Asian Culture Discussion Thread

mandarin is the master language 
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Well yeah, I know that. I speak Cantonese with my parents but can't understand them when they speak Mandarin to other people. I'm just wondering why the Chinese dude laughed at me when I said I speak Cantonese.

apologies man. i wouldn't know, my best guess is that mandarin is china's official tongue and the advantage it holds when doing anything business or money related. i suppose his and many others' mentality is that if the majority out of a billion people speak mandarin, it therefore makes it the "official" language in comparison to the other languages like hokkien and cantonese that are spoken within certain regions of the country but not as recognized or practiced amongst the majority of the land. theres always the possibility that he's just old and senile and that his reaction doesn't necessarily reflect the same attitude as other older chinese adults.
 
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the bandwagon filled up quick

8-9 years ago there was 0 sneaker culture in asia 

strolled up to a HK nike store about 5 days after its release and still was able to cop a pair of these in size 10 
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couple years ago I tried to do the same for the retro kobe 1s and there was like 100 people camping overnight in the freezing cold 
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nah, HK/ Japan and low key Taiwan have been sneaker heads before internet.

I used to see HK tourists in north america with lowkey heat, rifts, footscape, nice air max (when air max was big), or unique converse chuck taylors. They have their own style.

Not everyone is into basketball shoes, as its more impractical for daily wear. There are lots of cheaper, lighter, more comfortable options.
 
Have any of you guys seen the movie Metro Manila? Very good movie that sorta touches on the sex industry in the PI. Sad as hell.

Finally watched this with the wife last night, since it'll be her first time in the PI next year, and damn Ong. I hate it had to be him, he seemed like a good dude but I knew he'd be Oscar's downfall somehow :{
 
Sneaker culture in Asia overall > US


In HK they have a street dedicated to sneaker shops
the bandwagon filled up quick

8-9 years ago there was 0 sneaker culture in asia 

strolled up to a HK nike store about 5 days after its release and still was able to cop a pair of these in size 10 :hat

lebron-4-china-sneaker-1.jpg



couple years ago I tried to do the same for the retro kobe 1s and there was like 100 people camping overnight in the freezing cold :{
Ya Japanese/HK/Korean people's been on the sneaker game pre "hybebeast"

I remember reading japanese sneaker magazines dating as far back as the mid 90's

They haven't always been up on modern basketball sneakers but asians been had the
Dunk, af1, air max game on lock since forever
 
Lol japanese sneaker culture is just a fascination with American Urban culture. THe Japanese are meerly fans of the orgnic culture that happens im Urban America. The same way you have ppl at comicon who are die hard about Anime or Japanese video games. So its impossible for it to be greater than the machine that creates the culture.
 
 
 
the bandwagon filled up quick

8-9 years ago there was 0 sneaker culture in asia 

strolled up to a HK nike store about 5 days after its release and still was able to cop a pair of these in size 10 
pimp.gif


couple years ago I tried to do the same for the retro kobe 1s and there was like 100 people camping overnight in the freezing cold 
mean.gif
nah, HK/ Japan and low key Taiwan have been sneaker heads before internet.

I used to see HK tourists in north america with lowkey heat, rifts, footscape, nice air max (when air max was big), or unique converse chuck taylors. They have their own style.

Not everyone is into basketball shoes, as its more impractical for daily wear. There are lots of cheaper, lighter, more comfortable options.
there were some but it was never a huge deal until 4-5 years ago

used to be able to cop any new release without having to get to the store early, those were the days 
 
Is there some weird racial tension between blacks and asians?
 
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Not that I know of besides them local hood stores they own :lol

But them customers be trying em so I don't blame them tbh

Always trying to get over :{
 
Like historically, someone explain LA Riots to me
 
I was watching the Japan episode of anthony bourdain's cnn show and he interviewed the guy who started hentai. Was funny and interesting.

Kinda weird that they are so into American workwear and denim and now their denim companies are seen as some of the best. One day i'll get a pair of Iron Hearts.
 
Like historically, someone explain LA Riots to me



But working toward that dream came at a cost. Purchasing a business was expensive, so the new immigrants bought where they could afford property, often in poor, working-class neighborhoods in and near South L.A.

According to Chang, the diversity of such neighborhoods often came as a shock to people arriving from what is often considered to be the most racially and culturally homogenous country in the world.

"Remember that they came here without any knowledge of a history of racial confrontation or race relations in America," he says. "And many came believing the United States of America was a white country."

