Since its founding, the economic opportunities and quality of life present in the United States of America have drawn millions of people across the oceans to seek out a better existence for themselves. America's Founding Fathers believed that the country needed as large a population as possible to become a strong nation. The capitalistic economy of the new nation caused immigration to become critically important in the expansion of its manufacturing infrastructure. Once the growth of the nation's population began to exceed that of the economy's needs, the federal government attempted to limit further immigration. The government focused on restricting how many people of certain ethnicities could enter the country each year, ignoring the problems facing those immigrants who were already in the United States. Even worse, the policy, through various quota restrictions and fees, encouraged people from Canada and Mexico to enter the country illegally. This paper is intended to analyze the flaws of the major immigration acts passed between 1882 and 1952.

Early in the 1850s, a greater number of Chinese immigrants began to enter the United States, leading to a Sinophobic frenzy that would continue for decades. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Americans sought to exclude the Chinese literally and figuratively. Americans employed negative imagery to demonstrate the necessity of excluding the Chinese in order to “protect" white America. The negative imagery that became Americans' common view of the “Chinaman," enabled the United States to enact discriminatory laws without compunction. In the face of intense persecution and bitter discrimination, many would simply have given up and returned to their homeland. However, the Chinese were determined not to give in to Americans' desire to exclude them. Though often viewed as a passive and stoic race, in reality the Chinese were proactive and eloquent defenders of their rights, and used two primary means of resistance to resist American exclusion: legal appeals and poetry. In response to their literal exclusion, the Chinese utilized the United States judicial system, litigating cases that either reduced the force of discriminatory laws or abolished them all together. In so doing, they managed to alter U.S. legal history, setting new precedents, and requiring judges to rule regarding the rights of non-citizens and the balance of power between state and federal governments, especially with regard to immigration policy. With regard to their figurative exclusion, the Chinese were similarly vehement in their defense. On the walls of the Angel Island barracks, where many of the Chinese immigrants were incarcerated during the Chinese exclusion acts, Chinese inmates carved and painted poetry emphasizing their sense of self-worth and their anger at the American “barbarians." The immigrants employed imagery that counteracted and even reversed the widely held negative images of the Chinese in American literature and speeches. As such, the poetry became a source of strength, a rallying cry providing the Chinese with the courage and determination to combat American prejudice. Previous studies have largely ignored the Angel Island poetry and none have brought the poetry into the discussion of the Chinese immigrants' legal battles, this thesis seeks to do both.

This study examines the healthworlds of first-generation Chinese immigrants in Boston's Chinatown. Through participant observation and interviews conducted within a local church and a local park community, three key issues emerged: how the space of Chinatown influences people's post-immigration healthworlds; the dynamics of community health supports and health challenges; and the daily health lives of these immigrant individuals within their respective families. Likewise, complex understandings of health coverage emerge that include not only health insurance, but also social forms of insurance. Community integration becomes not only a cultural tradition, but also how health resources and health support are linked and provided. This social form of insurance makes it possible for community members to reach out cultural and religious health resources and support in the context of everyday life.

The 2021 Census reported that immigrants with a Chinese ethnic background take up 4.7% of the Canadian population. Although Chinese immigrants represent a significant part of the Canadian population, how they understand their relationship with Canada has not been studied directly in educational research. In response, this manuscript-based thesis examines the lived experiences of six adult (aged 18 and above) Chinese immigrants who have arrived in Canada and obtained their permanent residency or Canadian citizenship after 2010. Adopting Connelly and Clandinin's narrative inquiry, this study presents stories of participants with the hope to shed light on the process of Chinese immigrants becoming Canadian. Through these presentations, this study attends to the complex relationships participants have gone through in the process of negotiating their acceptance in Canada. Data gathered from two rounds of semi-structured interviews with six recent adult Chinese immigrants living in Ontario and Quebec were interpreted and discussed using Berry's acculturation framework, a critical multiculturalism framework and a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework in three individual research articles. Findings reveal that Chinese immigrants actively participate in social, cultural, political and economic affairs in Canada. Their participation in Canadian society exhibits their acceptance of Canadian cultures and values while living in Canada. Based on these understandings, they offer their suggestions to make Canada a more democratic, just and livable place. Racism, discriminations and stereotypes received from some members of the host society have created tangible damage to their relationship with Canada. Nonetheless, Chinese immigrants express their desire to be included and integrated into Canadian society. These narratives from recent adult Chinese immigrants supplement literature in citizenship education. Policy makers, scholars, educators and the general public should listen to their stories and find more ways to include Chinese immigrants in the building of democracy and multiculturalism in Canada.

