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Asian American
Total population
Asian Americans 15,000,000 5% of the US population[1]
Regions with significant populations
Hawaii, West Coast, Northeast, Chicago
Language(s)
American English, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Indian languages, Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, Thai, others
Religion(s)
Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Hinduism, Islam, Shamanism, Sikhism, Christianity, others

An Asian American is generally defined as a person of Asian ancestry and American citizenship.^[2][3][4] The term Asian American was used informally by activists in the 1960s who sought an alternative to the term Oriental, arguing that the latter was derogatory and colonialist. Formal usage was introduced by academics in the early 1970s, notably by historian Yuji Ichioka, who is credited with popularizing the term.^[5] Today, Asian American is the accepted term for most formal purposes, such as government and academic research, although it is often shortened to Asian in common usage. The Oxford English Dictionary, states that Asian is used in North America to refer to people ethnically from East Asia like China, Japan, Korea, etc. This lags behind the US government definition and general usage in many parts of the US.^[6] The US Census Bureau definition includes people from South Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

As with other racial and ethnic names, formal and common usage have changed markedly through the short history of this term. The most significant change occurred when the Hart-Celler Act of 1965 eliminated highly restrictive "national origins" quotas. The new country-specific quotas enabled significant immigration from every nation in Asia, which led to dramatic and ongoing changes in the Asian American population. As a result of these population changes, the formal and common understandings of what defines Asian American have expanded to include more of the peoples with ancestry from various parts of Asia. Because of their more recent immigration, new Asian immigrants also have had different educational, economic and other characteristics than early 20th century immigrants. They also tend to have different employment and settlement patterns in the United States.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early History 1.2 Effects of World War II 2 Terminology 3 Demographics 4 Immigration trends 5 Notable contributions 5.1 Government 5.2 Business 5.3 Sports 5.4 Arts and entertainment 5.5 Science and technology 5.6 Journalism 6 Cultural influence 6.1 Health and Medicine 6.2 Religious Trends 7 Cultural issues 7.1 Model minority 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

[edit] History

Main article: Asian American history

[edit] Early History

In 1763, Filipinos established the small settlement of Saint Malo in the bayous of current-day Louisiana, after fleeing mistreatment aboard Spanish ships. Since there were no Filipino women with them, the Manilamen, as they were known, married Cajun and Native American women. ^[7]

Chinese sailors first came to Hawaii in 1778, the same year that Captain James Cook came upon the island. Many settled and married Hawaiian women. Some Island-born Chinese can claim to be 7th generation. Most Chinese, Korean and Japanese immigrants in Hawaii arrived in the 19th century as laborers to work on sugar plantations. Later, Filipinos also came to work as laborers, attracted by the job opportunities, although they were limited.

Numerous Chinese and Japanese began immigrating to the U.S. in the mid-19th century for work, because of poor economic conditions in their home nations. Many of the immigrants worked as laborers on the transcontinental railroad. A surge in Asian immigration in the late 19th century caused some Americans to fear the change represented by the growing number of Asians. This fear was referred to as the "yellow peril." The United States passed laws such as Asian Exclusion Act and Chinese Exclusion Act to limit Asian immigration.

[edit] Effects of World War II

(See Japanese American internment)

During World War II, the United States government declared Japanese Americans a risk to national security and undertook the Japanese American Internment, authorized by President Franklin Roosevelt with United States Executive Order 9066. This controversial action forced the relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans, taking them from the west coast of the United States to hastily constructed War Relocation Centers in remote portions of the nation's interior. This shameful chapter in US history was a result of war hysteria, racial discrimination, and economic competition. Sixty-two percent of those forced to relocate were United States citizens. Starting in 1990, the government paid some reparations to the surviving internees in recognition of the harm it had caused them and their families.

Despite the internment, many Japanese American men served in World War II in the American forces. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team/100th Infantry Battalion, composed of Japanese Americans, is the most highly decorated unit in U.S. military history. The 442nd/100th fought valiantly in the European Theater even as many of their families remained in the detention camps stateside. The 100th was one of the first units to liberate the Nazi extermination camp at Dachau.

