Chinese Americans

By John Beierle

None

Originating from the southern provinces of China -- particularly the Pearl Delta area of Kwangtung Province -- Chinese immigrants arrived in California in the nineteenth century seeking work as miners, general laborers, or agricultural workers. Faced by stiff competition in the labor market by non-Chinese workers, and assailed by ever increasing discriminatory practices, the immigrants began to spread to other western states and eventually to the east where they settled in many of the major cities. In 1980, three major metropolitan areas accounted for over half the Chinese population in America -- the San Francisco Bay area, New York City and adjacent Nassau and Suffolk counties, and Los Angeles and adjacent Orange counties (Allen and Turner, 1988: 181).

In 1990 there were over 1.6 million Chinese Americans in the United States, constituting .7% of the total U.S. population (4: Loo, p. 14). The median age of this population was 30 years, with the average persons per household being 3.14, and the average number of persons per family 3.65 (quoted in 4: Loo, p. 14, from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1980b, tables 18 & 20). In 1980, the areas with the greatest concentrations of Chinese population were: New York, New York, 124,764; Los Angeles, California, 93,747; San Francisco, California, 82,480; Honolulu, Hawaii, 52,814; and Alameda (Oakland), California, 32,177 (Allen and Turner, 1988: 177.)

The primary dialect of Chinese spoken by the Chinese Americans is Cantonese. The younger generation of Chinese Americans in the late twentieth century are frequently bilingual in both Chinese and English.

As the result of the Taiping Rebellion in China (1848-1864), which destroyed commerce and agriculture and brought about famine conditions in southeastern China, many Chinese sought relief by emigrating abroad. Those who emigrated to the United States were peasants and workers mostly from Toishan District, Hoi Ping, Yan Ping, Sun Wei, Shun Tak, Nan Hoi, Pum Yui, and Chung Shan Districts in Kwangtung Province (10: Kuo, p. 2).

From 1848-1882 the greatest concentration of Chinese immigrants was in California and the Rocky Mountain states. Here they sought employment in railroad construction, in mines, on farms, and as fishermen. During this period in American history railroads were undergoing extensive expansion and development in the West and Chinese labor played a major role in their construction. During the decade of the 1870s, Chinese immigrant labor constituted one-fourth of those employed in mining in California and Washington, one-fifth in Montana, and more than one-half in Idaho and Oregon. By the 1880s, Chinese labor made up one-sixth of the farm workers, and nearly half of the garden workers in California. The Chinese also constituted more than one-third of California's fishermen (10: Kuo, p.2). Although at first Chinese laborers were welcomed, even praised, and were considered almost indispensable by Caucasian Americans, it was not very long before Caucasian American workers began to perceive of the presence of the Chinese workers as a threat to their economic interests. As a result, they soon became the object of mob violence, discriminatory practices, and exclusionary legislation. In general robbery and violence directed against the Chinese were commonplace, and the government did not protect them. As a direct result of the anti-Chinese movement, the United States government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that excluded immigrants in certain occupations and professions (e.g., teaching, mining, manufacturing) from entering the country, and denied the Chinese the right of naturalization. This discriminatory and exclusionist legislation had permanent adverse effects upon the Chinese in the United States. For example, legislation severely restricting the immigration of Chinese women to the United States created an essentially "bachelor society" resulting in few second generation Chinese Americans being born. In addition, having been denied United States citizenship, the Chinese could not vote or hold office. Even their employment opportunities were limited. The overall result was the isolation of Chinese communities into politically disenfranchised and economically stagnated units, with community leadership in the hands of local leaders (generally wealthy merchants). These conditions created a politically powerless Chinese population with little if any influence in the United States political system (10: Kuo, p.3).

In the years following the passage of the Exclusion Act of 1882 anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment persisted on the part of both the American public and the United States government. In 1888, congress passed a new restrictive piece of legislation called the Scott Act prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States. In 1892, the Geary Act prohibited Chinese immigration for another ten year period and in 1902 extended indefinitely. Finally, the Immigration Act of 1924 almost completely excluded all Asian immigration. Although this bill forbade the families of male immigrant workers to join them, it did permit a small number of upper-class families, particularly wealthy merchants and students, to enter the United States.

