Chinatown in the 21st Century – Asian American Bonfire: Reflections of Chinese in the Eyes of Other Asians

Thomas Tam: Pursuant to the wishes of the panelists, we’re going to change the format a little bit. Each of the panelists will first make a statement and then we’ll ask our questions. Now I would like to ask Professor Saran to make the opening statement.

Parmatma Saran: Thank you, Tom. I should compliment Tom for sending very interesting questions that I have received in mail. I don’t have a statement, but I’m going to respond to some of these questions. He is asking very good questions. They are very pertinent, and I believe the whole idea is how to bridge the gap, how to bring Asian communities together.

The first question is, what are the most important issues in your community? And I believe, we are referring to the community that I come from, that is, the Asian Indian group. As you all know, this group is not as old as Chinese Americans, they started coming in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Initially there was some struggle in terms of settling down, finding jobs, buying property and things of that sort. They have gone through all of those things. At present, the community at large is dealing with two major issues.

First one is marriage of their children. They’re not children anymore; they’re adults, but that’s how they’re being referred to. There is a great deal of concern from the part of parents that they’re marrying within the group, that is Indian group. In those cases where marriage has already taken place, I find initially there was some strain between the spouses, between parents and children, because of the new culture and environment in which they were living. After marriage, there is still tension of a different kind – parents expect a lot more from their children who are adults and who live separately. They don’t see the parents as much as the parents would like them to, and it has become an issue. My views are somewhat different, but that is not acceptable to them. I’ll come to that later on in the course of our discussion.

The second issue that concerns this community is political participation. Until recently, they were only involved in fundraising and hobnobbing with politicians, getting pictures with them in newspapers and so on. Now they have become much more serious about it, and they are running for offices. One Asian Indian, Bobby Jindal, was running for governorship in Louisiana. He was almost there, but at the very last minute, he lost. Now he is a candidate for Congress, and again he’s in the lead, but you never know.

So now, there is a great deal of interest to penetrate into the mainstream of American politics, as far as this group is concerned. In regard to relationships with China, as far as Indian community in this country is concerned, it is good, but it is not close. I should also point out that I still remember when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister of India at that time, I was still in high school, or maybe first or second year of college, there was a war between China and India. I believe China had invaded or attacked. That was in 1962. Until then, there was a very close relationship between India and China, to the extent that when the Chinese premier came to India, people greeted him in large numbers. The slogan was, “Hindi, Chini, pi, pi”, which means, Chinese and Indians are brothers, and the relationship was very warm until then.

After this war, of course, things changed. There has not been any war after that, but the relationship has certainly not been warm. In the last three or four years, under the new leadership of Mr. Vajpayee, it has improved considerably. Both Indian Prime Minister and Chinese Prime Minister have visited each other’s country. They are trying to bridge those gaps and are in a position to resolve their disputes with regards to land. As a matter of fact, one of my friends who just retired from Foreign Service, said: “ India is just making too much of an issue. There is so much land. If the Chinese are disputing some land, why not settle and forget about it, and engage in more productive cooperation, economic and otherwise, rather than worrying about a small piece of land.” He was telling me that view is prevalent in the Ministry of External Affairs. Hopefully, those issues will be resolved soon.

That is history. As I have seen in New York City, particularly in the tri-state area, unlike Pakistan and India where it’s always a big issue, when it comes to China, even though there was a war, there’s certainly no hostility, there’s no ill feeling, and there’s no lack of warmth. At the same time, there isn’t any real alliance, coalition, or partnership with Chinese, or for that matter, with any other Asian group. While relationship between China and India has not affected the local community here, it has not resulted in any positive relationship either. It’s not only the relationship between Chinese and Indians, but between most Asian groups. What is common between us is, essentially we come from a given geographical area. There are some commonalities with regard to family structure, or relationship between parents and children, but there are vast differences in terms of language and other things. So there is a sense of affiliation being Asian, but it doesn’t go beyond that. In a way, I would say, it is superficial. It has not been productive or meaningful. I believe we should have these discussions and see how we can improve relationships between different Asian groups.

Is there feasibility of pan-Asian political coalition? Certainly, that is our dream. I hope it will move in that direction and that it can happen. If it does happen, obviously, it is not just Chinese, Indians, Korean, or Filipino. If we all come together, then we can become a major voice in American politics, but that is lacking as of now.

