If Nan Wu's situation is not typical, then we can easily dismiss him. We don't need to extend his concept of "Free Life" to other Chinese immigrants.
I would not refer to Crouching Tiger when discussng any serious topic because it is simply a fantacy.
Since I haven't read the book and the critic, so I am just "断章取义“here in order to keep writing。haha. In above two paragraghs you quoted, I pretty much want to say the same thing as you said -identity might not be race based, it could be group, even profession based. By "I am a typical Chinese" (which should better be "I am a still a true Chinese") I mean I would not have "identity" problem simply because I can't identify with certain group of Chinese people.
To be honest, I think if Nan Wu took the "manager" role in that hotel, he might be able to get into "main stream" faster than "writing poems", even though I don't care about "main stream" that much. What I care more is being able to understand the American culture so that I can earn more money and have a better life quality. In order to achive that, working with American people more closely could help. I think that's what other normal/typical Chinese immigrants are striving for.
