亚洲文化火了！海外华裔学生建亚裔“表情包”小组迅速吸粉

最近，有个名为“微妙的亚洲特质”的小组在脸书火了，近100万人在这个小组中分享移民生活的笑话和表情包，讨论文化认同等问题。这些看似简单普通的生活内容引发了越来越多人的共鸣，比如下面这个：

 For many people of Asian descent living overseas, a Facebook group called Subtle Asian Traits has become a cultural phenomenon.

对于很多海外亚裔人来说，脸书上一个名为“微妙的亚洲特质”的小组已成为一种文化现象。

Its jokes and memes - especially about life as a first-generation migrant - have made the page wildly popular. Almost a million people have joined the group since it began in September.

在这里，人们分享着有关第一代移民生活等内容的笑话和表情包，使它广受欢迎。自去年9月该脸书小组成立以来，已有近100万人加入。

meme [miːm]: n.表情包，社媒梗

 

The posts, which can be made by anyone, have also sparked conversations about cultural identity.

任何人都可以在这个脸书小组里发贴，很多贴子引发了人们对于文化认同的讨论。

 

Its rapid success has stunned the group's founders - nine Chinese-Australian high school students who live in Melbourne.

“微妙的亚洲特质”最初由9名居住在墨尔本的澳大利亚华裔高中生建立。现在，小组的迅速走红甚至让他们也感到震惊。

"We were always sharing memes and jokes about Asian culture and growing up in a foreign country and kind of just wanted a place to share them together," co-founder Kathleen Xiao, 18, tells the BBC.

“我们一直喜欢分享有关亚洲文化、以及在外国长大经历的梗和笑话。我们只是想找个平台能一起分享。”群组创建者之一、18岁的凯瑟琳·萧告诉英国广播公司。

Anne Gu, 18, another founder, says they were thrilled when the group hit 1,000 members but "now it's just gone insane".

另一名18岁的创始人安妮·顾说，当群组成员达到1000人时，他们已非常激动，“现在的规模简直是疯涨了”。

"We didn't think at all that it would get this big, or so serious," she says, referring to its growth into an online community for Asian diasporas.

她说，“我们从没想到它会这么大、这么火。”现在，“微妙的亚洲特质”几乎已成为一个亚洲移民的线上社区。

She says the initial idea had been to simply share jokes about family life, Asian cultural "quirks" and bubble milk tea. (There are a lot of memes about this very popular drink.)

她说，最初的想法是简单分享一些有关家庭生活、亚洲文化的“怪癖”和珍珠奶茶的笑料（有很多表情包与奶茶有关）。

先来看几个小组中的经典表情包：

 “你永远不知道现在几点了。因为你家里的所有时钟都比真实时间快5到10分钟。”

 

 

Kevin Cheung描述的周末：中文课、钢琴课还有补习班。这是一种中国小孩一下就能get但其他族裔美国人不一定能理解的感受。但在这个组里，迅速就能引发一片共鸣。

 

 当第一次看到美国朋友对父母直呼其名时，我们亚裔小伙伴的震惊程度不亚于惊讶的皮卡丘。

 

 Luke Hong说，对于又会嫌弃小孩胖又喜欢劝小孩多吃饭的亚裔父母来说，瘦了5磅就是营养不良，胖了5磅就是过度肥胖——哈哈，看来怎么样的外部文化环境都没法改变这种亚裔父母充满矛盾的瞎操心。

 

 还有亚洲人进屋要换鞋的习惯，对于其他地区的人们来说也是一个需要找共鸣的特殊习惯。Christpher Lung做了个meme，把那种当你出门忘了东西想回屋去拿，在要不要脱鞋这个问题上可以纠结半天的心理生动地表现了出来。

 

“微妙的亚洲特质”是什么？

The posts span a range of topics, but they often focus on Asian culture as experienced by the children of migrants.

小组的贴子主题广泛，它们更多关注的是移民子女生活中的亚洲文化烙印。

That's why most members are young people from Australia, the US, Canada and the UK, rather than those living in Asia.

因此，很多小组成员是来自澳大利亚、美国、加拿大和英国的年轻人，而非来自亚洲。

Ms Xiao believes that the page is so popular because it identifies "just little things in our lives that no one talked about before".

凯瑟琳·萧认为，该主页之所以如此受欢迎，是因为它包含了“我们生活中没有人谈论过的一些小事”。

Many memes are about household customs - such as boiling tap water for drinking or using a finger to measure the perfect amount of water needed to cook rice.

很多表情包都与家庭习俗有关，比如烧开水，或用手指测量烧饭时所需的最佳水量。

  

 “你去参加一个亚洲家庭聚会，他们为客人摆上酒店的拖鞋。”

 

还有例如对成绩的在乎和对奶茶的疯狂，都是大家调侃的主题。

   更多的是充满爱意的调侃，比如爸爸努力靠中文谐音学英语的反差萌。

 

Other jokes center on the experience of being a first-generation Asian person in a Western society, and "how we struggle, sometimes, to reach a balance between our two cultures", says Ms Gu.