Anti-Chinese sentiment subsided to some extent during World War II, because of the relationship of the United States and China as allies in the war. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, and wives of male immigrant workers were allowed to join their husbands. Between 1945-1959 the number of Chinese immigrants in the United States totaled 36,325, but with the repeal of the immigration quota system in 1965, this total jumped to 142,108 for the period 1965-1972. This large influx of new immigrants had important economic, political, and social effects upon Chinatowns in the United States, especially those in San Francisco and New York (10: Kuo, p.4).

Prior to the out-break of World War II, a number of Chinese students found themselves unable to return to their homeland because of the political situation there. These "stranded" students, who were generally from the upper and middle classes in China, were received with far more respect and hospitality than the less fortunate immigrant Chinese workers. Eventually they formed the bases for the formation of an emergent middle class in the 1960s, in conjunction with the American-born, college educated Chinese who had been educated in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Many of the children of this student group played an important part in the Asian-American movement.

In the nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants lived in small, dispersed communities in close proximity to their places of employment -- mines, plantations, farms, etc. Following the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 anti-Chinese sentiment in American society was so intense that it became necessary for the Chinese, for their own protection, to leave their jobs and either move back to China (which many of them did), or into metropolitan areas, such as New York, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. In the latter case they settled in low rent slum areas and established their own Chinese communities or "Chinatowns" that provided employment opportunities and services denied them by the host society (e.g., adequate police protection and education). The term "Chinatown" has been used so commonly over the years that it has become a standard term as a reference to the Chinese quarter of an urban area composed generally of Chinese owned residential, business, and in some cases, industrial structures. As the Chinese population increased and economic activities became more diversified, Chinatowns began to expand, often occupying several city blocks and functioning as self-contained towns in themselves. In the 1980s and 1990s as an integral part of many of the major areas of the United States, Chinatowns still were an important part of Chinese social life, especially for the older generation of Chinese immigrants who strive to maintain their traditional cultural values. The younger educated generation of Chinese who are rapidly being integrated into American society, find the need for dependence on the social and cultural values of Chinatown far less compelling that those of their elders.

A cheap source of labor was the primary commodity provided by the early Chinese immigrants to the United States, particularly in railroad construction and agriculture. Racism and discrimination, however, soon placed the Chinese at a distinct disadvantage in the labor market and jeopardized their ability to earn a living. In those sectors in which they were employed, they had to settle for lower wages than those of their Caucasian American co-workers. As racial hostility and legal barriers made it increasingly more difficult to compete in the labor market with Caucasian Americans, the Chinese began to retreat into the ethnic business sector, primarily in the service industries (e.g., laundries, restaurants), where they avoided competition with Caucasian American employers and workers. Although the initial investment to start a small business was relatively small, many Chinese still could not afford the money and had to rely on partnerships to finance the operation. These partners worked as a team in running the business and cutting down on the cost of hiring other workers. This situation was especially true in the restaurant business. In the post World War II period, when immigration policies were relaxed, many Chinese brought their families from China to the United States. These family members provided additional labor in individual business enterprises, often resulting in the breaking up of many partnerships, as the demographic pattern of the Chinese community changed. In the latter part of the twentieth century, the younger generation, with better education and access to employment opportunities, was less willing to perpetuate their ancestors' occupations. Many of them seek employment in various areas of socio-economic life that were denied to their parents and grandparents.

