Category: Chinese

Cultural competence involves being aware that there are differences from one’s own cultural and that of others’ culture. To be culturally competent also requires one to respect the differences, obtain knowledge and self-educate on the differences, and anticipate needs based on the differences. Cultural competence and sensitivity are imperative to provide good health care. The goal of this paper is to assist in building cultural competence for providing quality health care in relation to childbearing families. Some of the areas within this discussion include communication, health related beliefs and practices, pregnancy, birth, afterbirth, infant feeding, infant care, and patient/family teaching based on their needs. The Chinese culture will be the cultural focus of this paper. It is important to keep in mind, even the Chinese culture has many subcultures that can influence different beliefs, practices, and even language. The very basic of providing good care is being able to effectively communicate with a patient.

Communication

The Chinese have many different languages and dialects. Some of these dialects include Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkein, Hakka, and Teo-chieu (Faculty of Monash University, 2009). Many communication practices are guided by Confucian principles. The purpose of Confucian principles is to achieve harmony and it assists in building Chinese behavior and character. Avoiding raising issues unless another party does is an example of a Confucian principle that affects communication. Another principle affecting communication is that someone should not tell another person something that may upset them. This may drive why Chinese people tend to be subtle when discussing something. This is also why some Chinese may avoid sharing health concerns. People within the Chinese culture may also avoid taking initiative due to it could be viewed as not maintaining harmony and peace. To maintain peace and harmony, the Chinese will also defer to authority and conform to avoid conflict and maintain respect (Cheung, Nelson, Advincula, Cureton, Canham, 2005).

Many of these cultural differences in communication compared to Western communication can cause misinterpretations. As an example, the Chinese may nod during a health providers instruction just to show respect for authority rather than necessarily understanding and agreeing with the information. This can lead to a misinterpretation of noncompliance. Another example is Westerners may consider some of the above communication techniques as indirect and offensive. No response by a Chinese person may be interpreted as nothing being wrong due to assumptions of Western culture; if something was wrong it would just be stated (Cheung, et al, 2005). These communication differences can clearly affect health care for the Chinese American. The Chinese also have their own health related beliefs and practices that can affect their health care.

Health Related Beliefs and Practices

Chinese health beliefs are very holism based. “Illness is perceived as disharmony at the individual or social level” (Cheung, et al, p.5, 2005). In the Chinese culture both curative and caring care are needed for optimal health. Although Western health care is making a move towards holistic care, there is still an emphasis on a biomedical or task-based model of care (Cheung, et al, 2005). Another main factor in Chinese health is the belief of the balance of positive (yang) and negative (yin) energy in the body. The Chinese classify certain foods, illnesses, and medications as ‘hot’ or ‘cold’. This classification drives what foods and care they believe to be appropriate to balance an unwell person. Illness itself can be attributed to a few different things. Imbalance of body elements such as too much of ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ foods or imbalance/disharmony cosmically is believed to cause illness. Interference from evil sources or moral reprisal by deities or ancestors for transgressions or negligence can also cause illness. Another explanation of illness in the Chinese culture is poor Feng Shui (Faculty of Monash University, 2009). Feng Shui is described as “the impact of the natural and built environment on the fortune and wellbeing of inhabitants” (Faculty of Monash University, p. 1, 2009). For wellness, many Chinese will use traditional Chinese medicine which includes Chinese herbs, dietary therapy, acupressure, acupuncture, and forms of ‘supernatural’ healing (Faculty of Monash University, 2009). Many of these basic health beliefs carry over into pregnancy beliefs and practices.

Pregnancy

In Chinese culture there are guidelines and restrictions for pregnancy that are used to avoid complications including miscarriage, stillbirth, maternal death, and any abnormalities in the baby. These guidelines are derived from the basic concept of yin and yang. There are dietary and behavioral restrictions to ensure balance, harmony, and a healthy pregnancy. As discussed before, the Chinese put an emphasis on holistic care. For pregnancy this means anything that affects the mother’s mind or spirit can in turn affect the fetus. For example, strong emotions such as worry, fear, and anger can affect the mother’s organs and affect the fetus. This is not to say the focus is just on strong negative emotions. Too much joy is an example of a positive emotion they would still believe to affect the mother and the fetus in a negative way. The key is balance. Pregnant Chinese women are also restricted from strenuous physical work due to the belief this would weaken the mother and weaken the fetus. Some Chinese mothers also worry about symbolic activities (Lau, 2012). In this instance, using sharp objects such as scissors in bed is believed to cause the baby to have a cleft lip. Posting or taping objects to the wall of their bed is believed to cause unwanted birth marks on the face of their baby (Do, 2000). The main food restriction pregnant women are told to abide by is avoiding ‘cold’ foods. It is believed cold foods can cause poor blood circulation in the uterus and lead to bleeding or miscarriage. Foods that are considered ‘wet-hot’ are said to have a poisonous energy and can lead to skin eruptions on the baby (Lau, 2012). “Moreover, some symbolic foods are avoided because they will affect the baby’s character or appearance: Snack can be bad for the baby’s skin, making it take on a scaly appearance; mutton will cause epilepsy because the disease is sheep-like (faat yeung); and dark foods (fermented soybeans, chocolate, coffee, and Coca Cola) are thought to give a baby a dark complexion” (Lau, p. 28, 2012). The birth experience also has a few differences in the Chinese culture.

