Ch 22: What is Chinese?

It has become very apparent to me in my visit to China that the Chinese culture in America reflects only a small fraction of the diversity that exists within the greater Chinese world community. In fact I would say that out of the 30+ provinces in China only about 4-5 have a decent number of folks that have immigrated to the US.

Imagine if our perceptions of Europe were only influenced by France, England, and Italy. You'd be missing out on a lot and forming perceptions about Europeans that may not be true like "they all look this way" or "this is the food they like to eat" and "This is what they like to do". It would be a very narrow way of thinking about people.

The diversity in behavior, appearances, and even language have been a delightful suprise to me so far during my visit. I think as China continues to prosper in this still young century the world will get to see more of her peoples faces, and I'm not just talking about the same 4-5 provinces but everyone else. I hope more of the world gets to know this "unseen majority". And I am speaking to both the weiguoren (foreigners/non Chinese) AND the overseas chinese communities. Perhaps it may alter their own perceptions on what it means to be Chinese.