Media Research: Connection and Contestation of Oppression in Chinese American Social Media
By Megan Robertson
Originally Completed in April 2023
Social media usage amongst young adults is at an all-time high globally. In 2022, more than 4.59 billion individuals had accounts with online, social networking platforms. This figure has increased by 690 million since 2020 (Dixon, 2023). Coupled with this rise in social media usage is the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, which as of the writing of this paper has infected more than 760 million individuals worldwide (World Health Organization, 2023). In the United States, the emergence of COVID-19 brought with it rampant Sinophobia, anti-Chinese sentiment. In a joint study by Shanghai International Studies University and California State University, researchers found that “the recent COVID-19 outbreak has exacerbated the existing social injustice issues in the U.S...especially growing Sinophobia” (Nam et al., 2021, 1). The coinciding nature of COVID-19 induced Sinophobia, and the rise of social media led me to question: how are young, American-born Chinese Diasporic individuals using social media to respond to the rise of anti-Chinese sentiment while sharing the nuances of their cultural identity? Through a case study of TikTok, I have found that young Chinese Americans are using social media to share their frustration surrounding the rise of Sinophobia and to express the struggles of their dual identities. In doing so, I will argue that although this online engagement creates community with other diasporic groups, their struggles invite contestation exasperated by the nature of anonymous, online interaction.
Asian Americans are projected to become the largest immigrant group in the United States in the next 40 years, the Pew Research Center finds (Budiman & Ruiz, 2021). Of these Asian immigrants in the United States, the majority are from China. This being the case, young Chinese Americans are expected to be one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States over the next century. This paper will investigate teenagers and young adults whose parents immigrated to the United States from China, second-generation Chinese diasporic communities if you will. Since the emergence of COVID-19, these communities are facing “racially traumatic” experiences in the U.S. (Nam et al., 2021, 2), and they are taking to TikTok to share their fears and the struggles of having dual identities.
There is little research on second-generation Chinese Americans’ social media usage, so this paper seeks to make a small contribution to this field. For this paper’s primary case study, it will examine the TikTok account of a second-generation Chinese American woman living in New York City. Her username will be omitted for her privacy. The 19-year-old has amassed 32,100 followers and has received 21.9 million likes on her video content. On her account she shares short-form videos with her musings on her experience as a college student at New York University and her input in popular culture discourse. However, most prevalent on her account is her content about being a second-generation Chinese American. The young woman is raw, emotional, and intimate. She often shows herself crying over her sense of “living in [a] cultural borderland,” as researcher Yu Shi might be so inclined call it (Shi, 2005, 69). She creates content both about broader, societal discrimination, and about her specific experiences being a Chinese American.
Let us begin by examining one of her most popular videos from November 2022. It has 537,000 views and more than 99,000 likes. The text of the video reads:
“Idc [I don’t care] I will never forget how my fellow Asians would literally wear t-shirts during Covid that said ‘I’m (other ethnicity) not Chinese’ instead of trying to advocate against Chinese hate. That was single handedly the biggest betrayal...You would rather focus more on separating yourselves from us than sticking up for us?”
Indeed, looking back on news reporting from 2021, many have written about this phenomenon, when Asian Americans, who were not Chinese, wore shirts denouncing their Chinese affiliation.
One such example can be seen below.
Figure 1
“I’m Korean-Not Chinese” Online T-Shirt Advertisement
Note. Image from Resonate Magazine (Tran, 2021).
An April 2021 Op-Ed piece from Resonate Magazine comments on the phenomenon.
“‘I’m Korean Not Chinese’ T-shirts have sparked a rift between Asian American communities...The shirts were called out by critics as ‘grotesque’ and discriminatory against Chinese people. Social media users reportedly called the shirts ‘malicious’ and ‘the work of losers’” (Tran, 2021).
In the comments of the young TikTok user’s post, she received support from her virtual community with nearly 3,000 replies. Many of the replies were sympathetic, from other Chinese or Asian American users. One individual wrote, “[it] made me so sad to see all of the Sinophobia in the world when the pandemic began.” Another added, “God I remember this it was terrible :( it was so saddening how people were quick to disregard the Sinophobia too and act like it was nothing.” Additionally, many non-Chinese individuals shared a sympathetic view. One commenter wrote, “It was our responsibility to make you guys feel welcome and a lot of people failed. I’m sorry you experienced that.”
In this way, young Chinese Americans’ use of TikTok is a way to build a diasporic community surrounding large-scale, traumatic societal events. The positive, connective response in the comments section is indicative of what researcher Yu Shi found within a 2005 group of Chinese diasporic individuals. She wrote, “media are an empowering vehicle for communities struggling against cultural alienation” (Shi, 2005, 60) When met with the alienation of other Asian Americans in a time of need, Chinese Americans found connectivity with one another in social media.