Birth

Before going into labor Chinese women want to eat to gain energy. On the other hand, in Western culture it is advised to avoid eating to reduce the risk of nausea and vomiting during labor. Western culture will typically offer ice chips to a delivering mother who is thirsty. A Chinese mother will not want this due to it would upset their internal hot/cold balance (Do, 2000). It has been reported that during labor family support is preferred over pain medications (Sullivan, 2012). A Chinese laboring mother is traditionally expected to not cry out or scream during labor and may favor sitting or squatting to give birth. Another tradition practice is for the father to not be involved with the labor process, but female family members such as the mother or mother-in-law would play a major support role during the labor. Some distress could occur if the mother is not given choices in relation to cultural traditions versus western practices (Faculty of Monash University, 2009). The postpartum period for Chinese women also has a few contrasts to western culture.

Afterbirth

Some superstitious beliefs for the baby after birth are apparent in Chinese culture. One belief is if the baby is dressed in used clothes it can inherit characteristics of the previous owner. It is also believed the gods may take a baby away if one were to call the baby heavy or beautiful. One emphasized Chinese postpartum tradition is called ‘sitting the month’. This tradition involves the mother spending a month focusing on rest but includes some very strict restrictions. During the month the mothers are not supposed to go outside, visit others, eat at the table with the rest of the family, eat raw or cold foods, wash herself or her hair, get sick, read, cry, have sex, or burn incense. They are also told to avoid the wind, avoid walking or moving a lot, and wash their rice bowl in boiling water (Sullivan, 2012). It was discussed earlier that the female family members play a major role in the labor process, but they continue this major role throughout infant care.

Infant Care

When it comes to how to care for an infant the Chinese women will typically look for advise from the older female relatives. In fact, the older female relatives tend to take over the caregiver role for the infant during the first 24 hours after birth and during the time the mother practices ‘sitting the month’. This vital role is typically filled by a grandmother who is also seen as having an authoritative position. For this reason, it is important for the grandmother to be included in patient teachings (Faculty of Monash University, 2009). At the end of ‘sitting the Month’ the Chinese consider this time as the child’s first birthday or its ‘full moon’. This 30th day celebration is called ‘man yue’. On this day the ritual of shaving the hair of the baby is performed. Some traditions call for the baby to be dressed in new, preferably red, clothes with gold accessories to be presented to deities and ancestors. During this celebration the baby is also shown to relatives and friends for the first time. Hard-boiled eggs, dyed red, are given as gifts to family and friends and symbolize the renewal of life (Yeo, 2013). Infants in the Chinese culture may be ‘over-wrapped’ and are put to sleep in the prone position. A superstition that continues into infancy is the belief that if an infant is praised, the child may become ill or be taken away by evil spirits (Faculty of Monash University, 2009). Another important part of infant care is infant feeding.

Infant Feeding

Within the Chinese culture colostrum can be considered dirty or stale. Due to this belief the infant is not typically fed colostrum. Instead of colostrum, Chinese mothers may feed their infants with boiled rice water or formula during the first 2 days (Faculty of Monash University, 2009). Chinese traditions also call for an infant to be fed honeysuckle herbs and rice drink at 7 days old. At 30 days old they may begin feeding the infant adult food (Lee & Brann, 2014). There has been a decrease in breast feeding rates in immigrant women living in western countries. This decrease has been attributed to many things including: “the transition from an extended to a nuclear family, an increased interest in Western norms, a need to work or study, the social isolation caused by language barriers, the availability of infant formula, an inability to access and consume traditional confinement foods, conflict between their traditional practices and those of the host culture, and acculturation” (Zhou, Younger, & Kearney, p.2, 2018). There are many things that can be addressed with patient/family teaching that have been discussed in this paper.

Patient/Family Teaching

Assisting and promoting clients about self-advocacy and what is appropriate to discuss with a health care provider can be beneficial in any health care setting. This can help in some misinterpretations from communication differences. Discussing nutrition options to ensure pregnant women are getting the nutrition they need while practicing the strict dietary restrictions is also an important teaching point. After birth, if a woman needs an episiotomy, she may not want to use ice packs to reduce swelling due to the need to balance ‘hot/cold’. Due to this, it would be important to discuss other options to reduce swelling. It may also be beneficial to teach the new mother of the benefits of colostrum. It would be important to discuss with the new mother the availability of staff during the first 24 hours after birth if the patient wants to adhere to the cultural tradition of not being around the infant if there is not family available. When the Chinese mother plans to practice the tradition of ‘sitting the month’ it is important to discuss options for leg exercise and other techniques to reduce DVTs. Many women reported the difficulty of practicing ‘sitting the month’ and addressing ways to support emotional health as well as signs of postpartum depression is also important. As with any patient, any need they state or you notice, should be addressed.

