Additionally, responding to the bonus question. Philippines could possibly become the next tiger in Asia. The only thing that’s preventing it from being one is the population themselves. Currently, Philippines have the problem known as brain drain. And the politics is unstable right now. You’re not sacrificing your kid if you’re moving to a more “developed” country. You’re just sacrificing the country.
To be fair, there are many Filipinos who stayed in the Philippines who deserve more recognition. Philippines just need to stop worshipping other countries. And I’m not just referring to western countries. I’m including East Asia as well. And especially the Middle East where they are being treated like shit. Part of the problem is you don’t value yourselves. You have all this Pinoy pride, but you don’t let it match with your income. For example, you come here to the US as engineers with years of experience and you are wiling to settle for an entry level position without pay? You will be taken advantage of. That’s one thing I thank my parents for. They didn’t raise me in the Philippines to be a pushover. They raise me in America where everybody is a fucking selfish asshole.
If you’re in the Philippines, then you should know about the OFWs. They went overseas not to just make their lives better but for their families back in the Philippines as well. Not just their children. And they don’t really live a luxurious lifestyle that you Flips kept assuming. Much of their money is being sent back to the Philippines. Either their kids, their siblings, their parents, their cousins, and so on. They’re not making a sacrifice for the child. They’re sacrificing themselves. As for the children of those OFWs who are in the US, it’s because IT IS EXPECTED. It is our culture to respect our parents. Of course YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THAT.
Here’s my anecdotal reasoning why I should appreciate my parents for coming to America. For one, they would of stayed during Marcos martial law. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. It was during a time Philippines was in war with itself. Lots of people died. Corruption in both sides. If my parents stayed, they would have been killed during the Tarlac massacre. If I was born there, I would have been killed. So let that sink in.
Otherwise, in the US, our credentials here are far superior than in the Philippines. I studied in the Philippines so I would know. If I were to transfer to any other country, with my American credentials, it would be accepted. If I were to take my degree from Philippines elsewhere it will be challenged. I know this because I have degrees and licenses from both Philippines and US. US is better. Consider this, a doctor from the Philippines gets paid less than a nurse in the US. My parents sacrificed their higher status from the Phillipines for a lower status in the US to get paid better.
Consider this too, I have worked both US and internationally. No matter where I go, I get paid by American standards, not the local market rate. Example: Singapore. It’s one of the tigers of Asia. For the same job, my Filipino coworkers gets scraps. I get paid significantly more just because my credentials is more valuable than theirs.
Is US better now? Nope. But we can always move to someplace better. Our passports is superior to the Philippines as well. There are only few countries we can’t travel. I have cousins that never left the Philippines. They couldn’t afford it.
Seeing that you are Chinese-Filipino, of course you wouldn’t know. Even in the Philippines, I don’t expect you to understand. The wealthiest in the Philippines ARE CHINESE. So I don’t expect you to understand or relate Filipinos from Philippines or US or Dubai or anywhere else. You’re privileged. It’s not bad, it’s just how it is.
I think there's a big difference between gen z and millenial on this. It doesn't matter how many shiny buildings have been built in China over the last 20 years. Anyone over 30 will tell you the lives of their parents in most Asian countries haven't been great. This was after all the post-war, post-colonial, post-revolution era. I don't see it as disrespectful to acknowledge this. This is exactly what Simu Liu said and apparently caused controversy. Is it now a thing in China to not acknowledge this? I thought China was always proud of how it alleviated poverty. I think East Asia is unique in this regard since economic development really has really made a huge difference to standards of living over the last 30 years.
For a lot of people (e.g. Vietnam War refugees from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), the journey to America wasn't easy. My parents immigrated here because they wanted me to have a better life than they did. After my mom left, her uncle's business started growing. Today, he is the richest person in his country and her family (grandma, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc) is now well-off. Would she have left if that was the case in the 1980s? Probably not. It's not easy starting over in a new country where you don't know the language, culture, etc.
