How Do Asian Americans Feel About China?

A new study shows that most Asian-Americans view their mother country of origin favorably except for Chinese-Americans. Let's talk about it. Yeah, this is going viral right now. A bunch of people sent me this new Pew Research study. Long story short, Andrew, they polled a bunch of different Asian-Americans about eight different countries. Andrew, the U.S., South Korea, and Japan ranked the most favorable. The most unfavorable ranking in terms of feeling was China. Not surprised. Right, and one of the most interesting things was that only 41% of Chinese-Americans themselves had a favorable view of mainland China. That means 59% were either in the neutral or unfavorable category. Oh, man, we are losing the Chinese-Americans. Are they self-hating or are they just trying to be self-preserving? I don't know. Yeah, we got to talk about it. Make sure you like, subscribe, turn on your notifications. Andrew, silly to serious, you know, HopHopBoy is always breaking it down. I'm going to say that the comment section at least got serious. The comment section got serious, but I think when it comes to debating this and this being a divisive issue, I don't want to say it's silly, but I want to take it silly because there's something you can do about it. But I guess, David, before we get into the comment section, which there was just a multitude of different perspectives, more in defense of China, in defense of America, pro-America, kind of moderate in between, I guess what are some things you want to say? I would like to pose the question, does hoping that people in China have a good life mean that you're anti-American? I do not think so. I think there's a lot of smart people that are more moderate, that are maybe more quiet with their opinions, that also agree there could be a win-win. But the loudest voices are trying to make it sound like, oh, if you want their system to run over there, you hate us and you want to destroy America. Right, right. It does often feel like a zero-sum game that only so many people can prosper in the world. I think it's weird that, like, even if you just say, yeah, I wouldn't want to see China destroy itself and implode, then all of a sudden people are like, you're a pro-China, why don't you move over there? You're a part of the system. I'm like, whoa, like, you can just, like, what if you have relatives and roots over there? Anyways, I guess a question I have for people to also ponder is, like, what does it even mean to support China? What does it mean to be a China supporter or to be an American supporter? Like, if you live in America, you pay taxes and you don't break the rules every day. You contribute, right? You contribute and you go to school and you work a job. Doesn't that already kind of make you a pretty solid American? What if you don't do those things, but then you go, I'm pro-America? Yeah, you know, and I guess, like, you know, to me, every big country and every superpower is controversial because on the other side, the rest of the globe is looking at America as very controversial. Anything that has a huge imprint and a big impact is going to have different perspectives about it. It's like if a Costco or Walmart opens up in your neighborhood or if an Amazon warehouse does, right, there's pros and cons. One, it creates a lot of jobs. Great. It might boost your property value. But two, it's going to take up a lot of space. It might put out small businesses. But if you're an American passport holder, you should be on our team. Forget it. Forget the nuance. Right. Yeah, I think cool places have a longer leash, too, Andrew, places that have soft power, that create cool, unique, cultural products. It shifts the way people perceive their actions, right, whether good or bad. I'm not saying every big country, every country in general has good things, gray area things, and bad things about it. I'm not saying the distribution is the same, but the perception of those things is colored by soft power. Yeah, of course, like all the cool music, the actors, the movies, the media. It's like, you know, China, I'm not going to lie, you know, yeah, maybe we could spend a little more time in the marketing department of China. Right. Because we need to create a, you know, we need to promote Jackson Wang. And that being said, by the way, if you know, proud to be American, if I was in control of China, I would definitely not make some of the reads that they make. However, if I was in charge of America, I would also not make some of the reads that America makes. Yeah. Well, anyways, let's get into the comments section because there was a lot of different perspectives from Chinese people, non-Chinese people. So I thought it was interesting. All right, let's get into the first comment. This was from a Taiwanese American. And someone said, well, you know, I think the rankings are quite reasonable. If you're Korean-American, Japanese-American, Taiwanese-American, your ancestral homeland is now a relatively free democratic