Conclusion

Cultural competence plays a vital role in effective health care. Cultural competence includes knowing how to communicate, verbally and nonverbally, to effectively treat a patient. Being aware of what health means to each culture and providing care on this basis to the best of your ability. Pregnancy can be a vulnerable time for any woman and knowing someone’s culture and catering to that can make a huge difference. Afterbirth, infant care, and infant feeding are all parts of parenting that should be addressed before a new family heads home from the hospital. Individualizing patient teaching to each culture, family, and person and eliminating ethnocentrism is the key to providing excellent care. If a health care provider did not focus on cultural competency there would be so many missed opportunities for patient teaching before the patient is discharged. Family-centered, culturally competent, holistic, evidence-based practice is the kind of care that is expected of every health care provider and deserved by every patient.

References

1. Cheung, R., Nelson, W., Advincula, L., Cureton, V. Y., & Canham, D. L. (2005). Understanding the Culture of Chinese Children and Families. The Journal of School Nursing, 21(1), 3–9. doi: 10.1622/1059-8405(2005)021[0003:utcocc]2.0.co;2.
2. Do, H. (2000, June 1). Chinese Cultural Profile. Retrieved November 2, 2019, from http://ethnomed.org/culture/chinese/chinese-cultural-profile.
3. Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Helath at Monash University. (2009). Chinese Dimensions of Pregnancy, Birth, and Post-Natal Care- Chinese Profile. Retrieved November 2, 2019, from https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/158661/chinese-preg-prof.pdf
4. Lau, Y. (2012). Traditional Chinese Pregnancy Restrictions, Health-Related Quality of Life and Perceived Stress among Pregnant Women in Macao, China. Asian Nursing Research, 6(1), 27–34. doi: 10.1016/j.anr.2012.02.005.
5. Lee, A., & Brann, L. (2014). Influence of Cultural Beliefs on Infant Feeding, Postpartum and Childcare Practices among Chinese-American Mothers in New York City. Journal of Community Health, 40(3), 476–483. doi: 10.1007/s10900-014-9959-y.
6. Sullivan, D. H. (2012). Culturally Sensitive Insight into Chinese Immigrants Childbearing Traditions. International Journal of Childbirth Education, 27(1), 23–26.
7. Yeo, T. R. (2013, June 14). Chinese birth rituals. Retrieved November 2, 2019, from http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2013-05-14_113920.html?s=chinesebirth-rituals
8. Zhou, Q., Younger, K. M., & Kearney, J. M. (2018). Infant Feeding Practices in China and Ireland: Ireland Chinese Mother Survey. Frontiers in Public Health, 6. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00351.

For a large period of time women throughout the world, especially in China were seen as wives who were intended to cook, clean and take care of their children. Women in rural areas spent their entire days taking care of the house and looking after their husbands. They had a lot of duties and responsibilities that they had to fulfil in order to be respected by their husbands and society. Women in China in particular had a lot of pressure on them. Since the Chinese culture is heavily influenced by Confucian ideals, the men were looked as the heads of the household whereas the women were dependent on her father, her husband and her eldest son. There were many expectations from women including overseeing the household and producing heirs. Sine women didn’t have many rights and were denied access to basic education, they women created a secret writing system in which they expressed themselves in ways that would never be allowed to due to the rigid social circumstances.

In the early 1800’s women did not legally exist. They could not own property and were subordinate to men in every way. For example in the article ‘From Being to Becoming’ by Fei-Wen Liu it says “As were were the majority of peasant women born in Chinese androcentric communities prior to the Liberation of 1949, Cizhu was denied access to education in which she could learn Chinese hanzi character”. Men were superior to women in every way. However gradually things began to change. Chinese women decided to take things into their own hands. Around 500 years ago during the late Ming dynasty, a very exclusive form of communication was born. In China’s Hunan Province, peasant women developed a script called ‘Nushu’, which literally means “woman’s writing”. Nushu was a simplification of the Chinese characters used only amongst women. The purpose of Nushu was to give women a voice. It allowed women to express their feelings openly with other women. In the article ‘An amazing new discovery’ by Liu Shouhua and Hu Xiaoshen they say: “The descriptions in the Nishu narratives of the heroins and their adventures reflect a type of liberation from Confucian moral restraints.The image of the feminine they create is radiant with self-reliance and vigor that fully accords with the inclinations of working women” (Shouhua & Xiaoshen, 314). The development of the language Nushu was an attempt for women to feel liberated and have a say without getting reprimanded.

