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An American-born Chinese or ABC is a person born in the United States of Chinese ethnic descent. Many, but not all, are first generation born after the US Immigration Act of 1965 relaxed limits on immigration from East Asia. Because their parents often came from academic or professional backgrounds, ABCs as a group, on average, tend to be better educated (with at least an undergraduate college degree) than the general population. As a result, they are often stereotyped from within the U.S. as bookish and nerdy (model minority), with an emphasis on talents in math and science. However, this stereotype overlooks the fact that there are also quite poor and blue-collar ABCs in the United States, and that older communities of Chinese have assimilated and have statistics more in line with the general U.S. population.
ABCs tend to be assimilated into the English-language environment of the United States and often have more reduced facility in Chinese than other members of the Chinese diaspora. In many first-generation Chinese-American households, ABCs can often speak the Chinese dialect of their parents, but their ability to read Chinese is diminished. However, there are numerous Chinese schools, with the sole purpose of teaching Chinese language and culture to ABCs.
The connection ABCs have with the Chinese culture is varied, depending very much on the area where they live. Those who live on the East and West coasts tend to have Chinese communities to associate with, while those in middle America tend to assimilate quicker.
One institution well-known among ABCs is the Overseas Chinese Youth Language Training and Study Tour to the Republic of China, almost always referred to as "the Love Boat." It is a summer program sponsored by the Taiwanese government whose explicit purpose is to teach overseas Chinese about Chinese culture but, just as importantly, to allow ABCs the opportunity to establish romantic attachments with other ABCs.
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