nation in a first world economy. I could see why those would rank high on the list. Unlike some other places, I don't want to say, though. Yo, do you think Indians are kind of wondering, like, hey, man, why are we not higher on the list? Somebody said comments should be good. Popcorn emoji. Because, Andrew, they knew that, what, it was going to get a little spicy, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again, I'm not surprised that China is ranking at the bottom, by the way. Of course, knowing how everything is in the media and the geopolitics and everything that's happened the last five years. Yeah, and especially the way most people came over in the 70s and the 80s and stuff like that. And, you know, it's not like everybody goes back. I will say this. If you do go back to China and you just go on vacation for two weeks, you're going to like it. Yeah, I would say with 90% chance you're going to like it or at least find it super interesting and pleasant. More pleasant than the media would ever make you think. But I'm not telling anybody that however they feel about this thing is illegitimate either because everybody values different priorities in life, right? Somebody said this is not very accurate. As a Chinese-American myself, do I have a favorable view of China? Of course I do. Good food, lots of history and art traditions. However, do I have a favorable view of CCP? Heck no. But same thing with Japan. I love anime, Japanese food, samurai, all the great general Japanese culture, the respect they show each other. But do I like the Japanese government? No, I don't. Look at all the bad stuff they did. Yeah. And I think again, the survey in a weird way, and usually I never say this, but I don't think it was that deep. I think it was just based off feelings. And if you ask Chinese like, hey, how do you feel about being Chinese right now? And they're like reading all the newspaper. It doesn't feel good. No, it's not good. It's an unfavorable feeling. I feel bad. Yeah. No, which is like obviously we talk about this on the channel all the time. And like I said, in the survey, I believe they did parse out what Taiwanese Americans from mainland Chinese, but not HK. Right. And I don't know. I think they serve it. What about Chinese Singaporeans, Chinese Malaysians, Chinese Vietnamese, Chinese Filipinos? There is a gigantic Chinese diaspora all around Southeast Asia and Asia in general. Anyway, let's get into the comments section, guys. Andrew, somebody said, what do you expect from Asian Americans? OK, when the mainstream has deemed China the enemy and the only East Asian country not under Western control and the US budgeted 600 million to spread anti-Chinese feelings in the media, of course, people are going to feel this way. This was from this guy named Wesley is zesty. Yeah. And then he's also like, yeah, there's 600 million spread anti-China propaganda. And a lot of people are talking about how Korea and Japan are vassal states of America. China chooses to just do the politically incorrect thing and oppose American power. Right. This is getting into some deep job geopolitics. Somebody said they are being misled by the deep state to maintain fear, hegemony and pump up the military industrial complex for funding. Why is it going down? And I'm not saying some of these things are probably not legitimate if you really want to look into them. But your average citizen, you know, this is trying to live a life, survive, thrive in America. This is. Yeah, but there's a lot of smart people out there who talk about the military industrial complex all the time that are not Chinese supporters, by the way. Right. You know, so obviously it all kind of runs together, though. I guess like, you know, some people are like, oh, yeah, you know, U.S. is working overtime to influence and drum up this beef between China and America just in case there is a war just to create more funding or money or anything. I guess, again, like my question is like, can you can you say legitimately feel that America is drumming up unnecessary hate for China while still being a proud American? Yeah, it's super weird because they are trading with China every day, buying everything. But they're like, yeah, like we said, what we want our citizens to do is hope it crumbles. But the factory infrastructure stays intact. Right, right, right. I don't know, man. It's super weird right now, bro. Somebody said these are comments are more moderately pro China and where they kind of like give one and take one. And they're kind of seeing like, you know, starting to move toward the 50 50 zone. Somebody said the USA accuses China of doing the exact same things the USA is doing. And I'm surprised it's working on Asians. I've always been saying that superpowers are always on a timeline arc, but they don't link up because some of them are like different places in their arc. If social media was around when America was doing whatever it was doing in the 1920s, the 1950s, 60s, 70s, all the way through the civil rights