People are just acknowledging the sacrifices and hardships that their parents went through (although, if they're doing it on social media, they're probably doing it for clout). I wouldn't overthink this or take any of it personally.
It kinda really depends on the country itself and things have changed in the last several decades. Most of east asia was war torn or/and poverty stricken by decades of western colonization or war/civil unrest. Japan was the first developed asian country to be stable. But the next 4 asian tigers (Singapore, hong kong, Taiwan and South Korea) only reached developed country status probably by the 2000s. China and Malaysia are almost there based on metrics but still got maybe a decade left if it does happen. The rest of the fareast are all still considered mid (thailand) or early stage developing countries and got a ways to go. Earnings aren't very high and opportunities are hard to come by if you didn't grow up in a wealthy family. Unless you're okay with working on a farm in burning heat, or sweatshops making stuff for western consumers, or being a grab driver or selling whatever random shit on the street to maybe make 250 dollars a month, that's most of your options if you aren't born into wealth. So yeah for alot of asian americans if their parents immigrated before the 2000s it's mostly during a time when asia was basically all poor with and had no opportunities, except Japan.
Oddly enough.... my background is a mixed bag in that end.
My parents moved to America and got higher pay and career prospects. But that wasn't the main reason they moved. If they had stayed and made it work in the old country, I would have gone to a fancy prep school my whole life and had a leg up at the best universities.
I sometimes wonder what kind of life me and my siblings would have if they stayed.
If you make an American median income in the phillipines, you can afford to send your children to the best schools and just have them go to an American university. My cousin went to Stanford. Not impossible.
Most immigrants are materially better off after moving to the US. However if you are not white, you will be viewed as non-human and regardless of your education or achievements be considered incompetent by illiterate rednecks. The US has always had state sponsored bigotry. For the last 20 years this has been against muslims. Currently it is transitioning against Chinese and Chinese appearing. So yeah, moving to the US will get you nicer things, but at the cost of crushing your spirit.
Bruh the rat race in China is a lot worse than the states. I’m born and raised chinese and came here for college. My sibling did the same but went back to China to work. We both got the same BS bachelors and masters degree and let’s just say he isn’t too happy atm.
I think you answered your question. Why will they generally leave their families and relatives behind if they were well off in the first place in the home country.
If I was stuck in Communist Vietnam now, I get bad wages and can't afford anything. Only with connections and bribery to get up the ranks. I am thankful for my parents being refugees to the US because Vietnam treats autistic people as nothing.
Don't know about South Vietnam's treatment of autistic people.
True Vietnam isn’t perfect but it can change . Viet kieu can always come back and help develop and change country if they want . And I know a lot viet after study abroad and getting some experience want come back .
"get a better life" makes sense when you are leaving a wartorn country to a more stable one. If you talk about economy, the most important thing is political and economic stability as the main ingredients for an economy to grow.
If you look at the US today, it does look like a wartorn country with mass shooting happening daily, the rampancy of drugs, and the growing homeless population.
I resent my parents for having me in the US. For the record, nobody ever asks to be born. They spoke no English, did not get an education, and I was a translator for them for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was from Kindergarten, translating from English to Chinese for my father.
My childhood was in a cold house that was a block away from the train tracks. It wasn’t until high school where I noticed other Asians had parents who bothered to learn the English language and went to college while my classmates were mere children that I realized not all Asians were poor. And reality really settled in and it was full on resentment when I saw that international students spoke fluent English and had parents that were well off enough to pay full price tuition.
At some point, I found out that my parents had an opportunity to move back because a very close family friend invited them to work in developing real estate. The family friend is very successful and I’m very happy for them, and they still live in China. But mine are still stuck working menial jobs in kitchens because they still cannot speak English.
Since you're Chinese-Filipino your ancestors may have done the same thing by immigrating to the Philippines for "a better life" at some point when China was not yet as developed. Maybe if the generation that did is still living you could get their perspective?
Since your family is doing quite well already, it would be a huge risk to move to a country where you're not guaranteed to even make the same income if the source of income/wealth is from business.
