Insight from UC Davis psychologists in TIME article, A Family Suicide Risk in US Asians? highlighting the all-so-important role of family for Asian Americans and how it affects us more negatively to the point of suicide than any other factors do like poverty or depression.
The question is, what are the triggers?
Is it conflict? Is it control? Is it this weird sense of honor and expectations?
I think very often the church reinforces some of these triggers. The Chinese church system more often than not is set up to create moral upstanding citizens that write big checks rather than Christ-followers that are willing to be transcultural [Thanks Seth Kim!]
Layers I say. We’re like onions, full of layers [Thanks Shrek]. The Asian-American identity is full of layers. Our identities are so wrapped around the family and weird cultural expectations that it affects our spirituality like nothing else.
Ken Fong, Dan Hyun and I were having this discussion once on the who’s more repressed, Chinese or Koreans? What do you think?
Also Related
Asian American women and cultural pressures [via L2Foundation.org]
abcpastor 
haha… I would say we’re all equally disturbed 🙂
“transcultural” is fast becoming the big idea for me. It transcends mere token multiethnicity and moves into the realm of incarnational theology – essentially discomfort – which I hold to be such a vital tell-tale sign of true spiritual living.
To be transcultural is the ethos of the missionary.
And it implies not just crossing ethnic boundaries, but generational boundaries, class/social boundaries, etc… man, it is an exciting concept.
woops, my comment disappeared…