The next question, something interesting to me, is: “Do Asian American groups represent the interests of your community, that is, the Indian community?” The answer is, clearly, no. I’ll use our own example. We have Asian American Higher Education Council, which I was fortunate to be the chairman for some time. Thomas started that; he was the chairman. Betty and most of us were very active. When I was chair, I was trying to get more Indians to be involved or to become members. Their response was, “It’s only a Chinese group”. I said, “How come I was elected chairman?” Then they said, “maybe,” but they didn’t really buy the idea that it was a pan-Asian group. When it comes to Asian, we tend to define that with Chinese because of their size, their duration of stay and all that. If you’re really thinking in terms of a coalition, then we have to reach out, and talk to our people in different communities. We organized a South Asian conference recently to attract people from South Asian region, and make them feel comfortable that our group welcomes all Asian groups. Unfortunately, there is a lack of enthusiasm on the part of Asian Indians.

The next question I would like to address is, “What is your view of Asian immigrants’ affinity and loyalty to their old home?” In various Indian forums, very often, I’ve been criticized for being too Americanized. Why is that? Because I’m very strongly in favor of pluralism. I don’t buy total assimilation at all; but at the same time, I believe that people who have come here to settle, immigrant groups, they have to be realistic about it, and that they must accept the fact that this is their adopted home. This is where we are going to live. What happens in Indian politics will be of interest to us, certainly, but what happens in American politics, whether it is Bush or Kerry, should be of greater interest to us.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Most of the time, people still live in the old world. While they’re physically here earning their livelihood, raising their children, they tend to think more and more in terms of their backgrounds. I’m not saying that it is unhealthy or that it is wrong, but there has to be some kind of balance. As you know, India is going through parliamentary elections, and a group of 20 Indians have gone there to campaign. What are they going to campaign on? They don’t know what the issues are. Local people are not going to accept them, and there is a sense of resentment. I would rather like more and more people to work the grassroots here and campaign for elections in America rather than India.

What does it mean in terms of their loyalty to American society? I don’t think, from what I have seen that there is any lack of loyalty. They are loyal to America, but there is a lack of strong commitment and enthusiasm. There is a lukewarm sense they have about Bush or Kerry, Democrat and Republican. They are aware of issues but there is a sense of aloofness on their part. That is one reason why we have not been able to penetrate into the mainstream of political life. Again, my hope is that sooner or later that will happen.

Next question is, “What is the relationship between your community and other groups?” I must say, there isn’t much relationship. I am quite dissatisfied that leadership doesn’t pay attention to this. When it comes to African Americans and Hispanic Americans, there’s a sense of withdrawal and there’s a sense of snobbishness on the part of Indians, and they think they’re out there. They do not associate with them, and they tend to undermine them. As far as Asian groups are concerned, there is greater acceptance but lack of cooperation. So, in this area, we are very weak. Asian Indians are generally not as active in civic affairs; they tend to spend their weekends going to Indian functions and participating in Indian affairs.

“How do your community people interact with mainstream?” I always refer to Indian experience to some extent with that of the Jewish experience. They have been very successful, with education and other professions. They have been very successful in penetrating into the education, and economic spheres. Probably they are getting into politics as well. So they have jobs; they have homes; they have investments; and they have money. That part of assimilation has been successful, but the other part of assimilation, that is, accepting certain amounts of local values, customs, traditions, developing relationships, making friends with non-Indians, is certainly lacking. Their participation with the mainstream remains marginal. It certainly is not as good as it should be.

Finally, whenever I go to an Indian group and talk about these issues, I always emphasize that we have to find a middle ground so that while we maintain our Indian identity, we must equally identify ourselves with American society. As long as that doesn’t happen, we will remain marginal, and we will remain outsiders. We may live in comfortable homes, but emotionally and psychologically, we will not be very comfortable in this place that we have adopted as our home.

Thomas Tam: Thank you. The next speaker is James Lap. Would you like to make a presentation?

