In America most of the time people go to a Chinese restaurant, the food served there is a very Americanized form of Chinese food. For instance, P.F. Chang's is one of the most popular Chinese restaurant franchises in America, yet it serves a lot of food that isn't even eaten in China. The most common Chinese dishes in America: General Tso's Chicken, Orange Chicken, Beef and Broccoli, and many more, aren't even real dishes in China. If you tried to order these dishes in China, natives would have no clue what you were talking about. The most surprising item that actually isn't Chinese is the Fortune Cookie. No one knows what in the world a Fortune Cookie is in China and that's so ironic. I think that Chinese food is generally very flavorful and complex; the reason why Chinese food became so Americanized is because Chinese food had to become more basic and simplified since many people foreign to China won't be able to handle the complex tastes and textures of the food. Something so simple as fried rice is not a common dish in a restaurant in China at all, Chinese people usually only eat fried rice when there is a lot of leftover rice and they would use that leftover rice to make a decent lunch the next day. Another major stereotype is that Chinese people eat a lot of noodles, that is only partially true; there is a large food cultural divide in China. The northern part of China eats a ton of noodles and a lot of other flour based foods (dumplings and buns), but the southern part of China eats a lot of rice instead of noodles, dumplings, and buns. All in all, many people assume what they eat at Chinese restaurants in America is what all Chinese food is like and that is a poor misconception. To be honest, even I didn't know that a lot of these dishes weren't popular in China either so I don't blame people for having this common misconception. However, this common misconception causes people in America to be very ill-informed about another important part of the Chinese culture.
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The discourse community that my autoethnography affects the most is the community of American born Chinese students. Other stakeholders for my project could be American born Chinese people that aren't students, other American students, Chinese students from China, and faculty and staff at schools. Anyone can be an audience to my project and learn something from what I have to say.
American born Chinese students offer their own experiences to the table, they are the only group of people that experience what I talk about in my project because it's specifically about American born Chinese students. On the contrast, other people have observed American born Chinese students around them and if they have friends that are American born Chinese students then they will be able to empathize with them. The difference between American born Chinese students and other students in my project is that American born Chinese students are going to be able to explain how they have felt growing up and their experiences, while other students can talk about how they have observed American born Chinese students. One group of students can talk about their 1st person experiences while the other group can talk about their 3rd person observations. This project would not be complete without both these groups' knowledge on this topic. When all these different stakeholders come together, we can see the complete picture of the project. The purpose of this project is to educate people on the differences of American born Chinese students that make them feel alienated but also make them who they are. I know that almost all other American born Chinese students feel this way to some degree, but often times we don't step up and say anything because we are already used to this kind of stereotyping and it almost feels like a norm. I don't think our society and the people in it are doing anything wrong, it's just hard to understand what other people are going through unless they are educated on the topic; and that's what I'm trying to do through this project. After this class, I know that I can use this domain for personal use like keeping a blog or just writing about ideas that I find interesting. This will not only help me become a better writer but also help me enjoy writing more. I feel that if I keep a daily blog it will help me with my daily mood and how I think about my daily events. My intended audience would probably be me, my family, and my friends. Random people will be able to see it, but I'm going to feel more connected by writing to people I am close to. I think the most useful way I would use this domain after this class would be just writing about anything I want and looking back at it later on in my life. A lot of times I need to vent my feelings and emotions to someone or something and I usually do it by talking to a friend; so, with this domain I could just write everything I'm feeling and thinking as a way of venting. I'm also sure that when I grow up and look back at the website I will have a blast looking at my younger self and feel very nostalgic about it.
Another way I could use this domain is to develop it into a website I use for a business idea. I've always wanted to develop an idea/product that could actually be useful in our society. I could brainstorm and plan everything out on this website. Showing that to others will be a lot better than just telling them an idea I have. Creating a product has been a long time dream of mine and this is a way to start it off. I know that this domain will be very useful to me in my future, all I need to do is put my time and effort into it and to create something that I love on it. Even though I enjoy certain types of writing, writing has always been my worst subject in school. Writing in school has been difficult for me because my mind is often all over the place and I cannot articulate my ideas and thoughts perfectly through an essay or paper. I know what I want to say, I just didn't always know how to say it in a proper format like an essay. High school was probably the most important time for me as a writer, I improved a lot and I started to learn how to put my thoughts on paper. Writing for a grade definitely made me enjoy writing a lot less, when I write for a grade I feel as if I'm writing for my teacher and not for myself. Being able to freely write without having to worry about anything is relaxing for me. When I first started writing in high school I basically just put down words and thoughts that came to my mind, my teachers in high school taught me how to actually use those thoughts and ideas to compose a well written essay that can clearly get my point across. Writing has also improved my reading skills and has made me more appreciative of written work. For example, before high school I did not enjoy reading Shakespeare's work, it was hard to understand and I didn't care for it. However in high school, I loved reading Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, I could understand the concepts he was writing about and I could appreciate his writing. I have enjoyed writing a lot for this class and at Emory in general. I hope to not only learn more about writing and become a better writer, but to also be able to write more freely.
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November 2016
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