Many Pathways To The Formation Of Cultural Identities

Many Chinese immigrant parents are concerned with their children's cultural development. They hope that their children could inherit their ethnic cultural heritage. This study sets out to investigate Chinese parental role in the formation of children's Chinese cultural identities. The study is ethnographically based and conducted in the London Chinese Community School, and data is collected through participant observation and interviews. Three pathways - homes and family life, community school and holiday trips to China are highlighted to analyse the parental role in children's construction of cultural identities. The study draws heavily on most recent research related to (1) culture and human development, (2) language and cultural identities, and (3) schools as communities. Parental roles in particular are carefully examined so as to highlight my research questions. Participants are four Chinese families with their British bom children. Homes and family life was a basic pathway where parents could help their children to form their Chinese identity. The children learn Chinese courtesy as well cultural scripts from their parents at homes and family life. Moreover, the community school intensively representing parents' joint effort of cultural and linguistic maintenance gave children opportunities to get to peers who shared the same cultural background and parents at the same time gained some experiences of how other parents help their children learn Chinese and its culture, most of which would be applied to their children and thus influence the construction of children's cultural identities. Furthermore, holiday trips to China offered children opportunities to cultivate their kinships and emotional links with their relatives and cultural heritage, and make links and even comparison between Chinese and British culture. These kinds of links and comparison can further children's understanding of Chinese culture and their cultural identities. The three pathways have provided children with many opportunities to get to know their cultural identities, influencing their formation of cultural identities.