By Eric Yu
China’s
continuing economic downfalls, coupled with recent environmental issues, enables
many in the United States to hold a particular idea of being Asian today. Previous
claims of Asian countries acting as economic powerhouses with severe downfalls are
still prevalent, especially for recent news of how China’s economic “growth has
slowed considerably in the past two years” (Marans, 2015). Hu-DeHart’s ideas
come into play within the introduction to the book
Across the Pacific: Asian Americans and Globalization (1999), in
which she notes how economic markets have not been kind towards Asian Americans
and Asians. Despite how Hu-DeHart (1999) mainly focuses on a variety of Asian
groups, she makes specific note of the Chinese, since those outside note how
the Chinese “reflect a kind of admiration …, but they are also prone to
exaggeration and betray fear” (p. 5). Chinese performing acts of “hard work,
self-sacrifice, delayed gratification, and love of learning” supposedly results
in their success in the economic market (Hu-DeHart, 1999, p. 6). However, these
claims of hard work not last long in Hu-DeHart’s analysis, especially since she
reveals that cheaper labor forces workers to struggle for desirable conditions
(Hu-DeHart, 1999). Recent environmental concerns, such as a recent factory fire
possibly producing up to “70 times the permitted quantity of sodium cyanide,”
help reveal how China’s push for economic power comes at the cost of other
factors (Williams & agencies, 2015). Relating certain traditional aspects to
particular desirable traits to Asian Americans does not seem appropriate in the
face of recent events, especially under such painful moments. The situation
that Hu-DeHart describes in her work still exists today, but takes on a
different form.
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Original Citation: “Firefighters
wearing chemical protective clothing work at the site of explosion in Tianjin,
north China, on Saturday. Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media”
From: Ryan, F. & agencies.
(2015, August 16). Tianjin explosions: sodium cyanide on site may have been 70
times allowed amount. The Guardian,
Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/16/tianjin-blasts-sodium-cyanide-on-site-may-have-been-70-times-allowed-amount
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Question: Along with the Professor’s mention of diaspora on the first day of class, how
do you suppose that new immigrants utilize certain notions of Asian traditions?
Works Cited
Hu-DeHart, E.
(1999). Introduction: Asian American Formations in the Age of Globalization. In
E. Hu-DeHart (Ed.), Across the Pacific:
Asian Americans and globalization (p. 1-28), New York: Asia Society; Philadelphia:
Temple University Press.
Ryan, F. &
agencies. (2015, August 16). Tianjin explosions: sodium cyanide on site may
have been 70 times allowed amount. The
Guardian, Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/16/tianjin-blasts-sodium-cyanide-on-site-may-have-been-70-times-allowed-amount
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