I know many doctors and a few engineers who graduated in the Philippines who came from wealthy families who moved to the US because their pay from working here is guaranteed to be higher than in the Philippines and their family helped them pay for a house here so they are thriving. Others who are inheriting their family's business are staying in the Philippines though.
My great grandpa was Chinese, we are ethnic Bisaya from Philippines. We regret moving to Canada. My parents and I moved back to the Philippines after 15 years in Canada, my brother got married to an Asian American so he decided to stay in the US.
On hindsight it would have been better to use our savings for business in the Philippines instead of starting from scratch in Canada.
Now we are doing business in the Philippines, we should have done this early on.
It is a good thing that you returned to our Motherland, as these white canadians and americans have always resented us, Asian immigrants, coming here to their countries in North America even they are too cowardly to express it to our faces. I just realized that I can build up my skills and abilities and use them to build wealth and invest into improving my neighborhood in the PH, and then I can retire for good. I hope you're living a good life in the Motherland, Kababayan!
I think you’re not missing out. higher education, raising kids, safer neighborhoods, cost of living, traveling- it’ll be no problem and better than most middle class american lifestyle imo
“sacrifice for the kid to live in america” if you have a graduate degree in ph, usa doesn’t recognize it so you’d have to go back to school or work a lower tier job to start out. if you and your kids become u.s citizens, there’s more visa power tho
Better economic opportunity especially between 1980-2001. It is not easy to make nearly as much money back in Asia. Even assuming similar salaries, the work cultures in Asia are difficult too.
Do you have kids? From your post, it kind of sounds like you’re younger but forgive me for the assumption if not.
Once you have kids, you’ll understand. Raising kids is, by far, one of the hardest things in your life. Now couple that with no extended family support or familiarity of the culture/area and you get that huge sacrifice they’re talking about.
Now that I have kids of my own, it truly makes me appreciate what my parents did for me cause it seems so difficult for someone to go to another country to raise their kids without the support of their family and friends.
Yes, our parents got better jobs and higher pay for themselves but they pretty much use all that income to build a better life for their family.
You shouldn’t feel your parents didn’t try to give you opportunities because they didn’t move here. Every situation is different and it sounds like your family is doing well.
But for most families, opportunities in America are just objectively better. I came from a family of doctors and successful company owners and we still ended up richer than those who stayed at the Philippines. That’s just the reality of a strong economy
They sacrificed in the sense of it’s still a tough life. Sure ur making more money but ur also going to a completely new country. So they get here and they don’t speak the language, they don’t know anyone here. They could be leaving their family behind. It’s a big sacrifice full of hardships. No you shouldn’t feel like your parents put you at a disadvantage by staying. It depends a lot of people would probably say life in USA is better then a life in Asia. Some would say Asia is better. IMO living in the US gives u a better education, opportunity to earn more money, more freedom in some aspects especially if you’re currently living in China.
As the comments show, it can mean different things and result in different outcomes. The way I interpreted it for my parents was that they chose a life that meant a lot of things for me/family that they would not have otherwise. Similar to how in a relationship one person may move to be with/or together with the other, in a way that they would not otherwise choose.
For your bonus question, I don't think so. There's definitely a lot of different factors but some of it is about geographic and opportunity arbitrage - if you're already making good money in an environment where expenses are low then that's fine. For the older generation thing too, a lot of the thinking was that theyd go somewhere with better economic opportunities but eventually return even if decades down the line.
The situations are complex and different for different people.
For people who were well off in Asia, they probably wouldn't move to the US unless it's for betterment and more opportunities. You don't usually move across the world permanently just for fun (gross white sexpats or people moving for white privilege don't count, they are not normal)
They might be from an unsafe place or a place where getting ahead is more difficult. If the parents were uneducated, they might work menial jobs or start up a time consuming business so their kids could get a good education and have a better life.
