Karin Mei Li Inouye and Dr. David B. Honey, Asian and Near Eastern Studies
The immigrant experience for overseas Chinese during the early 1900’s involved extreme adjustments to a new land, new communities, new occupations, new cultural standards, new language, and new livelihoods. The political background and social conditions left behind in China, as met by the new social conditioning in America had interesting effects on the immigrants’ social consciousness and mentalities, creating a distinctly different generation of second generation Chinese-Americans.
My research over the summer consisted of interviewing two generations of Chinese immigrants, the original immigrants, and their children. Questions posed to first generation Chinese were aimed at understanding the cultural, historical, and political backgrounds they left behind in China, their reasons for coming to America, and the transitions they made in America. Questions asked of the second generation Chinese-Americans focused on their growing up experience with immigrant parents, the struggles of making a living, the challenges of racism and fitting in, the impetus to work hard, do well in school, etc. These interviews produced interesting accounts of Chinese immigrants determined to provide opportunities for their children, and of their children determined to improve the conditions of their childhood for themselves and their parents.
One of the greater challenges faced while conducting interviews was language barrier. Interviews were occasionally conducted through a Toisanese speaking translator; at other times, I conducted interviews in Mandarin Chinese with Cantonese individuals who could speak a little Mandarin. Due to the language barrier, subjects’ responses could easily have been curtailed, or opportunities to discuss others subjects could have been overlooked as a result of not fully understanding or of not being fully comfortable to disclose the information in a second language or dialect. Other challenges included age and unreliable recollections, fear of government involvement in their lives, embarrassment in disclosing personal humiliations, and giving focused, sound information.
However, my research was greatly facilitated by being accompanied by a seventy-three year old Chinese woman who immigrated to the United States in 1949. Her personal contacts with Chinese immigrants much like herself accommodated the sharing of personal anecdotes and stories that may not have been remembered or shared otherwise. Furthermore, two weeks of living with her Chinese friends, observing their everyday lifestyles and interaction with their children and friends proved more informative than formal interviews discussing their assimilation into American society.
Whether or not Chinese immigrants relocated to a well-populated Chinese community determined the difficulties they had in assimilating into mainstream American culture and how well they preserved the old country language, culture and traditions. Those living in New York or San Francisco Chinatowns spoke nominally sparse amounts of English and seemed indifferent to trends in American culture, content with their lifestyle and closed community of people who looked like, spoke like, and ate like them. Those who relocated to areas without a Chinese community had better control of the English language, better interactive skills with Caucasians, and acquired cooking and eating habits similar to the Western world.
Despite some differences in lifestyle, the Chinese immigrants I interviewed placed high emphasis on education, financial stability, and family. With China as a sinocentric nation afflicted by poverty induced by foreign invasions as well as inner-country political bickering and turmoil, and with the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, prohibiting those Chinese who were not sons of American citizens from immigrating to America, the process of immigrating to America was extremely complicated. Immigrants able to complete the process were determined and devoted to being successful. As a result, the importance of education and careers were emphasized to their children.
Second generation Chinese-American interviewees shared similar stories of being independent at an early age, having to assume responsibilities such as translating for their parents’ and their parents’ friends. These second generation children also remembered working very hard in school to get good scholarships into top tier universities—business, engineering and accounting being primary majors—their focus being financial stability for their families.
Overcoming poverty, racism, and prejudice, second generation Chinese-Americans have made significant achievements educationally and financially. Influenced by the sacrifices required to leave China and enter America, Chinese immigrants worked from the lowest rung of the social ladder to accounting positions on Wall Street through their children. Financial stability and social success achieved in one generation has been a prevailing characteristic of the Chinese immigrants interviewed.
Regarding areas for further study, I would like to conduct a series of social studies regarding the changed roles of Chinese men and women from traditional Chinese models. For instance, many young boys did not know their own fathers while in China because their fathers were overseas sending money back to China. When these young men were sent to America in their teens, forced into assuming a money-providing role, still separated from their fathers, their perception of a father and provider would have been based on non-existent memories and socialization, thus creating unorthodox family structures within the United States.
Furthermore, the Exclusion Act of 1882, forbidding women from entering the United States, would have further affected men’s perceptions of the roles of husband and father. Chinese immigrants would also have been exposed to independent American women of the 1920’s and 30’s, influencing what the men viewed as attractive and how they interacted with women in general. A study of how, when Chinese women rejoined their husbands after World War II, Chinese women dealt with their newly interpreted roles and their husbands’ extra-marital affairs would prove an interesting feminist study.