James Lap: My presentation is based on Dr. Tam’s questions. The purpose is not to give solutions, but bring more discussion, so that we can find a common ground for solution that we’ll be all happy. I will say that the relationship between Vietnamese and Chinese is unique. In other words, it is a love and hate relationship. We’re close, but somehow we keep a distance. How close are we? We are as close as Jewish people to the Europeans. We look alike. We act alike. Sometimes we think alike, but we have differences. Through Diaspora, the Jewish people went to Europe. On the other hand, the Chinese came to Vietnam and assimilated with us. That’s the difference.

The first group of Vietnamese came to America before the war. They were students. They came here and got married with Americans. They belonged to the diplomatic corp. That’s the first group. They usually have no problem with adjustment.

The second group came between 1975 and 1978. That was the refugee group. That group was big because of the Vietnam War. That group is very successful: we have an astronaut; we have a beauty pageant from Wisconsin; we have a super-scholar, who in seven years, obtained seven degrees from MIT; we have the first lady in West Point; we have the football player now with the Dallas Cowboys, and recently, we have the assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, Dr. Vet Ding.

In 1979 there was a war between China and Vietnam. More than 500,000 Vietnamese tried to get out and come here. This third wave had more people than the last one. This was the Orderly Departure Program, for family reunions.

The last one was the Humanitarian Order for the Prisoners of War who were imprisoned by the communist regime. The longer they were in prison, the faster they got into the United States. Because of that plan, we have problems similar to the Chinese here. What group do you belong to? Do you belong to Taiwan, or do you belong to China, Mainland China? The same thing is true with Vietnam.

About the historical background, we have many Chinese dynasties come to Vietnam, but only two dynasties have an impact on Vietnamese society. The first one is the Han Dynasty. They came to Vietnam in 111 B.C. The Vietnamese language comes from the Chinese language, but in the 13th century, we inserted more characters to make tonation. We have six tones; we put that in to make a difference.

You can find some Cantonese words with similar sounds in the Vietnamese language. The Vietnamese writing system was romanized in the 17th century, by missionaries who came from Europe. That gave us a very good advantage over other countries in Southeast Asia, because we learned the European language easier. That’s why we have a high literacy rate of 85%-90%.

The other Chinese dynasty that had a major impact on Vietnam was the Tong dynasty. Somehow, the literature and the way they organized society was so impressive that Vietnam learned and imported them, especially poetry. They also modeled the civil service training institute in 1075 after the Tang dynasty. For people who want to do public service, they have to take that exam, which included poetry writing.

In Vietnam, each family has a shrine. They celebrate the death anniversary. On that day, they would have a banquet, and invite the families and friends to prepare the favorite food that the dead person used to like. Then, they put it up into the shrine to honor them. It’s a very lovely ceremony. My parents already passed away, but I still believe that they are protecting me and staying with me.

 

We are called Indo-Chinese because we are influenced by both India and China. You can see that two thirds of Vietnam are influenced by India from the south. In the North, of course, we’re influenced by China.

In many Chinatowns, you’ll find some Vietnamese restaurants there. You don’t find Indian restaurants; you don’t find Japanese or Korean restaurants, but you’ll find Vietnamese restaurants there. Last week, I went to Microsoft for a meeting in Seattle. I didn’t know any Vietnamese restaurants. I went to Chinatown, and I found one.

What do we do? Vietnam plays a big role as a buffer between China and the U.S. You can see it coming, because U.S. is now coming back to Vietnam because of that. You see, politics is affecting us here as well as there.

We can act as middlemen. We have of people that can speak Chinese and Vietnamese fluently, including English, so they can play the big role as a buffer and a middleman for us.

Now, pan-Asian coalition, yes, we need it…Why? Otherwise, we are lonesome ducks. We have to stick together and then we can have something. We want a fair share. We want equal rights. Through Asian solidarity, we’ll have a voice; and our voice, hopefully, can be heard.

We should be proud of our own culture, because that is what the United States is all about. We add more diversity. Here, we have not only United States, but united cultures as well.

Vietnam is my motherland. I was born there. U.S. is my fatherland because I grew up here. This is where I got my career and my education

Some people brought this up a few years ago. If there is a war between U.S. and Vietnam, what side will you be on? We don’t know until that comes up. Right now, it’s very delicate.

Relationship with other groups? Jewish people helped us a lot, maybe because of similar Diaspora, hardship, and persecution. They are very generous. The Hispanic and African groups are colored like we are. There may be some common ground for us to work together.

