i’m so tired of people justifying cultural appropriation by saying things like “Actual Chinese People ™ from mainland china don’t care that this non-chinese person is wearing a cheongsam!” and acting like this is evidence that cultural appropriation is just an issue made up by Oversensitive Special Snowflakes
like… ok… sure, of course mainland chinese people would care less about who wears cheongsam. but you’re kind of missing the whole point. most of the poc i’ve seen who are upset about cultural appropriation aren’t mainlanders. they’re fckn diaspora.
nobody in mainland china is going to judge you if you wear a cheongsam to a formal event. but let’s pretend you’re the asian chick in your mostly-white school in the US, and your mom pushes you to wear a cheongsam to prom. you’re probably going to get the “oh of course the asian girl wears her asian dress to prom” reaction from the people around you. so you fight your mom about the cheongsam, because you want to fit in with Everyone Else. you don’t want to be the Chinky Girl in the Chinky Dress.
your beautiful cheongsam sits in your closet, until one day, a stray clothes hanger snags on the lace overlay and shreds your dress and you throw it out.
and then a few years later, you see some white girl wearing the dress your mom wanted you to wear, but you were too ashamed to wear because you didn’t want to be a stereotype.
and that’s the frickin difference. mainlanders don’t experience the same things as people who are diaspora. they’re not gonna have the same perspective. there are no societal repercussions stopping them from expressing themselves culturally. their experiences ARE NOT THE SAME. stop using the opinions of people living in China to invalidate the experiences of Chinese Americans. thanks
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