Asian American Contributions to the Culture of the United States

Having been a country historically made up of immigrants from a diverse range of backgrounds, the United States has developed through a mixture of cross-cultural influences. American culture has been profoundly shaped by the native cultures which many people from across Europe, Asia, Africa and other continents have brought with them. Asian Americans have become an integral part of American spirit, and their customs have become so widespread throughout American culture that their influence is almost unrecognizable.

One of the major influence on the day-to-day culture from Asian Americans can be seen through the diversity of foods existing in the United States, and the prominence of Asian foods within this American food culture. Since a larger degree of contact began occurring between Western nations and nations such as China, Japan and India, immigrants from Asia have often brought their native food culture with them. Today, across the United States, there are few towns or cities which do not have a Chinese restaurant or takeaway. Large cities throughout the USA, such as New York City, boast a multitude of Asian restaurants with food from across the continent. Perhaps due to the populations of the world being highest in China and India, many immigrants to the USA have come from both of these countries, although the USA also has a vast number of Japanese Americans. As is certainly helped by the opportunistic spirit of many Chinese, Japanese and Indian immigrants into the USA, many Asian Americans coming to the US have played an important role in establishing Asian restaurants and supermarkets, both of which are found at such high frequencies that delivery apps often hold separate categories for “Chinese,” “Japanese” and “Indian” food. Today, even many non-Asian Americans who have never left the USA have tried Chinese food at least once, and many Americans identify Asian American foods such as sushi (Japanese) as their favorite food. The widespread nature of foods in America from across Asia is indicative of the high level of influence which Asian Americans have brought with them to the United States.

Given the fast rate of growth of the Asian American population combined with the already-high numbers of people with Asian origin living within the United States, it makes sense that important Asian traditions are widely spread through the United States. Though many Asian Americans have also adopted the traditions and celebrations of the United States, their native culture remains strong and especially flourishes during important celebrations from their native culture. Today, most Asian Americans continue to celebrate their native important dates such as Diwali (for Indians) or Chinese New Year (for Chinese people). In addition to private celebrations for these important events, prominent parades and decorations throughout major cities (such as New York City, Chicago or Philadelphia) for these events important to Asian American heritage and native culture showcase the influence which Asian American traditions and celebrations have on the overall traditions of the United States.

The high number of Asian Americans in the United States has not only led to an increase in the number of teachers in schools of Asian origin but has also drastically caused the number of Asian American students in schools to rise. The increase in the number of Asian Americans has also sparked a large amount of appreciation for Asian culture and Asian languages by the general American population, in part caused by the increased exposure to these very different cultures through institutions such as the US education system. By learning alongside students from diverse backgrounds – including students from Asian American backgrounds – students are exposed to different cultures, traditions and languages from a very young age during their education. In addition, the large number of Asian teachers in school (especially teachers from China, Japan and India) has allowed many non-Asian Americans to learn more about various Asian countries and their customs. Both due to the hope of many Asian American parents that their children will not forget their native culture and due to the general fascination with Asian culture and languages which pervades through non-Asian American parent communities in many schools, a large number of schools in the United States (especially private schools) offer modern world language courses in Asian languages, especially Mandarin (the native language of China). Though both Hindi and Japanese have been introduced into many schools, Chinese has certainly become the most taught Asian language at schools across the nation. In addition to the influx of Asian language courses into the United States due to the influence of Asian Americans, revolutionary modern Asian curriculums are often implemented in schools in the USA today. For example, the Singapore Mathematics Program, which takes a completely new and revolutionary approach to mathematics education, has been widely implemented already in American schools. So have too online programs to help students in their learning journey, such as “Kung Fu Math,” an online mathematics program again in wide use across America. The various educational innovations and new subjects combined with an influx of Asian American teachers and students demonstrates the influence of Asian American cultures to the American education system.

The fields of both scientific research and computing and programming have hugely benefitted from Asian Americans and their ways of thinking. Though each individual is certainly unique, people from specific cultures tend to have a similar pattern of solving problems, which would seem to indicate that project teams consisting of people from a variety of cultures would bring the most innovative and effective results because of a fusion of these different problem-solving techniques. This largely explains why many Asian Americans (especially Chinese and Indians) have joined the fields of scientific research and computer programming. In both areas, these new perspectives and new ways of solving problems have proven very successful, as is seen by the high level which many Asian American researchers have attained. Throughout high-ranking universities, such as MIT, Yale and Stanford, professors and researchers from Asian American backgrounds (especially Chinese backgrounds) abound, and Asian Americans have already contributed a huge body of knowledge to ongoing scientific investigations. Many Indians have joined the technology industry as programmers, where they have also been highly successful. Again, the new way of approaching problems in programming has acted to ensure the success of many Indian programmers. Often starting at a very junior level, several programmers of Asian origin have risen to become CTOs of large technology companies (e.g. Twitter’s ex-CTO (now CEO) started as an programmer from India). Throughout scientific research and computer programming, Asian Americans have become extremely important figures in ensuring the success of investigations and projects due to their commitment and the different perspectives and approaches they often bring to the table.

The architecture of buildings and even whole districts or regions has been highly influenced by Asian American culture. Following the rise in interest in Asian history and culture, many entertainment venues such as theme parks, zoos and hotels quickly responded by building Asia-themed sections (or giving their entire park/building an Asian theme). Most large zoos in major cities today include a section dedicated to Asian animals, and many theme parks contain Asia-themed attractions such as classical Japanese-style as ride buildings. Many expensive hotels in the United States now have taken on Asian themes, such as the “Mandarin” in Las Vegas, which has used many aspects of Chinese architecture and interior design and also includes a myriad of Asian restaurants. Beyond the level of individual businesses or buildings, however, whole districts within cities have become hotspots for specific Asian cultures given the large number of Asians from that culture living in the area. In turn, the high number of Asians from specific countries concentrated in specific regions has caused for these regions to develop into centers of that culture, often including mainly restaurants with food from the country represented as well as decorations and architecture which takes many elements from the traditional architecture of the country. For example, the “China towns” which exist in many important cities in the USA, such as New York City, are today a hotspot for experiencing Chinese culture. Almost every restaurant in the area has Chinese food, supermarkets mainly stock the goods needed for Chinese households and the Chinese language being spoken throughout these areas allows non-Asian Americans to immediately feel immersed in a new culture. The fact that these sections of cities are often contained near the city center help draw non-Asian Americans into these districts dominated by various Asian cultures, thereby helping increase the exposure of many to various Asian American cultures. Both from a building and a district perspective, Asian American traditional architecture has a tremendous impact on the design and architecture of modern buildings and city areas in the United States.

Finally, Asian Americans have made huge advancements in the world of businesses, helping many startups become global companies and still contributing as important executives in guiding large corporations. Many of the companies which Asian Americans lead or have led serve thousands (if not millions) of Americans, clearly demonstrating that the influence which Asian Americans have on the American population is not to be underestimated. Many examples of these Asian American business leaders exist: Youtube, which most Americans use regularly through various devices, was cofounded by Steve Chen, who has Chinese origin. DoorDash, a multi-billion company, is under the leadership of Tony Xu (a Chinese businessman) and Google is under the leadership of Sundar Pichai (who is of Indian origin). The remarkable influence which Asian American business executives and founders yield quickly becomes evident when studying some of the key American companies, many of which are led by talented Asian Americans.