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中墨移民的美国梦

More immigrants live in the western state of California than anywhere else in the United States. Among the largest immigrant groups -- either legal or without legal documents -- are Mexicans and Chinese. These two ethnic¹ groups may come from different places, but they share many similarities.

美国西部的加利福尼亚是全国移民人口最多的州，其中最大的移民群体，不管合法与否，是墨西哥裔和华裔移民。这两个种族尽管来自不同的地方，但他们有着许多相似之处。

People often find 21-year-old Jonathan Wong a mystery. “They go are you filipino? Are you Mexican? Are you Pacific Islander? Are you Hawaiian?” he recalled.

人们总是觉得21岁的乔纳森·王很神秘。乔纳森·王说：“他们会问你是菲律宾裔吗？你是墨西哥裔吗？你是太平洋岛民吗？你是夏威夷人吗？”

Wong is actually a fourth-generation Chinese and third-generation Mexican American. He finds there is one thing both cultures deeply value. “The connection you have with your family in general. Both of them are very family oriented,” he noted².

实际上，王是第四代中国移民、第三代墨西哥移民。他发现两种文化非常看重同一种东西。王说：“那就是你和家人的关系，这两种文化都非常重视家庭。”

Like many immigrants, Wong’s Mexican and Chinese ancestors came to the U.S. for a better life, said Shelley Fisher Fishkin of Stanford University. “The Chinese who came to the U.S. in the middle of the 19th century and then Mexicans who came at the end of the 19th century or early 20th century were lured³ by the possibility of creating opportunities for their families that were not possible in their home countries,” she said.

乔纳森先辈来自墨西哥和中国，和很多移民一样，他们为了更好的生活来到美国。斯坦福大学雪莱·费斯金说：“在19世纪中叶来到美国的中国人，或者在19世纪末、20世纪初来到美国的墨西哥人，都是为了给家人创造在祖国不可能有的机会。”

These new immigrants often faced discrimination and worked as laborers⁵, either as modern-day Mexican migrant workers or as Chinese railroad workers in the 19th century.

这些新移民常常受到歧视，从事体力劳动，就像当今的墨西哥移民，或者 19世纪的中国铁路工人。

In an art exhibit that looks at the two immigrant experiences, one piece has railroad tracks buried under a giant mound⁶ of fortune cookies. Created by artist Hung Liu, the image depicts⁷ the early Chinese immigrants who came to dig for gold or labor⁴ on the railroads.

在一个关于中、墨两国移民的艺术展上，刘虹的这幅作品描绘了来美国淘金或者修筑铁路的早期中国移民。

“The very reason the Chinese first came here is to escape from the economic despair in China,” Hung Liu stated.

刘虹说：“他们起初来到这儿来是为了逃避中国的经济贫困。”

Steven Wong, the curator of the Chinese American Museum, said immigrants from both countries still come at any cost.

华美博物馆的馆长史蒂文·王说，至今两国的移民仍然不惜代价地来到美国。

“I think not a lot of people realize that there still is a lot of unskilled labor coming in from both communities and not a lot of people know, too, when it comes to immigration and immigration reform usually people associate that with “Oh, that’s a Latino issue.” But that’s also a big Asian issue of undocumented immigrants coming in also -- specifically Chinese.” said Wong.

他说：“我想很多人没意识到，仍然有很多没有技能劳工中国和墨西哥劳工来到美国。同样，当谈到移民和移民改革的时候，人们常常说‘噢！那是拉美裔人问题”，可是很多人没想到，这其实是一个很大的亚洲无证劳工问题，尤其是中国无证劳工。”

Often, both groups also live in ethnic enclaves.

这两个族群通常聚居在少数族裔地区。

Artist Tony de los Reyes experienced this while growing up in Los Angeles. “The border of Mexico now extends in certain small areas within Los Angeles even though the physical border may be 120 miles [200 kilometers] south,” he explained.

艺术家托尼·雷耶斯的作品反映了边界问题，他在洛杉矶的成长过程中就有这种经历。雷耶斯说： “墨西哥的边界延伸到了洛杉矶里的某些小区域，尽管实际的边界线在200公里以南。”

Mostly-Mexican East Los Angeles is one such area. Neighboring it is Monterey Park, a predominantly Chinese suburb. While these immigrant groups may live near each other, de los Reyes said the two do not often mix. “You’re going to have this push and pull between not wanting to be in a place because the culture is different and then also being attracted to it,” he said.

以墨西哥裔为主的东洛杉矶就是这样一个地区。在它旁边就是中国人聚居蒙特雷公园。雷耶斯说，虽然这些移民族群彼此相邻，这两个族群并不经常往来。雷耶斯说，“你会经历这种拉锯战，虽然不想融入一个不一样文化，可是又被它吸引。”

But Jonathan Wong said the boundaries are blurring⁸. That’s why he’s not surprised his parents married. “Look how much blending there is. It’s not even weird⁹ at all like how they would have met and how they could have come across each other and hit it off,” he stated.

不过，乔纳森·王说，种族界线正在变得模糊不清，所以他对父母的婚姻并不感到奇怪。乔纳森·王说： “看看，现在有多融合，一点儿都不奇怪他们是如何相遇并产生感情的。”

He expects more blending of the two cultures in other parts of the United States, as immigrants and their descendants continue to seek the American dream.

他预计在全国范围内，在移民和他们的后代继续追寻美国梦的同时，两种文化会越来越融合。