 It feels like every time China is brought up in the news or media, everything is framed extremely negatively. Now, as a Chinese American, that can be kind of confusing. That's why we're going to talk about it right now. Welcome everybody to the Hop Hop Boys, David and Andrew here. David, it feels like a portion of Chinese Americans are kind of in awkward position right now. I mean, for sure, you can see it on Reddit, different blog posts. People don't really know how to handle being Chinese in America when there's a cold war going on between America and China. Obviously, if you guys know about a cold war, basically both sides are going to try to like make each other look bad. Like it's a rap battle. I'm pointing out your downsides. You're pointing out my downsides, but I might hit it with a magnifying glass to make it look extra bad. But that's actually making some Chinese Americans feel extra bad. Yeah. So that's why in this video, we've come up with seven things that will hopefully make you feel better about being Chinese right now. So if you're interested by this video, please hit that like button and let's get into it. Point number one, guys, I don't know if this brings you any solace if you're like, I guess confused by the Cold War of 2022. But being Chinese has been weird in America for like 200 years. Yeah. Even growing up, it was weird a couple decades ago. I mean, everything from the language, the food, the geopolitical ties. I mean, the imagery, the culture. It has just always been different than America. And I think it's specifically a China versus America thing because like if you look at like even ancient European cultures, some of the times they had like a period where they super loved like Chinese silk or like fine China. America actually never really went through that phase because it's, you know, only 200 years. China's been bad for like, you know, it went through a pretty bad period for about like 300, 200 years. So pretty much for the entire existence of America, China was sort of whack. Now China's bouncing out of it, but people still keep the feelings from the whack days, which is what we're looking at this. You know, they used to call the characters chicken scratch. The chicken feet was like kind of weird to people. And obviously, you know, the dragon ladies, political alliances, everything from kicking this guy, doing the laundry with the cue. You know, basically the Chinese history in America specifically, Andrew, has never been glamorous. It's like always been like not a good image. Yeah. And I mean, that's why even growing up, we always knew Chinese people who would be like, I'm kind of more into Japanese culture or now even Korean culture because those countries, although their culture is viewed differently in a different way, they're kind of like marketing and their pop culture has been able to kind of be accepted by America. Yeah, like Japan had a phase where they were like super evil, but then it's crazy. They had a crazy arc, you know, after that crazy war and then the bombs and everything. But anyway, they just like every Asians arc in America looks different. Like, you know what I mean? Like, and you could argue that China's like had in a way, at least from a soft power imaging angle, the worst one. So I could see why Chinese Americans would say they wish they were Japanese or Korean. I could see why. I don't think every Chinese American always thought about it that much because I think you can kind of tune it out in a way if you want. But if you really thought about it being Chinese and being American, it doesn't always make sense. Right, right. The timelines have just not matched up in a very glamorous way. But like I said, not everybody cares, Andrew, you could be an AZN going to shows that are filled with EDM instead of being locked into anything on CNN. You're saying the ABGs, this is not the biggest concern? Maybe not. Point number two, guys, not everybody in the West even thinks the same way. There are so many different subsets. We're talking about gigantic countries that have a lot of different slices of like pie distribution, right? So for example, Andrew, Hollywood loves making like Asian things that could possibly be sold to the Asia market to whether it's that new Michelle Yao movie, everything everywhere all at once turning red. They are trying to cater to an international market to grab some of those like theaters and like digital licensing fees. However, it's interesting, Andrew, that some people on like more like the pro America only side would accuse companies like Disney of like pandering to the new rival superpower or are they just being a smart capitalistic company? I don't know. And I think that that is really interesting that right now two sides can be looking at the same product. One's looking at it like, oh, this is great for diversity. The foreign market inclusion. And then the other side is like, whoa, this is them selling out to China. I don't like it. Yeah, it does seem like though that I will say this and I think there's a lot of arguments on both sides that everybody was cool with global capitalism, but only when it was America exporting culture everywhere else. And then the second America wants to like kind of like do some content that can legitimately appeal to multiple rival markets. Everybody's like, I don't know this global capitalism. I need to be checked by politics. Ding, ding, ding. We're going to end that point on that note. All right. Point number three is that you don't have to engage in these debates and conversations if you don't want to. But if you do, there are different ways to do it. Yeah. And I do think it's based off like your family situation. How does your family view things? What did your family teach you? What did they go through? I mean, I