The Rodney King beating occurred on March 3, attracting nationwide coverage. But Korean immigrants mostly listened to the radio or watched TV in their own language, on stations where King didn't figure prominently. On March 16, storekeeper Soon Ja Du argued with ninth-grader Latasha Harlins over whether the 15-year-old had been trying to steal a bottle of orange juice from Empire Liquor, the store Du's family owned in Compton. After a brief fight, Du shot and killed Harlins. (Security tape showed the girl was still clutching $2 in her hand when investigators arrived.)

So you have the background of racial tensions due to unfamiliarity and the idea that Korean immigrants were "invading" for lack of a better term urban neighborhoods. Then the store incident. Then the cops who beat Rodney King were acquitted and that was the straw that broke the camels back.

It was crazy I was 6 or 7, I lived like 20 miles from downtown but schools all over LA metro were cancelled. The city straight burned for a few days.

edit: this is in terms of why Koreans/Koreatown/Asian owned shops were targeted by rioters. In general the LA Riots boiled down to Rodney King, the tape being played nonstop on TV, and those cops getting off. Sidenote: the trial for those cops was moved from downtown to Ventura county, a mostly White middle class area north of LA. Easy pickings.
 
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the bandwagon filled up quick

8-9 years ago there was 0 sneaker culture in asia 

strolled up to a HK nike store about 5 days after its release and still was able to cop a pair of these in size 10 :hat



couple years ago I tried to do the same for the retro kobe 1s and there was like 100 people camping overnight in the freezing cold :{
nah, HK/ Japan and low key Taiwan have been sneaker heads before internet.

I used to see HK tourists in north america with lowkey heat, rifts, footscape, nice air max (when air max was big), or unique converse chuck taylors. They have their own style.

Not everyone is into basketball shoes, as its more impractical for daily wear. There are lots of cheaper, lighter, more comfortable options.

man i remember i use to be able to get absolutely steals on OG jordans/older retros/early nike SBs in Taiwan back in the day. it was so easy :(

a lot of the stores had connects to japan as well and they could do orders for you.


not anymore :(

asians got the runner game on lock tho


what's your opinion on this?
 
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The reason why you could pick up heat back in the day is sheerly a numbers game. Every few years kids grow to be teens and adults who all wear the same size, so instead of 200k adult men wearing size 10 the number like triples every 3 years. All just an example.
Also More people are up on resell game now, when back in the day it was only Japan and maybe some HK.
 
 
asian.

and... ill just leave this here.

Mean Household Income by Ethnicity in America

Asian alone$90,752
White alone$79,340
Hispanic or Latino$54,644
Black$49,629
[th=""]Ethnic Category[/th][th=""]Mean Household Income[/th]
You're Asian? All this time I figured you were Hispanic since you're in Houston lol ('Bout that stereotyping life j/k) . I was in Htown last week actually. I know your post is old, but I figured I'd get my Christopher Columbus on and do some NT exploring and ran across this forum haha. I'm half Chinese, but honestly, most people don't even know I'm a halfie. Rarely is my ethnicity guessed correctly. Hell, I've had quite a few girls say they're not attracted to Asians and they felt dumb when I told them I'm half Chinese lol. It was all good though, especially when they more than made up for it by letting me smash 
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But hey, I gots my Zojirushi rice maker, so I'm slightly official. 
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When my parents first moved to North America from Vietnam during the war, they didn't speak a lick of English, but they knew they came here so that they could have a better life for my brother and I. They lost everything in the war and came with a couple ounces of gold and the clothes on their back on a fishing boat from Vietnam. They had to grind and work 3-4 jobs while going to school to get a degree for a decent job. Growing up we didn't have very much, my mom made our clothes, my dad worked night and day to support us. Eating mcdonalds was our treat every month. We finally caught a break once my dad got a huge job offer in Newport Beach(we were living in compton/paramount at the time) and we moved to Orange County. My mom always had a business mindset and she opened up her own business and we started to flourish, but we didn't lose sight of where we came from. Though the success was recent, my parents saved up all their money, driving their old raggedy cars, and not splurging on clothes or materialistic things, they managed to save up enough money to put both my brother and I through college and medical school for the both of us because they didn't want us to have to worry about loans. 

That's been my motivation since day one. I didn't care who thought I was what, I wasn't fully accepted growing up in Compton or Orange County. I stayed true to myself and my family, and they allowed me to follow my dreams. People respected that in college and life is all amazing now. My parents are retired, living in a  villa in Laguna Beach. My brother is an Emergency Room Physician, with a beautiful family. I'm graduating from medical school this year, with a Pediatric Sports Medicine internship lined up for me once I graduate. My parents didn't believe in following "Asian culture" growing up, they believed in  family, success, and happiness by any means possible. The only thing my parents forced on me was to be a good man to my wife and children when I grow up, and be selfless to those that deserve it. My brother and I embraced Vietnamese culture as we got older, and when we started to ask questions is when my parents told us that they didn't want to force anything on us until we wanted to learn it, and it's been amazing to learn about our history. 

