I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype | Canwen Xu | TEDxBoise

Bad driver. Math wizard. Model minority. In this hilarious and insightful talk, eighteen-year-old Canwen Xu shares her Asian-American story of breaking stereotypes, reaffirming stereotypes, and driving competently on her way to buy rice.

Canwen Xu's slogan for life is “Canwen can win.” Born in Nanjing, China, she moved to the United States when she was two years old, and since then has lived in some of the whitest states in the country, including North Dakota, South Dakota and Idaho. A senior at Timberline High School, Canwen is passionate about politics, and is the national membership director and Idaho state director for the Young Democrats High School Caucus. Also a programmer, she started an all-girls computer science workshop called Code For Fun and received National Runner-Up in the 2014 NCWIT Aspirations in Computing competition.

[miyunakagawa]

"a little bit american, a little bit chinese, and a whole lot of both." my favorite line

[Julienpayet]

she is 18? WOW ! she sounded much older, so mature, well spoken . She is going to be a very strong and comfortble with herself for every year that goes by.

[choisoobin]

"Your Asian?"
"Yes"
"So you Chinese"
"No, Im Korean"
I get it, Kon'nichiwa!"

[opzchjd]

“What grade did u get?”
“An A.”
“Of course you did, you’re smart.”
“No, I studied.”
“But you’re smart, so you didn’t have to.”
“But I really did have to take the time to study.”
“I wish I was Asian and smart.”

No you don’t.

[matthewshe]

You forgot about the ones that ask you " Do you speak Asian?"

[venuss.]

“are you chinese?” “yes i am, i dont eat dogs, cats, or bats. and no i do not have the coronavirus”

[MomoZz]

What I about to say is true, no joking.
I am 100% Chinese, I hate math, when I was in China, my math is the worst in my class, from elementary to high school.
After I came to Canada for university, my math is the best in class....
This is real. The math in the university in Canada is easier than Chinese middle school....

[sayaniiv]

"Your Asian?"
"Yes"
"So your Chinese, japanese or korean?"
"No, I'm Russian"
"What??"

[heic]

"OMFG, you're Chinese? I have a Chinese friend too, do you know him?" "Damn, I probably do.... "

[smiling]

"I rejected my Chinese identity...and I become more confidence" - damn, that hurts

[katharinehensley]

"Hey do you speak Chinese?" "Yep i'm from China" "Cool, can you translate my Japanese game?"

[mohitohan]

"I went to China last month"
"Oh cool!! Which part of China you went to?"
"Singapore!!!!"
"WTF"

[fs]

I love this! When teacher talks about racism, it is often referred to darker skin beautiful people who certainly deserve the right to receive the equal behaviors as others, but Asian are often always excluded when racial discriminations and racism problems are discussed probably because of lighter skin than other minorities. However, Asians many times do get treated differently and feel uncomfortable listening to stereotypical jokes.

[monomo]

“So are you mixed?”
“Yeah!”
“What Asians are mixed?”
“Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian”
“So where are you from?”
“I was born in China but was raised in Cambodia”
“So do you know ____?he’s a friend of mine and he is from China too”
“No I don’t but which part of China is he from?”
“Seoul”

[kmrobinson]

I think I've finally found a voice! This is what I have felt for my entire life! Oh my gosh this is like a breath of fresh air...

[edenl]

"you're asian ?"
"yes i am"
"so you chinese, korean or japanese ?
"im malaysian"
"ouh indonesia ?"
"forget abt it im not asian, i came from pluto"

[AmazedandAmused-]

I am a white mom, incredibly blessed with a Korean daughter. I've tried to instill in her a love and pride of being Korean as well as being American. Sarang hang da, Yoon Ah!

[janedao]

"Do you speak asianese?"

Me: what the fu-

[gladiatorinasuit]

THIS IS EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE EVER WANTED TO SAY ABOUT BEING ASIAN OH MY GOD IT'S LIKE SHE TOOK EVERY WORD OUT OF MY MOUTH

[normanfgrockwell]

"im Filipino"
"wait, so you're not Asian?"
" i am "
"why your eyes aren't narrow?"

*"WTF"*