However, when the same user shared her own personal account of being a second- generation Chinese American, she received community support, certainly, but more striking is the contested response she received from other diasporic, ethnic groups. In early April 2023 she posted a video that deviated from her typical style. There is neither text nor music in the video. She appears on the screen crying and intimately shares an experience that personifies the struggle of her dual Chinese and American identities.
She says:
“To preface this, I’m Chinese. I’m in this program where usually you study away in China for one semester. Now, because of COVID government policy and visa issues, the program got changed. Now you study abroad in Madrid. [I] love Madrid, but I had my eyes set on going to college in China. I literally had this entire semester planned out. I was going to spend my 20th birthday in China, and my birthday is around Chinese New Year. I was going to spend Chinese New Year in China which I’ve never done before. I really, really wanted to live in China. My family has always been like ‘China is a really good place to live. We were just too poor for it.’ So, I was finally going to go back to China but with enough money. I was gonna be like ‘Look, ancestors, I’ve made it! We’ve made it!’ No hate against Madrid, but I was not planning for that. I would much rather study away in China than Spain. I’m Chinese. My biggest worry for studying away for an entire year is that I was going to feel homesick. But I was like, ‘Oh it’s fine because I’ll be in China. I’ll be surrounded with people who look like me, so I won’t feel homesick.’ Well, now I’m probably going to feel homesick. I just really want to go to China and I’m afraid that I’ll never go to China again.”
In this emotional video, the young woman shared her despair regarding her sense of otherness and inability to return to her family’s homeland. In many ways, she is met with a similar community of support as in the prior video. There are nearly 90 comments. One commenter wrote, “As a fellow child of an immigrant, most people just don’t get the connection we have w[ith] our country. You’re totally valid to be upset about this.”
However, in sharing this personal story of her identity struggles, she is met with internet hatred that was mostly unseen in the November 2022 video. The negative comments are not only from people of European descent, but from a variety of diasporic individuals of many ethnicities. The reason for the hatred? Class. One individual wrote, “Privileged NYU students crying about their study abroad placement.” It is here where we see a contestation between questions of heritage and belonging, and the privilege of class, of economic status. Another commented, “You are so spoiled it’s unbelievable.” The video creator references returning to China with “enough money,” to which many commenters had a response. One wrote, “Going back with American money would probably have been the most disrespectful thing to do to the people there...People who put their whole life savings into school are being forced into manual labor.”
Following this intimate video, the creator posted another video a couple of hours later. The text on that post reads “That feeling when you realize you may never return to your homeland ever again for the rest of your life. It is so not fair I am the only one in my family that had to grow up in a foreign land.” She can be seen crying again, and in the background is the American musician Phoebe Bridgers’ song “I Know the End” whose lyrics have a nostalgic pull towards the artist’s home.
Again, the comments to this post were negative. However, where the first criticism was related to class, this critique was due to Chinese political authoritarianism. China has often been under fire for their “human rights violations and authoritarian characteristics” around the globe (Li, 2022, 2).
One viewer commented, “Right...as a Tibetan I literally can't get back in my country bc [because] of the ccp [Chinese Communist Party]...like how do [yo]u think I feel?” Tibet has been ruled by the People’s Republic of China since 1959 (Li, 2022, 17). The creator replied to this comment, in doing so separating China into two entities: a beloved homeland and reproachable governmental entity. She wrote: “I don’t support the ccp [Chinese Communist Party] girl..it’s also bc [because] of them I can’t go back. I want to go back to China for the ppl [people] and culture, not the gov[ernment].”
In this manner, thanks to both class issues and political beliefs, although this Chinese American woman’s TikTok is a place of connectivity to other diasporic individuals, it is likewise a point of contention.
Figure 2
Chinese Flag raised in Lhasa, Tibet in 2017
Note. Image from Central Tibetan Administration (Arya, 2019).
Another user commented on the same video, “My homeland is a war zone so ig [I guess] I'm never visiting” Another replied, “I’m sorry I’m just a little bitter because my homeland is in an actual war.” The creator replied: “I wasn’t trying to make this an oppression Olympics.”
“Oppression Olympics” is a term used by this content creator, but it was coined by American Activist Elizabeth Martinez in 1993. She wrote, “We don’t need more competition among social groups for that ‘Most Oppressed!’ gold. We don’t need more comparisons of suffering between women and Blacks, the disabled and the gay, Latino teenagers and the white seniors, whatever.” (Hancock, 2011, 3). This creator might argue, second-generation, Asian diasporic peoples in the United States do not need to argue over that “Most Oppressed! Gold,” but instead need to create a community.
There is a tendency for social media to become contested, competitive, and contentious for young users, leading to numerous negative effects. Research conducted in 2017 by the International School Bangkok found a positive correlation between social media use and competition and envy in teenage users (Charoensukmongkol, 2018, 76-77).