The majority of Asians are not civically active at all. We have to motivate them; we have to bring more people into this group, for example.

In this country, it is money or vote. If we don’t have money, we must use our vote. That’s what I think. Not much interest in politics, that’s the Asian way. “Uhh, I don’t like politics, I keep away from it.” No, it’s no good. Democracy means politics. You are a democratic citizen. You have to be involved in politics; otherwise you lose and get nowhere.

Pyong Gap Min: I read Dr. Tam’s questions and I’ll try to connect Korea with China and Korean community with the Chinese community here. As you all know, China has had a strong effect on Korea, culturally, politically and militarily. Confucianism originated from China, and was transplanted in Korea early. Buddhism started in India and came to Korea by China. In the 20th century, both Korea and China experienced Japan’s colonization. Initially, Japan annexed Korea in 1910. It used Korea as a stepping stone to move into China. In the 1930’s, Japan invaded Manchuria and killed a lot of people.

In terms of historical experiences, Koreans feel very close to Chinese, but unfortunately, after Korea became independent from Japan after WWII; Korea was divided into two halves. Chinese participated in the Korean War. North Korea became a close ally of China and so for some years, North Korea became an enemy country of South Korea.

After the Cold War, South Korea normalized its diplomatic relations with China in 1989 and has maintained very close relations. United States has a powerful military, political, and economic influence on South Korea after the Korean War. Until recently, Koreans considered U.S. as their best ally. Right now, there is anti-American sentiment in South Korea. The presence of 30,000 U.S. forces in South Korea makes Korean unification less hopeful. According to recent surveys, Koreans now chose China as the best ally. They feel we should go with China, not with the U.S. That’s a big change. Many young people are now friendly to Japan and against U.S. I think that’s very positive change. What country will like U.S. right now when they invade so many countries?

In the New York metropolitan area, we have a large Asian community. Chinese is the largest Asian group, about 650,000. Korean is less than 200,000, so Chinese outnumber Koreans by about 3.5 times. Chinese are scattered in three boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. They have Chinatowns in each borough. Most Koreans are heavily concentrated in Queens; actually, 72% of Koreans in New York are in Queens, with 45% in Flushing. In many neighborhoods in Queens, Koreans and Chinese are neighbors, particularly in Flushing, Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston and Woodside. I lived in Bayside; all my neighbors are Chinese. I am surrounded by three Chinese families. When I bought the house, my neighbor was Chinese, so I thought it’s good. Then other Chinese moved in, and they thought Korean is good; we like each other. Physically, we look similar, so there is a lot of intermarriage, in California, Hawaii, and here too.

Most Koreans are Christian. We have 600 Korean churches. Many Chinese go to Korean churches, particularly the second generation; and they go through Korean English ministry. Even some Chinese immigrants go to Korean churches. In terms of religion, there are some commonalities. All over the country in major universities, a large proportion of Asian American students, especially Chinese and Koreans, are Christian. Many are evangelical. They have Asian fellowship, Christian fellowship and Korean Christian fellowship. They have a lot of Asian Christians.

We have, in the Korean community, 20 Korean Buddhist temples and 50 Chinese Buddhist Temples in New York. Religion connects the two communities. According to my survey, 24% of Chinese in Queens say they are Buddhist. A very small proportion, of Koreans, 3% say that they are Buddhist, but many go to Buddhist temples.

In Flushing, Korean and Chinese community have maintained very close relations since the late 1970’s. They celebrated lunar year together. They have parades in Flushing. Sometimes they have conflict. Chinese argue that it should be called Chinese New Year; Koreans say it should be called Lunar New Year. For two years they could not play together, because they did not agree. The earlier Flushing Chinese community was mostly Taiwanese. Now, more Mainland Chinese arrived. Koreans say they have very good relations with the Mainland Chinese, and last year they agreed; they have parade together in the name of Lunar New Year. I think, in the future they will continue to have that festival.

In school board elections, Koreans and Chinese coordinated closely, because they can choose more than one candidate. The Chinese candidate got most votes, and the Korean candidate got second most votes. This is because they coordinated. When we had city council election, many Korean intellectuals and community leaders argued that we should choose John Liu rather than the Korean candidate in the primary, because the Korean candidate had no chance. I agreed, and I think many supported him. In the future in Flushing, they will continue to make political coalition between the two communities.

