Who's right? Who's wrong?

If someone were to ask you "你是哪國人?" .. What would you answer?

Your ethnial background? Or the place where you were born and grew up?

'Ni shi na guo ren?', in English, it basically means "Where are you from?"/"What country are you from?"

I told my mom that while in Taiwan a man asked me this and I answered, "我是美國人 (I am American)." I never thought twice about this answer, however my mom got realy upset about this. According to her I should have answered, "I'm Chinese" or "I'm Hong Kongese (in a direct translation of Chinese '我是香港國人').

Running through my mind is... I was born in the United States, I was raised in the United States, and my home is in the United States, I am American. Why would I tell someone I'm Chinese or Hong Kongese, when they're asking me in Mandarin where I'm from?

I understand my mom's point of view, in a way, as with most immigrant parents .. Yes, the child is raised and educated in one country but no matter what they are still 'Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc etc' because this is their heritage and where their family is from. My family, like other Chinese-American families, always routed for the Chinese atheletes in the Olympics even if they were facing an American.

In the end, my question is ... Where do my loyalties belong? To the color of my skin or the place I call home? I'm not sure where my heart belongs.

This may seem a bit frivolous, but I know I'm not the only one who's struggling with this.