[edit] Terminology

The most commonly used definition of Asian American is the US Census Bureau definition of Asian^[8], chiefly because the Census definitions determine many government classifications, notably for equal opportunity programs and measurements. People with origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent are included in the Census definition of Asia.^[9] The use of a separate "Asian" category in the Census is a recent addition, beginning in 1990. Since then, the Census definitions have varied. The 2000 census divided the Asian/Pacific Islander group and created Pacific Islander ethnicities as a separate category.

Before 1980, Census forms listed particular Asian ancestries as separate groups, along with White and Black or Negro.^[10] Asian Americans had also been classified as "other". ^[11] The 1980 census marked the first classification of Asians as a large group, combining several individual ancestry groups into "Asian or Pacific Islander." By the 1990 census, Asian or Pacific Islander (API) was included as an explicit category, although respondents had to select one particular ancestry^[12][13]. In the 2000 census, people reporting Middle Eastern ancestry but not reporting race are presumed to be in the white race category rather than Asian.^[9]

Finally, the definition of Asian American has variations that derive from the use of the word American in different contexts. Immigration status, citizenship, acculturation, and language ability are some variables that are used to define American for various purposes and may vary in formal and everyday usage.^[14] For example, restricting American to include only U.S. citizens conflicts with discussions of Asian American businesses, which generally refer both to citizen and non-citizen owners.^[15]

In a recent PBS interview, a panel of Asian American writers discussed how some groups include people from the Middle East in the Asian American category. ^[16] Asian American author Stewart Ikeda has noted, "The definition of “Asian American” also frequently depends on who’s asking, who’s defining, in what context, and why... the possible definitions of "Asian-Pacific American" are many, complex, and shifting... some scholars in Asian American Studies conferences suggest that Russians, Iranians, and Israelis all might fit the field’s subject of study." ^[17]

[edit] Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Asian Americans

Metropolitan Areas with the Highest Proportion of Asian Americans (2000 Census)^[18]

Metropolitan Area	Metropolitan population	% of Asian Americans
Honolulu, HI MSA	876,156	46.0
San Francisco Bay Area	7,039,362	18.4
Greater Los Angeles Area	16,373,645	10.4
Sacramento CA CMSA	1,796,857	9.0
San Diego, CA MSA	2,813,833	8.9
Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area	3,554,760	7.9
New York metropolitan area	21,199,865	6.8
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area	7,608,070	5.3
Greater Houston	4,669,571	4.9
Las Vegas, NV/AZ MSA	1,563,282	4.7

The demographics of Asian Americans describe a heterogeneous group of people in the United States who can trace their ancestry to one or more countries in Asia. Because Asian Americans total less than 5% of the entire U.S. population, the diversity of the group is often disregarded in media and news discussions of "Asians" or of "Asian Americans." While there are some commonalities across ethnic sub-groups, there are significant differences among different Asian ethnicities that are related to each group's history.

The 2000 U.S. census recorded 11.9 million people who reported themselves as having either full or partial Asian heritage, 4.2% of the U.S. population. The largest ethnic subgroups are Chinese (2.7M), Filipinos (2.4 million), Asian Indians (1.9M), Vietnamese (1.5M), Koreans (1.2M) , and Japanese (1.1M). Other sizable groups are Cambodians (206,000), Pakistanis (204,000), Laotians (198,000), Hmong (186,000), and Thais (150,000).^[18]

The Asian American population is heavily urbanized, with nearly three-quarters of Asian Americans living in metropolitan areas with population greater than 2.5 million. Asian Americans are concentrated in the largest U.S. cities, with 40% of all Asian Americans living in the metropolitan areas around Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. Half of all Asian Americans (5.4M) live in Hawaii or the West Coast, mostly in California (4.2M). Census data shows that Asian American populations are developing in major metropolitan areas away from the West Coast, with visible communities in areas such as Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and Greater Houston, to name the largest examples.