Traditionally the Chinese regarded real estate as an indicator of success that may be used to honor their ancestors and boast about in front of their children (11: Zhou, p. 104). The dearest wish of the early Chinese immigrants was to save enough money from their labors in America to buy a piece of land in China because they saw land as something they could pass on to the next generation. To attain this goal a large proportion of the immigrants' wages were regularly sent to their families in China, not only to support them but also to be set aside as savings. This action resulted in poverty conditions for the Chinese immigrants in the United States who possessed little real property of their own. As anti-Chinese discrimination increased in the United States, attempts were made to prevent the immigrants from obtaining property. The Alien Land Law of 1913, for example, prohibited "aliens ineligible for citizenship" -- a phrase then pertinent to the Chinese immigrants -- from buying or leasing property. In addition, restrictive laws in California prevented Chinese from purchasing homes outside of the Chinatown area. In the 1940s the restrictive laws were repealed, as was the Alien Land Law in 1959. As social and economic conditions have improved for the Chinese, movement out of the Chinatown area has increased. The purchase of homes and real estate outside the urban area is a distinct reality for many Chinese Americans. Chinese entrepreneurs own a great variety of commercial businesses, apartment buildings, and shopping malls, many of which are financed through loans from businessmen in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The two basic units of kinship organization among the Chinese Americans are the clan, based on surname commonality, and the lineage. In China, lineage organization in which patrilineal descent ties are carefully recorded, is very important, but among Chinese Americans, this type of organization has far less significance. In the United States, as with other overseas Chinese communities, it is the more extensive clan or shared surname organization that is important, for it forms the basis of the clan associations that find new arrivals temporary room and board, find jobs for its members, and provide some control over businesses in Chinatown (12: Chen, pp. 9-10).

Because of the value placed on marriage as a responsibility and obligation of the male to carry on his blood line, many single immigrants during the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth century returned to China to find brides. There the traditional Chinese wedding arrangement would take place involving the selection of the bride by a matchmaker, the "... investigation of the family tree, to make sure that for the past three generation there had been no insanity, no contagious or hereditary disease" (5: Chinn, p. 230), the mutual exchange of gifts between the families, and finally the wedding ceremony itself. After staying several weeks or months with his new bride the husband returned to his employment in the United States. Return trips to China to visit his wife and family often took place periodically over intervals of several years, until the husband died or became too incapacitated by old age or sickness to travel.

By the middle of the twentieth century, under American influence, the traditional marriage patterns and rituals had changed. The younger generation believe in courtship and romantic love as a prerequisite to marriage. They conceive of marriage as a union between two individuals rather than a matter that the family decides, and thus reject their parents' efforts to arrange marriages for them. Parents, however, strongly encourage their children to follow the traditional practice (3: Nee & Nee, p. 153). The younger generation prefer the American style wedding performed in one of Chinatown's Christian churches, followed by a Chinese ceremony in a higher-class Chinese restaurant. Following the wedding the couple establish their own household distinct from that of their parents. The couple's relationships with their parents and in-laws continue to be close, often involving some economic cooperation, but in general the newlyweds orient themselves to moving outward into middle-class American society.

In China, where kinship ties and relations between family members are important, the extended or joint family is the predominant domestic unit. The Chinese family in America differs from that of the Chinese family in China as the result of adaptation to the socioeconomic and political environments in the United States (9: Wong, p. 60). Chinese American families in the late twentieth century consist primarily of nuclear families of parents and children, though some young couples may live together without being married (12: Chen, p. 53). Other variations on household types are the single family (e.g., brothers and sisters living together), divided family (where children or a spouse live abroad), and female heads of households (widows or divorced women). Wong presents a new perspective on Chinese American families in the United States. He classifies them into four basic types: old immigrant families, Chinese American families, stranded families, and new immigrant families. The old immigrant families came to the United States prior to 1924 and reflect the cultural values and norms of the traditional or extended family in China. Chinese American families are more acculturated second and third generation offspring of the original immigrants. Stranded families consist of the families of intellectuals, students, and officials who came to the United States before 1949 and decided not to return to China because of the change in political regime. The new immigrant families emigrated to the United States largely in the post 1965 period. These families differ from the old immigrant families in their attitudes toward the larger society. They came to the United States on their own volition and intend to make it their permanent home in contrast to the old immigrant families who considered the United States as a temporary place to live until they accumulated enough wealth to return home (9: Wong, pp. 59-65). The new immigrant families retain many of the traditional Chinese values while blending many elements from American society into their cultural milieu.