movement, it would be insane. Right. But it completely missed the social media era. Exactly. You're right. I mean, would you say is that a legitimate argument? Well, I'm looking at the man in the mirror. Look at the man in the mirror, then see what you call in the pot called the kettle black. I'd like to never say that. Isn't it? Isn't because whatever qualms you have with whatever's happening right now, it's still your qualms. Yeah, but it's true that we're in a completely different media era where like whoever Bud Light endorses is turning into a firebomb. Right, right, right. This comment said, yeah. Hey, China, how dare they lift 80 percent of their population out of poverty and provide a bunch of cheap labor and be the world's factory? Yeah. I mean, I think it's very interesting because like China as a manufacturing hub means that it it is making everything in the world or like so much of everything. Like 70 percent of everything. So it's like, do you hate all Chinese products or not? You know what I'm saying? And then also this I believe Vietnamese girl said, I don't know, man, when almost all of Asia, yes, not Asian-Americans hates you. You might be doing something wrong. And this kind of goes back to something that I think is very interesting, because even when you talk to Asian-Americans or Asians living in America, it depends on how closely they're tied to the motherland politics. Because, David, a few years ago, we were outside of a nightclub in Seattle and I was chatting with a Vietnamese woman. And she was asking me like, oh, and she was from Vietnam. And she was like, oh, are you Korean? And then I was like, no, I'm Chinese. And then she goes, I hate Chinese. I hate Chinese. And I was like, all right, yo, I feel like this conversation's over. I'm out. What if you're like, hey, I'm getting out of the waters? Yeah, you can buy back. Yeah, but it was because there was the dispute over the water. So if you're tapped into things like that, maybe especially when you're intoxicated, those feelings come out and they turn. I do think especially the older generations tend to be more tapped into geopolitics from Asia than like young Asian-Americans in the Bay Area going to arena. Yes, yes, yes. Especially basically, if you're from that mother, if you still hold that passport, I'm sure you're going to have opinions about the politics. All right. And we're going to get into some more like anti-China comments here. Somebody said, nope, let's be real here. China is basically like the evil empire in Star Wars with Emperor Palpatine. Somebody said, if you guys think China's so good, why don't you guys move there? And somebody was saying, why does everybody think blaming the bad things that China does on like American psyops, like Asian-Americans can't think for themselves? Oh, I do think that a lot of the comments, in my opinion, the most reasonable comments are not necessarily saying everything's good in China or that living in China is better than America. Because that's not true. I don't think it's true. That's not true. Yeah. So I think life is still better here. But I think what they're saying is that not everything that China does is evil. I think that's that's kind of my stance. I'm not saying that not like that. They don't do things that I disagree with 100 percent. There's definitely some things. Whoa, stop doing that. But I'm also like, no, it's not all evil. So you're trying to paint this whole image anyway. Yeah, I think it has to do with the narrative. But then there has to be some truthiness to the narrative to spin. So it's almost like a combination. It's just like an algorithm or an equation. Right. Typical math. These are moderately, I guess, against China comments. This Japanese guy said, listen, I know that both the U.S. and China are fueled by propaganda. But at least I'm able to publicly expose that propaganda in the U.S. without consequence. So this goes back to freedom. Sure. Yeah. No, for sure. I think a lot of people really value the freedom that we have in America. I value it. And I think a lot of people do. Right. Somebody said nothing more. There is nothing more Asian-American than hating on the homeland that you left. No surprise here. I mean, most corrupt CCP officials have moved their family and embezzled wealth to the West. So why are people surprised at this result? This is obviously talking about what all the four guys and all the things that the capital flows moving out of China. Yeah, I understand what they're saying. I've heard this for a while. Obviously, a lot of people are still trying to move out of China, especially the ones with a lot of wealth. So I guess I don't know. That's probably a South. Like I said, man, there is a shred of truth or at least anywhere to shred a truth to very solid points on all sides. And I don't think that it's just probably linear this side versus that side. It's probably like an octagon because there's like different sides of the argument. Somebody said, I got no hate for the people, but I just