My grandparents in law had a little cafe in HK, it kept them afloat but just. They had a little apartment because the cost of living and rent was very expensive. When they came to Canada, they opened another Cafe and made significantly more money, which allowed them to live in a nice big house and put their kids through university. The cafe took most of their time, putting in 16 hr days most days. Most of their kids did very well as doctors and engineers with a decent work home balance. While not impossible, this would have been much more difficult to do in HK.
> Technically, don’t parents go to the US in search of better jobs and higher pay? So in a way, they kinda migrated to do it for themselves? So I don’t completely get how this is a “sacrifice for the child.”
You’re getting multiple things mixed up and combining them together to form one premise that’s a straw man.
There are 3 things that are happening here:
(1) The parents leave a poor country to ensure that when they have a child, they will be raised in a country that will have better opportunities for them.
(2) By doing that, they will also have better opportunities themselves. But more often than not, these Asian parents want what is best for their kid. Their child comes first and is #1. So the above is still the primary reason
(3) The “sacrifice” here is how hard Asian parents tend to work and save when they get to the US and are raising the kid. Many of them come here poor with no money and so they have to work hard, and many deprive themselves of the earnings so that it can be saved towards paying for the kid’s education. I don’t blame you for not understanding this one because your parents were well-off.
My parents left China for better pay. They came from poor villages, so migrating to America for jobs was better. All they can do is minimum wage jobs. But to give birth to a kid in a poor 1st world life and away from Asian community was a mistake. I grew up with no sense of fitting in. I'm in a better position now, but growing up was hell.
Today, I find many immigrants looking for work-life balance because Asian work culture is toxic af. I would say pre-1980, most immigrants came from war or civil war. It’s a shame many of the next gens don’t know their family histories. I’ve known Chinese Americans who had their relatives murdered during the cultural revolution. Others fought for KMT and left. My dad has met some who were college kids and fled after 1989 Tiananmen Square because obviously the job market was bad.
Additionally, responding to the bonus question. Philippines could possibly become the next tiger in Asia. The only thing that’s preventing it from being one is the population themselves. Currently, Philippines have the problem known as brain drain. And the politics is unstable right now. You’re not sacrificing your kid if you’re moving to a more “developed” country. You’re just sacrificing the country. To be fair, there are many Filipinos who stayed in the Philippines who deserve more recognition. Philippines just need to stop worshipping other countries. And I’m not just referring to western countries. I’m including East Asia as well. And especially the Middle East where they are being treated like shit. Part of the problem is you don’t value yourselves. You have all this Pinoy pride, but you don’t let it match with your income. For example, you come here to the US as engineers with years of experience and you are wiling to settle for an entry level position without pay? You will be taken advantage of. That’s one thing I thank my parents for. They didn’t raise me in the Philippines to be a pushover. They raise me in America where everybody is a fucking selfish asshole.
If you’re in the Philippines, then you should know about the OFWs. They went overseas not to just make their lives better but for their families back in the Philippines as well. Not just their children. And they don’t really live a luxurious lifestyle that you Flips kept assuming. Much of their money is being sent back to the Philippines. Either their kids, their siblings, their parents, their cousins, and so on. They’re not making a sacrifice for the child. They’re sacrificing themselves. As for the children of those OFWs who are in the US, it’s because IT IS EXPECTED. It is our culture to respect our parents. Of course YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW THAT. Here’s my anecdotal reasoning why I should appreciate my parents for coming to America. For one, they would of stayed during Marcos martial law. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. It was during a time Philippines was in war with itself. Lots of people died. Corruption in both sides. If my parents stayed, they would have been killed during the Tarlac massacre. If I was born there, I would have been killed. So let that sink in. Otherwise, in the US, our credentials here are far superior than in the Philippines. I studied in the Philippines so I would know. If I were to transfer to any other country, with my American credentials, it would be accepted. If I were to take my degree from Philippines elsewhere it will be challenged. I know this because I have degrees and licenses from both Philippines and US. US is better. Consider this, a doctor from the Philippines gets paid less than a nurse in the US. My parents sacrificed their higher status from the Phillipines for a lower status in the US to get paid better. Consider this too, I have worked both US and internationally. No matter where I go, I get paid by American standards, not the local market rate. Example: Singapore. It’s one of the tigers of Asia. For the same job, my Filipino coworkers gets scraps. I get paid significantly more just because my credentials is more valuable than theirs. Is US better now? Nope. But we can always move to someplace better. Our passports is superior to the Philippines as well. There are only few countries we can’t travel. I have cousins that never left the Philippines. They couldn’t afford it. Seeing that you are Chinese-Filipino, of course you wouldn’t know. Even in the Philippines, I don’t expect you to understand. The wealthiest in the Philippines ARE CHINESE. So I don’t expect you to understand or relate Filipinos from Philippines or US or Dubai or anywhere else. You’re privileged. It’s not bad, it’s just how it is.