No description available.

<p>This thesis presents the research findings related to language brokering in Chinese immigrant families. Applying an interpretive theoretical framework, this study sought to capture the participants’ reality. This research was accomplished by interviewing four Chinese immigrant youth whose age ranged from 16 to 21 years. Three of the participants were female and one participant was male. The findings suggest Chinese immigrant youths perceive language brokering as an overall positive experience, yet it sometimes can bring forth negative emotions. In terms of the impact on the participants’ relationship with their parents, language brokering can also produce a more intimate relationship with parents because of its inherent emphasis on communication between the parents and their children. Nevertheless, one more effect emerging from the data was that in other situations the language brokers displayed a loss of respect for their parents. As language brokering is related to the mental health of immigrant youth and the healthy adjustment of the immigrant family to the country, social workers are expected to shed light on issues of language brokering practice in Chinese immigrant families. Accordingly, policy makers may be required to expand initiatives for programs that support Chinese immigrant youth.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Chinese medical research professionals utilize their intellectual cultural capital and flexible citizenship for their lives in two localities: the western suburban metropolitan Philadelphia area and Shanghai, China. In addition, this dissertation discusses modern Chinese culture through Chinese returnees' eyes in Shanghai. This research will discuss migration of skilled intellectuals under globalization and the change in these Chinese professionals' transnational identities in different localities. Moreover, this research presents the impact brought by neoliberal ideology in the United States and by policies of privatization in modern Chinese society to these transnational professionals as part of the global process of migrating professionals. This research contains two parts. The first part of this research will study Chinese medical research professionals' lives in the western suburban metropolitan Philadelphia area--the Philadelphia Mainline, West Chester, and Exton. The second part of my research studies these Chinese medical research professionals' return experience when they relocate back to Shanghai, China. Most of these Chinese professionals who I studied came to the US from China (the People's Republic of China), Hong Kong, and Taiwan (the Republic of China) for their graduate degrees. After graduation in the 1980s and 1990s, they stayed for work in pharmaceutical companies in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Despite having US citizenship or permanent residency, these Chinese professionals never identify themselves as "Americans". Their lives in the historically European-American cultural dominant western Philadelphia suburbs are challenged socially and culturally when they try to carry out their "American dream". Not being able to engage in activities in American society and often feeling disempowered, these Chinese professionals maintain their social connections with their "hometowns" in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in many cultural ways. At the same time, these Chinese medical professionals are involved in cultural activities such as Saturday Chinese Schools and Chinese Christian churches. Saturday Chinese Schools and Chinese Churches provide pivotal social network milieu for these Chinese professionals to construct their safety network in living in the western suburban Philadelphia area. Unlike Chinese immigrants in California and New York City where the Chinese population is huge, these Chinese professionals do not distinguish themselves by their countries of origin since they all consider themselves as a pan-Chinese minority in this Philadelphia metropolitan area. They do, however, distinguish themselves from Chinese immigrants in Philadelphia's Chinatown owing to social and economic differences, though a shared sentiment of pan-ethnicity emerges when they experience racial discrimination. These Chinese professionals conceive of neoliberal ideology as a natural fact of life in the US which they appreciate. They consider the social milieu of China as making it harsher for them to be prosperous than in the US since they do not need to have existing guanxi networks based on their families and friends in the US context. Intergenerationally, these Chinese professionals try to pass down their cultural heritage by ensuring that their children are educated, formally and informally, in Chinese language and culture. Their children--the second generation Chinese immigrants--identify themselves mostly as Chinese Americans with an imagined identity that connects them with their parents' respective homelands. Gender plays a vital role for these second generation Chinese immigrants with respect to the issue of becoming well-adjusted in attending to American high schools. Girls are more accepted by non-Asian peers than boys. Most of these second-generation Chinese boys tend to socialize only with Asian boys, and are very protective about themselves with respect to other groups in high schools. The second part of my research discusses these Chinese medical research professionals' return experience to China, particularly to the