Chinatown 2.0 artwork

Ep. 16: Kunming-native American cowboy Bruce Wang speaks English with perfect Southern accent

Chinatown 2.0

English - September 30, 2021 19:19 - 1 hour - 43 MB
Documentary Society & Culture Personal Journals academia business personal america american bicultural china chinese crossborder crossculture Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed


Bruce Wang is a Chinese cowboy. Not an ethnically Chinese person that was born in Texas, but someone born and bred in Yunnan, China.

He came to the US as a college student. He adopted a Southern accent, started dressing like a cowboy, and started making videos about how cowboys spend their time.

We talked about why he decided to become a cowboy, why he felt the cowboy culture reminded him of his hometown of Kunming, how he felt different when speaking a different language, and how he dealt with an identity crisis.

We also talked about whether he has encountered acts of racism and racial ignorance, his plans to dedicate his Ph.D. to the intersection of languages and cross-cultural understanding, and more.