Identifying with the United States rather than China was a difficult adjustment for the Hawaiian Chinese of an earlier era.
Owing to cultural differences, the Chinese immigrants were not easily understood by the people of other races. To adapt, they learned to "like the new without rejecting the old" and to mix as much as possible with other cultures, no longer playing an outsider role.
Their blood is still Chinese, but they are far different from the Chinese Americans of the continental United States. They are unique—because their home is Hawaii.