Since the Chinese culture was mainly male dominated for centuries and women weren’t permitted an education or given any rights, Chinese women developed their own means of a creative communication asserting themselves. Their lack of rights cultivated Nushus form which depicts the culture behind the women’s language. Chinese women developed a script to express their sorrows with other females going through the same thing. Developing this script allowed them to verbalize about their sorrow and misfortune of separation, marriage and so on. The writings were written in a structured style and the letters were from women to women as they felt that this female-only script was the only way to keep in contact with their female friends. In rural China many women were ill literate since they were denied access to education hence the most literary inclined among them used Nushu to write down their daily thoughts and feelings.

The Nushu language once united the women in an exclusive sisterhood. ‘Jiebai Zimei’ or ‘sworn sisters’ is referred to a relationship that was recognized by women as valuable and even necessary for them in a local social system. Young girls were encouraged to make a pact of closeness with one another. The Nushu script depicted a form of loyalty women had with each other in which they expressed their feelings and opened up to one another about issues that only women could understand. Older women would teach younger girls to learn how to write Nushu. Then after they would get married the script would help keep them in touch. This secret language system was passed down from one generation on women to the next. Nushu created a sisterhood with women that couldn’t be broken. This hidden language was a act of female solidarity in one of the world’s oldest civilization.

Nushu twisted versions of of ordinary Chinese characters and it only contained around 700 or so characters. Some people believe that the reason behind the twisted characters were made so that men would consider them as ordinary decorations The type of writing system of Nuhsu was syllabic and the direction of writing was vertical columns running from top to bottom and from right to left. The writers valued each character written with very fine lines as a mark of good penmanship. “The gracefully – written rhombic Nushu language are structured by just four kinds of strokes, including dot, horizontal, virgule and arc” (Xinhua). Women used to write Nushu in many different ways. Many women used the script in embroidery, calligraphy, and handicrafts. The secret code was written on paper and embroidered on fabric and paper fans. Since the Nushu language was a secret there were no references found in documents and many of the scripts were buried with the women who owned the writings. The reason why the language was written in secrecy was because at the time the world was largely invisible to men. Women were neither understood nor respected.

‘Snow Flower and the Secret Fan’ was a novel and a movie constructed around the secret language of nushu. In this novel a 80-year-old women named Lily is finally old enough to speak her mind without getting in trouble. Lily begins the novel by explaining the hardships she had to face. As a child, Lily had to go through foot binding so her feet could be perfect in order to marry into a rich town. Soon after Lily’s aunt begins teaching Lily Nushu which she must keep a secret from men. Lily’s friend, ‘Snow Flower’, also has gone through the excruciating pain of foot binding. After both the girls got married they stayed in touch by constantly writing to each other in Nushu.Through their everlasting devotion both the girls stayed true and loyal to each other their entire lives. Their secret code for communication, Nushu, helped them maintain their bond and stayed connected for many years. The paper fan that Lily and Snow Flower communicated through was a symbol of their true sign of friendship and of everything that happened between the two girls from childhood to death.

The last speaker and writer of Nushu and the last woman who possessed the most and genuine knowledge of a 400- year old tradition was Yang Huanyi. She was the last person who could recognize, read and write the Nushu. Yang Huanyi was born in Jiangyong County. As a little girl she was taught read and write the language. Before Yang got married, she used to exchange letters in Nushu to her sworn sisters. The ‘sworn sisters’ formed small sororities that became crucial female support in the face of male domination. Yang Huanyi never joined the ‘sworn sisters’ but she spent enough time with them to learn the language. In one of her interviews Yang Huanyi expressed that by writing and communication in Nushu she felt that so much suffering disappeared. By the end of 1990s, Yang Huanyi was the only surviving inheritance of Nushu. Yang Huanyi died on September 20, 2004. Many people believe that the tradition of Nushu died when she died. None of Yang’s children or grandchildren inherited her knowledge of this unique language.

Nushu started dying out after the cultural revolution after being in use for hundred of years.

The younger generation has no use of Nushu. Although Nushu has no pertenece to anyone’s lives anymore, some Chinese and Western scholars are trying to preserve the language. There is now a Nushu dictionary and a school was opened to teach the script. Many young girls are keen on keeping the tradition alive and learning the writings of their ancestors.

‘Eat a Bowl of Tea’ was written by Louis Hing Chu, and made into a film, directed by Wayne Wang in 1989. It takes place in the time after World War II when the United States has gotten rid of its strict immigration laws for China since it was an ally during the war. It began in 1875 with the Page Act which prevented Chinese women the ability to immigrate to the United States. In 1882, Chinese laborers were denied permission to immigrate, and then it escalated until 1924 when no Chinese nationals were allowed. The effects of these acts are shown in ‘Eat a Bowl of Tea’, especially with the Chinatown community, Ben Loy’s parents, and Ben’s own marriage. The Chinese Exclusion Act unintentionally defined gender inequality within Chinese American families before and after World War II; Chinese women were left behind or expected to play a specific role, while the men could live their lives with more freedom and pursue a career.

