From Laborers To Elites: Analysis Of The American Dream Of Chinese Americans

The history of Chinese living in America can be traced back to late1840s when manyChinese immigrants went to America to search for gold and working opportunities. Most ofthese early immigrants worked as cheap laborers and were never treated equally as others.For them, the American Dream was to make enough money to go back to China. On thecontrary, as they stepped into a relatively high level of the American society, ChineseAmericans nowadays had a different understanding of the American Dream. Theirdefinitions of the American Dream put more emphasis on their families, social andeconomic conditions as well as civil rights.This thesis was about Chinese Americans’ pursuit of the American Dream from thefirst day they settled down to the present days. Firstly, in order to make a clear analysis ontheir American Dreams, the thesis applies adequate materials from books and researchesabout their changes in occupational choices, economic conditions, family compositions,residential areas and political participations. Their changes in above aspects directlyshowed their change of perspectives on their American Dreams. Secondly, by using thesocial stratification theory, this thesis gives the reason on why Chinese Americans keeppursuing the American Dream.Since many Chinese still consider the United States as their first-choice immigrationdestination, the experience of the former Chinese immigrants is of great value fornewcomers to fulfill their American Dreams.