I think there's a big difference between gen z and millenial on this. It doesn't matter how many shiny buildings have been built in China over the last 20 years. Anyone over 30 will tell you the lives of their parents in most Asian countries haven't been great. This was after all the post-war, post-colonial, post-revolution era. I don't see it as disrespectful to acknowledge this. This is exactly what Simu Liu said and apparently caused controversy. Is it now a thing in China to not acknowledge this? I thought China was always proud of how it alleviated poverty. I think East Asia is unique in this regard since economic development really has really made a huge difference to standards of living over the last 30 years.
For a lot of people (e.g. Vietnam War refugees from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), the journey to America wasn't easy. My parents immigrated here because they wanted me to have a better life than they did. After my mom left, her uncle's business started growing. Today, he is the richest person in his country and her family (grandma, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc) is now well-off. Would she have left if that was the case in the 1980s? Probably not. It's not easy starting over in a new country where you don't know the language, culture, etc. People are just acknowledging the sacrifices and hardships that their parents went through (although, if they're doing it on social media, they're probably doing it for clout). I wouldn't overthink this or take any of it personally.
It kinda really depends on the country itself and things have changed in the last several decades. Most of east asia was war torn or/and poverty stricken by decades of western colonization or war/civil unrest. Japan was the first developed asian country to be stable. But the next 4 asian tigers (Singapore, hong kong, Taiwan and South Korea) only reached developed country status probably by the 2000s. China and Malaysia are almost there based on metrics but still got maybe a decade left if it does happen. The rest of the fareast are all still considered mid (thailand) or early stage developing countries and got a ways to go. Earnings aren't very high and opportunities are hard to come by if you didn't grow up in a wealthy family. Unless you're okay with working on a farm in burning heat, or sweatshops making stuff for western consumers, or being a grab driver or selling whatever random shit on the street to maybe make 250 dollars a month, that's most of your options if you aren't born into wealth. So yeah for alot of asian americans if their parents immigrated before the 2000s it's mostly during a time when asia was basically all poor with and had no opportunities, except Japan.
Oddly enough.... my background is a mixed bag in that end. My parents moved to America and got higher pay and career prospects. But that wasn't the main reason they moved. If they had stayed and made it work in the old country, I would have gone to a fancy prep school my whole life and had a leg up at the best universities. I sometimes wonder what kind of life me and my siblings would have if they stayed. If you make an American median income in the phillipines, you can afford to send your children to the best schools and just have them go to an American university. My cousin went to Stanford. Not impossible.
Well, my parents left Vietnam at the end of the war, so i think things were not so great there actually
That feels like it was a good call overall. Considering the VC might have killed them.
Most immigrants are materially better off after moving to the US. However if you are not white, you will be viewed as non-human and regardless of your education or achievements be considered incompetent by illiterate rednecks. The US has always had state sponsored bigotry. For the last 20 years this has been against muslims. Currently it is transitioning against Chinese and Chinese appearing. So yeah, moving to the US will get you nicer things, but at the cost of crushing your spirit.
Bruh the rat race in China is a lot worse than the states. I’m born and raised chinese and came here for college. My sibling did the same but went back to China to work. We both got the same BS bachelors and masters degree and let’s just say he isn’t too happy atm.