One main example of the effects caused by the exclusion laws was the main setting for the film, Chinatown in New York, where the majority of the residents are men, especially older gentlemen. As quoted in the beginning scene, “…No Chinese woman could come to America. Not even a wife, not even a daughter” (Wang, 0:03:14). Most of them have left their wives and daughters behind in China and either send money or gifts to them. This means that there aren’t any families present in Chinatown at the time. Regardless of this, a lot of these gentlemen have careers and they have also established their own ‘Fratriarchy’, a brotherly association, as they are all a part of a generation of immigrants with similar backgrounds and traditional values. The reason why the societal structure is set up this way is unintentionally due to the Chinese exclusion laws, specifically the Page Act, which made it illegal for Chinese women to immigrate alongside men. As a result, the Chinese men are able to live their lives in America, while the women back in China were inevitably left behind.

Ben Loy’s parents are another prime example of how the exclusion acts have affected the Chinese family structure. When his father, Wah Gay, left for the United States, he had to leave Ben’s mother behind in China, since part of the exclusion acts forbade women from immigrating as well. This has happened with a bunch of families in China, making it a very matriarchal society. When Ben Loy goes back to China to get married and his mother sees what his father has sent her as gifts, she comments: “He sends me this fancy junk so that he doesn’t have to visit me himself” (Wang, 0:16:24). It’s been over twenty years since she last saw him face to face, and she has come to the conclusion that Wah Gay will never come back to China, and has left her behind for good, and doesn’t seem to care about her that much anymore. Despite this, she doesn’t try to find other companionship and just surrounds herself with all of her other female friends.

However, his father, Wah Gay, has been living his life in the United States as a bachelor, visiting female sex workers from time to time, despite him knowing that he has a wife back in China. He has a lot more freedom than his wife does, having a career and his own business. Since living in the United States, he hasn’t gone back to visit her and in his response letters, he lies and says: “…That his business is ‘so-so’ so that he doesn’t have to send her more money” (Wang, 0:06:26). He clearly enjoys his rather trouble-free life, and doesn’t aim to change much of it. Ben’s mother had her role from ‘a wife’ changed into an unintentional sacrifice for Wah Gay to be able to further his life in the United States, and she was left behind as a result of the exclusion laws barring her from coming along.

The final example of how the Chinese Exclusion Act unintentionally affected is seen in Ben and Mei Oi’s marriage. Ben initially brought Mei Oi back to the United States to have a happy marriage and children, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Ben was given the title of restaurant manager and had to leave Mei Oi at home by herself almost all the time, making her role an unintentional housewife, offering her little freedom to do anything else. Another part of her role was defined by the rest of the Chinatown society; since they were the youngest couple of childbearing age, after the Chinese Exclusion Act had been repealed, the older generation expects her to carry children so that a new generation could be born. With all this pressure placed upon Mei Oi, she decides to get pregnant as soon as possible and ends up cheating on Ben, which inevitably ruins her reputation. Despite this, Ben is able to move around and get other jobs, and he even has an opportunity over in San Francisco as a radio announcer. To this Mei Oi angrily replies, “You’ve got a chance to start over again…take it…!” (Wang, 1:38:08), which further proves that she would have nowhere to truly go. These specific instances further prove that Ben Loy has a lot more freedom and opportunity than his wife does, even after the affair. This is a true gender inequality showcased in their marriage.

In conclusion, the film ‘Eat a Bowl of Tea’ focuses on providing a story about a young marriage in Chinatown after World War II, yet the real story of the film is how the Chinese Exclusion Act unintendedly caused the societal and family structure of Chinese Americans to be unequal, especially in regards to gender. That gender inequality caused Chinatown in New York to become a ‘Fratriarchy’ and the community in China to be a sort of matriarchy. Women were either left behind or stayed at home, while the men were living their lives with little to no trouble. This film is clearly showcasing that the women were ultimately sacrificed or downplayed to the role of ‘housewife’ in order for the men to be able to further their careers or lives along. They were regarded as extra baggage that they couldn’t carry along or could hold them back. The exclusion laws weren’t created to prevent Chinese families from immigrating and prospering in the United States, but it ultimately turned out to be that way.

Works Cited

1. “Chinese Exclusion Act”. The African American Policy Forum, African American Policy Forum, http://aapf.org/chinese-exclusion-act
2. “Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts”. Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/chinese-immigration
3. Wang, Wayne. Eat a Bowl of Tea. Sony Pictures Entertainment, 1989.