In all honesty, perception is what you make it. I'm short, that's the only thing "asian" about me. I listen to country music and hip hop, I hunt, I play hockey and football, I have a white girl friend and I wouldn't live life any other way. I'm starting to notice that this generation of Asian kids is growing up into things outside of the typical asian jobs (lawyer, health care, etc) and it's amazing to see. I love talking to these new age  Asian american chef's, shop owners, writers, that are following their passion and excelling at it, it's such a refreshing thing to see us as a culture begin to embrace life and change with the times. 

It all starts with yourself, and how you want to live your life. Do what you want and if it fits the stereotypes then so be it, I know plenty of other races that fit into an "asian" stereotype and I don't judge them at all. I think we're at a point in society where these things don't really matter AS much anymore, outside of social media/hollywood.
How did I miss this post? Fantastic and beyond inspiring post.

I have an eerily similar background (only differences really are finance + NYC roots). My parents also had nothing when they arrived in America, worked themselves to the bone, and retired before 55yo. Now they travel the world together for most of the year, do charity work (they're incredibly devout), and can now enjoy the rewards of their hard work.

As I grew up, I embraced my culture, my family, their struggles, and subsequent success. I realize now more than ever that I need to forge my own path. Everything I've done to this point has bucked the trend of what was expected of me: interested in the arts, been with non-Asian girls (I will forever love Dominican girls), etc. None of this was intentional; I just pursued what I personally wanted. I can proudly say that as I carved out my own path / happiness, my parents have become overwhelmingly accepting of it.

Note: One thing I'll say about my parents (which is possibly true for most immigrant Asian parents): it is difficult for them to express their love in words; when you reflect, their love shines through in their actions / sacrifices.
 
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How did I miss this post? Fantastic and beyond inspiring post.

I have an eerily similar background (only differences really are finance + NYC roots). My parents also had nothing when they arrived in America, worked themselves to the bone, and retired before 55yo. Now they travel the world together for most of the year, do charity work (they're incredibly devout), and can now enjoy the rewards of their hard work.

As I grew up, I embraced my culture, my family, their struggles, and subsequent success. I realize now more than ever that I need to forge my own path. Everything I've done to this point has bucked the trend of what was expected of me: interested in the arts, been with non-Asian girls (I will forever love Dominican girls), etc. None of this was intentional; I just pursued what I personally wanted. I can proudly say that as I carved out my own path / happiness, my parents have become overwhelmingly accepting of it.

Note: One thing I'll say about my parents (which is possibly true for most immigrant Asian parents): it is difficult for them to express their love in words; when you reflect, their love shines through in their actions / sacrifices.


Repped you on that side note.
 
Sneaker culture in Asia overall > US


In HK they have a street dedicated to sneaker shops
Variants Galore though right?
HK people are very status oriented, most would not be caught dead in fakes, real shoes can be bought for cheap

In poor countries like vietnam/parts of china, where real and fake shoes are made yes there are fakes sold on the streets for $10 but usually uninformed (do to government censorship, ignorance) people will buy them

No one will buy fakes will and try to stunt with them like they're real

Like i said sneaker game in asia >

People rock rifts, air forces, huaraches, air max, flyknit, dunks, footscapes, prestos, Jordans, trainers

Not just various basketball shoes
 
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Sneaker culture in Asia overall > US


In HK they have a street dedicated to sneaker shops
Variants Galore though right?
HK people are very status oriented, most would not be caught dead in fakes, real shoes can be bought for cheap

In poor countries like vietnam/parts of china, where real and fake shoes are made yes there are fakes sold on the streets for $10 but usually uninformed (do to government censorship, ignorance) people will buy them

No one will buy fakes will and try to stunt with them like they're real

Like i said sneaker game in asia >

People rock rifts, air forces, huaraches, air max, flyknit, dunks, footscapes, prestos, Jordans, trainers

Not just various basketball shoes

the times i've been in hk i can't recall seeing knock offs on people's feet but there were some being sold in the small markets that tourists usually populate...
 
The Chinese word for "love" is just too damn romantic sounding. Can't say it to my parents without feeling weird :lol

Instead, I show them I love them in the only way an Asian parent would appreciate - getting As in med school :smokin
 
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