True Wisdom

I am a fourth generation descendent of a Chinese immigrant. Most of my family doesn’t read or speak Chinese, and most of us have never been to the land our ancestors came from. For a lot of my life, I’ve tried to figure out if those factors meant that I couldn’t identify as Chinese. Many people would look at me and almost immediately identify me as Asian, but there were a few that would question it, and that forced me to call it into question as well.

What makes me Chinese?

It’s taken a long time, but I’ve realized that even though I can’t speak Mandarin, I’ve been surrounded and immersed in Chinese culture throughout my entire life, through the traditions that my family has seamlessly maintained for me and my other family members. It’s been a long journey trying to figure out where I fit into the world, but I’ve realized that my identity is my own, and other people only have as much influence over it as I give them.

My family is Chinese-American, and so am I.

For my Senior Capstone Project I curated a collection of photographs, some old and some new, and interviews with the mixed race members of my family, exploring their experiences and their own journeys with this subject to share with the world. The final product was a zine and a video, and each is a love letter dedicated to my family and the pieces of them that they shared with me.