It all started when Kazakh actress Reyizha Alimjan arrived in Shanghai in July 2019, wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a low-cut yellow camisole that highlighted her figure. This choice of clothing led to Alimajan being cyber-bullied, with some netizens accusing her of seeking attention with her breasts rather than her work, and others criticizing her for showing too much flesh. These judgments ignited a long-running debate that is at the intersection of sexism, freedom of expression, social norms, and cultural traditions: who gets a say on what clothes Chinese women should or should not wear? But to me, this simple question has only touched the tip of the iceberg, and perhaps we can only see the greater mass of the iceberg, the hidden meaning and the buried truth behind this debate, if we dig deeper and dive into questions like “Where does this iceberg come from?” and “why is this iceberg still emerges on the surface of the ocean up to now?”

The controversy erupted when an article titled “I Wish Chinese Girls the Freedom to Dress” defending Reyizha Alimjan appeared on Wechat, the most popular social network in China, on August 12, 2019. The article attracted 5 million views within 24 hours, and it sparked a heated and heavily-gendered online debate. The author, San, starts her article referring to traveling overseas as “a brief indulgence”(1) because she could dress up recklessly. She could wear clothes that would be regarded as unremarkable in Europe or North America yet often seen as outrageous in China–the world’s most populous nation. San claims: “I would wear a bikini on the beach, and wear a camisole or an off-shoulder on the streets. However, I wouldn’t wear the same in China because I have to face passers-by’s different eyes or the vulgar jokes made by male friends, or even some insulting words”(1). Therefore, San argues that “Chinese girls don’t have the freedom of dress”(1). Her bold statement plunged me into deep meditation: What exactly is freedom of dress? And what does it mean to have such freedom? As a young adult male, I’ve never contemplated these questions in my entire life. Looking back now, nobody ever judged me when I was wearing a tank top playing basketball outside in the summer, and it seemed like the dress-codes in my high school only applied to my female classmates. So, I asked myself this question: do I really have the privilege of dressing up recklessly, or expressing myself fearlessly over my female peers?

In her article, San defines freedom of dress as: “A girl, no matter what shape or color she has, has her own freedom in dressing. And on this premise, she should not be restricted and prevented by others, and should not be evaluated and discussed through any forms like words and actions”(2). To further prove Chinese girls don’t possess such freedom, San brings up Alimjan’s incident and calls out some malicious comments, such as: “She dresses like this for publicity and attention”(2) and “no ordinary human would dress like that”(2). San thinks that these comments are “insulting”(2) and “unbearable”(2), and she considers this incident a reflection of Chinese women’s lack of freedom because they still could not decide what they should wear nowadays, even celebrities, let alone ordinary people. “Growing up in China, lots of girls’ choices of clothes are restricted, even by the people they are closest to.” San writes, “When at home, mothers won’t allow their daughters to wear backless tops or crop tops, and when dating, boyfriends forbid their girlfriends to wear low cut dresses or miniskirts”(2). Thus, San concludes that it is unimaginably hard, almost impossible for Chinese girls to truly possess the freedom of dress. Through San’s descriptions, we can see the oppressive nature of contemporary Chinese society, and how it restrains women’s freedom of expression. And through San’s recursive use of words like “ignorant” and “unbearable”(2), we can see her resentment and disdain toward the narrow judgments on the way women dress. As a woman, San is unwilling to succumb to being policed or told what to wear by men, because women ought to dress according to their own beauty standards, not men’s expectations. San’s anger towards being policed by men leaves us with one question: where does this tradition of policing women’s dress come from?

This tradition of policing women’s dress could be traced back to the gender inequality in Chinese history. In the essay “Women in Ancient China,” Mark Cartwright addresses this problem by presenting to us that women in ancient China did not enjoy their social or political status afforded to men. Cartwright mentions a system derived from Confucianism, called the “three followings” and the “four virtues,” which were the code of conduct and moral standards used to restrain women in ancient Chinese society. The “three followings” stipulated that “women were subordinate to first their fathers, then their husbands, and finally, in the case of being left a widow, their sons”(1), and the “four virtues” stated that women were expected to excel in four areas: “fidelity, cautious speech, industriousness, and graceful manners”(2). Through this system, we could clearly observe the low-status Chinese women had in their families; it is horrifying to imagine and even more shocking to see that they could even be manipulated by their sons. Ancient Chinese society deprived women’s freedom of expression and their individuality, not even to mention their free will of dressing. On top of those, gender inequality was further embodied and illustrated in the twisted ancient Chinese practice of foot-binding: “Girls from aged three upwards had their feet crushed in bindings for years in the belief that the resulting small feet would appeal to her future husband”(3). In ancient China, women were like birds that were captivated in the cage of men’s expectations, and marriage was like a lock that guaranteed women couldn’t flee. The best proof was that ancient Chinese law stipulated: “a man could divorce his wife, but she had no such right except if the husband particularly mistreated his wife’s family”(3). This law, again, demonstrated wives were not much more than physical pieces of their husband’s property in ancient China. Chinese women lived in a male-dominated society and were restricted by rules that were created by men and worked for the benefit of men. They have never been free in dressing in ancient China, and they are still only free to a certain extent in modern China because generations of cultural norms and social traditions cannot be overlooked. These cultural heritages are like raging fires that have made Chinese women suffer for thousands of years, and even most of them have been put out by now, the scars they left are still haunting Chinese women.