In regions with large numbers of Asian Americans, suburban communities have developed that are heavily or predominantly Asian. The schools in these areas may offer languages such as Mandarin as a second language. Since the 1970s, in addition to Chinatowns, "Little Manila", "Koreatowns" and "Little Saigons" have appeared in several cities. Large Japantowns once existed up and down the West Coast because of extensive Japanese immigration. The ones that remain are vestiges of once vibrant pre-World War II communities whose members, like other Americans, moved out into the suburbs and larger communities.

Asian Americans are visible and growing. They are "underrepresented" (against the national aggregate) in several of the largest areas, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and Dallas-Fort Worth, although sizable concentrations (double the national percentage) can be found in some urban neighborhoods, such as Albany Park in Chicago and Olney in Philadelphia. Additionally, similar Asian populations are found in suburbs of these cities such as Naperville near Chicago; Millbourne, King of Prussia, and Cherry Hill near Philadelphia; Lowell and Lexington near Boston. This pattern reflects their later arrival and response to changing economic conditions in some cities.

According to the 2005 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Asian American households had the highest median income at $57,518.^[19]

[edit] Immigration trends

Immigration trends of recent decades have dramatically altered the statistical composition and popular understanding of who is an Asian American. This transformation of Asian America, and of America itself, is the result of legislation such as the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 and the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965. The McCarran-Walter Act repealed the "free white persons" restriction of the Naturalization Act of 1790, but it retained the quota system that effectively banned nearly all immigration from Asia (for example, its annual quota of Chinese was only fifty). Asian immigration increased significantly after the 1965 Immigration Act altered the quota system. The preference for relatives, initially designed to reduce the number of Asian immigrants, eventually acted to accelerate their numbers.

Historically, before 1965, Asian Americans were chiefly perceived as members of the two most numerous Asian ethnic groups, specifically Chinese and Japanese. Filipinos were increasingly numerous in the US, having become colonial subjects in 1898 due to the Spanish-American War (also see Philippine-American War).

After the enactment of the 1965 Immigration Act, Asian American demographics changed rapidly. This act replaced exclusionary immigration rules of the Chinese Exclusion Act and its successors, such as the 1924 Immigration Act, which effectively excluded "undesirable" immigrants, including Asians. The 1965 rules set across-the-board immigration quotas for each country. It opened US borders to immigration from Asia for the first time in nearly half a century.

Immigration of Asian Americans were also affected by U.S. war involvement from the 1940s to the 1970s. In the wake of World War II, immigration preferences favored family reunification. This may have helped attract highly skilled workers to meet American workforce deficiencies. Another instance related to World War II was the Luce-Celler Act of 1946, which helped immigrants from India and the Philippines.

The end of the Korean War and Vietnam War and the so-called "Secret Wars" in Southeast Asia brought a new wave of Asian American immigration, as people from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia arrived. Some of the new immigrants were war brides, who were soon joined by their families. Others, like the Southeast Asians, were either highly skilled and educated, or part of subsequent waves of refugees seeking asylum. Some factors contributing to the growth of sub-groups such as South Asians and mainland Chinese were higher family sizes, higher use of family-reunification visas, and higher numbers of technically skilled workers entering on H-1 and H-1b visas.

The contrasts between Japanese Americans and South Asian Americans are emblematic of the dramatic changes since the immigration reforms of the mid-20th century. Japanese Americans are among the most widely recognized of Asian American sub-groups. In 1970, there were nearly 600,000 Japanese Americans, making it the largest sub-group, but historically the greatest period of immigration was generations past. Today, given relatively low rates of births and immigration, Japanese Americans are only the sixth-largest Asian American group. In 2000, there were between 800,000 and 1.2 million Japanese Americans (depending on whether multi-ethnic responses are included). The Japanese Americans have the highest rates of native-born, citizenship, and assimilation into American values and customs.

In 1990, there were slightly fewer South Asians in the U.S. than Japanese Americans. By 2000, Indian Americans nearly doubled in population to become the third largest group of Asian Americans, with increasing visibility in high-tech communities such as the Silicon Valley and the Seattle area. Indian Americans have some of the highest rates of academic achievement among American ethnic and religious groups. Most immigrants speak English and are highly educated. South Asians are increasingly accepted by most Asian organizations as another significant Asian group.