Figure 3
Correlation between social media use and Envy/Comparison
Note. Data from (Charoensukmongkol, 2018, 76).
The content found within this TikTok user’s account leads me to argue that this envy and contestation may very well be exacerbated when examining second-generation Chinese diasporic communities’ social media practices.
As seen in the comments of this user’s three exemplar videos, although second- generation Chinese Americans’ use of social media creates diasporic communities, their struggles and identity reckoning invite contestation exacerbated by the nature of anonymous, online interaction - resulting in an “Oppression Olympics” if you will.
Very little academic research has been conducted in this arena. Of the existing literature examining the intersection of Chinese diaspora, social media, and identity politics, there is a near consensus that emerging social media is revolutionary for Asian diasporic communities worldwide.
A 2016 research study examining the impacts of social media on Chinese immigrant’s health in Boston found that the use of Chinese social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo increased participants’ health. “Maintaining relationships with family members in their original home is a critical benefit, because doing so helped Chinese immigrants gain emotional support and reduced depressive symptoms. Social media also enable Chinese and other Asian immigrants to reach health care providers through community-based and religious activities” (Sa & Leung, 2016, 1).
Indicative as it is, this research is conducted within first-generation Chinese migrants to the United States. In my argument, I examine second-generation Chinese diasporic individuals’ social media interaction in the United States, a field that is quite unstudied. From the TikTok case study, I am inclined to argue that in the process of its evolution, modern-day usage of social media has moved away from these health benefits Sa and Leung discovered.
In another positive outlook towards Chinese diasporic social media interaction, a 2019 study looking at Chinese Australians’ use of the social media application WeChat found that the platform’s “informational, interpersonal, and instrumental affordances have aided Chinese migrants... to co-constitute a social space of talk that enables new social relations to be negotiated, social networks to be established and reinforced across China and Australia” (Yu & Sun, 2019, 5). While this research is speaking to Chinese diasporic communities in Australia and not in the United States, I believe it is valid because of its insight as part of a larger trend of Chinese diasporic individuals.
However, as mentioned earlier, there is a hole in this field of research; I am more interested to see how, say, these participants’ teenage children are engaging with the content online, due to rising Sinophobia and social media’s particularly harmful impacts on young adults.
My argument does not wholeheartedly dispute these claims of social media’s benefits. Certainly, there are many affordances of TikTok for young Chinese American users, as aforementioned in my argument. In a similar manner to both studies referenced, TikTok can intimately connect diasporic users to those with similar experiences, providing interpersonal, emotional support. An example can be seen in a user’s comment on the case study, the April 2023 TikTok video. “I get how you feel. My country has been in non-stop war since the 70’s and now the Taliban rules so I don’t think I’ll ever be able to visit.”
This kind of connection is new, and rightfully exciting. With emerging social media forms, the means of production are put in the hands of individuals as opposed to nationalistic corporations. Historically, when consuming media, individuals have been placed between large-scale media from their cultural homeland or from the Western culture in which they are asked to integrate.
One participant in Shi’s 2005 study of Chinese diasporic individuals in Iowa City, U.S.A. said “I read world news from Beijing news-sites. It is like seeing the world from home” (Shi, 2005, 64). On the other hand, the global distribution of American media particularly has historically been another option for diasporic individuals. In the same study participants discuss how they feel the need to simultaneously emerge into American media culture.
Now, with the emergence of social media, diasporic individuals have more opportunities to create their own media that emerges from their “cultural borderlands” (Shi, 2005, 69). This is what is evident with the TikTok case study and is quite an exciting development in understanding diasporic communities.
Understanding the effects of social media for young, second-generation Chinese diasporic peoples in the United States is a moral imperative. Young Chinese Americans are set to be one of the largest ethnic groups in the nation in the next fifty years. As Sinophobia continues and social media evolves, these simple TikTok posts can give communities much-needed insight on how best to aid those in nuanced cultural spaces.
Young Chinese Americans are using social media to share their fears surrounding the rise of Sinophobia and to express the struggles of their dual identities. By these posts, as we have seen in the TikTok case study, they are building international, diasporic communities. There is a communal nature that need not go unnoticed, such as one commenter on the April 2023 TikTok who wrote, “One day you’ll go home, and you’ll walk the land and breathe the memories of those that came before you. Everything will settle inside you. It’ll be ok.”
In doing so, they are likewise creating contestation, an “Oppression Olympics.” May more research be done in the future examining the duality of young, Chinese American social media. The hate and contestation of politics and class can and does coexist with the connection and recognition of breathing the memories of ancestors. I hope this paper makes a small contribution and invites researchers to examine the precious nuance and duality of young, Chinese American diasporic individuals.
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