief history of immigrant groups in the US: All new immigrant groups get dumped on. Which is to say, whenever there is a new “wave” of immigration (and immigration has historically happened in waves - particularly when the U.S. needed cheap labor), the new immigrant group is always stereotyped and, more often than not, I’m afraid, discriminated against.
And I’m going to have to check some dates on this (okay, I won’t, but let’s pretend), but I’m pretty sure that Asian immigration happened after the invention of movies and possibly television. So the older stereotypes (Asians as sexual predators, or as effeminate males - how the hell the stereotypers managed to create both of these is beyond me) got more play, so to speak. (And by “more” I’m speaking relatively, compared to, say, Irish immigration. But maybe people read more newspapers back then, evening things out, I don’t know.)
And let’s also not forget that the Japanese were the target of much propaganda during WWII, for obvious reasons. Other stereotypes (yellow peril, Charlie Chan*, etc.) were perpetuated widely through cinema at that point in history as well.
A few more stereotypes were later created during the thankfully short-lived Japan bashing era in, what, the early 90s?
Most of the others you mentioned are a vague chronicling of the shift in perception of Asians from menace to “model minority.” (Unfortunately the “model minority” label does not include “their men are great in bed!”) All of these have, of course, been portrayed in one way or another in the news (wow, look how good their test scores are!), the movies, and TV. And as time goes on, the public perception and popular portrayal of Asian Americans will continue to change, and shift, and maybe we males will be sexually desirable!
[sub]Hey, a guy can hope.[/sub]
- This is before my time, and it’s been a while since I read about it. Wasn’t CC actually a fairly competent detective, albeit a hideously bucktoothed one?
I respectfully disagree about the being rude part. You probably just encountered a bad sort. I have an awful Chinese roommate.
Most older Asians are prejudice, both towards Americans and each other, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you hear bad things about the Koreans/Japanese from the Chinese people around you or vice versa.
Maybe “rude” isn’t quite the right word, but I don’t think it’s unfair to characterize many Koreans, especially males, as aggressive and nationalistic.
I don’t know folks, some of these are awfully obscure.
With effort, I think we might be able to make comprable lists for most ethnicities.
If I may, here’s a trial for Africans:
Noble Zulu/Masai warrior
Proud, arrogant Pharaoh
Tinpot dictator, his corrupt officials, and gang of thugs
Jungle savage
Brave activist
Witch doctor
And that’s just African in Africa, and off the top of my head.
And what about:
Convenience-Mart Owner (i.e., Apu from “Simpsons”)
Overbearing Chinese mother (if Amy Tan is to believed, anyway…)
Mystical Indian type (think Hadji on "Johnny Quest)
Snake-charmer
Bad Indian/Pakistani cabbies
Conservative, arranging marriages for 12 year old South Asian parents
I suppose it’s probably because Asia is so large, and so varied…so many different nations. Then again, so is Africa, as Menocchio brings up.