Some assert that high rates of immigration from some parts of Asia -especially those countries with poor economic bases- will make Asian Americans increasingly representative of some portion of the continent itself.

[edit] Notable contributions

Main article: List of Asian Americans

[edit] Government

With a majority Asian-Pacific American population for most of its history, Hawaii has a long history of Asian political participation at all levels of government, and its Congressional delegation has been held by Asian Americans for most of its history. However, the first Asian American elected to the United States House of Representatives was Dalip Singh Saund, from Imperial County, California. Saund served as chair of the local Democratic party and Justice of the Peace before winning the House election in 1956. In 1976, the academic S.I. Hayakawa was elected to the Senate from California. Mainland U.S. politicians such as Mike Honda began their political careers in local offices and developed organizations that eventually supported their election to Congress, while Norman Mineta went on to become Secretary of Transportation between 2001 and 2006. Elaine Chao was selected as a White House Fellow, and then served in a series of appointed posts prior to becoming the Secretary of Labor. Similarly, Bobby Jindal served in various executive positions in Louisiana and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services before being elected to the Congress in 2004, and finally winning the Louisiana gubernatorial elections in 2007 (thereby becoming the first non-white governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction). In 1996 Gary Locke was elected governor of the state of Washington, becoming the first Chinese American to be elected governor in the United States.

[edit] Business

When Asians were largely excluded from labor markets in the 19th century, they started their own businesses. Some started laundries, which are now rare. Others started Chinese restaurants, which still can be found across the USA. Since the mid-20th century, Asians have expanded their involvement across the American economy.

Compared to their population base, Asian Americans today are well represented in the professional sector and tend to earn higher wages, especially in technology and business.^[20] However, much has been written about the glass ceiling in regards to Asians, for they have been far less represented in higher levels of management compared with other ethnic groups.

Some Asian Americans have made major contributions to the American economy. An Wang founded Wang Laboratories in June 1951. Amar Bose founded the Bose Corporation in 1964. Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded the NVIDIA corporation in 1993. Jerry Yang co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1994. Andrea Jung serves as Chairman and CEO of Avon Products. Vinod Khosla was a founding CEO of Sun Microsystems and is a general partner of the prominent venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail, which was acquired by Microsoft. Steve Chen and Jawed Karim were co-creators of YouTube, and were beneficiaries of Google's $1.65 billion acquisition of that company in 2006.

[edit] Sports

See also: Category:Asian American sportspeople

Wataru Misaka became the first Asian American player in the NBA when he played for the New York Knicks in the 1947–48 season.

Asian Americans first made an impact in Olympic sports in the late 1940s and in the 1950s. Sammy Lee became the first Asian American to earn an Olympic Gold Medal, winning in platform diving in both 1948 and 1952. Amy Chow was a member of the gold medal women's gymnastics team at the 1996 Olympics; she also won an individual silver medal on the uneven bars. Gymnast Mohini Bhardwaj won a team silver medal in the 2004 Olympics.

Since Tiffany Chin won the women's US Figure Skating Championship in 1985, Asian Americans have been prominent in that sport. Kristi Yamaguchi won three national championships, two world titles, and the 1992 Olympic Gold medal. Michelle Kwan has won nine national championships and five world titles, as well as two Olympic medals (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002).

In football, Asian Americans' contributions are also gaining notice. Norm Chow is offensive coordinator for an NFL team, after 23 years coaching college teams, including four successful years as offensive coordinator at USC. Hines Ward is an NFL wide receiver who was the MVP of Super Bowl XL. Michael Chang was a top-ranked tennis player for most of his career. He won the French Open in 1989.

[edit] Arts and entertainment

Main article: Asian Americans in arts and entertainment

Brenda Song, She currently stars in Disney Channel's The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody.	Daniel Dae Kim, actor in The Lost	Actress Lucy Liu	Vanessa Hudgens, Filipino lead actress in High School Musical.
Apl.de.ap of Black Eyed Peas is of Filipino descent.	Indian American actor Maulik Pancholy	Masi Oka of the Heroes	Mike Shinoda of Linkin' Park
James Iha, former guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins	Rob Schneider, lead actor in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and The Hot Chick, Filipino-Jewish	Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, Filipina-Russian	Utada Hikaru,Japanese artist who released first english album,Exodus,in 2004.