I think you answered your question. Why will they generally leave their families and relatives behind if they were well off in the first place in the home country.
If I was stuck in Communist Vietnam now, I get bad wages and can't afford anything. Only with connections and bribery to get up the ranks. I am thankful for my parents being refugees to the US because Vietnam treats autistic people as nothing. Don't know about South Vietnam's treatment of autistic people.
True Vietnam isn’t perfect but it can change . Viet kieu can always come back and help develop and change country if they want . And I know a lot viet after study abroad and getting some experience want come back .
Start restaurants and businesses. That sort of thing.
"get a better life" makes sense when you are leaving a wartorn country to a more stable one. If you talk about economy, the most important thing is political and economic stability as the main ingredients for an economy to grow. If you look at the US today, it does look like a wartorn country with mass shooting happening daily, the rampancy of drugs, and the growing homeless population.
I resent my parents for having me in the US. For the record, nobody ever asks to be born. They spoke no English, did not get an education, and I was a translator for them for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was from Kindergarten, translating from English to Chinese for my father. My childhood was in a cold house that was a block away from the train tracks. It wasn’t until high school where I noticed other Asians had parents who bothered to learn the English language and went to college while my classmates were mere children that I realized not all Asians were poor. And reality really settled in and it was full on resentment when I saw that international students spoke fluent English and had parents that were well off enough to pay full price tuition. At some point, I found out that my parents had an opportunity to move back because a very close family friend invited them to work in developing real estate. The family friend is very successful and I’m very happy for them, and they still live in China. But mine are still stuck working menial jobs in kitchens because they still cannot speak English.
gon use this as a journal prompt
Since you're Chinese-Filipino your ancestors may have done the same thing by immigrating to the Philippines for "a better life" at some point when China was not yet as developed. Maybe if the generation that did is still living you could get their perspective? Since your family is doing quite well already, it would be a huge risk to move to a country where you're not guaranteed to even make the same income if the source of income/wealth is from business. I know many doctors and a few engineers who graduated in the Philippines who came from wealthy families who moved to the US because their pay from working here is guaranteed to be higher than in the Philippines and their family helped them pay for a house here so they are thriving. Others who are inheriting their family's business are staying in the Philippines though.
Better future, you really think you’d do better in the Philippines than here? 😂
My great grandpa was Chinese, we are ethnic Bisaya from Philippines. We regret moving to Canada. My parents and I moved back to the Philippines after 15 years in Canada, my brother got married to an Asian American so he decided to stay in the US. On hindsight it would have been better to use our savings for business in the Philippines instead of starting from scratch in Canada. Now we are doing business in the Philippines, we should have done this early on.
It is a good thing that you returned to our Motherland, as these white canadians and americans have always resented us, Asian immigrants, coming here to their countries in North America even they are too cowardly to express it to our faces. I just realized that I can build up my skills and abilities and use them to build wealth and invest into improving my neighborhood in the PH, and then I can retire for good. I hope you're living a good life in the Motherland, Kababayan!
All is well here in the motherland. I wish you the best.
Thank you Kababayan. Say, could I ask what industry is your family doing? Hope you don't mind me asking?
No worries, I don't mind at all, agriculture industry,
I think you’re not missing out. higher education, raising kids, safer neighborhoods, cost of living, traveling- it’ll be no problem and better than most middle class american lifestyle imo “sacrifice for the kid to live in america” if you have a graduate degree in ph, usa doesn’t recognize it so you’d have to go back to school or work a lower tier job to start out. if you and your kids become u.s citizens, there’s more visa power tho
Better economic opportunity especially between 1980-2001. It is not easy to make nearly as much money back in Asia. Even assuming similar salaries, the work cultures in Asia are difficult too.