don't agree with the government. America isn't perfect either, but at least I can complain all I want about America and South Korea and not get in trouble. I just hope that everybody can get along peacefully and that we won't see World War Three in our lifetimes. I actually don't think that we will. But yeah, totally. I mean, people got to do things to prevent it from happening to. Right, right. Who's to say that we're not already at war? Yeah. Cold war. Cold digital war. Somebody said Chinese-American here. I love the country and people of China where my ancestors come from. It's such a shame their soft power is so non-existent that even Chinese-Americans prefer Asian countries other than China. Yeah. So when it comes to soft power and when we say soft power, we're talking about products and images and media and culture that can be exported to the rest of the world, especially. I think actually a lot of Chinese culture is exported, but just not to America. Like, I don't think Americans fully value it. You know, I don't think it's modern culture either. Like, for example, Andrew, you know, like the Xinhua China in France where they really value those like Chinese plates from like 1783. Like, that's not going to mean anything for how people feel about China in 2025. Oh, like fine China plates. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get what you're saying. I mean, I feel like that it is tough for Chinese-Americans. Like, let's say you have roots in China and you don't think it's a bad place because you go every couple of years and you enjoy yourself. Yeah, I get some guokuis. Guokuis. Those are delicious. But you're in America and you're around a lot of even other Asians and you're your Asian friend group. Maybe they're kind of talking trash about China or what's going on because of the news. And you're just feeling kind of like singled out and you're feeling a little awkward. So you're just kind of like, oh, I don't want to debate all my friends, but then I don't want to set up and just defend China because I'm not. I'm not like running China. You know what I'm saying? So I can see how uncomfortable it is sometimes. Yeah, and I could see why you just go, I'm going to go with neutral or bad. I just don't know enough about this. Here's a bunch of neutral comments in the middle. I think these are just very reasonable questions to ask. Somebody said, focus on the government and their actions. Unfortunately, the U.S. is not much better now. I've been to China for a few extended stays. I can see both sides. Somebody said, don't Americans find it strange that their government has a new enemy for their citizens to fixate on every decade? How easy is it to manufacture consent over there? Yeah, I will say this. You know, Americans, it's interesting. They disagree about a lot internally. But when it comes to like a foreign thing, it's pretty easy for people to like galvanize around that. Right, right, right. It's true. I mean, that's just the nature of, you know, I guess the way the country is built. Somebody said, this is understandable considering the reason of the majority of Chinese Americans left the government in the 70s and 80s for economic opportunity and disliked the Chinese government. So that is why the study would be this way. Right, right, right. Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of people left. I mean, has it changed? Is it the same? I think there's a lot of arguments. Somebody said, can you really separate politics and culture, though? It's easy to attribute. It's just as easy to attribute everything good to the people in spite of the government as it is to say the government created the environment necessary for good things to happen. This one, I think, is tough. I'm going to have to disagree. I feel like you've got to draw the line somewhere. Like the way I see China is like, I think. The way I understand it right now is that a smaller group of people kind of run China. Because there's no citizen participation in the government. Not really. Do you really vote? Did anybody vote for, you know, who's president? So I'm saying, I guess if you don't get to participate in the government and voting, then it means that the average citizen is more removed from the decisions of the government. So in a way, you can say that the average citizen of China has less to do with the government decisions and is just living their life than even a citizen in America because we get to vote and we still have a say. Because everybody still voted for Trump or everybody still voted for Biden. Not everybody, but a lot of people voted for these two people. So, of course, you have more say in your government here. So you get to choose your government more than in China. Some Chinese people are just like, yeah, you know, I don't really know what to say. I'm just living my life. I'm just trying to live the best life. And maybe if I get to go to a place with more opportunities, I may take it. But I may not. No, for sure. I mean, it's different, too, in the East