could believe there's a like a lot of multiple perspectives that are all legitimate on this issue. And one is the crazy rich Asians way of looking at it being like, hey, what are you talking about? Yeah, we Chinese, but it's different. We Malaysian, Singaporean, like don't like put us in that box lock. Well, this is kind of just removing yourself from China and the Chinese government, anything like that. You might be Chinese ethnically, but you're like, I do not identify as that. My parents are from Hong Kong. They're from Taiwan. They're from Singapore. Would they sound like that of there from Hong Kong? They are from Hong Kong. My parents are from Hong Kong. And then if they're Taiwanese to be like, uh, yeah, my parents are from Taiwan. Well, that person's from Taiwan actually. But anyways, guys, you know what I mean? It's a joke. So like basically you're from these like Chinese countries or regions, but you're sort of disassociating yourself from like, uh, the evil regime of whatever the perception of mainland China. Well, this is where it comes in the Sinosphere versus China. So I think a lot of people are making that distinction nowadays. Yeah, I will say this and as people who are half HK, um, you can hedge that way when you're talking to white people or like Western people. Uh, but that's if you want to avoid the conversation and just bow out of it. Just say, yo, my parents are from Hong Kong. We're from a colony. But like, um, there's also like the 50 50. You could be like, Hey man, the truth is just in the gray guys. Who knows when it comes to these geopolitical things. It's just complicated. And I got a feel for the kids who are either born in China or their parents are from China and it can be a little bit extra complicated once people know that about you. So they're kind of questioning now. I think I've seen people and I've had conversations with people where, you know, you can say something like, Hey guys, listen, geopolitics is not like some high school drama or a versus rap battle. You can't. It's not as obvious which side is this side. Listen, it's just very, very complicated. I'm just trying to be a good person. Right. Or you could be, uh, what they call a wolf warrior, which is like, obviously this is if your family is probably like very mainland and you're just like, man, everybody does stuff bad, but I got to go for my squad or whatever, you know, and that's like almost, uh, yeah, you're just going to get accused of being a spy or like a wool mile. If you want to go to your lunch room at work and have these debates, do your research and go for it. This is all on you, but it can probably not get to earn you any like big friends in a Western company. It may not be good for the vibe of the business. I don't know, but this is of course the other option that people have. All right, guys, point number four. The word Chinese means something different to everybody. David, I don't know of another word that can encompass so many different images. Yeah. I mean, it could be a language, a land mass. It could refer to 56 minorities. It could refer to food, just like all different types of cuisines. You could be talking about girls. You could be talking about communism. You could be talking about a governmental entity. And it's literally just like has one word. Dude, you could be talking about silk cheap pals all the way to pork fried rice and chicken wings because that is actually Chinese food to some people. Right, right, right. Everybody's sort of like entitled to their own version of like how they view that word Chinese. Right. I wish there was more words. Right. But you know, China is again such a big country with such a long history and such a crazy diaspora that there is a Chinese representative to everybody in the world and they're all a little bit different. So you just have to understand what your definition of being Chinese is and that's okay if it's not exactly the same as everybody else's, but just know what it is. There's so many different subsets. I mean, is that a Neo car right there? That's a Neo car. That's a Chinese car. Dude, to some people, they're just trading stocks. They're like, oh, yeah, I bought the dip. Um, point number five, you are born into a ethnicity and nationality, but you really own your own personality and achievements. So like, yeah, you are born into a group that you can't really control and you can't control whether that group is perceived like powerfully or not in what era. You know what I mean? Like nobody gets to pick what era they're born into which tribe they're associated with or what their parents or relatives are associated with, but you do own your own archetype and achievements and you are much more than that. Yeah. And this is where it helps to like not only identify as Chinese. If you're Chinese American, that's great. That could be part of your identity. But also, I mean, there's so many other subcultures out there that you can be a part of that so that you don't have to feel like you're a hundred percent super offended every time you hear something bad about China because I'm going to tell you this. There will be more negative news about China, whether it's played up or not. So it's just something that you're going to have to deal with. Right. Yeah. I hope you develop a more sophisticated sensor for dealing with it because you're going to hear a hundred thousand to six hundred thousand more negative things probably for like the rest of your adult life. It's going to be very stressful to have a knee jerk reaction to everything that you hear about your culture. Yeah. And enjoy the upside and not just the downside. The downside is going to be on all the news outlets and depending on what you are, social media outlets, but enjoy the upside too. There's a lot of funny memes