fast-paced, rapidly developing context of Shanghai. Starting from the year 2007, the economic recession has gradually been taking over the United States. At the same time, the booming Chinese market and economy are becoming the new focus of American companies. American pharmaceutical companies in the Philadelphia area recognize that these Chinese medical research professionals' transnational background enables them to broaden the company's economic development in China; therefore, they repatriate some Chinese medical professionals to China at management levels. Simultaneously, other Chinese professionals are returning to China to start their own small businesses because they were laid off in the United States. Having come to the US to pursue their American dreams, the unexpected return challenges Chinese professionals in every aspect of life. First, the process of relocation of the whole family can take years and lead to separation of the family. The separation leads to a shift in gender roles. Usually the mother takes charge of the whole family while the father moves to China for work. Some families are broken because some family members opt to stay in the US, which leads to adoption of children, love affairs, and divorces. China has developed dramatically economically and culturally since these Chinese professionals left in the 1990's; therefore, these Chinese professionals, who become returnees after returning to China, realize that they have difficulties adjusting themselves to life in Shanghai. Feeling like outsiders again, they have developed strategies to counter these difficulties. First of all, these Chinese returnees find that their identities as Chinese are strongly challenged since they are recognized as Americans by local Chinese. They realize that they have been Americanized in their social behavior, and they have had to force themselves to adapt to contemporary modern Chinese culture--which is heavily influenced by capitalism and neoliberalism after the PRC market reforms. Realizing that guanxi relationships are the main element in social networking in Chinese society, these Chinese returnees have to learn to adjust themselves to guanxi politics and engage themselves in Chinese style networking. Trying to avoid local people's secretive attitudes, these Chinese returnees tend to be friends only with people of similar background. Having social status and economic privileges in Shanghai, most Chinese returnees are able to maintain their own personal spaces and privacy by avoiding public spaces and public transportation. Most Chinese returnees are aware of the embedded social control by Chinese government in every corner in the city, and see the freedom they have in China as limited mostly to economic aspects. Some devout Christian Chinese returnees are always prepared to be deported by Chinese government since they insist on holding their non-legally authorized gatherings for fellowship and worship in private properties. These Chinese returnees' children are surprised to find that China is extremely different from what they have imagined after their move to Shanghai. They identify themselves as Americans and refuse to learn Chinese language and culture in order to distinguish themselves from local people. While people in Shanghai enjoy their imagined participation of globalization by consuming the Shanghai EXPO, these Chinese returnees keep themselves updated with US news and media through satellite television in order to retain a broad view of the world. These Chinese medical research professionals' lives in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and in Shanghai are examples of the migration and return migration of skilled professionals under the force of neoliberal ideologies and globalization. Their living experiences in China highlight changes in their ideas about national identity as Chinese transnationals in the context of modern Chinese society, which is highly influenced by state controlled capitalism and Chinese nationalism promoted through mass media and propaganda. This research will contribute to the lack of literature about Chinese professional immigrants to the East Coast of the United States, and their return migration to China. / Anthropology

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo discutir aspectos da imigração dos chineses em São Paulo e analisar a língua portuguesa falada pelos imigrantes. Com o desenvolvimento da comunicação e da sociedade, movimentos migratórios foram se tornando cada vez mais dinâmicos no palco mundial. A ampliação de políticas migratórias relativamente livres e o desenvolvimento acelerado tornaram o Brasil um dos destinos mais populares para os chineses. Os chineses, especialmente os do litoral, com tradição de emigrações, constituíram-se elementos atuantes na sociedade paulistana, em especial no comércio. Para os imigrantes mais antigos, os principais problemas enfrentados foram relativos à dificuldade em aprender o idioma. Como a maior parte faz negócios, é obrigatório comunicar-se com os clientes brasileiros, o que, depois de alguns anos no Brasil, favorece que se comuniquem sem grandes problemas no dia-a-dia. Os estudos de Fishman sobre as etapas de transição para um estado monolíngue indica que esse processo ocorre dentro de três gerações (FISHMAN, 1966,1988). Também há quatro etapas que conduz do bilinguismo ao monolinguismo, sendo este o do português (TARALLO e ALKMIN, 1987, p.67). Como é fato a expansão da imigração chinesa ao Brasil nas últimas