Becoming American: Yi Min Zhong

我妈妈的名字叫钟毅敏。

她来自中国, 她住在中国广州市。她从1990跟我的爸爸来美国：她是二十五岁来。她的家有妈妈，爸爸，和两个哥哥。她来美国以后住在芝加哥。她现在有两个孩子， 我和我的弟弟。

Before my mother came to America, my father had already traveled to America to earn some money in order to help her come to America. Before my father came to America, his father (my grandfather) came to America to earn some money to help him come to America. Even before that, my grandfather’s sister had helped him come to America thanks to her husband. Even before my parents came to America, they already had a minor bit of income from jobs as dishwashers and busboys in Chinese restaurants.

When my mother came to China in 1990 with my father, her first priority was to learn English. She enrolled in an “English as a second language” class at Truman College, which offered the classes for free. While she was taking the classes, she was pregnant with me in her stomach. After she had given birth to me in February 1991, she stopped attending the classes in order to take care of me. Although she didn’t get to spend much time learning Chinese at Truman, she already had a familiar understanding of the language because of her previous English classes back in China.

After the classes at Truman she found work at a Dominicks near the apartment which my father had bought. Although she already knew a bit of English, she only worked as a bagger. She received a modest amount of $3.50 an hour for 4 hours a day. She started saving up her money during that period.

After only half a year working at Dominicks, my father had decided to start his own business. Like many Chinese-Americans immigrating to America at that time, he had a dream of starting and owning his own business. My mother and my father had both opened up a Chinese restaurant in Veron Hills. After two years of slow business, they both decided to sell the restaurant.

My mother describes her adjustment to America as a relatively smooth one. Before she came to Chicago, her friends told her about the violence and gangs in Chicago. My mother remained relatively open-minded about the opportunity to go to America. Once she arrived in America, she didn’t face any discrimination or hardships as other Chinese immigrants might have. She thought of most Americans as rather friendly and easy to get along with.

When she came to America she had left her friends, brothers, and parents behind. Although she felt lonely and out of place most of the times, she still tried to keep hopeful and remain open-minded about America. She had the mindset to learn English in order to better fit in with American society.

My mother feels that there are many differences between Chinese and American cultures. For instance, the first differences she noticed were between the politeness of American people and Chinese people. She said that Americans were more willing to let pedestrians cross the street whereas in China, people would run you over if you tried to walk in front of their car. In other instances, she also says that Americans are more willing to spend their money and enjoy themselves. She notices that Americans are more likely to spend their paycheck immediately where Chinese people would save up their paycheck and only spend a small portion of it on necessities. She even noticed that Americans were more generous. At restaurants, she saw that American people were more likely to tip better then Chinese people. In some aspects she felt American culture was friendlier then Chinese culture.

In other aspects she felt that American culture was lacking. She feels that America didn’t put as much emphasis in education for their children as China did. She also feels that respect in regards to elders wasn’t as much of an importance in American culture. She feels that in American culture, there is more emphasis placed on individualism rather then family first values of Chinese culture.

My mother was expected to continue her education when she came to America, and to generally live a better life in America. She views education as a very important matter. She feels that education is imperative for our future because it will give us more opportunities in life and a more likely chance for us to live a better life. My mother feels that as long as a person is happy with who they’re with, it doesn’t matter what race or color they are. She feels that becoming accepted as an American is not an issue for her.

Critical Thinking

There are still hundreds of thousands of people from China that dream of coming to America, and hundreds of thousands do make the trip to America every day. Coping with the sudden change in culture isn’t an easy task, but I believe it has gotten easier in the recent years, and it will only continue getting easier. More and more people in China learn English in school, and it will only help them better adjust themselves to American culture if they immigrate to America.

Today in America, I feel that the most important factor in being considered American is the ability to speak English fluently. Without this ability, it is hard to be recognized as an American. Socially and culturally, I think America has become more accepting of other cultures. There isn’t as much discrimination and confusion about other cultures because we are being educated about other cultures more and more.

Speaking with my mother definitely helped me understand the different types of cultures and experiences that she felt as an immigrant in America. I am sure that there are many different types of experiences with different types of Chinese-Americans that compare and differ. I know for sure that the hardships that the older generations (my grandfather) faced were much more difficult.

I have a greater respect for my family, especially my elders, for putting in the hard work and dedication in finding a job and making a living in a country that they have never been to before. They are the bravest people I know, for enduring the discrimination that they had to face once they arrived to America. It is thanks to them that we have the lifestyle that we have today. It is only their dream that we live a better life then they did, and that is my mother’s dream, too.