Asian Americans have been involved in the entertainment industry since the first half of the 19th century, when Chang and Eng Bunker (the original "Siamese Twins") became naturalized citizens. Acting roles in television, cinema, and theater have been relatively few, and many available roles are for narrow, stereotypical characters. Early Asian American actors such as Sessue Hayakawa, Anna May Wong, and Bruce Lee encountered a movie-making culture that wanted to typecast them. Lee abandoned Hollywood and achieved world-wide fame in Hong Kong. In 1965, a group of actors formed East West Players (EWP), to provide Asian American actors greater opportunity to perform in leading roles. Several other Asian American theater companies were formed in other cities, providing similar outlets there.

George Takei and Pat Morita became well-known from supporting roles in Star Trek and Happy Days, two of the best-known series of the 1960s and 1970s. Miyoshi Umeki won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1957 for Sayonara. Haing Ngor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for The Killing Fields. Margaret Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian in 1994.

Wah Chang was the designer for many of the props on the Star Trek series as well as The Time Machine, which received an Academy Award for special effects. Many Asian Americans have also penetrated in the fashion world with Monique Lhuillier's dresses parading on the Hollywood red carpet and Chloe Dao winning Project Runway. Vera Wang and Anna Sui have been highly accomplished and rewarded fashion designers for years.

In literature, Asia American writers have received numerous awards. Women writers have been particularly prominent. Maxine Hong Kingston won the National Book Critics Circle award in 1976 for her memoir Woman Warrior. Bharati Mukherjee won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1988 for her short story collection The Middleman and Other Stories. Chang-Rae-Lee received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for his novel Native Speaker(1995). Amy Tan has received popular acclaim for her work. Jhumpa Lahiri received a 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her short story collection The Interpreter of Maladies. Kiran Desai won the Man Booker Prize (2006) and National Book Critics Circle Award (2006) for her second novel The Inheritance of Loss. Her mother Anita Desai was nominated for major awards for her novels. Naomi Hirahara won a 2007 Edgar Award for her novel Snakeskin Shamisen.

Jim Lee is considered to be one of the most popular comic book artists and is one of the founders of Image Comics. Adrian Tomine's cartoons are featured in The New Yorker.

Asian Americans have designed notable works of architecture, such as the Louvre Pyramid and East Wing of the National Gallery, designed by I. M. Pei, the World Trade Center, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Civil Rights Memorial (1989) designed by Maya Lin. In commercial architecture, Gyo Obata, a founding partner of HOK, designed the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. and the Taipei World Trade Center.

Genres of music

Asian Americans have gained respect and celebrity. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is a significant figure in classical music, performing internationally and leading new recordings of world music, as in The Silk Road Project. The composer Bright Chang has received extensive recognition for his work, including being invited to be composer-in-residence at the New York City Ballet.

In popular music, Amerie is a notable R&B singer. James Iha is best-known as guitarist with The Smashing Pumpkins. Mike Shinoda and Joseph Hahn are members of the popular rap rock band Linkin Park. In hip-hop, Apl.de.ap is a filipino member of The Black Eyed Peas. A colorful video by rapper Jin spiraled him to fame in 2003. Asian American jazz is a musical movement in the United States begun in the 20th century by Asian American jazz musicians. Tila Tequila (Nguyen) is a Vietnamese actor, model and singer of the modern world today. She also has her own show A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila.

Theater

Flower Drum Song is based on the San Francisco nightclub Forbidden City. Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted it into a musical that was produced on Broadway in 1958 and on film in 1961. Largely remembered for the hit song "I Enjoy Being A Girl", it would not be produced with an all-Asian cast until a 2002 Broadway revival.

In 1988, Playwright David Henry Hwang's Broadway hit M. Butterfly won a Tony Award for Best Play, among other awards.

