From Chinese Immigrants To Chinese-Americans: The Assimilation Of American Chinese Into The U.S. Society In Perspective

As a country mainly comprised of immigrants and the descendants of immigrants, assimilation is a very common phenomenon in the history of the United States. The present thesis makes a case study of the assimilation process of the Chinese immigrants in the country.The thesis looks into the history of the Chinese immigrants in the U.S. from the 1840s to the present, and finds that during the 100 years from the 1840s to the 1940s, due to the prevalent prejudice and discrimination that existed in the country, the assimilation process of the Chinese is considerably slow.However, after the 1940s, the assimilation process has accelerated following the changes in the internal and external environment of the country. Compared with the years before, remarkable progress has been made in many aspects of their lives, such as the demographic make-up, family life, geographical distribution, interracial marriages, educational and professional attainment, political participation, etc. Meanwhile, some new problems, particularly, the new stereotypes and the negative influence of changing Sino-US relations on the Chinese community, have also arisen in recent decades in the new social context.Examining the history of the Chinese immigrants, it is not difficult to discern that prejudice and discrimination have always posed the greatest obstacles in the assimilation process of them. No matter what a course the country follows in the future, interethnic relations have to be built on such basic principles as equality, diversity and solidarity so as to ensure the common interests of the whole society.