Until very recently in the Flushing Democratic Committee, Korean and Chinese were very active and they coordinated together; but right now, Korean Democratic Committee has their own separate meetings.

South Korean immigrants in Flushing feel that many Chinese are invading their boundaries and created some conflicts. There’s a Korea-town on Union Street. Chinese cannot move eastward because Koreans are there, so they move south. Many buildings are owned by Chinese, private homes and commercial buildings. Koreans should buy buildings. Now many Koreans rent from Chinese landlords. I think in the future, they will continue to coordinate. Many Koreans have Chinese friends. They date and they interact. There is high intermarriage, because physically they are very similar.

In the future in New York City, definitely, Korean and Chinese will maintain very close relations, in terms of neighborhood, going to church together, dating, friendship, and professional activities. I have as many Chinese and Korean friends. Chinese are very successful in sociology. I’m impressed by Chinese Americans’ leadership here, particularly that of Betty Lee Sung and Thomas Tam. We have learned from Chinese leaders.

Pan-Asian ethnicity is one of my research topics. Right now, a lot of books have been published focusing on Pan-Asian ethnicity and political coalition. We are in the same boat. Census put Asians together. Many White and Black Americans cannot differentiate Asian groups. When we become targets of anti-Asian violence, we have to unite, but we should pay attention to personal relations. I have argued that we should make a distinction between political identity and private identity. In terms of political identity, all Asians should get together and form a coalition. In private life, pan-ethnicity is going on two boundaries, East Asian and South Asian. I see not much interaction between East Asian and South Asian. Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi, they share a lot of cultural traditions. Historically, they are from the same country where they experienced colonization, and there is a lot of interaction. East Asians share Confucianism and physical similarities. I am not saying that South Asians and East Asians should not interact, they should; but personal life is different from politics. Indian and Korean may not date because of their cultural differences, their differences in historical education, and their differences in physical characteristics. It’s important to make a distinction between the two identities and sometimes it’s important to examine how different pan-ethnic boundaries are established. This gives limitations to political coalitions. An all-inclusive Pan-Asian ethnicity is very difficult, particularly in private life. South Asian and East Asian boundaries are going to be very important.

Betty Lee Sung: Professor Min, in Flushing, the Koreans, Chinese, and Indians live together. They share a geographical area. You talked a lot about the Chinese and Koreans having a close relationship. You didn’t talk very much about the Indian relationship. The other question is to Professor Saran: the Asian American Research Institute has tried very hard to bring in as many Indians as possible. There’s a sense of being Asian but really the relationship is not there. What is the basis for the resistance of becoming part of the Asian American group?

Pyong Gap Min: Think about religion: Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims. Neither Chinese nor Koreans share that with Indians. In many universities, there are Asian clubs. A lot of South Asians initially attended, but they felt that they are dominated by East Asian and that they don’t belong. Some South Asians even felt East Asian have prejudice against them because of physical differences. I very much agree that this is something that you cannot change.

Betty Lee Sung: But what about the personal relationships? Are they antagonistic?

Pyong Gap Min: They don’t feel they belong. I don’t think there’s any antagonism, but simply Koreans don’t understand Indians. I subscribe to Indian Abroad, and I see stories of very successful Indians. Their English is excellent. Koreans don’t know about these things, really. But you know, they are familiar with the Chinese historically. They think Chinese are their brothers, and they trust them. A lot of Koreans say that Chinese have big mind: once they establish a friendship, they don’t change it and they don’t do little things to make it unhappy. Politically, they need coalition with South Asians, but in private life, not much is going on. Think about Jackson Heights where a lot of Chinese live, but Indians live in this southern area, the southeastern part where there are not much Chinese.

Betty Lee Sung: What’s the resistance?

Parmatma Saran: Actually, I would not use the word resistance, because I don’t think there is any sense of resistance. Generally, what I have seen in the Asian Indian community is that when it comes to an Asian organization, they don’t identify with that, they seem to think it is Chinese. In namesake it is Asian, but for practical purposes, it is essentially Chinese. A group like AAHEC: Asian American Higher Education Council, for example, they feel they don’t have much representation there, that they don’t have much say, and that they don’t belong there, so they are more comfortable having their own Indian organizations. There has to be better communication on the part of Asian organizations that it is not just Chinese, that other Asian groups are to be welcomed. If you try to reach out, maybe we will have some success, because the good news is that there is no resistance. There is some reluctance because they fear to identify with Asian groups. They tend to think of Asian groups as essentially Chinese.

