The Chinese American Experience

“There are many facets to the Chinese American experience, but one of the most important ones is the necessity to find a welcoming community in order to alleviate the stress of living in the United States. For many immigrants and even second or third-generation Chinese Americans, their background and culture is easily regarded as a hindrance to their ‘American-ness’ or a ‘downfall’ to their personalities. For Lily Hu, she found solace in the homosexual community of 1950s San Francisco as opposed to finding acceptance from her family and fellow citizens of Chinatown—as her “night and day” lifestyles went to war, the nighttime ruled supreme. This brings attention to the difficult, if not impossible intersection of the LGBTQ+ community and traditional Chinese American culture that individuals find themselves facing in present-times, unable to integrate something natural into a rigid, long-established culture.”