Definition of Terms INTRODUCTION

lifestyles. Usually, these kinds of stereotypes disregard a group of people to have “immoral and decadent” behaviors although, same as physical stereotypes, are not always true. For example, a common stereotype that an Afro-American family usually consists of a poor single parent with the kids not knowing hisher father and live in dirty places. Of course, this is not true as the majority of Afro- American families have complete families nowadays. Perhaps this stereotype was true in the past when they still lived in the ghetto and had difficulty in finding a stable job, which led to poverty. However, this is not true nowadays as the majority of Afro-Americans have stable jobs and some of them are even richer than White people. The stereotypes still exist due to some people’s unwillingness to see the reality and still cling to their false-point of view from the past. In conclusion, these two kinds of stereotypes continue even until now because people refuse to see the thing as it is, and cling to what they think about it instead. The third study is the studies about identity. How can this kind of problem happen? Why does this problem occur? Actually, the ones who experience these kinds of problems are not first-generation Chinese immigrants because they understand their identity as a certain race, which is Chinese. Identity becomes a problem for the second generations of Chinese-American who were born in America. Based on the American principal of ius soli nationality by birth, they are clearly American. This principle makes those Chinese-Americans question why they cannot be identified as “American” and are still perceived as Chinese instead, as most of them were born in America. Jing Yi Song’s book “Fighting for Chinese American Identity” gives a brief background about this One of the main complaints against Chinese immigrants in the past was the idea that they were unassimilable. Opponents used Asians alleged inability to become real Americans as an excuse to exclude them and to deny them participation in American political and social life. A series of landmark decisions in the lower federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the exclusion. Historians often argue among themselves whether Chinese immigrants have been discriminated against as a class, a race, or a nationality Song, 2002: 385-386. Song’s writing showed that in the past even Chinese immigrants whose children later become Chinese-Americans were thought as “unassimilable” and unable to become “real” Americans. This is perhaps due to racism at that time, when Americans used the Chinese “alleged inability” as a reason to disallow them from becoming “real” Americans. Thus, Chinese were not allowed to take part in politics and were seen differently in society. As Song noted, historians still argue about the topic whether Chinese immigrants at that time were discriminated against as a class, race, or nationality - a question that may still not yet be answered. Unfortunately, although the era of the act and racism is already over, people still have the same stereotypes and prejudices toward Chinese people as in the past . Stereotypes of Chinese such as “nerd,” “conservative,” “shy,” “intelligent,” “diligent” and other stereotypes can still be found. After the background of the stereotypes has been sketched, the writer now looks for its effect on the second-generation of Chinese-Americans. Interestingly, racial stereotypes and inability to call themselves American made them confused whether they were American or Chinese. On this topic, Song cited a case study of Maya Lin, a second-generation Chinese American In a recent radio interview, Maya Lin, well known for her design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC rejected the idea that ethnic background is the ultimate determiner of an individuals national identity, especially for Americans, as this country is the home of immigrants from all parts of the world. Several hundred years of living and working on this land created generations of Americans with mixed ethnic and racial backgrounds. Relatively flexible social structures permitted social mobility of people of different nationalities and classes. Unfortunately, because of cultural ignorance and prejudice, misunderstanding and antagonism among Americans still exist. Not a typical for Chinese Americans, Lin was challenged when she identified herself as an Ohioan when she was asked if she were a Chinese. She reaffirmed her American identity by telling the audience that she was born in the United States and had established herself as an American artist Song, 2002: 386. By giving Lin as an example, Song clearly showed that although a Chinese- American was born in America Ohio in this case and stated himherself as “American” or Ohioan in this case, people will still ask if she were a Chinese. This is because the prejudice and misunderstanding among Americans about Chinese people still exist. An “American” is considered a White person, so Chinese who are not White colored, as American categorized them cannot identified themselves as “fully American.” Even though they were born in America, speak only English and cannot speak Mandarin, Americans will still recognize them as Chinese, regardless the Chinese’s explanation and self- introduction as American. This problem made a simple question like “Where do you come from?” cause a big problem for second-generation Chinese-Americans. It is because they cannot say that they are Chinese, as they were born in America, but cannot say that they are Americans, as Americans will stubbornly tell them that they are Chinese and not Americans. The writer’s fourth related study is from Arif Dirlik’s “Chinese History and the Question of Orientalism”. This study’s purpose is to give a brief view to the reader about post-colonialism and the background to why the European people