Other than gender inequality in Chinese history, Chinese philosophy also plays a role in Chinese women’s decision making over what to wear. In China, there is no law regulating how people should dress or undress in public, but being humble and avoiding unwanted attention has long been part of the Chinese philosophy. Lao Tzu, one of the most famous Chinese Philosophers, writes in his book, Tao Te Ching:

The supreme goodness is like water.

It benefits all things without contention.

In dwelling, it stays grounded.

In being, it flows to depth.

In expression, it is honest.

In confrontation, it stays gentle.

In governance, it does not control.

In action, it aligns with timing.

It is content with its nature,

and therefore can not be faulted. (Tao Te Ching, 8).

This poem taught the Chinese the importance of humility. When we think about water, we know it is so vital because it nourishes everything around it – plants and animals – yet it doesn’t draw any attention to itself, nor does it expect compliments or recognition from others. Instead, water stays humble at all times. The quality of water shows in the ocean as all streams eventually flow to it, because the ocean is at the lowest of all. As an easterner who has been exposed to the western world for more than three years, I found these eastern aesthetics and ideas particularly interesting, because they have formed such a sharp contrast with their western counterparts. While the easterners try to be more like water in their day-to-day lives, move in silence, stay grounded, and avoid unnecessary attentions, the westerners assert the importance of individuality and expression, try to outdo others in every affair; they are like a group of determined mountaineers who are competing to be the first one to reach the mountaintop. And through this contrast, I gradually realized that I’d been granted a wonderful opportunity to absorb the best parts of both worlds: I can be a seed that hides underground, like the easterners, when I need to absorb the nutrition, so that I can eventually bloom, like the westerners, when the best time for me to shine has come.

Whereas San makes a solid point claiming that women are the victims of society’s views, another author, Wang, believes that the criticisms are only words. Standing on the opposite of San, Wang writes an article titled “I Refute ‘I Wish Chinese Girls the Freedom of Dress’” that directly speaks back to San’s work. Wang’s central idea is that “Chinese laws already give women the right to wear what they like. The society is also open and tolerant, but people have the right to disagree, and San wants to deprive others of the right to express their opinions”(1). Wang argues that no matter who is being judged, San, Alimjan, the daughter, the girlfriend, or any other person, “it doesn’t mean she has been deprived the freedom of dressing”(1). The reason is that, after all, “they are only people’s opinions, not a limitation to any freedom”(1). Therefore, Wang’s conclusion comes to Chinese women do posse freedom of dress. Through Wang’s argument, we can see that he agrees with part of San’s definition of freedom of dress which states that a girl can dress as she pleases; however, Wang opposes to factoring in others’ words and actions into this debate of freedom, because doing so itself is a violation of others’ freedom of speech. As I contemplate the true meaning of freedom of dress, Wang’s argument becomes more reasonable and it starts to make more logical sense, because even in the freest country, personal freedom is not without resistance; what’s different is not the opinions of others, but those of the individuals themselves. It is just like the author Toni Morrison once said: “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

Although San and Wang have different opinions over whether Chinese women possess the freedom of dress or not, they both agree with the fact that women are being judged for what they wear. This consensus raises a new question: why are women visual objects? San attributes this problem onto the stereotypes of women. Those stereotypes are like locks that locked women wherever they go; and to San, the keys are in the hands of men. In “I Wish Chinese Girls the Freedom to Dress,” San specifically criticizes three types of prejudice on women. The first one is the double standards. San writes: “Some people supported Reyizha because her body is in good shape. Although it seems like they are supporting the freedom of dress, they are actually body-shaming those girls who are not in good shape according to their aesthetic standard”(3). Those girls are the victims who are often openly mocked for dressing in a way that accentuates their imperfections. The second one is slut-shaming, demeaning girls who violate society’s expectations regarding sexuality, assuming whoever displays herself revealingly is a slut, and that she must have had sexual relationships with a ton of men. The third one is an extension of slut-shaming, called irrational accusation. Some people think that “if a woman dresses so revealingly, then she deserves to be sexually harassed or even raped”(3). San questions her readers, “Is it really women’s fault if they are sexually harassed?” San quotes an exhibit in Belgium called “What were you wearing” that showed women were wearing all kinds of styles of clothes when they were being violated. So, “attributing such a mistake to the victim’s clothes is “undoubtedly an excuse for the rapist and a secondary injury to the victim”(3).

