Kim Wu's new ethnicity/nationality

According to Microsoft Studios’ Creative Director Adam Isgreen, Kim Wu has been officially confirmed to be an ABC which stands for/which is an acronym for American-Born Chinese. So overall Kim Wu’s original ethnicity/nationality has been changed from Korean back in KI2 to her new ethnicity/nationality which is now Chinese (and in her case a Chinese-American) in AND for the new KI reboot.

Well, maybe THIS Kim Wu is ABC, but her ancestor (Kim Wu in KI2) could still be Korean.

So that means this Kim Wu in the new KI could very likely have (some) Korean blood/ancestry in her too, yes? :wink: :slightly_smiling:

Isn’t she mix Chinese and Korean?

Explains why the Dragon Spirit chose her.

She’s the female version of “Jake the American Dragon”, after all. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

She’s a mix of Korean and Chinese heritage. First-gen American.

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She’s from San Francisco in this version as well right?

So she’s Chinese-Korean-San Francisconite. *nods*

I take it you tossed in the Chinese element to help KI and, thus, Xbox One better appeal to China’s increasingly lucrative video game market?

And American overall too in her case :wink:

No, we did it because it made sense for her origins and backstory in tying into some of the lore we’re taking from the original games.

Why do all your comments sound like conspiracy theory?

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That’s what the “San Fancisconite” meant, as San Francisco is in the US. :wink:

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Honestly, I think it’s a good thing they pretty much streamlined Kim Wu’s nationality and solidified it. I was never 100% sure what nationality she was supposed to be, 'cause in KI 2, she was pretty much everything but Korean from what I could tell.

The original Kim was, with all due respect to Kevin Bayliss (and the people who came up with the character bios) a really hot mess of well-intentioned but admittedly ignorant (for lack of a better word) Asian stereotypes, all distilled into one character; like classic!Thunder, though since it was very much the 90’s, I give Rare a pass on this one.

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I think that award goes to Jago, tibetan-ninja-katana wielding-monk-who-speaks-japanese

I wouldn’t say the original KI’s were designed with ignorance or cultural insensitivity. It’s simply that political correctness and respect for minorities weren’t even a thing to be considered, and it was ok to design a character in the basis of stereotypes and “cool factor”.

We have come a long way in cultural awareness. It was not too far in the past (year 2000) where a museum in my zone held a very famous black tribesmen stuffed in 1830 by two French taxidermists.

http://cloud2.todocoleccion.net/postales-etnicas/tc/2013/12/06/13/40382884.jpg

after years of legal battles, an African association bought the corpse and gave it proper burial. We have come a long way in the last 20 years.

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No conspiracy theory. Just thought it would be a smart business move.

Wait, my comments sound like conspiracy theories?

Yes, but of course :wink:

My thinking was in line with yours as far as the Korean nationality, but slightly different reasons. A person with the name Kim Wu…obviously has a Chinese father, but could have a Korean mother. I make this assumption on the basis that Wu is not traditionally a Korean surname. My second point is the name Kim…that is a typical Korean family name…as in or Daesung Kim (fictional name), not a given name. Imagine being named Kim Kim (silly). The first name Kim could have been given just because she was born in the US and it sounds good with the family name.

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Don’t be coy. You know how the government works:

Force IG to market KI to the Chinese -> ? -> Profit.

The again, the Chinese are also the most numerous Asian ethnic group in North America. Me thinks that’s more of a reason for MS to infuse some Chinese blood into Kim Wu.