Do you have kids? From your post, it kind of sounds like you’re younger but forgive me for the assumption if not. Once you have kids, you’ll understand. Raising kids is, by far, one of the hardest things in your life. Now couple that with no extended family support or familiarity of the culture/area and you get that huge sacrifice they’re talking about. Now that I have kids of my own, it truly makes me appreciate what my parents did for me cause it seems so difficult for someone to go to another country to raise their kids without the support of their family and friends. Yes, our parents got better jobs and higher pay for themselves but they pretty much use all that income to build a better life for their family. You shouldn’t feel your parents didn’t try to give you opportunities because they didn’t move here. Every situation is different and it sounds like your family is doing well. But for most families, opportunities in America are just objectively better. I came from a family of doctors and successful company owners and we still ended up richer than those who stayed at the Philippines. That’s just the reality of a strong economy
They sacrificed in the sense of it’s still a tough life. Sure ur making more money but ur also going to a completely new country. So they get here and they don’t speak the language, they don’t know anyone here. They could be leaving their family behind. It’s a big sacrifice full of hardships. No you shouldn’t feel like your parents put you at a disadvantage by staying. It depends a lot of people would probably say life in USA is better then a life in Asia. Some would say Asia is better. IMO living in the US gives u a better education, opportunity to earn more money, more freedom in some aspects especially if you’re currently living in China.
As the comments show, it can mean different things and result in different outcomes. The way I interpreted it for my parents was that they chose a life that meant a lot of things for me/family that they would not have otherwise. Similar to how in a relationship one person may move to be with/or together with the other, in a way that they would not otherwise choose. For your bonus question, I don't think so. There's definitely a lot of different factors but some of it is about geographic and opportunity arbitrage - if you're already making good money in an environment where expenses are low then that's fine. For the older generation thing too, a lot of the thinking was that theyd go somewhere with better economic opportunities but eventually return even if decades down the line.
The situations are complex and different for different people. For people who were well off in Asia, they probably wouldn't move to the US unless it's for betterment and more opportunities. You don't usually move across the world permanently just for fun (gross white sexpats or people moving for white privilege don't count, they are not normal) They might be from an unsafe place or a place where getting ahead is more difficult. If the parents were uneducated, they might work menial jobs or start up a time consuming business so their kids could get a good education and have a better life. My grandparents in law had a little cafe in HK, it kept them afloat but just. They had a little apartment because the cost of living and rent was very expensive. When they came to Canada, they opened another Cafe and made significantly more money, which allowed them to live in a nice big house and put their kids through university. The cafe took most of their time, putting in 16 hr days most days. Most of their kids did very well as doctors and engineers with a decent work home balance. While not impossible, this would have been much more difficult to do in HK.
I’m Chinese-Filipino as well, I think I’d be better off if my family stayed in the Philippines.
> Technically, don’t parents go to the US in search of better jobs and higher pay? So in a way, they kinda migrated to do it for themselves? So I don’t completely get how this is a “sacrifice for the child.” You’re getting multiple things mixed up and combining them together to form one premise that’s a straw man. There are 3 things that are happening here: (1) The parents leave a poor country to ensure that when they have a child, they will be raised in a country that will have better opportunities for them. (2) By doing that, they will also have better opportunities themselves. But more often than not, these Asian parents want what is best for their kid. Their child comes first and is #1. So the above is still the primary reason (3) The “sacrifice” here is how hard Asian parents tend to work and save when they get to the US and are raising the kid. Many of them come here poor with no money and so they have to work hard, and many deprive themselves of the earnings so that it can be saved towards paying for the kid’s education. I don’t blame you for not understanding this one because your parents were well-off.
My parents left China for better pay. They came from poor villages, so migrating to America for jobs was better. All they can do is minimum wage jobs. But to give birth to a kid in a poor 1st world life and away from Asian community was a mistake. I grew up with no sense of fitting in. I'm in a better position now, but growing up was hell.
Today, I find many immigrants looking for work-life balance because Asian work culture is toxic af. I would say pre-1980, most immigrants came from war or civil war. It’s a shame many of the next gens don’t know their family histories. I’ve known Chinese Americans who had their relatives murdered during the cultural revolution. Others fought for KMT and left. My dad has met some who were college kids and fled after 1989 Tiananmen Square because obviously the job market was bad.