versus the West. The West has more of this Socratic seminar basis. And then over there, they've always been under a dynastic system. So it is very different. We could get into that for a very long time. Good point, though. Somebody said, oh, Next Shark is pushing the good Asian versus bad Asian narrative. What do you think of this? Do you think that this is a way to get clicks and get engagement because the name of the game is selling ads? You know, I know I would never want this to be a divisive issue amongst Asian Americans. I think it's fair if you could talk about it with your friends without dividing you all. Because at the end of the day, none of you have any say in what happens. None of you have any geopolitical power. So you can debate it amongst friends or have like little jousts, you know, or jokes maybe if you want. But it's not really going to do anything. So it shouldn't be divisive amongst Asian Americans. You know, for me, what's interesting about this is I've been like thinking about this for so long, all the way back to citizenship class when I was like 15 years old where everybody was like asking me to talk in a class, you know. But I would say like for me, I could be totally friends with another Asian American who like hates China. I could be as long as it doesn't affect the way our relationship is. Right. As long as it's just not the top of my identity, even though I agree that we might like differ on that. Because you actually, in a real sense, David, do not represent the Chinese government. Right. You don't. Right. Oddly enough, I thought you did, but you don't. Who would have thought, man? Anyway, man, let's just go. I mean, we could go on for like two, three hours and say this point and that point. I think they're shreds of truth, if not solid points on all sides. Like I said, it's more like an octagon versus even like a bing, bing, bing, bing, bing thing. I mean, silly to serious. Why do some people take this so serious and other people are just like, I don't even know what you're talking about. Just trying to live my life and survive. Yeah, I'm going to be honest. I think a lot of Asian Americans don't think too deep about this. I don't think that they want to. I think it is complicated. And I think you're going to start getting into some weeds that are hard to get around and hard to talk about. I do think geopolitical leanings, political leanings, as well as religious leanings, oftentimes you are born into it. Yeah. And also there's even just a whole mix of information, you know, of like, oh, what happened in China or this happened? Well, actually, it didn't really happen the way you think. And then people are getting information from different places. And it's almost like, man, people cannot even agree on the facts anymore. You know, this just feels like you're almost debating some type of rivalry between sports teams. Like there really is no end to it. Like Lakers, Celtics, like, oh. Yeah, I'm taking it to a macro level. I'm talking about global hegemony or whatever this right, wrong, the morality of dominance. And then over on this side, I'm just like, no, I'm just talking about you made me feel bad and you're not cool. And it's like those could both be true. But then they're almost like arguing on different geometric planes. Yeah, I think it's so weird because I think for China, I feel like most people that I've ever talked to that visited China for a short amount of time for like a matter of a couple of weeks enjoyed themselves. Yeah. They really liked it. They were like, oh, it's interesting. The people were chill. I had a lot of different food. I had some cool interactions with people. Took a bunch of photos. Yeah, took a bunch of photos. Yeah, if you're not Asian, you're like, depending on if you're a superstar. Yeah, you look like an athlete or something. And then but then but then on a geopolitical level, it's deemed as so evil. And I also understand that. Why? Because, like, it's the governments that are fighting. It's not like it's almost like your kids. You're all kids and you're all friends. But then your parents kind of have beef. Anyway, like, it's crazy right now. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. It's very confusing. Keep it civil. Like I said, I respect everybody to have their own opinions. But, of course, you know, some people know more than others. And other people have different incentives and positioning and cultural positioning and blah, blah, blah. But I guess if you are a Chinese-American and you're feeling some type of uncomfortability, I guess, like, hopefully this video helps you out. For sure. Hopefully this video helps any non, even non-Chinese out where if they're like wondering how like, you know, maybe some reasonable people may feel. I for sure wish it didn't have to be this way in a macro sense. But at the end of the day, man, we can still have great micro lives within all this. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Until next time, we're the Hop Hop Boys. We out. Peace.