Once the Chinese immigrants had established themselves in cities, a social structure developed that united all the Chinese in a particular locality, protected them from the outside world, and regulated the internal affairs of the community. This social system involved the establishment of a number of organizations or associations that acted not only protected against Caucasian American society, but also reinforced ethnic solidarity and mutual dependence among the Chinese, and helped to maintain their cultural traditions in the face of outside pressure to assimilate into American society. This social system, often referred to as a "segmentary system," was based on principles of social organization common to the area of south China from which the majority of Chinese immigrants came. Basically, the principle of patrilineal descent -- lineage or clan membership -- combined with locality of origin (one's home village or county in China), were the defining factors determining an immigrant's place in traditional Chinatown. Each Chinatown was structurally organized into three major types of associations: the clan or surname associations, composed of individuals bearing the same family name (Kuo, Wong, Lee, etc.); district associations in which individuals from the same county or community in China were united; and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), an umbrella-like community organization controlled by the merchant leaders of the clan and district associations. This organization -- also known as the Chinese Six Companies -- was considered to be the so-called "inner government" of the Chinese community and frequently imbued with semi-governmental powers (e.g., the president of the CCBA was often referred to as the mayor or Chinatown). An additional type of organization was also found in the Chinese community, variously called "secret societies", "merchant associations", or "tongs". These associations provided an alternative to individuals who were not accepted into the other associations. Often tong leaders achieved considerable power in the community through their illegal enterprises (e.g., gambling, prostitution, smuggling). Other secret societies in the community functioned as genuine mutual aid and protection organizations.

Throughout the United States and Canada, clan and district associations as well as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, are arranged in a pyramidal form, with the clan or surname associations forming the base. In very large Chinatowns, these clan associations are further divided into FONGS, whose members were based not only on a similar surname, but also on the fact that they came from the same village of origin in China. The next ascending level of the pyramid is district or county-level associations whose membership is based on residence in the same county or district in China. These district associations might encompass several village and surname groups, although in smaller municipal Chinatowns they often operate independently of or at the same level as the clan associations. At the apex of the pyramid stands the all-embracing community organization known as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, its membership composed of the leaders of the lower-level district and clan associations. The primary functions of the CCBA are to mediate disputes between the lower levels, regulate internal commerce, and to act as an advocate and go-between for the Chinese community in their relations with the local and national authorities.

Effective leadership in early Chinatowns was traditionally in the hands of wealthy Chinese merchants who also served as clan or district association heads. The leadership of a clan or district association was a direct route to power and prestige in the community and could lead to the presidency of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association.

The Chinese segmentary system provides an effective means of social control within Chinatown and an effective mediating structure between the Chinese and non-Chinese world. In theory, membership in clan or district association is ascriptive and, hence, mandatory, but in reality one's status in these organizations is dependent on monetary donations and time spent on association projects. If one wishes to find employment or open a business in the ethnic community, that person has to belong to an influential clan or district association, and one that tends to favor its own membership in business matters. Poor relations with one's association, therefore, is tantamount to exclusion from the ethnic economy.

The early Chinese immigrants in America worshipped in Chinese temples, often called JOSS houses, following the pattern of religious observance established in Buddhist and lineage temples in China. Local "gods" were occasionally grouped together under one roof in a religious panorama that usually included both KUAN-YIN, the goddess of mercy, and KUAN-KUNG, the god of war. Chinese religious festivals and celebrations centered around these temples permitting temple managers to earn income for themselves in the sale of fireworks, good luck symbols, and "proper" prayers (7: Weiss, p. 41). Temples often received donations of money from businessmen and association groups. Temple festivals and celebrations were attended by Chinese both near and far. Temples were sometimes connected to association houses that incorporated religion and superstition in their set of controls. Thus, in the literature on Chinese Americans the reader will often encounter the term JOSS houses in reference to the altars or shrines in the association buildings. Two of the most important functions of the temples in Chinese American society were to integrate the Chinese community (especially during festive occasions), and to provide a place of solace, comfort, and entertainment for the immigrants who found security in prayers and a host of other religious beliefs and practices.

