Current Event: Hmong New Year Celebration in Stockton

Last Saturday, I attended the Hmong New Year Celebration with my sister and friends. I am not Hmong and had never seen a Hmong Celebration so this celebration was quite new and different for me. Sadly for me, I did not like the food that were present at the celebration since the food was either large amount of barbecued meat or fried something. Also, the vendor sellers mostly only spoke Hmong, which caused me to have difficulty to communicate with them. However, there were some really nice performances by various performers, such as ethnic dances and singing, and some interesting vendor shops that had very nice hand-crafted artwork.

Culture: Values of family in American Born Asians

Mary and Sarah are second generation Asians (or ABA) who were Pre-Pharm and Pre-Dental majors at the Pacific, respectively. Their families brought them up far away from their homeland (Vietnam & China). For Mary, the Vietnamese culture and language is not even being practiced at home, especially her family are somewhat open-minded about what Mary should do for academics and boyfriend. For Sarah, the Cantonese language is often spoken at home and, in most ways, her mother adheres to the common Asian discipline for Sarah and her sister. They did not choose to study Pre-Pharm or Pre-Dental. For both Mary and Sarah, despite their love for art and talent in art, they chose to study Pre-Pharm and Pre-Dental due to her “ren” or love for her family (parents and younger siblings) and her strong desire to support them in the best way possible after she finished with school. Despite being American born and being second generation with slightly different family upbringing, they act unconsciously with the Confucian principles. They act in such manner because the Confucian virtues are the “natural laws” and what determine the moral society and guide the social order in the Asian societies.