Movie (See List of Asian American films)

Major films have been based on Asian American novels, such as Jhumpa Lahiri's recent The Namesake (2007) and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. Others have been created on stories about Asian American communities.

Television

Lucy Liu had a big part in the Ally McBeal TV show from 1998 to 2002 before going on to lead roles in feature films. Sandra Oh won several awards for her role in Grey's Anatomy. Daniel Dae Kim has achieved some recognition as a sex symbol from his role on Lost, B. D. Wong currently stars on Law & Order: SVU after being featured in the critically-acclaimed series Oz.

Brenda Song is a Thai-Hmong American actress. She currently stars in Disney Channel's The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody, and also starred in Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior 1 and 2 (which will be released in the future).

Vanessa Hudgens is a Filipina actress. She is one of the lead actors in Disney Channel's High School Musical movie 1, 2 and 3 (which will be released in the future). Lalaine is also a Filipina actress; she appeared in another Disney channel creation, Lizzie Mcguire.

Recently the hit U.S. TV series Survivor created teams along racial lines. People of East Asian and South East Asian ancestry composed the Asian tribe.^[21] Many people question whether this is anything to be considered progress.

[edit] Science and technology

Asian Americans have made notable contributions to science and technology. Chien-Shiung Wu was known to many scientists as the "First Lady of Physics". Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in particle physics. Har Gobind Khorana shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in genetics and protein synthesis. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics and had the Chandra X-ray Observatory named after him. In 1984, Dr. David D. Ho first reported the "healthy carrier state" of HIV infection, which identified HIV-positive individuals who showed no physical signs of AIDS. Steven Chu shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research in cooling and trapping atoms using laser light. Daniel Tsui shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics in 1998 for helping discover the fractional Quantum Hall effect. Tsien Hsue-shen co-founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

[edit] Journalism

Connie Chung was one of the first Asian American national correspondents for a major TV news network, reporting for CBS in 1971. She later co-anchored the CBS Evening News from 1993 to 1995. At ABC, Ken Kashiwahara began reporting nationally in 1974. Ann Curry joined NBC News as a reporter in 1990, later becoming prominently associated with the Today Show in 1997. Carol Lin is perhaps best known for being the first to break news on-air of 9-11 on CNN. Recently, Juju Chang, James Hatori, John Yang and Julie Chen have become familiar faces on television news.

[edit] Cultural influence

[edit] Health and Medicine

Traditional Asian concepts and practices in health and medicine have made increasing inroads into American practices. For instance, in the early 1970s the US medical establishment did not strongly believe in the usefulness of meditation or acupuncture. Since then US studies have proven the efficacy of acupuncture for different applications, especially for treatment of chronic pain, and it is covered by many health insurance plans.

Meditation and mindfulness practices are taught in mainstream medical schools and hospitals. Increasingly they are seen as part of a holistic approach to health. Doctors and hospitals treating diseases such as heart disease and cancer have adopted meditation as a practice recommended for patients.

Meditation, yoga and other mindfulness practices have also been widely adopted by health spas, and spiritual retreats of many religious bases. They are part of the spiritual practice of the many Americans who are not affiliated with a mainline religious group.

[edit] Religious Trends

Some scholars see Buddhism moving into American culture, and Christianity being more widely adopted by East Asians.

Beats on the West Coast were among those attracted to Buddhism in the 1950s. American Buddhist groups established then and in the 1970s have built temples, ordained numerous American Buddhist monks, and taught generations of new practitioners. Buddhist concepts and practices such as mindfulness have penetrated mainstream culture.

While much West Coast practice was first influenced by Japanese Zen Buddhists, more recent generations have been influenced as well by Vietnamese and Tibetan Buddhist monks who have lived and taught in the West.

There has also been strong influence by American adoption of yoga and related spiritual practices of India, as well as vegetarianism.