By the late twentieth century in Chinese American society organized religion was not a prominent factor in social organization. For those who are involved in religion, there are a number of Chinese-Christian churches that provide religious services. These are represented by the Catholic and various Protestant denominations, that attempt to serve as mediating, acculturative institutions trying to syncretize the oriental and western traditions.

Perhaps the biggest and most widely known Chinese festival is the Chinese New Year, which is based on the lunar calendar. Other important festivals are the CHING MING (a semi-religious ceremony to pay honor to the ancestors), the CHUNGYUNG, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the late twentieth century these festivals were not extensively celebrated in Chinese American homes, and recently arrived immigrants did not observe the occasions seriously. Even the celebration of the Chinese New Year became more of a fashion than an opportunity for family reunion and togetherness.

Ancestor worship associated with the CHING MING festival, although still carried out by the elderly, also lost its importance as an expression of kinship solidarity. Despite the fact that the worship of ancestors is no longer an important element in Chinese family life, there are many homes in which one can find family altars or shrines to commemorate the spirits of past ancestors. In general, the celebration of most Chinese festivals is on the decline.

Traditionally interment of the deceased took place in Chinese cemeteries. After a period of two or more years, the bones were removed and sent back to China where they would rest in the company of ancestors. Much of the responsibility of removing the bones and shipping them abroad lay in the hands of the Chinese associations, who also provided free funerals for indigent Chinese or those without kin. In these cases the customary banquet following the burial was greatly simplified. Although the worship of ancestors is no longer such an important part of family life as it was among traditional Chinese, there are still many homes in which one can find family altars or shrines to commemorate the spirits of past ancestors. During the annual CHING MING festival, many of the elderly Chinese, often accompanied by their children, pay visits to the cemeteries where they make offerings to the spirits of their departed relatives.

Urbanization of the Chinese population in the United States was accompanied by the inevitable process of acculturation. Cultural ramifications of this process ran through novels, poetry, films, music, and theater in the 1960 and 1970s (2: Tsai, p. 139). In the fields of art and literature, however, cultural adaptation from characteristically Chinese to that of a distinctively Chinese American mode was slow in coming. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Chinese American literature and art were strongly China-oriented. Poetry, fiction, satire, humor, and writings in history and biography that appeared in Chinese language newspapers and periodicals of that time were as Chinese in their themes as their counterparts in China. It took the rise of an acculturated generation to bring about development of art and literature into a Chinese American context. American- born Chinese writers "... began to adopt themes from American life, attacking discriminations in the immigration laws and the evils of racism, and speaking in terms of alienation and anguish in American life. Creative works became a vehicle by which Chinese Americans could characterize their sensibilities as members of a minority groups and could develop their ethnic consciousness" (2: Tsai, p. 141). Pardee Lowe's book entitled "Father and Glorious Descendant", written in 1937 and Jade Snow Wong's "Fifth Chinese Daughter" (1945), both served as vehicles to improve the Chinese image that had been severely damaged by Earnest Bramah Smith's series in Kai Lung, by Earl Derr Digger's Charlie Chan books, and by Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.

A few of the other published works written by Chinese American authors include Diana Chang's "Frontier of Love" (1956), Louis Chu's "Eat A Bowl of Tea" (1961), Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior", and "China Men", and Frank Chin's "The Big Aiiieeeee!"

Chinese opera was already centuries old by the time the first performances were given in the United States (San Francisco, 1852). This form of entertainment was highly popular with Chinese immigrants. The operatic drama itself was performed largely through a series of vivid pantomimes and stylized gestures by actors highly trained in this dramatic form of art. At first all roles in the opera -- male or female -- were performed by men, but in later years women began to appear as well. Despite this change, the stories, acting method, and many of the costumes remained unchanged with time. There were seven different types of plots in Chinese opera: FU-CHENG (historical play or tragedy); FAI-WOOD (comedy); OI-YUE (platonic-love play); TAI-MONG (court play); HONG KOI (chivalry play); YUEN-WANG (persecution play); and P0-YENG (merit-rewarded play) (5: Chinn, p. 19). Although Chinese theaters sprang up at different times in Los Angeles, Sacramento, New York, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, and Boston, it was always the San Francisco theater that was the center for Chinese dramatic activity in the United States. Chinese opera in the United States by the late twentieth century was a thing of the past, with only a couple of old theaters still standing.

