Do Asian-American communities distinguish between 1st/2nd Gen immigrants and long term Multi-Generational Asian-Americans?

[u/PurplePayaso]

Apologies of this isn’t an appropriate question or the wrong sub to ask.

To be more clear. As a child of immigrants myself. I grew up around many other 1st American generation Kids from Africa, MENA, South Asia, Latin America, S.E. Asia, Korea etc. So that experience is clear to me

But recently I began to wonder about the large non-white “immigrant” communities that have been living in America since the 1800s. More Specifically Chinese Americans. Do multi-generational Chinese American communities distinguish themselves from more recent Chinese immigrant communities?

Do you guys have different community institutions, do you guys think of yourselves as a separate community from current or recent Chinese American immigrants?

I could understand why families that have been American for several generations don’t Identify themselves as in community with other people solely because they come from their Great-Great-Grandparents Homeland.

I just wanted to know the perspective of someone in those shoes

[u/hapa_tata_appa]

Great question, thanks for asking! As an older second-generation Asian American (born before 1980) I rarely get the chance to talk about these matters.

I actually wrote about this topic a couple years back, when a user asked what Asian America was like in the '90s. Back then there were still a lot of old-timer Japanese and Chinese Americans (and a handful of Filipino Americans) running Asian American organizations, so even if (like me) you only knew Asians as recent immigrants and their kids, once you got involved in any kind of organized activism you would quickly get to know a few such folks.

Things have definitely changed since then, and my strong impression is that the overwhelming majority of today's Asian Americans (immigrant and second generation) have not only no knowledge, but no interest in who came before. Remember that the 2021 census counted around 24 million Asian Americans, but in 1960 there were only a million! So it's a fair guess that well over 90% of Asian Americans today have no personal tie to the pre-1965 generations. Those who do strongly identify with them (like myself) exist, but are definitely not the norm.

[u/davisresident]

i don't think there's that much difference between 2nd gen and 3rd gen except that a lot of 3rd gens don't have the ability to speak in their mother tongue

but there is a divide between 2nd gen and 1st gen. i get along better with 2nd gen than 1st gen because generally we have more in common cuz we both grew up in the same environment and have more shared experiences

never met a 4th+ gen tho, prob cuz the number of asian immigrants from 100 years ago is so low and the interracial marriage is so high that there only remains a very small population of 4th+ gen asians

[u/pop442 → u/davisresident]

I used to hang out a lot with a Hapa girl back in college who had a Japanese American dad and White mom.

She would tell me how her father was more spiteful towards Asian immigrants than many White Americans, claiming that they don't assimilate and are too clannish. He especially looked down on Chinese and Indian immigrants apparently.

It was very interesting.

[u/davisresident → u/pop442]

its a coping mechanism because he feels hes not as American as the white Americans, so he places a hierarchy in his mind so that hes not on the bottom 

[u/davisresident → u/pop442]

its a coping mechanism because he feels hes not as American as the white Americans, so he places a hierarchy in his mind so that hes not on the bottom 

[u/titchtatch]

I'm the child of 1st gen immigrants, and I do have contact with both 1st gen of my parent's gen (part of the 1980's wave) and also the most recent 2010's wave of 1st gen immigrants.

The only thing I can say from my observations is that the generation matters, meaning not just if they're 1st or 2nd gen but when they immigrated. The reasons for coming to the US evolve over time. I've found a lot of 1st gen that come over in the 2010's are more willing to move back to Asia because it's way more developed than when my parents came in the 1980's. They have a more positive impression of their home country.

I would also like to hear other people's experiences or observation as well.

I only know one 5th gen ABC and that's it. Everyone else is 1st or 2nd gen. The only 3rd gen I know are my brother's children but they're very young so who knows how they'll identify when they're older. Too early to tell. But they're learning Mandarin.

FWIW, we are basically in the Midwest, where Asian immigrants don't have as much of a imprint as opposed to in NY/Cali/PNW/Hawaii.

[u/CuriosityStar]

There are chronological distinctions, though I believe the generational divides aren't the only one.

For example, I recall a family friend whom shared her experiences immigrating here once. When she tried to mingle with the local Chinese community, they rejected her for not being "Chinese" enough. Apparently, they were overwhelmingly made up of immigrants from the same province in China at the time, so rebuffed her when she didn't come from the same province. Old world divisions among the 1st gen are tough. Her grandchildren are also gen Z, but they're 3rd generation and don't speak their ancestral language.

Certain waves of immigrants also tend to coalesce into a distinct community within the wider diaspora. The Falun Gong & British Hong Kong immigrants are different from the newer immigrants from Maoist China or modern China. Parallels can be observed in other asian diasporas as well, with different common backgrounds from each wave. Those distinctions probably are eroded by generational differences, since the 2nd gen children won't be influenced as much by it on average, and are probably more likely to be open to other communities.