The Asian fetish is a phenomenon that many Asian girls know well – non-Asian men who are obsessed with dating Asian girls. In the afterword to the 1988 play M. Butterfly, the writer, David Henry Hwang, using the term “yellow fever,” a pun on the disease of the same name, discusses white men with a “fetish” for Asian women. Hwang …

By Aurora de Peralta Washington, DC – Indian American contributions to American culture are at the forefront in “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation,” an exhibition organized by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. The 5,000-square-foot exhibit opened on Feb 27 at the National Museum of Natural History and will run until Feb 2015. It will be the first …

By Devika Koppikar Her Chinese American upbringing in Arkansas led her to write Joy’s Discovery, a book about the art of appreciating one’s ethnic identity. Now, Dr. Jane Chu is the first Asian American nominated to head the premiere federal agency for arts appreciation, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). In a written statement released by the White House, …

By Tamara Treichel Photo Credit: Abby Wood, Smithsonian Zoo Washington, D.C. – Washington has become the residence of its latest goodwill ambassador from China – only this “ambassador” looks and acts differently from what one may expect. She is completely covered in white and black fur and prefers to snack on bamboo all day long instead of actively engaging in …

By Vania Cao While Asians make up a still modest slice of the American population, their role in the American real estate market is growing.  According to RealtorMag, the California Association of REALTORS® reported that Asian-American buyers accounted for 26 percent of all residential properties sold in the state in 2011, and other cities around the country such as Houston, …

By Derek Mong For many of us, we look at a chessboard and only see a few dozen figurines strewn upon a checkered black-and-white plank. For fashion designer Frank Huynh, that chessboard is the launching pad for an entire clothing line. Huynh is personifying individual chess pieces and using their bodies, their “personalities,” as inspiration for the garments in his …

Asian Fortune is an English language newspaper for Asian American professionals in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Visit fb.com/asianfortune to stay up to date with our news and what’s going on in the Asian American community.

By Aria Danaparamita He was the first Asian American elected to Congress, yet few know his name. Raised in a small town in Punjab before Indian independence, he was inspired by the speeches of Woodrow Wilson and Abraham Lincoln and decided to set sail to America to study. It was 1920. 37 years later, he was elected to the U.S. …

  MCDONALD’S® ANNOUNCES THE 11th ANNUAL MCDONALD’S EDUCATES SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FOR GREATER WASHINTGON D.C. AREA STUDENTS Applications must be postmarked by March 21, 2014 Washington, D.C. (February 4, 2014) – The McDonald’s Family Restaurants of Greater Washington, D.C. will honor area high school seniors through the annual McDonald’s Educates Scholarship Program.  Eligible students can download an application by visitingwww.McDonaldsEducates.com. Applications must be postmarked …

On February 7, Senator Mark Warner met with members of the Asian American community at Mikaku Japanese Restaurant in Herndon.   During the meeting, Senator Mark Warner addressed concerns from AAPIs on issues such as immigration, education, gridlock in Northern Virginia as well as healthcare and small business policy.  The event was organized by the Council of Korean Americans in partnership …

Association of Chinese American Physicians (ACAP) celebrates service, friendship and year of the horse     On 15 February 2014, approximately 60 ACAP members, family and friends rung in the year of the horse by highlighting past and future ACAP activities.  Outgoing president Jay He reported on community engagement activities from 2013.  These included two health fairs in collaboration with Chinese …

By Aurora de Peralta Washington, DC – DC Mayor Vincent Gray and the Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (OAPIA) welcomed the Lunar New Year with AAPI seniors at a tea event on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at the Chinatown Wah Luck House. Gray is the first DC mayor to greet the Lunar New Year with DC residents, according …

By: Anita Kinney Photo Credit; Veronica Silvany          The Washington Auto Show can be overwhelming for a first-time visitor. Over 40 automakers display more than 700 vehicles over the Washington Convention Center. It’s best to come with a plan of attack: a visitor should decide what they want to see beforehand, so that they can make a beeline for …

By Andrew Lam Originally published in New America Media In a recent New Yorker cartoon, a dog is shown lounging by a pool and saying to a pup: “Youtube’s one thing, but cats will never make it on the big screen.” A funny commentary, surely, but in America that statement could just as easily be applied to ethnic minorities, especially …

By Stephen Tu Far from feeding the stereotype of the Asian American “model minority” myth, some local Bhutanese and Burmese communities find themselves in dire states. Approximately 2,000 refugees have resettled in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia in the past decade. Bhutanese and Burmese refugees are among the most vulnerable Asian immigrant groups, according to a new report from the …

Asian American men have traditionally been emasculated and stereotyped in mainstream media. As Justin Chan writes in his PolicyMic article: “Despite iconic masculine Asian role models like Bruce Lee, Asian men are often portrayed as scrawny males who spend more time studying than lifting weights in the gym, appearing in popular culture as soft-spoken, reserved types who rarely take part …

Chinatown: Eden Center: Fair Oaks Mall: Lunar New Year Celebration at Fair Oaks Mall by Hai Hua Community Center. This Celebration was the 11th Lunar New Year cultural event following the successful inaugural festival launched in 2004. The venue included culture performances, demonstration, and arts and crafts activities. This two day event attracted an audience of close to 200,000. Lakeforest …

Our story on mixed race Asian Americans in the January issue (“Growing up HAPA: A Curse or a Gift?”) generated a lot of discussion both through email and Twitter. Below are two of those letters. Your article came to me at a crucial time for me tonight…I am a mixed person who has always struggled with my identity due to …

Vaulting through hoops, somersaulting across human bodies and hanging from silks, the Peking Acrobats will be dazzling audiences on February 26 at George Mason Performing Arts Center. The Peking Acrobats was started in 1986 by President Don Hughes and Artistic Director Ken Hai in an effort to bring Chinese culture to the West. “Our show is unique because…we at IAI …

By Tamara Treichel This month, Asian Fortune had the unique privilege of interviewing the internationally acclaimed Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid. Hamid is the author of the novels Moth Smoke (2000), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013). His award-winning novels have become bestsellers, made into movies, translated into over 30 languages and shortlisted …

By Tamara Treichel In this era of globalization and liberalization, being – and identifying as – biracial is becoming increasingly common. Yet only a few decades ago, unions between the races which may lead to biracial offspring were punishable by law in different countries. Think about Nazi-era Germany and eugenics, where Rassenschaender (“defilers of race”) were paraded through the streets …

By Whitney Pipkin When the Chicago-based Asian Health Coalition began work on health initiatives in Chinatown neighborhoods, Alia Ryan said the team tried to avoid using the term “obesity” even as they tried to address it as a local problem. She said Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the region didn’t relate to the word, which they see as …

More Asian Americans than ever before are becoming pioneers in the sustainability movement. Because of this, we are running a series to recognize all the Asian American “Green Heroes” in our community. This month, we are recognizing Sonita Lontoh, an Asian American green tech executive who is passionate about encouraging a green economy between Asian and Western countries. Lontoh received …