The Chinese Americans collection consists of fifteen English language documents dealing with Chinatowns located in several American cities (e.g., San Francisco, New York City, Queens, New York), plus additional data on the Chinese American populations in such regional areas as the Monterey Bay region of California, and Hawaii. Much of the collection deals with the history of the migration of the Chinese to the United States and the restrictive immigration policies applied to them by the United States government. Additional topics that appear in all the documents in this collection are those of the discriminatory and racist practices imposed on the Chinese immigrants by the Caucasian American society, cultural adaptation and acculturation, Chinese associations, and ethnic businesses (e.g., restaurants, laundries, and groceries). Probably the best general coverage on the Chinese in the United States is presented in 2: Tsai that provides data on the Chinese experience in the United States as a whole rather than the more specific urban or regionalized accounts found in the other documents in this collection. In addition to the topics listed above, this work (2: Tsai), also contains much information on the evolution of the Chinese community from a traditional to a more modern form, Chinese students in the United States, the changing status of women, and Chinese political activities in America. The time coverage of this document ranges from the 1850s to the mid-1980s. 1: Hsu, also a generalized account of the Chinese experience in America, deals mainly with contacts and conflicts between the Chinese immigrants and the host society, how these relationships affect the behavior pattern of the individual, and what course Chinese Americans and Caucasian Americans should pursue in mutual accommodations to one another to achieve future harmony. Some limited information is provided here on family and kinship, religion, friendship and hospitality, adolescence, and racial prejudice.

San Francisco, California is the location of one of the oldest Chinese American communities in the United States, and is the focus of study for 3: Nee & Nee, 4: Loo, and 5: Chinn. 3: Nee & Nee is an in-depth study of the Chinatown community in San Francisco during its past one hundred and twenty year history. This study discusses the forces that initially created Chinatown and continue to perpetuate its existence, and analyzes the source of its exceptional cohesiveness and resilience as an American ethnic community. Additional data to be found here relate to immigration and immigration policies, individual biographies, the family society, Chinese associations, relationships with the host society, Chinese enterprises, housing, employment, and student radicals and their role in the changing society. The period covered is from the 1850s to about 1971. 4: Loo provides a sociological analysis of the dynamics of the Chinese community in San Francisco. This document discusses Chinese attitudes and perceptions of crowding (in housing and in the neighborhood), language acquisition, health status and health service use, mental health status and attitudes, women's status, and a comparative analysis of feeling of well-being, satisfaction and happiness. The time coverage of this work is principally in the 1970s-1980s. 5: Chinn is a survey of the history and development of San Francisco's Chinatown from the early 1850s to the mid 1980s. This study, dealing in large part with socio-cultural change, provides biographical sketches of first generation Chinese immigrants, information on organizational development within the Chinese community, and data on Chinese society in the 1980s.

6: Lydon presents a history and discussion of the social and economic development of the Chinese communities throughout the Monterey Bay Region of California from about 1850 to the mid-1980s. In addition to the general coverage of the Monterey Bay Region, Lydon concentrates on the communities of Santa Cruz, Salinas, Monterey, Watsonville, and Castroville. Ethnographic topics given particular attention in this work are: commercial fishing, agriculture (particularly in regard to sugar beet growing and the drying and processing of apples), and railroads and the significant role of the Chinese worker in their development. 7: Weiss provides a critical examination of the ca. 1970 community organization of the Chinese in the settlement of "Valley City," (a pseudonym) California. Emphasis in this work is on organizational and institutional adjustments to social and cultural change, and with Chinese American social organization, particularly in reference to the various Chinese associations. Acculturation and assimilation processes, and socio-cultural and economic trends in the community ca. 1970 are also discussed here. The document is divided into three major parts: the era of the traditional Chinatown (1850-1900); the time of transition (1900-1940); and the community from 1940-1970.

