http://www.freefoto.com/preview/90-17-8/Ice-skating--Winter-Wonderland-outdoor-ice-rink--Edinburgh

Not So Typical

Lori Wang views herself as the typical American Teen, but her heritage would hint otherwise. Lori Wang’s parents are both from China, but although both of her parents are Chinese, Lori identifies herself as an American. Many Chinese-Americans are closely connected to their heritage and hold on to traditional Chinese values, however Lori attributes her identification as an American to the activities she did when she was younger, the friends that she associates with, and her parent’s lenient attitudes.

Lori Wang’s parents both moved from China in the late 1980’s to attend grad school. Lori was born and raised in Cary, NC and grew up similar to any other American girl, liking Pokemon, playing tennis, competitively ice skating and spending time with friends. When talking to Lori, there are no significant events that make her stand out from any other American teen. However it is her similarity to other teens that makes Lori unique. Although Lori is a Chinese-American, she does not consider her Chinese heritage to be a large part of her life, unlike many other Chinese-Americans.

Part of the reason why Lori is largely unconnected with her heritage is due to the friends that she made when she was younger. According to a recent poll done by Scarborough Research, approximately 78% viewers of the U.S. Open, one of the largest tennis tournaments in the world, are Caucasian (TV Tennis: Demographics of US Open Viewers). Although tennis is predominately played and watched by Caucasians, Lori has been playing tennis since a young age. Since most of the players and viewers of tennis are Caucasian, Lori sees this as one of the main reasons why she lost some of her Chinese identity and became more closely connected with the American culture when she started playing the sport. Lori also competitively ice skated as a young girl, another sport primarily performed by Caucasians. Tennis, along with ice skating, allowed Lori to associate with a diverse group of people, further disconnecting her from her Chinese heritage. The sports that Lori played when she was younger had a large impact on how she grew up and who she grew up with. Along with the sports that Lori played as a teen, another important factor in Lori’s self identity and acceptance of American culture were the friends that she made when she was young.

When viewing Lori Wang’s photos on Facebook, it is obvious that she has a very wide variety of friends, ranging from Indian to Caucasian. Lori attributes some of her identification as a normal American teen to the friends that she associates with. Lori does not feel like she needs to only be with only people of Chinese origin; she has friends of all different races and origins. When Lori was younger, her parents would often choose her friends for her and they would typically be of Chinese origin, however as Lori grew older and started picking her own friends, she felt like she didn’t fit in as well when she was around fellow Chinese-Americans as she did when she was with the friends that she met through sports and school. Recently, Lori visited her grandparents in China for a couple months. When she went there, she felt as if everyone instantly knew that she was an American and she certainly did not feel like she fit in. Even though that is where her parents and family are from, Lori feels as though she is more connected with the American culture, people, and traditions than that of China. A good deal of why Lori feels less connected to the Chinese culture than a lot of Chinese-Americans do is because the she has not grown up having Chinese friends, but she has had branched out to find friends of different cultures as well. Although Lori’s friends had have a large impact on her views about her Chinese heritage, the main determinant of Lori’s cultural identity have been her parents.

In a recent New York Times article entitled “On Chinese Mothers and American Kids” by Lisa Belkin, Lisa takes a look at an extremely strict and traditional Chinese mother named Amy Chua who raised children in America (Belkin). When it came to activities, Chua strictly and fiercely controlled what her children did and made sure that they performed to perfection on everything. She forced her children to be masters of piano, violin, and every other school subject except for gym and drama. She was also in charge of who her children associated with and determined who their friends were. Chua explains that her method of raising children is simply the way that Chinese mothers raise their children, unlike the “laissez-faire” western method of raising children (Belkin). However Lori Wang did not grow up with parents like Chua; in fact she describes her parents as lenient, letting her pick and choose her activities and interests. This is part of the reason why Lori does not identify with some other Chinese-Americans, because she was not raised under the traditional, extremely strict method of parenting in which the parent determines what the child will do and how they will do it. Lori was allowed to choose the sports that she played, the friends that she hung out with, whether or not she wanted to play any instruments, and what she wanted to do with her life. Since Lori’s parents modeled their parenting more after the western method than the traditional Chinese way, Lori was able to explore for herself what she liked to do and who she wanted to be, and she is now not as in touch with her Chinese heritage partly because of the way that she was raised.

The fact that Lori Wang’s parents are from China has had relatively little impact on her life. A great deal of Chinese-Americans feel that they are closely related to their heritage and that their origins play a large part in their life, however Lori Wang feels that she is similar to any other American teen. The reasons why Lori feels more closely connected to American culture and people instead of her Chinese heritage are due to the activities that she did when she was younger, the friends that she has, and her parent’s lenient attitudes.

-Chris Martin

Works Cited

Belkin, Lisa. “On Chinese Mothers and American Kids.” Nytimes.com. N.P. 11 January 2011.
Web. 27 October 2011.

“TV Tennis: Demographics of US Open Viewers.” Sportsbuinessdaily.com. N.P. 28 August 2011. Web. 27 October 2011.