What is Asian American heritage, their family ties and what important to them?

Answer 1

Their family ties are so important that they worship their ancestors.

Answer 2

If your question relates to Asian-Americans as a whole, I would have to answer that there is no such thing as an "Asian-American heritage." As you may know, it would be wrong to lump all immigrants from Asia as a group. Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Koreans and others have linguistic, religious and cultural differences, despite being of the same race. Asian-Americans tend to identify themselves first as Chinese-Americans, Filipino-Americans, Japanese-Americans, etc. rather than Asian-Americans.
You are right though, as you seem to imply, that ASian-Americans have strong family ties. Second and third cousins are often known. There is also the tendency to have extended family relationships.
Some common traits: stress on education and hard work, respect for elders, mutual assistance within the family, avoidance of "losing face", among others.

Answer 3

To expand on what the person before me said, there tends to be an "us vs. them" mentality also. There's definitely a hierarchy that shifts depending on the group they happen to be in. For example, I am Korean American and it would never, ever, ever, ever be acceptable for me to marry someone of Japanese descent. Ever. History and memories of anscestors would never allow it. Your family is the only real bond that you need to focus on, and if you "dishonor" it by any behaviour, it is a big slap in the face of "who you are". That is a main difference between "Western" and "Eastern" thinking--Western tends to focus on the individual, while Eastern is all about the collective identity.

This being said, family is the focal point and then to a larger extent, your specific nationality. That's why people get touchy if you mistake them for another Asian (I hate being called Chinese). It is so much of who they are, that it is a high form of offense.

Another thing mentioned was the "saving of face". In psychology they talk about how Western society focuses on punishment as a means to get what you want or stop people from doing what you don't want them to do. In Eastern society, the focus on shame. You don't do something bad because you're afraid of punishment, but because you're afraid of shaming your family. This is so deeply rooted in culture that I would never be anything but a perfect child in public so that my family would never be shamed--and I'm only half Asian!

You really need to focus on one group at a time to really understand fully the differences between the groups. Once you do that, I think you'll be surprised at how different everyone can be, but see the similarities as well.