Funny, my wife has never used the term Asian-American. She calls herself and all friends of her race Chinese, or Asian if forced to generalize. They are indeed a race -- not for us to be prejudiced against, but for us to realize they have a unique and distinct culture that they're not necessarily willing to integrate with any other "races". Maybe the A-A title suits the ones who have been born and raised as wholly-immersed Americans. Interestingly, I have met very few of them -- even the young ones are rarely taught English as they grow up, learning just enough to get through school.
Oriental? Has anyone really used that word in the last 20 years?
(hi Catz)
For all y'all arguing about the position the Chinese have in the world marketplace -- I believe they are a contender. They are driven to become number one in the world. They are a fiercely proud people who would do anything to promote their superiority. And there are a lot of them, both in China and worldwide. My wife is funny about it -- she complains when she sees too many Chinese people at Costco, acting too Chinese, etc..
The only thing keeping them from being #1 is their corruption. They are not lazy people (I found that to be a silly implication in another post), but they do take advantages of shortcuts if they see them. My wife has asserted that they NEED a dictatorship to run the country, otherwise the people would not allow themselves to be governed at all.
China is enduring an Industrial Revolution that we Americans endured in the 19th century, shortly before we became the next world power. The pollution, the corruption, the "robber barons", all there. If you think they don't have a future and can't rise above it, you're not doing the right things to watch your back. History repeats.
I second the notion that American children should learn the Mandarin Chinese dialect and learn more about the culture. I don't mean for us to be swallowed up in their economy, but for us to learn to work with them, to understand why they think the way they do. My wife and I sent her oldest son to China to intern for the summer, and we think it was a wise move for his career. It really is a fascinating culture, and worth the time to study.
By marriage to a Chinese woman from Hong Kong (fully fluent in English) I feel I've learned a lot about the race in the last 9 years. I'll repeat: The only thing that's stopping them from succeeding (and believe me, they want to) is themselves.