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After rummaging through the endless rows of books in Barnes & Nobles for a quiet place to sit, he finally finds a vacant table adjacent to the bookstore, just outside of Starbucks' Coffee Shop. He then takes a few seconds to acquaint himself with the surroundings. Anticipating someone, he confidently glances up with his gentle brown eyes when he hears the soft shuffle of feet coming towards him. He is not very tall, approximately 5'6 or 5'7, of medium-built, and probably weighs around 125 pounds. With a slight nod of the head and a warm smile on his youthful face, Mok-Yi Chow appears to be not at all nervous or self-conscious about his first interview, as would be many young people at the age of twenty-one.
Perhaps, it was his childhood life in Hong Kong that trained him to be comfortable, and not timid around strangers. "In Hong Kong, there are a LOT of people. People interact [with each other] a lot, even with strangers," he adds. "Like on a bus, people will just start talking to each other. They're not shy." Mok-Yi Chow, indigenous to Hong Kong, moved to the United States at the age of ten. Even with the environmental change, he still grew up conservatively - the "Asian way" as he calls it. "My grandparents gave me a strict sense of morality," he says, "a strong sense of Chinese culture and tradition, [especially through constant reminders such as,] 'Don't forget you're Chinese,' and 'Remember where you came from.'" Because he learned very little English in Hong Kong, "language...was...the biggest obstacle [he had to overcome]." When Mok-Yi arrived in the United States, he started school in the sixth grade at Redland Middle School. Despite his difficulties in communication with his teachers and non-Chinese students, he was still able to make many friends. Not long after his immigration to the United States, Mok-Yi began to experience the stereotypes commonly placed upon people of the Asian complexion. "[Because I'm Asian], they automatically assume [that] I'm smart and that I do good in school," he says. "However, this stereotype of 'all, or most Asians being smart and doing well in school' does not apply to me." Besides disagreeing with the stereotype, he also finds it somewhat amusing because "even high school friends, in the same class, thought [he] had good grades." With pressures from school and life, "I think I just gave up [on trying to live up to the stereotype of always earning good grades]," he says. "I just don't care anymore." Having had the experience of a school system different from the United States, Mok-Yi concludes that "school is way tougher [in Hong Kong because] there's competition |
everywhere...competition for schools, competition for jobs....Life is a lot more stressful in Hong Kong." Also, "there's this one test that decides which college you're going to IF you go at all. It's...the major turning point of your life. If you didn't get in [college], it's basically over."
Besides the pressure of getting into a college, there is also pressure from Chinese parents. Mok-Yi noticed that "parents in Hong Kong cared a lot about education - a lot more than American parents." He is often advised by his own parents to "study [constantly]...and...to read the next chapter [in the textbook because] there is always something to learn." Besides stressing education's importance, the Chinese heritage has also taught Mok-Yi "to work for everything [because nothing is free. Fortune] won't just drop down from the sky." Hence, strongly rooted Chinese people have the notion that nothing should be wasted and are more often than not, haunted with reminders such as, "When you eat, you have to finish all the rice," and "Don't spend too much money on something you don't really need." Another way in which heritage affects Mok-Yi's outlook in life is in shaping his views concerning differing groups of people in society. To sum up the roles of the two genders, he states, "Basically…men [are] better. Women will eventually marry off, so there's no profit. Chinese people say that nu sen shu kwai ben [women are a debt to the family]." This is clearly an effect of the Chinese heritage because it has always been the husband of a Chinese household who dictated the family and its profits in the past. While men are superior to women in Chinese traditional belief, the younger group, or generation is expected to respect their elders as well. "We treasure the old people because of [their] experiences with life," Mok-Yi says. "They're suppose to be wise, so we respect them." Also, "[Chinese people] believe that if the student didn't learn [well] and become a good student, it [was] the teacher's fault." While students have the responsibility of making every effort to learn the material, teachers have the responsibility of teaching their students and trying everything in their power to make sure that the student fully understands what is being taught. "That was the old traditional thinking [of the Chinese people.]" As heritage affects Mok-Yi Chow's everyday life, it also shapes him internally and sets the foundation upon which he builds his characteristics, behaviors, and thinking. Mok-Yi describes people of his own heritage as "very traditional people [who try] to maintain [an] Eastern culture in a Western world - all the while trying to fit into the Western society." |