Chinese Americans

Chinese Americans

The focus of our group project is on Chinese Americans. We studied various aspects of their lives and the preservation of their culture in America. The Chinese American population is continually growing. In fact, in 1990, they were the largest group of Asians in the United States (Min 58). But living in America and adjusting to a new way of life is not easy. Many Chinese Americans have faced and continue to face much conflict between their Chinese and American identities. But many times, as they adapt to this new life, they are also able to preserve their Chinese culture and identity through various ways. We studied these things through the viewing of a movie called Joy Luck Club, conducting interviews with Chinese Americans, and doing outside research.

First, we studied the various conflicts that Chinese Americans face. One way that we did this was by watching a movie regarding this subject called Joy Luck Club, which contains several stories, each one showing different conflicts. The first conflict that we saw was that many times, Chinese Americans do not want to be recognized as Chinese. They feel that it would be easier if they were recognized as American. They do not want to have anything to do with their Chinese side. We saw an example of this in the movie when one of the daughters, Lena, tried to open her eyes as far as possible so that she would appear American. The parents of Chinese American children also face conflict in that they want their children to succeed and have as much opportunity as possible, and so many times they alienate them from their Chinese identity.

Another conflict that we discovered was a language barrier between Chinese American children and their parents. Many Chinese American children do not know how to speak Chinese, and those that knew it as children lose much of their knowledge of the language as they try to fit in to school in America. This makes communication between parents and children very difficult. We saw an example of this in the beginning of the movie when all the elders were speaking Chinese while playing mah jong and one of the daughters could not understand what they were saying.

Although Chinese Americans face many conflicts, many also work very hard to preserve their Chinese identities. Some of the ways that we researched are holidays, weddings, martial arts, food, and Chinatowns. First, Chinese Americans preserve their ethnic identities through holidays. One of the biggest holidays is the Chinese New Year. The Chinese New Year is different from the regular New Years in that it relies on the moon cycles instead of the western calendar, so it falls on different days each year. There is a lot of preparation that goes into the Chinese New Year. People start cleaning their houses and decorating them with spring couplets on the twentieth day of the twelfth moon. Spring couplets are short poems written on red scrolls of paper in black. A popular New Years tradition in the United States is the exchanging of red envelopes containing money, which are called hong-bao. Most families spend this holiday celebrating together because this holiday, above others, emphasizes family and family ties.

Another way that Chinese Americans preserve their identities is through their weddings. The traditional Chinese wedding procedures are known as the "Three Letters and Six Etiquettes." Chinese American weddings in America do not really follow all of the old traditions, but there are still aspects that are preserved. Large engagement parties are still held, at which the traditional roast pig is served. Also, at many Chinese American weddings, the traditional tea ceremony is still performed.