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In the last census conducted by the U.S. government in 1990, one fact caught many people by surprise: the percentage of Asian Americans had grown faster than any other segment of the population. European Americans had, as expected, continued their slow decline in percentage of the total U.S. population, though they were still dominant at about 76%. Black Americans had stabilized at about 12% of the population. Hispanics had continued their fast growth and were, at 9%, aimed at toppling Black Americans as the country's largest minority group. The growth in Asian Americans, however, surged from only 2% of the total U.S. population in the 1980 census to 3% in 1990. By the year 2000 at least 4% of Americans will be of Asian ancestry. This relatively huge increase has caught many demographers by surprise. Clearly a new force is developing in U.S. demography, but few people seem to appreciate its implications. The Asian Americans are here and are here to stay, but exactly who are they, and what does their rapid increase mean for the country as a whole?
上次美國政府于1990年所做的戶口普查中，有一項(xiàng)事實(shí)讓許多人感到很驚訝：亞裔美國人的成長百分比要比其它任何一個(gè)人口組成部分來得快速。歐裔美國人一如所料在美國人口總數(shù)所占的百分比繼續(xù)遲緩下降，雖然他們還占大約76%的絕大多數(shù)。美國黑人繼續(xù)維持約12%的人口比率。拉丁美洲人持續(xù)快速成長，約占9%的人口比率，目標(biāo)是壓倒黑人成為美國人數(shù)最多的少數(shù)民族團(tuán)體。然而，亞裔美國人成長百分比從1980年普查時(shí)只占美國總?cè)丝?%，到1990年時(shí)沖到了3%。到了2000年時(shí)至少會(huì)有4%的美國人具有亞裔血統(tǒng)。這種頗為可觀的增加量使得許多人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)家感到很驚訝。顯然在美國的人口結(jié)構(gòu)中有一股新的勢力正在發(fā)展，但似乎很少有人了解到它的含意。亞裔美國人來了，并且定居下來，但他們究竟是誰？他們的迅速增加對整個(gè)美國而言意味著什么？
As a multi-ethnic nation, it should not be surprising that Asian Americans are becoming an increasingly large and important sector of the "rainbow nation" some Americans prefer to think of their country as. Indeed, the only surprise about this segment growing so fast is why it has not occurred sooner. After all, Asia is home to 60% of all the people in the world. However, Asia is also a vast land, encompassing East, Southeast, South, and West Asia, each region significantly different from its neighbors. Further, there is no sense of unity within Asia, as there is, say, among European or Latin American countries. Indeed, the term "Asian Americans" is more a fiction of the European mind, since people from this area unfailingly refer to themselves as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, etc., rather than as Asian-Americans.
作為一個(gè)多元民族的國家，亞裔美國人日益壯大成為這“彩虹國家”（有些美國人較喜歡這稱呼）的重要一環(huán)應(yīng)該是沒什么好驚訝的。的確，這一部分人口快速成長惟一令人驚訝的是為何它沒有早點(diǎn)發(fā)生。畢竟，全世界有60%的人口住在亞洲。而亞洲疆域亦很廣大，包括了東亞、東南亞、南亞和西亞，各區(qū)域彼此之間差異相當(dāng)大。再者，亞洲各國缺乏整體意識，不像好比說歐洲或拉丁美洲國家之間一樣。的確，“亞裔美國人”的稱呼大體上是歐洲人想出來的，因?yàn)閬碜詠喼薜貐^(qū)的人們總是稱自己為中國人、日本人、菲律賓人等等，而不是亞裔美國人。
For more than 100 years, three primary groups of Asians emigrated to the United States: Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino. However, since the end of the Vietnam War, other groups from Asia have become increasingly prominent, especially those from Vietnam, Korea, and India. In addition, Iranians and Israelis from Southwestern Asia have also entered the U.S. in large numbers.
過去100多年來，移民到美國的亞洲人主要有三個(gè)族群：日本人、中國人和菲律賓人。不過，自從越戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后，其它亞洲族群亦不斷激增，特別是來自越南、韓國和印度的人。此外，來自亞洲西南部的伊朗人和以色列人也大量涌入美國。
The patterns of Asian immigration have changed greatly over the past 30 years. In 1970, 96% of Asian Americans were Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino; as of 1997, this percentage had dropped to 55%! In that year, 24% of Asian Americans claimed Chinese ancestry, 21% Filipino, and 10% Japanese. The "newcomers" among Asian Americans include the Indians at 13%, Vietnamese at 11%, and Koreans also at 11%.
過去30年來，亞洲移民的型態(tài)改變甚巨。1970年時(shí)，96%的亞裔美國人是中國人、日本人或菲律賓人；到了1997年時(shí)，這個(gè)比率下降到55%！同年有24%的亞裔美國人申報(bào)為中國血統(tǒng)、21%為菲律賓血統(tǒng)和10%的日本血統(tǒng)。“新來的亞裔美國人”則包括13%的印度人，11%的越南人和同樣是11%的韓國人。
What real numbers are we talking about? There were estimated to be nearly 9,600,000 Asian Americans in the U.S. in 1997. With such a high growth rate, there will be more than 10 million of them this year and perhaps 32 million in 2050 (about 8% of the total U.S. population at that time). Where do Asian Americans live? Currently, an astounding 40% of this regional group lives in California. Other states with relatively large Asian American populations include New York, Hawaii, Texas, New Jersey, Washington (the state), and Illinois (which contains Chicago). Overall, the West is home to 54% of all Asian Americans, the Northeast 19%, the South 16%, and the Midwest 11%.
我們所說的實(shí)際數(shù)目為何？據(jù)估計(jì)美國的亞裔美國人于1997年時(shí)有將近960萬人。以這么高的成長比率計(jì)算，今年他們的人數(shù)將超過1000萬，2050年時(shí)可能達(dá)到3200萬（屆時(shí)約占美國總?cè)丝跀?shù)的8%）。亞裔美國人住在哪里？目前，這區(qū)域的族群有高達(dá)40%居住在加州。其它擁有相當(dāng)數(shù)量亞裔美國人口的州包括紐約州、夏威夷州、德州、新澤西州、華盛頓州和伊利諾伊州（包含芝加哥）等。整體來看，有54%的亞裔美國人住在西部，19%在東北部，16%在南部和11%在中西部。
What about future trends? As Asian nations continue to prosper, it is likely that they will contribute more to U.S. immigration, especially from Southeast Asia and India. All of these groups continue to have above-average birth rates. On the other hand, Chinese and Japanese Americans have very low birth rates; consequently, the percentage of these ethnic groups among the total will continue to fall. All in all, America can look forward to an increasingly large number of Asians enriching their new home with their diligence, investment, and diverse cultural contributions.
未來趨勢又是如何？由于亞洲國家持續(xù)繁榮，很可能會(huì)有更多亞洲人移民到美國，尤其是來自東南亞和印度。所有這些族群出生率將繼續(xù)維持在平均以上。另一方面，華裔和日裔美國人出生率則非常低；因此，這些族群占總?cè)藬?shù)的比率將繼續(xù)下降。總而言之，美國將可期待人數(shù)日益龐大的亞洲人以其勤奮、投資和多元的文化貢獻(xiàn)來豐富他們的新家園。
