My parents have only ever called themselves ‘Chinese’, not even ‘Chinese American’, though my mother has never set foot in mainland China.
I can’t remember how many times my parents have bumped into neighbours walking their dogs or acquaintances from church ever curious about their origins despite their having resided in rural New Hampshire for more than two decades.
‘We’re Chinese,’ my dad would reply emphatically. ‘From Taiwan.’
‘Oh, interesting,’ some would respond. ‘So you consider Taiwan to be part of China?’
‘Not exactly,’ my dad would say. ‘It’s complicated.’
My father designs machines that make semiconductors in America. The Taiwan he left behind now leads the world in manufacturing semiconductor chips in phones and electronics. At sixty-four, he has lived in America as a naturalised citizen for two-thirds of his life.
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- Tags: Issue 29, Kang-Chun Cheng, Taiwan