No more Mr. Nice Asian

This one is for the Chinese people who makes the effort to flip over their Great Firewall of China in order to read my blog.

I took note of the moment I saw the trailer for Jackie Chan’s new movie: “The Foreigner”. It marked a shift I’ve been waiting with bated enthusiasm. A shift in perception so to speak, I’ve spent quite a lot of energy to accelerate. That is, the racial war that underpins everything in this world. The male dominated space of war and chaos which sees each race attempt to one up each other in order to prove that they are the superior one. To get power, respect and sex.

I’ve read about this strange perception of Asians being portrayed as a joke, weak and expandable in American culture before. I mostly brushed it aside as the rambling of some sour grapes. However, as I travel the world and experience the difference in attitude that people have towards me, I begin to understand the truthfulness in this author’s ramblings. It’s the same sentiment experienced by Bruce Lee.

The fundamental shift inside most likely happened when I traveled through Scandinavia, a culture that Americans look up to, and experienced the hospitality and love these people offered. It felt so different, so genuine, even though I was literally wearing rags. It was also the moment I was made aware of the fact that what I am experiencing in North America is not normal at all.

Thankfully, there has been an awakening. It begin with tier 1 cities and tourist spots needing sales staff and cashiers who can speak Mandarin in order to rake in the luxury sales to these new money. Then companies started hiring only Mandarin speakers in targeted city which eventually leads to Mandarin-Bilinguals being in demand to a point where all the customer facing staff became Asians. Then, there’s fear of Asians taking the jobs to the fear of Asians taking the land.

A decade after mass immigration from China begin and 5 years after watching rich Chinese people living the life of the wealth and being dicks (being dick in this instances is not a Chinese trait, it’s usually a result of being rich) to everyone else, a significant majority was finally reached and the balance of power has shifted…

I’ve started seeing more pairings of local women with Chinese guys. This marks another sentiment shift where the women started seeing the man of another culture as more desirable than their own. This has been happening for a long time, but not with the frequency I am seeing nowadays.

For the longest time I believed in the narrative to integrate into American culture and white wash myself with their culture. It is a good idea as the western culture is that of a civilized culture. Being nice, lining up, “having class” are signs of enlightenment as you shed the desire for material things and to get ahead at any cost. Chinese tourists used to be very crass and cause a lot of shit in places they visit, “Fucking Chinese” is a term I heard many time as I travel once people accepted that a “Taiwanese” is not Chinese. I cringe every time I hear that term because most people have not experienced the Chinese as I have, especially the younger, more elite generation. The 40 year old and below Chinese are one of the more enlightened segment of the world I have met.

What the Chinese are going through right now, is a period of identity building and a recovery of their previous cultural pride. The internal propaganda of Chinese is #1 is great, however, most of them have no idea what other culture think of them. The only problem I am seeing from the sample of population I’ve run into, is how little of the male population can handle the unknown. All the single Chinese wanderers I’ve met in the world are Female and 2/3 of them are the hardcore travel types (think travelin alone through Afghanistan and India type). It’s almost as if the roles are reversed in China. The women are the wandering free spirit and the men are the stay at home conservative ones.

Chinese men can begin to be a sword. Take chances and become more aggressive. Shed the stereotype of being a financial prey from scams in the world. Stop being nice and start being evil. Not just financially (since the Chinese are very aggressive financially), but it is time to tackle the other areas of life.