[edit] Cultural issues

Main article: Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians

Main article: Stereotypes of South Asians

Until the late 20th century, the term "Asian American" was adopted mostly by activists, while the average persons of Asian ancestries considered themselves their own ethnicity.^[22] The murder of Vincent Chin in 1982 was a pivotal civil rights case, marking the emergence of Asian Americans as a distinct racial group in United States.^[23][22]

Study has indicated that most non-Asian Americans do not generally differentiate between Asian Americans and Chinese Americans. Stereotypes of both groups are nearly identical.^[24] A 2001 survey of Americans' attitudes toward Asian Americans and Chinese Americans indicated that 24% of the respondents disapprove of intermarriage with an Asian American, second only to African Americans; 23% would be uncomfortable supporting an Asian American presidential candidate, compared to 15% for an African American, 14% for a woman and 11% for a Jew; 17% would be upset if a substantial number of Asian Americans moved into their neighborhood; 68% had somewhat or very negative attitude toward Chinese Americans in general.^[25] The study did find several positive perceptions of Chinese Americans: strong family values (91%); honesty as business people (77%); high value on education (67%).^[24]

There is a widespread perception that Asian Americans are not "American" but are instead "perpetual foreigners".^[25][26] Asian Americans often report being asked the question, "Where are you really from?" by other Americans, regardless of how long they or their ancestors have lived in United States. Many are asked if they are Chinese or Japanese, an assumption based on major groups of past immigrants.^[26][27]

[edit] Model minority

Main article: Model minority

Some refer to Asian Americans as a model minority because the Asian American culture contains a high work ethic, respect for elders, high valuation of family and education. Statistics such as household income and low incarceration rate^[28] are also discussed as positive aspects of Asian Americans.

This concept appears to valorize Asian Americans, but it can also be considered an overly narrow and overly one-dimensional portrayal of Asian Americans, leaving out other human qualities such as vocal leadership, negative emotions, and desire for creative expression.

The model minority concept can also affect Asians' public education. Asians are often stereotyped as over-achieving students. This stereotype can adversely affect Asian American students if school officials or peers expect them to over-achieve. ^[29]

[edit] See also

• American-born Chinese
• Asian Argentines
• Asian Australians
• Asian Canadian
• British South Asian, British East Asian, British West Asian
• Chinese for Affirmative Action—a Chinese civil rights organization
• Got Rice?
• Hapa
• Jade Ribbon Campaign
• List of Russian Americans
• Nationalism
• Racial Nationalism
• Stereotypes of Asians
• United States foreign born per capita income

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

Books

• Helen Zia Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2000. ISBN 0-374-52736-9.
• Pyong Gap Min Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Pine Science Press, 2005. ISBN 1-4129-0556-7
• Frank H. Wu Yellow: Race in American Beyond Black and White New York: Basic Books, 2002. ISBN 0-465-00639-6
• Ronald Takaki Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans New York: Little, Brown, 1998. ISBN 0-316-83130-1
• Lisa Lowe Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics Durham: Duke University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0822318644

Journal

• Journal of Asian American Studies

[edit] External links

• 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States — Population tables
• UCLA Asian American Studies Center
• Asians in America - National organizations directory, job posts and news

v • d • e Asian Americans
East Asian	Chinese · Japanese · Korean · Mongolian · Taiwanese
South Asian	Bangladeshi · Indian · Indo-Caribbean · Nepalese · Pakistani · Sri Lankan · Tibetan (otherwise considered Central Asian)
Southeast Asian	Burmese · Cambodian · Filipino · Hmong · Indonesian · Laotian · Mien · Thai · Vietnamese
Other	Asian Latino · Eurasian · Amerasian · Turkish

v • d • e Demographics of the United States

Demography of the United States · Demographic history Economic · Social Affluence · Educational attainment · Household income · Homeownership · Immigration · Income inequality · Language · Middle classes · Personal income · Poverty · Religion · Social class  · Unemployment by state · Wealth Race · Ethnicity · Ancestry Race and ethnicity in the United States Census · Maps of American ancestries · 2000 Census · Race/ethnicity by EEOC  · Racism Alaska Natives · Asian Americans · African Americans · Africans in the United States · Hispanics in the United States · Native Americans · Pacific Islander Americans · White Americans ·

v • d • e Race in the 2000 United States Census
"American Indian and Alaskan Native"  ·   "Asian"  ·   "Black or African American"  ·   "Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander"  ·   "White"