Ann was one of the few students who took part in a demonstration in Boston. She secretly went to the protest without telling her parents, who had specifically warned her against attending this sort of event long before she went to the U.S.
"I was afraid I might freak out my parents if they had known I took part in this," she said. "They specifically said I shouldn't follow others into political activities on the streets, even before I went to Beijing for college."
Ann said if she had recently arrived in the U.S., she may not have had the courage to join this demonstration either. But after living in the U.S. for about three years, and feels she has a more nuanced understanding of the social environment and feels quite secure.
She read about Liang's case on social media and was touched when she saw Liang bow his head in despair as the verdict was announced. She felt sympathetic towards Liang, but didn't know what she could do.
A few days later, she read on Facebook there will be a demonstration in Boston Park and joined the chat group. The next day, she found herself protesting with 2,000 other people and felt overwhelmed.
"It was an interesting experience," she said. "Under the American social system, there's a channel for the general public to voice their concerns. It doesn't create chaos, but instead, it releases anger and resentment."
The demonstrations taught Ann about American society. She saw the protestors as fighting for equal rights for all minorities in the U.S. She also feels she has a better understanding of how Asians can fight for more political power and status in the U.S.
Her words are echoed by Cindy Lin, a PhD student in Philadelphia.
Like Ann, Lin felt the demonstrations were orderly and well-organized. Participants made flyers they would distribute to people along the streets and explain the protest to them. As a result, many people came up to ask what's going on and some joined in along the way.
But very few participants were Chinese students, Lin said. Most people were older immigrants. Ann expressed similar observations.
"This concerns their rights more," Ann said. "If you regard yourself as an American citizen, of course you'd care more about America's social issues and rights."
Playing by the rules
Wang admits in the past protests he's organized that he's only seen few Chinese students getting involved. Most of the participants were people who have been in the U.S. for more than five years, who understand how things work.
He believes because many students have just come to the U.S. and experienced little or no discrimination, not like the abuse Chinese communities have suffered in the past, so they don't understand why people march on the streets for a "small matter."
Besides, some are not familiar with how demonstrations work and might be afraid.
"Some might say, I have an F-1 visa, I'm a student, will it (attending a protest) affect me in the future?" he said. "But they don't understand, it's a common thing in the U.S. and anybody can participate, as long as you don't break the law."
Another reason may be varying views of whether "Chinese" constitutes a race or a nationality. Liu Weidong, an expert on American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times in an earlier interview that first-generation Chinese in the U.S. often feel a strong bond with the term "Chinese," but this often weakens over the course of a few generations.
Liu said that while the Chinese government and academia often use the term "Chinese" to refer to people of Chinese descent all over the world, the Chinese public often sees foreign-born Chinese as foreigners.
On the other hand, many Chinese students see themselves as guests in another country, and doesn't think these racial issues matter to their personal rights.
In the comment section of an article on Liang's case published prior to the demonstrations in the North America Student Daily, a social media news portal, some expressed disagreement. Some Chinese students showed that they do not link themselves closely to the Asian-American community.
"I think the reason Chinese students aren't participating is that Chinese-Americans discriminate against us the most," one comment read.
"I think this demonstration for Liang is a matter of the Chinese fighting for the right of an American," another read.
Fang Liang (pseudonym), a mechanical engineering PhD student at Princeton University, has been in the U.S. for nine years. In his experience, students who have only been in the U.S. for a couple of years generally don't care about American politics or social issues.
People like him, who have American friends and want to stay in the U.S.U.S. in the long term, are more likely to see these matters become as important. This year, he has closely followed the presidential campaign, and can fluently debate with his American friends about the candidates.
When the demonstrations happened, he was out of town. Otherwise, he would've definitely taken part in them.
"If you want to actively participate in their society, you should play by their rules," he said.
