The Asian Americans form the fastest growing ethnic groups in the US. Most of these Asian Americans comprised of low wage laborers who travelled to the US in search of proper living. This group mainly originated from regions such as china, Far East, south Asian and the Indian subcontinent. This paper however lays emphasis on the Asian Americans comprising of the Chinese ethnic group.
The Chinese group went to the US with the intention of working in the Californian gold rushes in the 1850s. Through their skills, they worked in agricultural plantations, factories and in the building of railroads (Bandon). The number of Chinese entering US drastically increased hence forcing the enactment of a legislation that aimed at limiting the immigration of Chinese to America.
Increased political agitation against the Chinese was followed by a number of anti Chinese laws aimed at omitting the Chinese immigrants and revokes the democratic rights of the already established Chinese in the United States. This led to isolation of the Chinese forcing them to dwell in rural areas, major cities and the so-called Chinese towns (Bandon).
This isolation prompted the Chinese Americans to seek their democratic rights through law courts, which yielded little success. However, the civil rights movements of 1960s shade a ray of hope when the civil rights act was enacted in 1964, and the nationality act of 1965. Through the enactment of these laws, many Chinese got the chance to travel to the United States.
Prior to the World War II, most Chinese confined themselves to china towns; this however changed after the Second World War when the US became open in terms of ethnic races (Bandon). As the American attitudes changed, the Chinese migrated to other towns in search of employments. As a result, they entered major towns in the United States and left the Chinese towns for the poor Chinese. Through active interaction with the American neighbors, the Chinese Americans began promoting their cultures and mingled with other Americans into the cities (Bandon).
Following the achievements of the Chinese Americans in both education and employment, racial discrimination has been eminent among this group hence leading to a significant reduction in their admission rates in both schools and colleges in the United States (song). Nonetheless, china’s political factionalism formed an essential aspect in the livelihood of the Chinese Americans (song).
In addition, the Chinese Americans that upheld the values of western cultures were observed to value individualism and were mostly future oriented. The second generations of the Chinese Americans integrated the western and Chinese culture in their livelihood. They followed the American culture and embraced the Chinese culture in different occasions. Due to the flexibility of the second generation of Chinese Americans, only a few complained of racial discrimination.
The Chinese culture has spread to various parts of the United States in different aspects; for instance, the presence of Chinese cuisines all over the United States, adoption of chopsticks in eating, and Chinese costumes among others. However, despite the widespread of Chinese culture, only a small portion of the Chinese Americans embraces them. The Chinese traditional costumes are only used on important occasions; Hollywood has also integrated this culture into their movies hence making it unique. The Chinese Americans also use the mandarin language in both their communities and their newspapers (Zhou).
This community also practice different religions (Song), however, a good number of them do not have any religion at all. The Chinese Americans are also employed in various disciplines such as research laboratories and the universities. The Chinese Americans therefore comprise of the largest groups of Asian Americans and are a representative of approximately 24% of Asian population in the US. Their efforts have led to economic growth and they have turned out to be among the most common races in the US. Thus, if the government offers the Chinese American opportunities, they would emerge among the most superior in the region.
Works Cited
Bandon, Alexandra. Chinese Americans. New Discovery Books, 1994.
Song, Jingyi. Shaping and Reshaping Chinese American Identity. Lexington Books, 2010.
Zhou, Min. Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation. Temple University Press, 2009.