8: Wong, 9: Wong, 10: Kuo, 11: Zhou, and 13: Kwong all deal with the Chinatown community in New York City. Much of the material in 8: Wong focuses on the various economic activities of the Chinese Americans, and in this sense is essentially a work on the resource management of the Chinese under the reinforcements and constraints of both the Chinese community and the host society. In addition to the history of immigration to New York City, this study also contains information on the social and economic life of the community, the dynamics of various interpersonal relationships, and the differential use of Chinese ethnicity (values, social relations, ethnic symbols, etc.) by the patrons and brokers of the society. 9: Wong analyzes the structural adaptations that Chinese Americans have made to mainstream American society. This document contains information on Chinatown's social structure, methods of earning a living, family structure, ethnic identity, a biographical sampling of representatives of the several Chinese "classes" (e.g., old overseas Chinese, new immigrants), and a discussion of the forces contributing to social and cultural change within the community. The time frame covered here ranges from the mid-nineteenth century to the early 1980s. 10: Kuo is a detailed study of the role of the voluntary associations in bringing about social change in New York City's Chinatown. The author traces the evolution of traditional to modern associations and attempts and explanation for the changes taking place in Chinatown in the 1970s. The time span in this work is from the 1850s to the 1970s. 11: Zhou focuses on the experience of recent immigrant Chinese in New York City's Chinatown economy and how networks of the ethnic community facilitate their social mobility. This document also describes how Chinatown is understood by immigrant Chinese as a positive means of adaptation to their new country. Additional data pertain to the male and female labor force in New York City, the decentralization of Chinatown, and residential mobility of immigrant Chinese. The time period of this work ranges from the 1850s to the 1980s. 12: Chen describes the social and cultural life of post-1965 Taiwan immigrants living in the borough of Queens in New York City. In contrast to the usual Chinese American studies that concentrate on ethnic enclaves within a given geographical area, this work focuses on the diverse multi-ethnic neighborhoods of Flushing and Elmhurst. Additional ethnographic data to be found here relate to Chinese households in Queens, various community activities involving the social services, religious institutions, and the voluntary associations. Time coverage for this study varies from the 1850 to the late 1980s, with a concentration of the period from 1965 to the 1980s. 13: Kwong is a study of the internal dynamics involved in the social, cultural, economic, and political changes that have taken place in New York City's Chinese American society from the earliest arrival of the first immigrants to the 1980s. Although the document is primarily concerned with the Chinese American economy, there is also much data on the old or traditional Chinatown in Manhattan, the effects of foreign capital investment, the role of the Chinatown community as a model minority, Chinatown's political structure, the tongs and organized crime, the community and its relations with various government institutions, labor organization (particularly in the restaurant and garment industries), and grass-roots organizations and coalition building.

14: Glick is the only document in this collection that deals with Chinese Americans outside continental United States, i.e., in Hawaii. This work, dealing with the period of ca. 1800-1950, discusses early migrations to Hawaii from China, and the employment of these migrants on sugarcane and rice plantations both as contract and "free" laborers. Additional portions of this study deal with occupational mobility from agricultural to urban occupations, the movement of the migrants and their children into the economic stream of Hawaii, their concentration in Honolulu, the evolution of Chinatown as the nucleus of the urban Chinese community, racial prejudice, and the complex of organizations the immigrants developed in coping with racial tensions and other problems that arose as they made their adjustment to the migrant situation. 15: HRAF consists of a bibliography on the Chinese in the United States.

The culture summary and synopsis were prepared by John Beierle in June 1994.

INDEXING NOTES

Allen, James Paul (1988). "People of Asian and Pacific Island Origin." IN We the People: An Atlas of America's Ethnic Diversity, by James Paul Allen and Eugene James Turner, 177-182. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.