Born as an Asian, I have a high degree of curiosity about the views of Europeans. Of course, Europeans are equally curious about how they view Asians. In Lee’s excerpt, it is mentioned that Europeans feel that Asia is a place that contrasts clearly with Europe, where it is full of things and cultures that Europeans have never seen before. Pax Mongolica brought two different continents closer together, and Marco Polo’s discoveries during his travels in the Middle East and Asia inspired him to explore the Pacific Ocean. He also discovered a lot of gold, decoration, silk, spices, and a series of things that can guarantee more than six times the profit, which led to the Europeans gaining benefits during this period. But what surprises me is that Europeans have gained a lot of benefits in Asia, but they still abuse Asians and disrespect Asian culture. And on a cargo ship, no matter how skilled the Asian crew is, they will never get paid as much as the European crew. He has never been paid. It is mentioned in the article that Los Chinos was the first group of Asians to reach Acapulco in 1580. They formed a community and moved from the west coast of Mexico to the east coast. Some of these people are laborers, craftsmen, merchants, hairdressers, and shoemakers. These are their careers to support themselves and their families.
My personal view of immigration is that there are many things that have been found to have changed dramatically. However, the most basic things will not change. For example, facing different cultural differences and languages is a huge challenge. This fact has not changed from beginning to end. However, the way of modern immigration is different. We will not go through the unpredictable dangers and challenges mentioned in the article.
Hi Ren,
I agree with you that there will always be different cultural challenges and language as a primary factor, especially in coming to a new country. And yes, thankfully we don’t have to go through the dangers and challenges that were stated in this article. However, one thing while reading that did go through my mind is that people still actually undergo these such as the people who were mistreated and left at sea by the Greek government or the US itself was Trump is using ICE to heavy crackdown and separate families. Also as you mentioned, they disrespect Asian culture and to this day it still happens, especially during this year where so many Asians got assaulted and made fun of because of the virus and it’s origins.