安妮·顾说，其他笑话还包括来到西方社会第一代亚洲人的经历，以及“有时如何在两种文化之间做出平衡”。

There are memes about "not being Asian enough": bilingual mishaps, struggles with Chinese homework, rebelling against family rules and traditions.

一些表情包是关于“不够亚洲人”之处：语言障碍、中国家庭作业的折磨以及反家庭规则和传统。

mishap ['mɪshæp]: n.灾祸；不幸事故

 穿着破洞牛仔裤参加家庭聚会：你没钱买没破洞的好裤子吗？我给你买条新裤子吧。

 

Then there are posts referencing experiences of casual racism or being made to feel "not white enough".

还有一些贴子提到了一些偶然的种族主义经历，或觉得自己有“不够白人”的地方。

A common source of humor is "Asian parents" - who are stereotypically portrayed as cautious, strict and overbearing.

这些笑话通常的来源是“亚洲父母”——刻板印象会把他们描绘成谨慎、严厉和专横的形象。

overbearing [əʊvə'beərɪŋ]: adj.傲慢的；压倒一切的

 

一则在小组里广受欢迎的贴子让人忍俊不禁。

It was captioned: "One day I told mother I didn't eat breakfast".

它的标题是：“有一天我告诉我妈我没有吃早餐”。

 

你早上没吃饭、上了两个小时的课一直到12点仍然没有吃饭的行为太让我恼火了。为此，我昨天一晚上都没睡好。像你这样经常超过12个小时不吃饭又到处活动对身体特别不好，尤其在你最近经常顶着压力忙工作的情况下！我一个同事的丈夫是普林斯顿大学的高材生，后来成了华尔街上数一数二的投资者。但是他现在不得不放弃热爱的工作，因为他有肠胃问题和糖尿病，这都是不良的饮食习惯造成的！我可不希望这事发生在你身上。孩子，你知不知道一个良好的饮食习惯对你的健康、生活和事业有多重要。望早餐问题引起你的注意。我给你找了一篇文章供你参考。

 

It bore an uncanny resemblance to texts from their own mothers, particularly phrases like: "I did not have a good sleep last night because of this."

这让很多人想起自己的母亲，尤其是类似的句子：“因为你的事，我昨晚没睡好。”

 

Some users have sent the administrators messages of thanks.

一些用户曾向管理员发送信息表示感谢。

"One girl said it was the first time she felt like a sense of belonging," she says.

“一个女孩说这是她第一次有归属感。”安妮·顾说。

Ms Xiao says the page helped her realize her experiences were common.

凯瑟琳·萧表示，小组帮她意识到自己的经历很普遍。

"Growing up in a foreign country, it's just something you don't talk about because you're afraid that people won't understand you, or that you'll be made into a minority," she says.

她说：“在外国长大，这些本来只是你不愿谈论的一类事情，因为你担心别人不理解你，或把你当成少数。”

《纽约时报》提到了一个感人的例子：一个女孩给母亲分享了一个小组里的表情包，引发了一段令人惊讶的对话。

 她在贴子里写道：“‘微妙的亚裔特质’让我第一次从妈妈那里听到了‘我爱你’，所以我想感谢你们所有人。”

 

找到“平衡”

Like other internet groups which attempt to offer insights on cultural identity, there are some inherent challenges.

不过，与其他提供对文化认同的思考的在线小组类似，这个小组也面临一些内在的挑战。

Some initial criticism suggested that the group wasn't inclusive of all Asian cultures, as most posts related to East Asia.

最初有一些批评声认为，该组织并没有包容所有的亚洲文化，因为大多数贴子都是关于东亚的。

 凯瑟琳·萧和她的朋友互相称呼对方是ABC（澳大利亚出生的华人）。

Ms Gu says the administrators have since prioritized including more diverse content. And in the group's rules, users are encouraged to "be inclusive to all Asian races".

安妮·顾称，自那以后，管理员们就开始优先考虑内容的多样化。在组织的规则中，管理员鼓励用户“包容所有亚洲种族”。

Other critics have said that memes about "tiger" parents or bad driving serve to reinforce negative stereotypes.

其他批评者说，“虎爸”、“虎妈”或不良驾驶等内容的表情包只会加剧负面的刻板印象。

Such posts can also help people "to experience potentially negative experiences in childhood in a more humorous and positive light... like a healing through humor".

安妮·顾认为，这些贴子可以帮助人们“以一种更幽默和积极的方式，回忆童年时潜在的负面经历……就像通过幽默疗伤一样。”

She adds that the page has also deepened her own cultural pride - something she had not expected.

她补充说，小组还加强了她对自己文化的自豪感——这是她没有预料到的。

"I hope it gives others the confidence too, to not be so shy about their culture," she says.

“我希望这也能给其他人带来信心，不要羞于谈论自己的文化。”她说。