If I may comment on Prof. Min’s observation, very good sociological observation about private and public identity. You’re right in saying that they maintain private identity in terms of their own group, but you are urging that they should develop public identity as Pan-Asian. That would be a very nice way of doing it, but my sense is that you cannot really compartmentalize. If you are not friends, if you don’t see each other, if there’s no relationship, then you cannot just once a year come together and show your public identity. I think we have to start the process so that there is friendship in neighborhoods, and connection within the schools. Of course, when it comes to marriage and dating, there may be some difficulties because of differences. I think it is convenient to have this compartmentalization, but if you keep it separate then we are making it more difficult to develop that sense of public identity.

Thomas Tam: You’re saying that perhaps by associating more, then such a public political coalition would be possible. Can you identify some concrete ways in which this can be achieved?

Pyong Gap Min: Individually, you cannot change it. When you talk about racism, there are two types: passive racism and active racism. Segregation is something you cannot change by law; they simply avoid the contact. Now, the distance between East Asian and South Asian, I don’t think is prejudice; they simply don’t think they share many things in common. Korean and Chinese have collaborated for a long time, like city council election and other political issues.

Female Speaker: I’d like to make a comment. Over the past several years, there have been opportunities where Asian Americans of different ethnic backgrounds have come together. At the Asian American Film Festival, many Indian filmmakers, Chinese filmmakers, Vietnamese filmmakers, and Cambodian filmmakers have shown their films together. I think it is a really great format that might be used as a starting point to go deeper than just the visual arts. I think art in and of itself can be a great equalizer, and it can stimulate an interactive participation. From there, it can work in a political group, with some common objective in the community that can be worked on together. Perhaps it can enhance the feelings between groups.

Thomas Tam: Good comment…

Female Speaker: I am very interested in the arts. My background is in the study of arts. In a March 22 nd Newsweek publication, there is an excellent article discussing Indians in America. Families are not demanding their children to become lawyers, doctors or engineers. The openness of these families now encourages the children to go into the arts, culinary arts and visual arts. I thought that was fascinating.

Thomas Tam: Maybe this is also reflected in the younger generation which has a different world to live in than the immediate immigrant families.

Female Speakers: In terms of Professor Min’s private versus public relationships comments, eventually you have to have some kind of coalition. I don’t know the politics in this area, but eventually Indians, Koreans and Chinese should intermingle to have public representations. Prof. Min said that the size of Korean is one-third of Chinese, and then Korean can never be represented by mobilizing just its community because by definition, Chinese has a larger vote than Korean. It’s easier for Koreans to vote for Chinese representative, but that’s not a very good idea for Koreans. I don’t know how we will solve that problem. If there is a very wonderful Korean, but you have one-third of votes Korean, and three times larger Chinese votes. I don’t know if Chinese will vote for Korean representative. How do you solve that problem?

Thomas Tam: I guess…

Female Speaker: Can I comment on that?

Thomas Tam: Sure.

Female Speaker: It’s logical that you think this way; but in New York City, the political scene is really different. Most people are Democrats; somehow, we have two Republican mayors and a Republican governor. The fact that the percentage of Korean is smaller than Chinese doesn’t mean that you can’t have a Korean-American elected. When it comes down to it, it is the issues they represent, and what they are fighting for. It is not just the Korean community or the Chinese community. Look at John Liu; he got a lot of non-Chinese votes because he is not only working for the Chinese. When we talk about politics, you have to remember: it’s the issue, not the ethnicity that will get you the vote.

Female Speaker: What I got from Professor Min’s discussion was that taking a look at the community as a whole and serving the residents of the community, possibly different ethnic groups, whether it’s Korean, Chinese, Indian or the Jewish population, they all have concerns that are separate but alike. In the end, it comes down to what they want for their neighborhood. I live in Flushing. I am not Asian; I did vote for John Liu because I felt that he was working for the community and that he was looking at what my whole community wanted. I think that since he’s been there, the antagonism level has been much less because of this broader perspective.

