Greetings to my fellow readers!
I will be
straightforward and tell you that I was not named after some fancy politician
or well known celebrity. The first part Karen is Danish word for Katherine
which means pure in Greek. But my friends would all agree that I am far from
pure. I see the world in a dim light for all its violence and corruption. And
honestly, I question whether they’ll be taken down and replace with someone of
not-so-evil intentions.
Now my surname is somewhat unique in several ways. One being
that my dad actually misspelled the last name on several forms changing it from
Cheung to Zheung. A one letter mistake, no big deal except that it puts me at
the end of attendance list instead of the beginning. The other feature making it somewhat unique is
that you don’t often see another last name similar to Zheung at least in school
and in my social circle. Why? Simple reason, Asians are minorities in this environment.
There’s no China town in Connecticut and there most likely won’t be building
one too. (Thank God for that.) But among the Chinese my surname is as common
Smith and considering the huge population and the fact that there are only 100
surnames it’s not surprising to see Zheung as the third most common surname.
Having a Chinese surname obviously makes me Chinese and as a
Chinese person what should my concerns be? Well for starters my obsessive love
for Japan is not okay. It’s a sin! A taboo! So whenever an adult hears that I’m
studying both Chinese and Japanese their immediate reaction is to go into a
long story. “Remember all those thing they did to you in WWII?” I was not part
of WWII, I wasn’t even born yet. I’ve even came across little elementary children
who say “I hate the Japanese. They should die.” You’re just a kid! There’s no
need for this amount of hate. Another issue, does being Chinese really mean I have
to excel in every academic subject and be viewed as an over-achiever by my
peers? Sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn’t raised in China nor do I live
there so I would really appreciate if the “In China when I was your age…”
stories would stop.
I’m certainly not pure or as girly as Karen suggests and
neither am I as stereotypical and my last name hints. The on-going political
grudge between China and Japan, stereotypes and racism that follows my name is
very irksome. But a name is a name so I’ll just enjoy all the perks and pain
that it brings me.
this post was very interesting. i like your views on the stereotypes of chinese people and your views on the political side of being chinese. i really liked the part where you talked about your dad misspelling your name that was cool. your post had different side to it which i like. i liked the little bits of humor but also the serious side and the political views you added in. great job! :D
ReplyDeleteI loved the beginning of the post Karen, your bluntness is always worthy of a laugh. I liked reading about the history of your last name, though it would have been nice for you to elaborate more on your first name. That being my one complaint, I enjoyed reading the entire thing and there wasn't a boring moment.
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