Chinese American History and Culture

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assimilation and, most of all, perseverance.
Traditional Chinese culture demanded a strict adherence to hierarchy. The family was the foundation of all social understand and systems. This cultural norm was tested in the early years of Chinese immigration but has found its way into the American cultural paradigm as an understandable and acceptable element of the process of acculturation. Generations of Chinese Americans used the English language as the primary tool of communication and learned Chinese if they were destined to return to China. Knowledge of Chinese traditions had not only lessened but had also lost importance in the assumption of American values (Lai 1). Now, the focus on multicultural value has allowed the Chinese American to r-investigate their heritage and to broaden the cultural perspective to once again include traditional Chinese values.
China's economic, political, social and family systems have been, historically, strongly connected to a ...

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while providing food is second. Artisans processed what the farmers had produced. Unlike the Chinese American culture, the merchant in China was at the bottom of the social scale (Howard 7). Later on, two more classes were added; the soldiers, whose brutality disgusted the Chinese, and the " so called mean people", consisting of domestic slaves, prostitutes, entertainers, and members with lowly professions such as the barber." (Li 354).
The family and the adherence to 'duty' is of far more importance than a political ideology or religious affiliation to most Chinese. The social and familial values are the core of the cultural system and form an extremely important part of the Chinese ...

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