I work with the Social Security Administration, and I think that this is an excellent series. Because of this, I will be attending some others. I was listening to your descriptions of what’s important in the Vietnamese community, and the relationship between Vietnamese and Chinese versus the relationship between Korean and Chinese. Now, I have a better appreciation for those differences when I am interviewing people, when I am talking to them, or when I need information for them with respects to what they consider important. That’s not just something you need to bring to the Asian community; I think that needs to be brought to an even wider audience because of a lack of cultural sensitivity. More forums like this are probably very helpful, and you should get into some of the social service agencies where people complain of the lack of sensitivity. I think it’s mostly because they don’t know, not because they’re unwilling to learn.

Thomas Tam: Sure.

Parmatma Saran: if you’re thinking along these lines of what we call political coalition, there are two possible ways we can achieve this goal. One is coming from the bottom, where there’s a concentration of Asian population; the other is coming from the top: elected officials, congressmen, Senators, organizations like ours and people who are in positions of leadership. My sense is that we are somewhat lacking in both areas. I mean, there is no demand. I haven’t heard any demand from major political figures, whether they’re of Indian, Chinese or Korean origins, to come together and form that kind of coalition. Unless that happens, I think it will be very difficult to raise consciousness at the local level. Eventually, both these elements have to come together. Even though what we are doing here is small scale, having forums like this, as we try to trigger this process, bring in more and more people, and give them a chance to interact and share some of their common interests, it’s likely to happen. I may be wrong. It may be happening in Chinese community, but it’s certainly not happening in the Indian community as of now.

 

Pyong Gap Min: Pan-Asian activism is most prevalent in college campuses right now, mainly through Asian American programs. They do a lot of things, cultural and political activities. Most Asian American students go to large universities where they have Asian American programs. I think in the future, more Asian Americans, those of the 1.5 and second generations, will be conscious of Pan-Asian coalitions.

 

Betty Lee Sung: My question is, Professor Lap, as you talk about the influence of Chinese and Indian influence on southern Vietnam, what about the French influence, because Vietnam was colonized by France for so long? Now, also on religion, you didn’t talk about Catholicism, a lot of Vietnamese…

James Lap: You’re right, I limit that because the topic set by Dr. Tam is on Vietnamese and Chinese. Our writing system was romanized by missionaries in the 17 th century. When the missionaries came in, they said, “Oh, this language sounds so beautiful, very close to music because music has seven notes, and they have six notes already! We can Romanize this one.” Of course, France and European have a big influence in Vietnam. The first one you can see is the way the Vietnamese set up their restaurants. They follow the French; they use forks and spoons when they serve French food. They love coffee that the French brought in. Now, Vietnamese coffee is very famous. About literature, we learned the Western way to do poetry. You have no limit of the words in each verse. It’s a different way. We call it freestyle. That’s different from Chinese and Vietnamese poetry which are strict with rules.

The North and South are very different. The North is very close to the Chinese. The family is strictly hierarchical. You have to wait for your dad to give you permission to do things. The South is very open. We have the French, European, and American spirit. We’re very open minded in the south, very welcoming, business-oriented, and not strict like in the North.

Betty Lee Sung: Are they mostly Catholic, now?

James Lap: Well, the Catholics came from the North. In 1954, when they divided Vietnam in half, a million people came from the North because they were afraid of Communism. They came to the South. That’s why Catholicism spread. Those are influenced by the French. You can see the architecture and the way we eat. The whole thing is really French style; there’s no doubt about that.

Professor Saran: I would like to suggest that, maybe, we should think in terms of expanding our clientele. Instead of confining it to academia, with faculty and so on, we should have a forum in which we hear from political leaders and see what is the relevance of the issues that we are talking about. Maybe it is somewhat premature, but it would be interesting to see what their thoughts are on this matter.

Thomas Tam: Sure. It would be a good idea if we can invite some of the political leaders and ask professors to prepare questions so they will have to sweat it through. Professor Min, do you want to say something?

Pyong Gap Min: I agree, yeah. We should organize meetings and invite Indians, Koreans, Chinese, and different communities. They should have an opportunity for social interaction. I don’t think many Koreans meet Indians very often.

Thomas Tam: Very good suggestion, we’ll take it to heart.

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