‘Overseas Chinese’ Return to Homeland
December 22, 2008
Americans reconnect with roots for business, cultural exchanges
When more than 100 “overseas Chinese” — individuals of Chinese ancestry residing outside of China — were invited by the Chinese government to tour select areas of the country, it turned out to be much more than a sight-seeing vacation for the dozen Americans who participated.
In addition to marveling at the palatial architecture of the Forbidden City, the majesty of the Great Wall and reminders of China’s long history, delegates from 22 different countries also paid visits to the capital city’s new steel treasures, the National Stadium, or “Bird’s Nest,” the National Aquatics Center, or “Water Cube” and the National Grand Theatre.
“Beijing really blew my mind,” says Bo-Ming Ng, 33, an information technology manager for the San Francisco Department of the Environment. “I was there eight years ago, and the difference is like night and day. If you were to take a picture of San Francisco eight years ago and another one now, not much will have changed. But the scale of change in Beijing is huge.”
For Clifford Wong, a 30-year-old Internet entrepreneur born and raised in Phoenix, Ariz., seeing the Bird’s Nest helped him understand the Chinese government’s visions for the country’s future. “It’s more than just a building — it’s a shining example of the progress being made in China,” Wong said. “And I have to say I felt really proud when I saw it.”
Wei Siong Tan, 47, founder of Marietta, Ga.,-based Accusentry, which creates automated inspection systems for high-volume manufacturers, said the highlight of the trip was Shandong Province’s Qufu, birthplace of the legendary Chinese thinker Confucius.
“I got to stand where Confucius once stood — that was really special,” explained Tan, who was born in Indonesia to Chinese parents and immigrated to the United States as a teenager, eventually settling in suburban Atlanta. “We’re talking about a man who, 2,500 years later, is still influencing minds.”
The purpose of the trip, according to Consul Wu Gong of the Chinese Consulate General’s Office in San Francisco, was to afford overseas Chinese a unique opportunity to reconnect with their roots and to promote future exchanges between those individuals and their mother country, be they cultural exchanges or business ones.
“It’s important to us to keep ties with overseas Chinese,” Gong explains. “And we believe that, by helping them find more common points with their ancestors, those ties are strengthened.”
Rediscovering China
Dennis Hwang, president-elect of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i, looked towards China’s future.
“I’m really interested in architecture, so I was definitely interested in what Beijing had to offer,” he says. “But I’m also very interested in the environment. We hear about all this growth in China and environmental concerns, so I wanted to see how they’re balancing that growth with environmental planning.”
Hwang says he was pleasantly surprised by the extent of the government’s efforts to protect the environment. Still, he believes that they could be doing more. To that end, he intends to investigate how cutting-edge green technology hatched in the United States could be brought to China and integrated into future projects there.
“I’d like to see the Chinese government develop a road map for environmental action,” added Bo-Ming Tan. “With that in place, I think I’d consider maybe investing money there in the future.”
Wei Siong Tan says he learned more about the workings of China’s communist government.
“All I know about the Chinese government is what I get from Western media, and it’s usually not very good,” he explains. “They spelled out for us their government’s guiding principles, and we got to ask questions. There were aspects that I didn’t agree with, but there were other aspects that I was really impressed with. I feel I have a better understanding now of what they’re about.”
Strengthening Chinese identity
The purpose of the ten-day “Discovery Trip to China for Eminent Young Overseas Chinese,” according to Consul Wu Gong of the Chinese Consulate General’s Office in San Francisco, was to afford overseas Chinese a unique opportunity to reconnect with their roots, and to promote future exchanges between those individuals and their mother country, be they cultural exchanges or business ones.
“It’s important to us to keep ties with overseas Chinese,” Gong explains. “And we believe that, by helping them find more common points with their ancestors, those ties are strengthened.”
The Chinese community in Phoenix, for instance, is small and not very active. So, growing up there, Clifford Wong says he developed a sense of Chinese self that was barely skin-deep. While he’s always identified as Chinese, he admits he knew very little about Chinese culture.
“What little Asian culture there is in Arizona is really watered down,” Wong says. “So I was really interested in the cultural aspect and the historical aspect of this trip. And it turned out to be a real eye opener. Not only do I feel more Chinese now, I can actually see myself living in China at some point.”
Bo-Ming Ng says that, because he grew up in the Bay Area, which boasts a large and very active Chinese community, he’s always had a strong sense of Chinese identity.
“But it’s definitely stronger now,” he adds. “Do I feel more Chinese? I think so.”
“I don’t know that I feel more Chinese,” says Wei Siong Tan, who grew up in Indonesia before emigrating to the United States and settling outside Atlanta. “I think that, for second- and third-generation Chinese, our Chinese-ness just gets diluted. But it’s still there. For me, this trip felt more like a homecoming. I felt like I had been away for a while and was coming back home. That’s the best way to explain it. It was a really good feeling.”
Comments
3 Responses to “‘Overseas Chinese’ Return to Homeland”
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How now, Chris Cox?
Yeah, and you too, Asian hater/baiter?
Ah, those wily Chinee rice-bowl types.
Can they be trusted? Are they “Americans”?
Or should we herd them into er, ah “relocation centers”?
P.S.: Rotsa ruck, kiddo.
the sentiments on Chinadaily, under comments
“Which brings me to the first CHINESE aircraft carrier. I hope that one will come soon.
Overseas CHINESE support with money, heart and soul, as well as with loyalty our beloved motherland: the PRC!
LONG LIVE CHINAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ”
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-12/24/content_7334149.htm
Dear Stentor:
You, I am afraid, are not only TOO loud, even for your namesake, but you are also brainwashed by “Yankee” and “western” concepts and precepts or what should truty matter to humanity and humankind.
If, indeed, you are authentically “Chinese,” rather than the rabblerouser “plant” I suspect you to be, along with “AsianPresident” and not a few others in this venue and these precincts of late, then WHY are you subscribing to THEIR concept of puissance and power and “hegemony,” that Marxist? conceit.
A true “Chinaman,” at the very least, would subscribe to the “assimilation” of the uncivilized and the intruder rather than the raw, brutal, savage inadequacies of the killers and destroyers and exploiters.
Better yet, a true Chinese spirit and soul would harken to the social teachings of Confucius, the sage sagacities of the legendary Lao-tze, AND the supernal “logic” and perceptions of the likes of that thoughtful rascal, Chuang=tze.
Aircraft carriers are no more than bombs and missiles, “smart” or otherwise, and they matter only to the killers and the dead.
Only in the likes of the creativity and yea-say like the Olympics presentation is there a true hope for the “motherland,” whatever the provenance.
Bottom, line: you have succumbed to juvey, ersatz, AND unauthentic precepts and premises. Furthermore, you are sadly wanting in the middle syllable of the Tao Te Ching. The rightness and the proper and seemly conduct of the benigh.
Get thee to the corner, dunce, put on that tricorn hat, and stare into the corner of your lack and immatuirity.
Bombard them, everyone, with the benisons of a mature and truly civilized humanity that knows no bounds other than that between the creators and the destroyers.