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6 / INSIGHT

applying for permanent residency by get rid of prejudices. “[In] every peri-
showing intentions to help promote od of time, there seems to be prevail-
economic growth in the U.S. in recent ing stereotypes,” she says. While some
years. Entrepreneurs can file an ap- assume Chinese to be smart and good
plication under the EB-5 Immigrant at mathematics, some believe they all
Investor Visa Program, under which know Kung Fu, a kind of traditional
they are required to make contribu- Chinese martial arts.
tions to job creation and domestic in- “Even though the modern minori-
vestment. Chinese constituted 90 per ty part [Chinese’ talents in mathemat-
cent of all applicants of such visa in ics] seems like they are positive and a
2015. compliment, obviously they are still a
stereotype because many Chinese are
Being stereotyped not good at maths,” she continues.
In spite of the significant number
of immigrants, Chinese population The contributions of Yung Wing
only comprised of 1.2 per cent of the Chinese Americans now enjoy a
total population of the United States, higher social status comparing to the
a report by the U.S. Department of past. “I am grateful to our Chinese an-
Commerce in 2010 revealed. Despite cestries because they really fought to Anti-Chinese propaganda revealing
resistance to Chinese immigration in the
the long history of Chinese immi- civilise. They really broke down some past are displayed in an exhibition in
grants in the U.S., racial discrimina- of those ceilings so I can go to a lib- MOCA
tion and stereotype issues still exist. eral college...There were times that
When asked about the change in these were impossible and there was also this educational priority that he
attitude towards Chinese Americans so much discrimination,” says Maas- placed on giving these young boys
over the years, Nancy Yao Maasbach, bach. such exposure to the Chinese educa-
president of the Museum of Chinese She attributes the success to the tion mission,” she says.
in America (MOCA), says: “A lot of efforts of Yung Wing, the first Chi- Yung Wing (1828-1912) im-
things have changed, but unfortunate- nese student studying at Yale Uni- pressed his schoolmaster at a mission-
ly a lot of things have not changed, and versity. “He did such an amazing job ary school in Guangzhou, and was
have not changed quickly enough.” in contributing to the understand- brought to America for further edu-
She explains why it is difficult to ing between the U.S. and China, and cation. In 1850, he was admitted to

Nancy Yao
Maasbach
I am grateful to our

Chinese ancestries

because they really

fought to civilise

A bronze statue of Yung Wing stands in Sterling Library at
Yale University