China is trying to figure out its place in the world. We get that: that’s what all theisland building is about.
But the navel gazing is not just taking place on mainland soil: Chinese diaspora communities around the world are increasingly asking where they fit in, in a world where China counts for a whole lot more than it used to do. There is even an American television show about it. In the US, where Americans of Chinese extraction are an increasingly visible — and vocal — part of society, ABC recently aired the first primetime Asian-American sitcom in a couple of decades, Fresh Off the Boat. It’s based on the angry, edgy, often gratuitously profane, bestselling memoir of the same name, by Eddie Huang, fusion foodie, angry American Chinaman and spokesman for what it means to be Chinese in today’s US.
The show is hilarious. As ABC says: “It’s the ’90s and 12-year-old, hip-hop-loving Eddie just moved to suburban Orlando [Florida] from [Washington] DC’s Chinatown with his parents. It’s culture shock for his immigrant family in this comedy about pursuing the American dream.” I think of it more as Tiger Mum: The Satire.