USA celebrates Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May. Asian Americans, once the smallest minority in the US, now outnumber indigenous people. As more immigrants arrive from Asia, the demographic of Asian America is shifting towards a larger proportion of first generation immigrants.

As Asian countries compete in the world economy, we also see increasing numbers of non-Asian expatriates going to Asia, and Asian expatriates living in Asian countries other than their own homeland.These cross-cultural exchanges are situations ripe for misunderstanding and conflict, but they can also be opportunities for learning about the Other and respecting differences.

In this issue, both Asians and non-Asians share their experiences with misunderstandings related to Asian cultures. [The views expressed in individual articles do not necessarily represent the views of ColorQ.org. It is not the intention of any of our contributors to make generalizations about entire groups of people. Each contributor writes from his/her own experience. We hope that what they share can help stimulate discussion and promote understanding.]