Straddling Two Worlds: Chinese Immigrant or American Fashionista
By TING-FANG CHENG

A chorus of Cantonese, English, and Spanish echoed in the hallway of the Manhattan International High School on East 67th Street one February morning as students waited for their second period class. One 14-year-old leaned against a wall, apart from the scrum in more ways than one. He was five feet tall, dressed in a garnet tartan shirt, ultramarine tight jeans, and a pair of bright red sneakers with royal blue shapes on them.

“I am David,” he offered, cautiously.

David Tang and his parents arrived three years ago from China knowing little English and faced with starting a business from scratch in the insulated streets of Chinatown. It was up to David, who was born in the U.S. but raised in Hong Kong, to carve out his own identity as an immigrant teen straddling his foreign past and his American future. His youthful angst is reflected in his unique fashion statements—with his lens-free glasses and gold-dyed bangs.

David lived the life of a wealthy heir in Hong Kong, the only son in the prosperous Tang family. The fall from privilege was stark three years ago when his family moved from a life with maids and drivers into a small, walk-up apartment in a seven-story Mott Street building, with a narrow hallway and graffiti-splashed front door.

The young boy enrolled in the bilingual Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School in Chinatown as a sixth-grader, while his parents launched a small accessories wholesale business on Lafayette Street in Chinatown, with $3,000.

At age 11, Tang reeled in a sea of changes—cultural, linguistic and environmental. He went from being his world’s center of attention to struggling alone to adapt to this new, more independent life. “If America were a person, he would definitely be an arrogant rich man,” David said.

His adjustment to Manhattan International High School, a small school designed for new immigrant children like him, has been equally rocky. He was apathetic towards school work and angry at his classmates, whom he called “immature” and “stupid.”

He has few school friends as a result. One classmate, Oscar Camacho from the Dominican Republic, said the two boys seldom talked. His English teacher Benetta Dunning said David either slept through class or distracted himself by talking with other students.

“Since he missed 26 days out of 87 school days last fall, he will likely have to repeat the ninth grade,” said Gladys Rodriguez, the school’s assistant principal.

But in the last few months, most of his teachers and administrators began to sense a shift. David began to come to school everyday. His classmate, Guillaume Raberin, a French immigrant, said he thought David was lazy at first because he often slept in classes. “Three months ago, he started to participate,” Raberin said.

Rodriguez noted one winter day last December David arrived on time in the morning looking like Santa Claus carrying a huge bag full of presents. “He had wrapped gifts for his teachers, the principal, and me. I received a blue metal globe, while Principal Alan got a gold one. Mine was bigger because I yelled at him more,” Rodriguez said jokingly. “I think we got to him.”

“David is like my son,” said Alan Krull, principal of the Manhattan International High School. An educator for 28 years, Krull finds the students with the most problems to be the most appealing. “If you show interest in them, and if you listen to them, the teenagers start to do very well,” he said.

It all comes out in David’s distinctive style. On a typical Friday morning, David woke up two hours early to decide on his wardrobe for the day. He landed on a tweed scarf, an emerald hat, and light yellow tennis shoes with silver stars. “I am a super narcissist,” he admitted. “Look at my bag, look at my I-pod, my shoes, I love my stuff. People think the North Face jacket which costs $300 is cool. I think those jackets are so ugly because they look all the same. I want my own style.”

Before making the difficult decision to come to America, David’s father, Gun-Lung Tang, 59, owned several clothing factories and restaurants from Hong Kong to mainland China. He employed more than 3000 workers. David lived in a villa in Hong Kong with nannies, while his parents were busy traveling amid their expanding businesses in Shanghai, Changsha, and Guangzhou City. Drivers would take him to school in a Mercedes. Three maids were responsible for his meals and studies. David thrived amidst these riches, bringing home all “A’s” from his Hong Kong elementary school.

The family traveled to America almost every summer and winter break, visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, as well as New York, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.

The turning point for his parents came when an anonymous customs official shamed them by expressing disapproval over David’s lack of English. The child held a United States passport, but couldn’t speak the language. “It is unfair that he was born an American citizen and we did not bring him back to this country,” his mother, Lu-Si Kong Tang, 54, said. His parents hoped David would gain entry into a top college in the United States. “It was a difficult decision to come back,” said his father.

David’s father still remembers how calm 10-year-old David was when he heard about the plans for immigration, and then the boy’s tears on the plane.

Tang said he suffered the same sense of loss as his son. “My world in New York City was only Chinatown,” he said. David’s mother, an elegant lady and once a successful business woman in China, felt worn down by having to start again while in her 50s. One December night two years ago, she remembered breaking down on the street as she was loading cases onto carts with her husband. “We were outside for hours. I excused myself to go to the restroom to cry and then came back to continue the work,” she said.

"America is a place where you have to do everything yourself,” said David’s mother, who said she is suffering from back pain caused by over-work. His mother feels as if her dignity has been compromised since she arrived in the United States.

She resisted talking about her son’s problems at school. “I feel so bad. I feel embarrassed because I need somebody to translate the language for me,” David’s mother said. “I can’t give any advice to my son on his school work, even if I am a college graduate.”

Rodriguez said that many of the school’s students were wealthy in their home countries. “They couldn’t believe their parents have to get on their knees to clean other people’s floors,” Rodriguez said. “They had house servants before, but they became servants in the United States.”

He might be a loner in school, but in his milieu—shopping in Soho, the East Village, and Chinatown—David became a confident guide. He bargained with a vendor for cheaper leather belts. He stopped by to visit a friend who sells cell phones, and another who owns a small gift shop on Elizabeth Street. His eyes sparkled when talking about his fashion philosophy and Japanese punk rock music.

He met most of his friends at the Chinatown Video Game Fair, an arcade on Mott Street. “Don’t tell my friends that I am 14,” he said. “They all think I am 17 or 18.

That day, he spent his afternoon with a mix of mostly 17-year-old Hispanic, African-American, and Cantonese kids. That night he attended a hotdog and grilled-chicken barbeque at his friend’s townhouse on Rutland Road, in Flatbush, a primarily black neighborhood in Brooklyn. Dressed in a black jacket and boots, carrying a shiny metal wallet chain, David looked genuinely relaxed and happy for the first time.

The barbeque ended at 10 o’clock when his friend Janice Hsieh, a 16-year-old Chinese-American, got a call from a friend who was drunk somewhere in Queens. They had to help her get home. David and two boys decided to go to a karaoke bar in Korea Town.

David’s parents were too busy working in their W&C Wholesale Shop on Lafayette Street to notice his late night out. They usually did not return home until 10 p.m. every night. David usually has dinner by himself in Chinatown. His mother worries that they are too occupied to take care of their son. For that reason, she was grateful for his older friends. She hoped David could learn from them, while they can teach him how to behave. “I told him just don’t be too credulous,” Mrs. Tang said.

David is adjusting, slowly, just as the Tang family business is gradually improving. “We have a steady $1 million to $2 million dollars turnover every year now” Mr. Tang said.

His hope is not that David will take over the family business, though. He wants his son to study hard and make it on his own. “Everyone feels the textures of happiness,” said Tang, “and sorrows on the path of struggling.”

Meanwhile, David is catching his rebellious stride along with his style. He said he would like to be a video game designer in the future. “My father told me to be my own boss since I was three,” he said. “I want to start my own business. Nobody can force me.”