that are coming out of China, ones that are edgy, ones that are very wholesome, you know, that are like ported over from Dou Ying onto Tiktok or Instagram. And they're really like legitimately just wholesome. Like there's just like farmers and corporate people and stuff just like dancing and having fun. I think it really helped me to consume a lot of the material from just the regular people in China, not the performers. Like these are like their Tiktoks and these are from just like, you know, working class farmers. It's almost like America's funniest home videos like China. Yeah. And it just makes me laugh. And there's videos about them and their pets or them working on the job. And it's just like this is relatable stuff to anybody like geopolitics aside. No, I got to pop up. There was this hilarious meme of this cat owner in China who like built all these like elaborate like obstacle courses for their cat. And people were like loving that video on Reddit. But then when they found out it was from China, they were just like, oh my goodness, I can't believe I like to social media video that much from such an evil place. Man, it goes to show you. I mean, obviously guys, listen, there are so many different people in society. I really don't think you'll come across people who really feel that way in day to day life, even though obviously the internet shows that they are out there. All right. Kind of ending it off, David point number seven. It's going to be awkward. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be a little hard, but it's going to be significant. For sure. I mean, listen, guys, you guys have seen the Ray Dalio video. I mean, we've talked about it. Anytime a very dominant empire like starts to go like, I guess the rain is like beginning to come to an end or they're on the, you know, they've passed their arc and then a new empire is coming up in the world. There's like always a clash. And I think in the old days it was like actual hot wars and nowadays I think they're more like cultural wars. They're more like cold wars or trade wars and things like that. And I just think that as a Chinese American, probably our goal is to do what we can to like, you know, bring both sides together and make sure everything is, people understand each other's differences, but they also understand where they can come together and like do good stuff together too. Yeah. Again, if you don't want to think about this, I think you can tune a lot of it out. It still might affect you and bother you on some level, but you can kind of bow out of this whole like game or if you feel like you want to do something, you know, there's so many different levels. You know, you can be a role model, a mediator, like an ambassador in your own way. Not that you're an ambassador of China, but you're just an ambassador of your Chinese American culture or you can be a piece of the bridge. Maybe you're very fluent in Mandarin and you go back and forth. So then you're kind of being that person that a lot of people know that does travel back there. That is like, you know, not a bad Chinese person. The world in 2022 is like, allows for a lot more different identities. You can't say that like, oh, having multiple identities is only limited to genders. You can have multiple identities that didn't exist 10 years ago for like how you want to mediate between two superpowers that are like frenemies. And maybe you want to be the person who puts the concentration more on the friend part of frenemy. You know what I mean? Whereas, because believe me, there's going to be more than enough people who want to focus on the enemy part of frenemy. Yeah. David, we got a couple of stories from back when we were in junior high. And I felt like these things were kind of pivotal stories in our identity journey where it's like I was in social studies class and somebody had raised their hand and it was right after America had invaded Afghanistan. And then he said, hey, who do you think we're going to go to war with next? Such an American question, right? Who are we going to go to war with next? And then the teacher is just like, yeah, it'll probably be China. And I was like, oh, I'm Chinese. Oh, that's awkward. And I didn't know how to feel about it. I was just sat there silently. Right. So I think that you're pointing out an example that you went through what a lot of these people who are posting on Reddit and making blog posts where they feel so conflicted and confused, but you felt it 15 to 20 years earlier than they did. Yeah. And I do think that led me down a pathway of questions and things like that. Yeah. I would basically definitely encourage people to do not be stuck in that same like space that you're at. Because if you're stuck in that same place where you're at, you're going to be conflicted and confused for about the next 20 to 30 years. Guys, this is not some simple high school drama where it's easy to take sides. That's my friend. I'm taking sides. Listen, the world is globalized. It's a little bit more complicated. It is a Cold War. There's legit things on both sides and there's also a lot of bad press on both sides. So, you know, you're kind of caught in between and it is going to be confusing. But I just want to let you know you're not the only one out there. This is actually happening to even a lot of Chinese in Australia or any Western country like UK, probably on some level. But in America, it's extra strong because obviously America is, you know, going heads up. Yeah. Guys, anyway, deep talks. It's a deep issue. I'm sure them, you know, there's some things that we left out. That was just our list. Let us know in the comments section below what you thought of our list. Anything to use like to add augment. And until next time, we the hot pot boys. We out. Peace.