Yes we might be still "Chinese" but you won't see many Taiwanese people identifying themselves as Chinese instead of Taiwanese. Not to mention you're forgetting that hakka people came from China too. This is coming from a 1/2 hakka, 1/4 aboriginal 1/4 Mainland Chinese guy.
I don't mind it - heck, I think Asian American is an utterly silly term, because Asia is such a large and diverse place with different cultures. I'm not "Asian", I'm Japanese.
Phew, just glanced at all the "QUESTION FOR MY...." threads. Just goes to show that Asians have quite a bit more to go before any race related issues can be taken seriously in America.
I don't know how old you are but if you are in your 20's or younger I can tell you that the representation of Asian men in the media has improved a lot in the past 15 years. Characters like what Ken Jeong in the past would've been played by white actors and have been even more of a minstrel act <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lbiymQJsC8M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> George Takei for most of his career outside of playing Mr. Sulu could only play roles such as gardener or prison guard. It does show how far the acceptance of Asians in media is that George Takei is now more known for being gay than for being Asian. These days though no one makes a big deal about actors like Daniel Dae Kim and John Cho as protagonist and in 24 Daniel Dae Kim played a supporting role for a character who wasn't even specifically Asian, CTU Agent Baker.
That depends on what people from Taiwan. Most people whose family came over in 1949 still identify as Chinese.
I agree. It's the same with Europe. You wouldn't confuse a German with an Italian or an Irish guy with a French. The only time it makes hyphenated term that makes sense is African-American, since a large portion of the community doesn't know what country their family came from (and most of the countries are drawn up and divided on ethnic lines).
"Asian-American" is a term that only has meaning in the US context and is a term that was outgrowth from the racial attitudes of America. While people from Japan and the Philippines don't really have much in common and back in Asia don't really like each other under the the racial attitudes that define a lot of US history have been considered the same here by the majority culture and immigrant experience is more similar than different. "Asian-American" is a way of defining a new identity that addresses that common background. It is the same as "Hispanic" and "Latino" encompasses many different ethnicities and cultures.