décadas, a maioria dos imigrantes chineses em São Paulo é da primeira ou segunda geração. Isso significa que a língua dominante em sua vida ainda é a língua chinesa, no entanto já está em curso um período de transição do bilinguismo para o monolinguismo. Para o estudo da língua portuguesa falada pelos chineses em São Paulo, focalizo os marcadores discursivos. As funções discursivas estão presentes na língua de contato desde muito cedo, tão logo os falantes saem da fase de palavras isoladas ou de frases muito curtas e começam a usar um discurso mais longo, com narrativas, descrições e argumentações mais fluentes. Os marcadores são interessantes, pois mostram um comportamento distinto, via funções diferenciadas. Os resultados apontam que os falantes com mais proficiência usam mais marcadores com a função de organizar, reformular ou articular o texto, e os com menos proficiência usam marcadores para checar a própria interação, quer dizer, para se certificar que está sendo compreendido. / This thesis aims to analyze the Chinese immigration in Sao Paulo and the spoken Portuguese language by immigrants. With the development of communication and society, migratory movements are becoming more and more dynamic on the world stage. The expansion of free migration policies and the relatively rapid development made the Brazil one of the most popular destinations for the Chinese. The Chinese especially who are from the cost with the tradition of emigration constituted active elements in Sao Paulo society. For the older immigrants, the main problems were related to the difficulty in learning the language. But because many of them do business, which require to communicate with the Brazilian customers, so after a few years in Brazil, they do not have big problems in communication in the daily life. The studies of Fishman about the steps to transition to a monolingual state indicate that this process occurs within three generations (Fishman, 1966, 1988). There are four steps leading from biligualism to monolingualism, which in this case is Portuguese (TARALLO and ALKMIN, 1987, p.67). Because of the expansion of Chinese immigration to Brazil began in recent decades, most of the Chinese immigrants in Sao Paulo are in the first ou second generation. This means that the dominant language in their lives is still the Chinese language, however their language is in transition from bilingualism to monolingualism. To study the spoken Portuguese language by the immigrants in Sao Paulo, I focus on the discourse markers. The discursive function are present in the contact language very early, as soon as the speakers left the phase of single words ou very short sentence and begin to use a longer speech, with narratives, descriptions and arguments. The markers are interesting because they indicate diferent behaviors. They perform distinct functions. The results show that the speakers with more proficiency use more markers with the function of organizing or of articulating the text, and when the speakers with lower proficiency, they use more markers to verify the interaction.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo discutir aspectos da imigração dos chineses em São Paulo e analisar a língua portuguesa falada pelos imigrantes. Com o desenvolvimento da comunicação e da sociedade, movimentos migratórios foram se tornando cada vez mais dinâmicos no palco mundial. A ampliação de políticas migratórias relativamente livres e o desenvolvimento acelerado tornaram o Brasil um dos destinos mais populares para os chineses. Os chineses, especialmente os do litoral, com tradição de emigrações, constituíram-se elementos atuantes na sociedade paulistana, em especial no comércio. Para os imigrantes mais antigos, os principais problemas enfrentados foram relativos à dificuldade em aprender o idioma. Como a maior parte faz negócios, é obrigatório comunicar-se com os clientes brasileiros, o que, depois de alguns anos no Brasil, favorece que se comuniquem sem grandes problemas no dia-a-dia. Os estudos de Fishman sobre as etapas de transição para um estado monolíngue indica que esse processo ocorre dentro de três gerações (FISHMAN, 1966,1988). Também há quatro etapas que conduz do bilinguismo ao monolinguismo, sendo este o do português (TARALLO e ALKMIN, 1987, p.67). Como é fato a expansão da imigração chinesa ao Brasil nas últimas décadas, a maioria dos imigrantes chineses em São Paulo é da primeira ou segunda geração. Isso significa que a língua dominante em sua vida ainda é a língua chinesa, no entanto já está em curso um período de transição do bilinguismo para o monolinguismo. Para o estudo da língua portuguesa falada pelos chineses em São Paulo, focalizo os marcadores discursivos. As funções discursivas estão presentes na língua de contato desde muito cedo, tão logo os falantes saem da fase de palavras isoladas ou de frases muito curtas e começam a usar um discurso mais longo, com narrativas, descrições e argumentações mais fluentes. Os marcadores são interessantes, pois mostram um comportamento distinto, via funções diferenciadas. Os resultados apontam que os falantes com mais proficiência usam mais marcadores com a função de organizar, reformular ou articular o texto, e os com menos proficiência usam marcadores para checar a própria interação, quer dizer, para se certificar que está sendo compreendido. / This thesis aims to analyze the Chinese immigration in Sao Paulo and the spoken Portuguese language by immigrants. With the development of communication and society, migratory