I finally got the chance to present my oral history project in class last Wednesday February 27th , which was about my mother Irene. I was a little nervous to present because I wanted to do her story justice and I was afraid that I'd get too emotional and cry (I did). My mom means the world to me, and ever since I've been in college away from home we've gotten a lot closer but it's also made it harder for us to talk. The distance has made me appreciate her a lot more, now just the thought of what an amazing and selfless mother she is makes me tear up.
Of all the memories that she shared with me, she wanted me to share her memory of being a refugee of the Vietnam War in class. I created a giant red envelope which holds the memoir pages, in celebration of Chinese New Year's to give to my mom. It was also a way for me to showcase my family's culture, and make up for not being able to go home during the holiday. Before this project, I knew very little about my mom's family and her roots. My knowledge from what she told me were vague bits and pieces from distant memories, and sometimes they wouldn't really fit. It was the same case with my dad, so I grew up pretty confused about my heritage, even until entering college. One important thing I gained from this oral history project was a stronger sense of my own identity, and a stronger connection to my roots after learning more about my mother's early life.
The reason I grew up confused about my culture and heritage is the fact that I grew up with both Chinese and Vietnamese culture: eating Chinese and Vietnamese food at home and at family parties, always hearing both languages, and celebrating a mix of traditions. Outside of the food and language, the values, beliefs and traditions of the two are extremely similar and intertwined. Both my parents were born and raised in Vietnam, but both are ethnically Chinese. When I was younger, up until high school, I never knew what to say when people asked me "what I am". It was complicated to explain and when I did, people didn't really understand, so I defaulted to saying Chinese-Vietnamese. Growing up in the US, I felt that as a cultural minority you had to fit into a box to make it easier for people to understand. It was a weird, ambiguous thing I didn't know how to navigate because I didn't know much about my heritage. But through interviewing my mom, I learned that her grandparents originally immigrated from China to Vietnam. They thrived in the Chinatown of Saigon, Vietnam along with other Chinese minorities in Vietnam. This group of Chinese minorities in Vietnam became known as the Hoa people.
After learning more about my mom's experience growing up Chinese in Vietnam, everything I knew about my culture made sense. In the same way I grew up Chinese-American, my mother grew up Chinese-Vietnamese. I now feel a sense of pride revolving around my cultural background, because I realize how unique this blended Chinese-Vietnamese heritage is. It originated from this single, small Chinatown community in Vietnam, but as a result of the Vietnamese diaspora throughout the 1970s-80s this unique culture exists in communities all over the US and probably the world.
There is very limited literature on the Hoa people, which is why documenting my mom's life means even more to me now. Being born and raised in the US, you start to lose parts of your cultural identity due to Americanization in school and "white-washing". If these histories aren't shared or passed on, they became endangered of being erased. I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity to create my mother's memoir to prevent this from happening, and I can't wait for the day I can share it with my kids and grand kids so they too can know their heritage.
Of all the memories that she shared with me, she wanted me to share her memory of being a refugee of the Vietnam War in class. I created a giant red envelope which holds the memoir pages, in celebration of Chinese New Year's to give to my mom. It was also a way for me to showcase my family's culture, and make up for not being able to go home during the holiday. Before this project, I knew very little about my mom's family and her roots. My knowledge from what she told me were vague bits and pieces from distant memories, and sometimes they wouldn't really fit. It was the same case with my dad, so I grew up pretty confused about my heritage, even until entering college. One important thing I gained from this oral history project was a stronger sense of my own identity, and a stronger connection to my roots after learning more about my mother's early life.
The reason I grew up confused about my culture and heritage is the fact that I grew up with both Chinese and Vietnamese culture: eating Chinese and Vietnamese food at home and at family parties, always hearing both languages, and celebrating a mix of traditions. Outside of the food and language, the values, beliefs and traditions of the two are extremely similar and intertwined. Both my parents were born and raised in Vietnam, but both are ethnically Chinese. When I was younger, up until high school, I never knew what to say when people asked me "what I am". It was complicated to explain and when I did, people didn't really understand, so I defaulted to saying Chinese-Vietnamese. Growing up in the US, I felt that as a cultural minority you had to fit into a box to make it easier for people to understand. It was a weird, ambiguous thing I didn't know how to navigate because I didn't know much about my heritage. But through interviewing my mom, I learned that her grandparents originally immigrated from China to Vietnam. They thrived in the Chinatown of Saigon, Vietnam along with other Chinese minorities in Vietnam. This group of Chinese minorities in Vietnam became known as the Hoa people.
After learning more about my mom's experience growing up Chinese in Vietnam, everything I knew about my culture made sense. In the same way I grew up Chinese-American, my mother grew up Chinese-Vietnamese. I now feel a sense of pride revolving around my cultural background, because I realize how unique this blended Chinese-Vietnamese heritage is. It originated from this single, small Chinatown community in Vietnam, but as a result of the Vietnamese diaspora throughout the 1970s-80s this unique culture exists in communities all over the US and probably the world.
There is very limited literature on the Hoa people, which is why documenting my mom's life means even more to me now. Being born and raised in the US, you start to lose parts of your cultural identity due to Americanization in school and "white-washing". If these histories aren't shared or passed on, they became endangered of being erased. I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity to create my mother's memoir to prevent this from happening, and I can't wait for the day I can share it with my kids and grand kids so they too can know their heritage.