China, America, Hong Kong: Understanding cultural difference on-campus
Written by Rose Pecci and Karissa Korman. Graphics by Karissa Korman.
In the United States, when many people think of “China,” they envision a monolithic — often stereotyped — geographic and cultural expanse stretching from the South China Sea to Mongolia. But the region is home to about 56 different ethnic groups and hundreds of different languages and dialects.
U.S. public attention is trained on the geopolitical tension between China and one of its most significant municipalities, Hong Kong. But the cultural rift at hand is deeply historic — and it can follow many young Asians into the U.S.
Located on the southern tip of China, Hong Kong is a city made up of over 250 islands that extend into the South China Sea. Officially, the city became a “special administrative region” of China after Great Britain, colonizers of Hong Kong throughout much of the 19th century, returned the territory to China in 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration included preservations for Hong Kong’s economic, political and legal systems that differed from those of China after the transfer.
Mainland China upholds a principle of “one country, two systems” for Hong Kong, which allows for the coexistence of socialism and capitalism. Today, Hong Kong is home to 7.5 million people, known as Hong Kongers, making it one of the most densely populated places in the world. The vast majority of Hong Kongers speak Cantonese, which is mutually unintelligible to Mandarin, the official language of China. Cantonese is an inseparable part of Hong Kong’s cultural identity, which boasts different histories, foods, arts and customs than those in mainland China.
On the edge of continental Asia, decades of global fusion have given rise to an independent cultural identity in Hong Kong. Many citizens of Hong Kong have developed a distinct sense of self-identity and don’t consider themselves part of mainland China. This distinct difference in cultural identity between mainland China and Hong Kong is often lost in translation in the U.S.
When young Hong Kongers move to the U.S. for college and Hong Kong American students move into universities, many seek out Cantonese communities on campus. But some universities’ cultural club apparatus has hesitated to fully embrace Hong Kong as the center of its own sovereign culture and community.
Darren Yeung was born and raised in Hong Kong, where he lived until he moved to Boston to attend Northeastern University. On campus, Yeung sought out other students from Cantonese cultures at Northeastern’s Hong Kong Student Association, or HKSA.
“I joined HKSA because I was looking for people like me,” he said. “Just looking for friends that are, like, similar to me or have some Hong Kong background that I can relate to.”
Alyssa Koo, a co-president of HKSA, is the daughter of a Hong Konger. She grew up in Manhattan, surrounded by a vibrant Cantonese culture.
“There is a really large population of people who are Cantonese and are from Hong Kong, so having that as my general childhood experience really contributed to my and my upbringing,” Koo said. “So for example, I can speak Cantonese. I cook a lot of the foods. So that’s just kind of why I decided to join HKSA, to build on that foundation that I’ve had since I was a kid.”
As a president of the club, Koo sees HKSA’s role at Northeastern as vital. She said the club serves as a meaningful meeting point for Cantonese students, and allows them to engage with the Cantonese community off-campus in Boston’s Chinatown.
But on-campus, the club has struggled to reach the same degree of popularity and publicity that other Asian cultural clubs have achieved, namely through joining the university’s Pan Asian American Council, or PAAC.
“PAAC definitely serves as this overarching body for a large amount of the Asian cultural clubs here on campus,” Koo said. “I would say the purpose of PAAC is to provide this unifying space as well as a place for a lot of these other cultural clubs to promote their events, and have other people come in and learn about their culture.”
PAAC is made up of two representatives from 11 different Asian American student organizations on Northeastern’s campus. The PAAC roster includes the Chinese Student Association (CSA), the Asian Student Union (ASU), the Korean American Student Association (KASA), the Vietnamese Student Association (VSA), Asian fraternities and sororities and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE).
According to its website, the council’s goal is to create a common space for Asian American students at Northeastern and to provide resources and support to Asian American students.
Alan Zhang, a co-president of SASE, said he felt like he didn’t understand his Chinese American heritage during his upbringing in a predominantly white area in Ohio. When he came to college, he got involved with the university’s PAAC organizations and took it upon himself to explore his Asian heritage until he found his footing in SASE.
“We try and emphasize our Asian culture at every single event, so at all of our general meetings we have a theme that we try to relate to both Asian heritage and some form of STEM,” he said.
To join PAAC, an organization must be distinct from other organizations that are already part of PAAC and must be an established club with a stable membership. An organization seeking representation in PAAC typically joins on a trial basis and will have a representative that attends PAAC meetings and shows dedication to the council.
SASE was founded at Northeastern in 2012 and joined PAAC in 2015. Currently, the average SASE meeting hosts 30-40 people. Being part of PAAC has helped SASE and the other PAAC organizations with attendance at their individual club meetings. PAAC clubs often host collaborative events together, and they have greater access to PAAC resources and increased potential to grow and diversify their memberships.
“PAAC is a really vibrant community of lots of people who are very engaged in their community and knowledgeable about things that they’re interested in,” Zhang said. “It’s a very diverse community, as well.”
But Northeastern’s HKSA is missing from the PAAC council. As a third-year member of the club, Yeung said he definitely feels the impact of not being part of PAAC and not being able to benefit from the council’s recognition.
“For example, I know VSA — I feel like they’re massive. ASU, massive. CSA, massive,” he said. “HKSA, I feel like we’re like what? Usually like twenty people, maybe less sometimes.”
For the time being, Koo said she doesn’t mind that HKSA feels more intimate than its conventional counterpart, CSA. Under Koo’s leadership, the club has been able to collaborate with other Hong Kong Student Associations at universities around Boston and is in the midst of organizing events alongside similar, smaller cultural clubs like the Burmese Student Association and the Taiwanese Student Association — without the help of larger culture-defining bodies like PAAC.
KARISSA KORMAN 