movements are becoming more and more dynamic on the world stage. The expansion of free migration policies and the relatively rapid development made the Brazil one of the most popular destinations for the Chinese. The Chinese especially who are from the cost with the tradition of emigration constituted active elements in Sao Paulo society. For the older immigrants, the main problems were related to the difficulty in learning the language. But because many of them do business, which require to communicate with the Brazilian customers, so after a few years in Brazil, they do not have big problems in communication in the daily life. The studies of Fishman about the steps to transition to a monolingual state indicate that this process occurs within three generations (Fishman, 1966, 1988). There are four steps leading from biligualism to monolingualism, which in this case is Portuguese (TARALLO and ALKMIN, 1987, p.67). Because of the expansion of Chinese immigration to Brazil began in recent decades, most of the Chinese immigrants in Sao Paulo are in the first ou second generation. This means that the dominant language in their lives is still the Chinese language, however their language is in transition from bilingualism to monolingualism. To study the spoken Portuguese language by the immigrants in Sao Paulo, I focus on the discourse markers. The discursive function are present in the contact language very early, as soon as the speakers left the phase of single words ou very short sentence and begin to use a longer speech, with narratives, descriptions and arguments. The markers are interesting because they indicate diferent behaviors. They perform distinct functions. The results show that the speakers with more proficiency use more markers with the function of organizing or of articulating the text, and when the speakers with lower proficiency, they use more markers to verify the interaction.

Most immigrants have to adjust their lives to living in a new country, especially when moving from an Eastern to a Western society. Chinese immigrants may face multiple difficulties, including cultural differences and the English language barrier, which are a particularly problem for older immigrants. To overcome these difficulties, many Chinese immigrants either form new community groups or join those currently operating. Normally, Chinese community groups provide a wide range of activities for members. The literature (e.g., Diener, 1984; Cantor & Sanderson, 1999; Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) provides some understanding of the value for new immigrants in attending these group activities. Participating members report improved life satisfaction within new society and have a more positive outcome as a result of their involvement. However, the magnitude of the influence life satisfaction and well-being is not as clear. This research aimed to better understand the relationships between participation in community group activities and the life satisfaction and well-being of participating members. A quantitative research method was adopted for this study to investigate the relationships between the variables. The study utilised a questionnaire that focused on specific demographic characteristics of participants, a 5-item life satisfaction measure (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), a short 18-item measure (Ryff, 1989a) of the six dimensions of psychological well-being, and on other factors likely to impinge on life satisfaction and well-being. The 7-point agreement scale asked participants the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the statements. The questionnaire was offered to participants in both English and Chinese. Questionnaires were completed by 600 Chinese-speaking immigrants from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore who were participants in educational activities and/or other activities offered through 21 different Chinese community groups in Brisbane. Four hundred took part in 20 different educational group activities, and 200 in 25 different non-educational group activities. Most participants were female, and approximately two thirds were over 50 years of age. Using AMOS, a number of structural equations models (SEMs) were tested to investigate the conceptually proposed links between the various variables. This study supports other literature, finding that both educational and general activities provided by the community groups positively influence the participating members' life satisfaction and feelings of well-being. The majority of participants in this study reported that they considered participating in community group educational activities (74.2% agreed), and general activities (66.6%), had the most impact on their life satisfaction and well-being. Most participants (70%) found that community group activities, both educational and general, were interesting. However, only around 53% of them claimed to have achieved their goals in these activities. The findings of this study indicate the complexity of the influences on life satisfaction and well-being levels facing this cohort of Chinese immigrants. Although results suggest that demographic variables such as year of migration and employment status have a greater influence on life satisfaction and well-being than educational activities and general activities, the outcomes of this study support the conclusion that the participating members have benefited from the variety of programs offered by Chinese community groups.