The "Donna Chang" effect

[pandaroo]

Have any of you seen that Seinfeld episode where Jerry meets a white woman with the name "Donna Chang"? Whenever she introduces herself to anyone else, the first thing they remark about her is "You're not Chinese!!!" The story about her surname turns out to be a shortened version of "Changstein", but that's a little bit irrelevant for now. On with my point -

I've met other Eurasians who have received the same negative reaction. The fact that they have an Asian surname (such as Wong, Yin, Chan, etc.), but as people cannot SEE that they have Asian blood in them, they rudely deny them of their heritage. One girl I spoke to told me about the issue that arose when the delivery man brought her package to the door, expecting a typically "Chinese" woman to answer it, with a last name of "Wong". He was shocked and surprised to see what he thought was a purely caucasian girl answering the door.

It would seem as though monoracials refuse to notice, or acknowledge the fact that we can look a certain way while still being and identifying with our Asian background, and thus a surname to go with that. It's very annoying, and disrespectful, when they deny ourselves of our own right to our ethnic identity, and I call this problem the Donna Chang effect. Who can share their stories?

[Yingy]

A lot of people have asked if I was jewish since my maiden last name sounds Jewish.

I have met a couple of Lee's that were 100% white. I know a couple of women that changed their last names to their husbands like Wong, Chang, Lui, etc. I'm sure they get the inquisitive looks all the time.

[jefe]

Apr 12, 2010 18:10:12 GMT -5 Yingy said:

I know a couple of women that changed their last names to their husbands like Wong, Chang, Lui, etc. I'm sure they get the inquisitive looks all the time.

My caucasian mother kept her ex-husband's Chinese-sounding name after her divorce so that she would have the same name as her children. However, I ended changing MY name later so our surnames ending up being different anyhow.

[ethan9273]

have you noticed that this reaction doesn't happen as much when an asian women doesn't have a asian last name?

[betahat]

Yes but that's what a 3:1 ratio will do for you.

My mom gets this all the time in her work because she does East Asian studies - people just assume she would be Chinese with a Chinese surname and are surprised to find a tall blond haired blue eyed woman.

I have the opposite problem of people not really believing I'm half-Chinese despite having one of the most common Chinese surnames.

[jefe]

^ I remember getting asked before if I had been adopted by a Chinese family -- did you ever get that one?

[admin]

(real life Donna Chang x 2)

NFL Linebacker Scott Fujita is Caucasian, adopted by a Japanese Father and Caucasian Mother.

He married a Caucasian lady and their twin daughters are little Fujitas.

[betahat]

Go Bears!

[jefe]

I had a university schoolmate who had met a Caucasian boy who was adopted in a family with both Chinese mother and father. He said he seemed like a Chinese kid to him who happened to look Caucasian.

I do know of Eurasians who married an Asian and Caucasian separately, forming separate famillies, one mostly Asian and one mostly Caucasian.

[Ganbare!]

Apr 29, 2010 5:47:31 GMT -5 jefe said:

^ I remember getting asked before if I had been adopted by a Chinese family -- did you ever get that one?

I got the White adoptee story. Where were you asked that, China?

[miss feli]

I don't think most people even ask about my last name because they probably think I'm German or Spanish by the way some people try to pronounce my last name. Ahhh ...

[jefe]

Apr 30, 2010 15:04:28 GMT -5 Ganbare! said:

Apr 29, 2010 5:47:31 GMT -5 jefe said:

^ I remember getting asked before if I had been adopted by a Chinese family -- did you ever get that one?

I got the White adoptee story. Where were you asked that, China?

When I moved to HK. One of my colleagues thought I was a "foreigner" who had been adopted into a Chinese family. But more often than that, I sometimes have people think that I was a "foreigner" who was born and raised in HK.

In Mainland China, I sometimes got the treatment that they thought I was a foreigner at first until I started talking to them -- then .. . they are not sure.

In the USA, they simply thought I was a foreigner from somewhere -- they would always try to "make out my accent".

But the coolest experiences I have are when someone thinks I am from *their* country or their ethnic group, and I can't figure out where THEY are from.

[Kush]

Reminds of this marathon runner here who married a Japanese guy with quite a long name. Tokinugawa or something.

Also, as for why it's not so questionable the other way around. People tend to be used to ethnic minorities having "white" names, even if their parents aren't. Well, around here at least.

[ethan9273]

Frankly, I think it's 2 reason.
1. most mixed asians still have white fathers, despite the anecdotal evidence, hence they are "used to" mixed asians having white last names.

2. It's simply a reflection that it's not commonly accepted if you are half white/half asian with an asian last name so people will question it. If a person was half black/half white and had the first name Shaquille, I don't think very many people would say, where are you from? Africa?

[milkman's baby]

I've had this problem, except the other way around. I often get denied of my white heritage. It's actually been kinda embarrassing for me to introduce people to my white father, because they are sometimes surprised. I have an English surname and many people just assumed I was adopted. That really used to piss me off but I got over it. This is part of the reason I've been seeking to add my mother's maiden name to mine to make it hyphenated.