American-born Chinese

An American-born Chinese or ABC is a person born in the United States of Chinese descent. Most were born during and after 1965 when immigration limits on Chinese were lifted. Because their parents came from academic or professional backgrounds, ABC's also tend to cluster at universities.

In the United States they are stereotyped as bookish and nerdy. In Taiwan and Mainland China, the stereotype of ABC's are rich and exotic.

Depending on their geographic location, ABC's tend to be assimilated into the English environment of the United States and generally have reduced facility in Chinese. In many first generation Chinese households, speaking Chinese is not uncommon, but ABC's ability to read Chinese is more much less prevalent.

Interest in Chinese politics among ABC's tends to be low, and most of the political interest among ABC's tends to be directed at Asian American issues.

One institution well-known among ABC's is the love boat, which is a summer program sponsored by the Republic of China government whose explicit purpose is to teach overseas Chinese about Chinese cultures but more importantly, to allow ABC's to establish romantic attachments to other ABC's.