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Sample Student
final answers 2013 (2013 final exam assignment) #1: Research Reports |
LITR 4333
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Sarah Gonzalez
Chinese Americans
The Chinese American immigrant narrative captured my interest
when we covered them in class. The first narrative that really inspired me to
want to learn more about Chinese American immigrants was Sui Sin Far’s
In the Land of the Free. By the time
I had finished reading it, I wanted to learn more about the history behind
Chinese immigration to the United States. After reading Gish Jen’s
In the American Society, I found
myself wanting to research over how Chinese immigrants assimilate to the
dominant culture and what their view is on being labeled the “model minority”.
The history behind Chinese immigration was
very interesting to discover. In the mid-1800s,
China and the U.S. signed treaties that permitted greater Chinese immigration to
our country. The United States reasons behind this were their need for cheap
labor in the mining and railroad industries. Chinese immigrants journeyed over
and acquired jobs as cooks, laundrymen, sawmill, mine and railroad workers to
name a few. In the 1870s there was an economic depression and anti-Chinese riots
broke out throughout the country. The white workers felt a great deal of
animosity towards the Chinese immigrants: “Although many U.S. laborers were
recent immigrants themselves, they resented the Chinese being here and taking
jobs away from white workers.” (Nicola, 28). This led to the Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882 which suspended Chinese immigration for 10 years. The Chinese also
became ineligible for naturalization. The act was extended in 1892 and all of
the Chinese residents were required to register and get a certificate of
residency. The law just became more and more restrictive; Chinese residents had
to go through interrogations and more data had to be collected. This was very
similar to what Lee Choo and her husband had to go through in Suin Sin Far’s,
In the Land of the Free. When Lee and
her son arrive to the United States, the customs officers do not let her and her
husband leave with their son. “Seeing that the boy has no certificate entitling
him to admission to the country you will have to leave him with us.” (pg.4) As a
result, Lee and her husband had to give up their child for months and when they
were finally reunited, their son no longer recognized them. Nicola describes
other unjust treatment of Chinese immigrants during the exclusion act such as
barring them from property ownership. Some, like in Seattle, were rounded up and
taken down to the waterfront to be sent out on the next ship. Chinese immigrants
underwent many struggles to gain acceptance by the white population. It took a
long time for the white population to realize the unfairness of immigration
restrictions on the Chinese .It was not until 1943, that President Franklin D.
Roosevelt repealed the Chinese Exclusion Acts. Asian immigration continues to
increase. “Census data indicates that the fastest growing minority group is
Asian Americans, largely due to changes in immigration laws.” (Gorman, 73).
Nicola described how the Chinese immigrants became
respected by the white population in large part, because they saw the success of
the Chinese community. To this day, we are made aware of their success as the
“model minority”. “Acclamation of Asian
Americans as a model minority has become the dominant theme in media portrayal
of Asian Americans since the middle 1960s.” (Wong, 96). They are perceived this
way mostly on the basis of their educational attainment. The Chinese values
emphasize hard work, family cohesion, patience and view education as a
functional means for social mobility. These values are passed down from
generation to generation and cause Chinese students to feel pressure to do well
in school for their parents. “Another unique element of Chinese parenting is the
focus on parental respect and obedience. Chinese parents are highly restrictive
and controlling, or “authoritarian,” where unquestioned obedience to authority
is stressed rather than two-way open communication between children and
parents.” (Gorman, 73).They feel that they must meet the expectations of
everyone around them. When reading Wong’s article, I was surprised to learn that
the image of being seen as the model minority does have a negative impact on
Asian American immigrants’ psychological well-being: “…recent immigrant Chinese
students were significantly less happy than both American born Chinese and early
immigrant Chinese. They concluded that for recent immigrant students, academic
excellence had the following academic and psychological costs: studying longer
hours, taking fewer courses, enduring feeling of loneliness and isolation,
restricting one’s career, and foregoing a social life in order to perform as
well as other Chinese students.” (Wong,98). I was very surprised to learn that
such a positive connotation could have such negative effects on a person’s
well-being. However, their hard work does pay off because they manage to achieve
elite job positions, excellent pay, and high socio-economic statuses. Chinese
immigrants are labeled as the model minority but they are not a true minority.
The final aspect of Chinese immigration that I
researched was in regards to their assimilation and adjustment to the dominant
culture of the U.S.
Cheng Hsin-I’s
article describes a female Asian immigrant college professor who is interviewing
older Chinese immigrant women. The women described immigrating to the United
States to unite with family members that emigrated here first. This proved to be
a long and tedious process. “One of the lesser known challenges about
immigration is the long wait prior to admission. For most of the participants,
it took approximately 10 years before receiving approval, and many changes
happened during this interval.” (Hsin-I, 9). They endured psychological torment
from having to wait so long to immigrate to an idealized U.S. and then again in
their lived version of the American Dream marked by the physical hardship of
worker for meager wages. The women then
described that they felt as if they were handicapped or trapped by multiple
constraints from not being able to speak English and feeling alone. One woman
that was interviewed described her American experience in a negative way,
emphasizing feeling constrained and lonely. This essay was very informative. It
shed some light on the struggles of Chinese immigrants who are low-income. “For
example, given their contrast to popular perceptions of Asian immigrant
“success” in America, the participants’ narratives encourage more in-depth
examination of the particular historical and contemporary structural
inequalities that low-income immigrant women face and that render their
adjustment to life in the United States uniquely stressful.” (Hsin-I, 19).
It
was very interesting and informative to learn about the different sides of
Chinese immigration. Like other races, the Chinese come here with the hope of
acquiring some aspect of the American Dream. Whether they come here for
social-economic, family, or political reasons, I say the more the merrier. Any
person, regardless of what part of the world they come from, should have the
opportunity to better themselves and pursue happiness as well.
Works Cited
Gorman, Jean Cheng. “Parenting Attitudes and Practices of Immigrant Chinese
Mothers of Adolescents.” Family Relations , Vol. 47, No. 1 (Jan., 1998),
pp. 73-80. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/584853>
Hsin-I, Cheng1. "A
Wobbly Bed Still Stands On Three Legs": On Chinese Immigrant Women's Experiences
With Ethnic Community." Women & Language 36.1 (2013): 7-25. Humanities
Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
Nicola, Trish Hackett. "Opportunity To Gain Acceptance." Chinese American
Forum 25.2 (2009): 28-34. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Dec.
2013.
Wong Paul, Chienping Faith Lai,
Richard Nagasawa and Tieming
Lin. Sociological Perspectives , Vol. 41, No. 1 (1998), pp. 95-118.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1389355>
