Chinese immigrants in the United States

     The United States is an immigrant country. A lot of people immigrated into this new world which was founded by Columbus in the 18^th century, they went to here to built their new home from all over the world and enjoy the new lifestyle. The earliest immigrants include Chinese immigrants. Chinese Americans are the oldest established and largest group among Asian communities in the United States (Yang, P. 120). How about the immigration pattern of Chinese in the United States is?

      The number of Chinese and the main areas where they live are two important factors in the immigration pattern of Chinese. There is no doubt that more and more Chinese immigrated to the United States in the last few years.  In general, the number of Chinese immigrants is increasing, only especially in 1882-1943, as a direct result of the Chinese Exclusion Act, there was a perceptions drop in the Chinese population, from a high of 105,465 in 1880 to a low of 61,639 in 1920 (Yang, P. 124). The population climbed to 77,504 in 1940 and by 1960 the Chinese-American population had risen to 237,292(Yang, P. 128). According the 2000 U.S. population census, the number of Chinese is 2,422,585 in 2000. The number of Chinese immigrants has risen 87.5% in the last ten years  (U.S. Census bureau). Most Chinese immigrants live in big cities on the East coast and West coast in United Stated. They settled in urban Chinatown, particularly San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles About 54% of Chinese immigrants live on the West coast, and 40%Chinese immigrants live on the East coast. The rest of the Chinese immigrants live other areas. (Yang, P.131).

     The Chinese immigrant’s educational level and professions are very different now from the early Chinese immigrants. Most of the early Chinese immigrants had a very low education. Because they did not know English and totally unfamiliar with the customs of the new country, they did very simple jobs at that time, they built railways and operated restaurants, etc. In the west they worked on the railroads, in agriculture and the mines, and at domestic chores. By 1860 the Chinese had also monopolized the marking of shoes, shirts, underwear, cigars, and tin-wear in the state of California  (Dinnerstein P.191). But now a lot of Chinese immigrants are technical immigrants, they usually have a very good education and a master’s degree in some specialty technology.  On other hand, the Chinese families in the US pay special attention to education of their children; the parents care about the study of their children very much. Today, a lot of Chinese Americans are working in high-tech companies with good salaries, and there is no restriction for them to select jobs. According to the 1990 U.S. census, One-third of all Chinese workers are concentrated in managerial and professional occupations; One-third in technical, sales, and administrative support. And a greater proportion of Chinese than whites have white-collar jobs, the average per capita income of Chinese Americans ($14876) is only a little more than that of the average American (14,143). In fact, 14 percent of the Chinese-American population live below poverty level, compared to 13 percent of the general American population (Yang, P. 134). 

     The Immigration community improved the life and social level of the Chinese immigrants. The Chinese immigrants built the Chinese schools, churches, newspaper offices and Chinese food supermarkets in the communities. They developed these community networks; so Chinese can have a good lifestyle in their community. The large influx of Chinese immigrants, combined with improved U.s.-China relation and renewed commitment to multiculturalism in this country, has led to a proliferation of Chinese cultural institutions and a broader acceptance of Chinese cultural practices in American (Yang, P.133) The important thing is that Chinese immigrants built up some mass organizations, then they take part in the election actively and they can do something under the order. This large group of well-educated and bilingual immigrants has also provided the Chinese-American community with a talented pool of social workers and political leaders (Yang, P. 133). 

     The Chinese immigrants have good lives in the US, and they have also made a great contribution to the development of the US. The US is an immigration nation, More and more Chinese immigrants will come to the US, and they will work hard with other Americans to make the US stronger and stronger   

Bibliography

Judy Yung, Elliott Robert Barkan. A sourcebook on American’s Multicultural Heritage, Greenwood Press 1999 (119~137)

L. Dinnerstein, R. Nichols, D. Reimers. Natives And Strangers, Oxford University Press 1996 (191~193)

U.S. Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/2khome.htm