Chinese, yet more

Po An You and his fiancee at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Language also influences cultural conflicts between immigrant Chinese parents and their children.

"Studies have shown that children's heritage language is a protective factor - children who can speak fluent Chinese can communicate with their immigrant parents more easily and thus experience less conflict with their parents," Zhou, who heads UC Berkeley's Culture and Family Laboratory, says in an e-mail.

Being a child of two or more cultures can be difficult but opens up new ways of seeing things.

"You realize that whatever you think is the normal way of doing things isn't normal all the time," says Po An-you, a 29-year-old lawyer born in Taipei but raised in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"It teaches you to respect other cultures and traditions."

Feng Chan has integrated both Dutch and Chinese practices in raising his children. His two daughters and son know his and his Indonesian-Chinese wife's first names. The young ones attend music lessons and sporting games. And they hear praise along with criticism.

The couple also hugs their children a lot. But Chan says he is still embarrassed to kiss his wife in front of the kids.