San’s view on slut-shaming collides with Leora Tanenbaum’s book I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet. In her book, the concept and consequences of slut-shaming are discussed as Leora Tanenbaum explored the confusing world filled with sexual objectification, stereotyping, and double standards, which girls have to navigate. Tanenbaum writes: “Society encourages girls to be sexualized on the one hand and punishes them for it on the other” (81). This collision between men’s expectations and judgments of women perfectly explains why are women visual objects, and it shows us the consequence of slut-shaming: women are affected as a community. San and Tanenbaum’s convergent opinions reveal that San’s concern is far beyond the dress itself; it’s more about people’s judgments over a girl’s morals and characters behind the dress. On the contrary, it seems like Wang’s argument doesn’t address the problem on that level. Wang mainly takes the literal meaning of freedom of dress into account, but in reality, the “different eyes,” “vulgar jokes,” and “insulting words” (1) are making it hard for women to just go ahead and wear whatever they want as Wang images, because others’ feedback is one of the only few guidelines we have on how to dress, since there is no specific rule regulating what’s appropriate to wear other than. Therefore, dress for the occasion has become the general dress code for both men and women. Part of Wang’s argument doesn’t hold water because he only sees the tip of the iceberg and misses the more substantial portion, the portion that is the foundation of the entire mass.

At the end of her article, San expresses her intentions in writing “I Wish Chinese Girls the Freedom of Dress,” which is to remind us that women dress to please themselves, and no one has the right to judge them except for themselves. San respects and understands those who are conservative and feudal, but she also hopes that these people will not demand or even insult others with their own unilateral cognition. They should at least respect women, and “don’t try to find hidden information in women’s clothes”(3).

The battle between freedom and tradition is still ongoing, so there will hardly be a consensus on freedom of dress in the short run. However, it is without a doubt that body-shaming and slut-shaming do exist as a form of malicious judgments on the way a girl dresses made by ignorant people. Although these judgments are, indeed, crude on the one hand, they are also lawful on the other hand, because it is only fair if one is granted freedom of dress, and others are granted freedom of speech. These two breeds of freedom are inseparable and complementary, and the existence of one breed is incomplete without the other. So, the real freedom of dress is based upon the solid foundation of freedom of speech. It lies between a person’s confidence and courage — to be unafraid of what other people think, and not demanding a whole society to support your choice. Only so can a person truly possess the freedom of dress.

Chinese weddings are opulent festivities that are as an awful lot about the joyful couple as they are about their respective families. They are energetic and colorful ceremonies that are as a lot about the completely satisfied couple as they are about their respective families. Many symbolic components of this ceremony, which are described with the aid of rituals and customs, center attention on the benefits of wealth, plenty, and happiness for the marriage of each pal and household member.

Dark blue, black, and grey are now not encouraged considering they would possibly represent sick luck, death, or disappointment for the Chinese marriage. Warm colorings like purple, peach, and pink, on the other hand, are welcome seeing that they characterize sparkling life and enjoyment.

Guests are predicted to supply the bridal couple a crimson present envelope with money alternatively of a present registry. The envelope must be embellished with auspicious characteristics, such as happiness and riches, and needs to encompass a quantity in even numbers, particularly with the numeral 8, which in Chinese indicates prosperity. Give solely even numbers or portions that cease in fours.

Guests should pay over the red packet to a bridesmaid earlier than coming into the wedding ceremony dinner, who will document the amount of cash accrued in a record book. It is believed that if the couple is due to this fact asked to their guest’s wedding, they will present them a larger extent of money than they had been given. This is coinciding with the Namibian wedding an honest individual is accountable for receiving their gifts.

This was the finest protocol of the entire engagement process. Prodigious provides have been once again delivered to the kid’s family, indicating admiration and goodwill for the household as well as the viable to grant happy lifestyles for the girl.

In Chinese weddings, the existing ought to be of equal or larger value than the crimson package. It cannot be whatever represents the wide variety of 4 or entails 4 elements because 4 is a death number. Consider gift certificates for a couple’s rubdown or a tournament they can share. Fine jewelry, gold, and diamonds are also excellent gifts for families.

Depending on how many Chinese wedding ceremony customs are honored, it can run somewhere from four hours to three days.

Chinese Wedding, combs, scissors, and other gadgets are blanketed in the Dowry box. It shows that the preceding spouse is a proper housekeeper. The bride offers the groom with dowries. The bridegroom also provided the bride with a bride price, which is generally equal to the bride price. For example, if the man affords a dowry of 50,000, the woman normally contributes a dowry of roughly 50,000, and it varies through province.

Before the wedding ceremony ceremony, the groom will give the bride’s dad and mom betrothal offers (gold jewelry, dragon and phoenix wax candles, tea leaves, sesame seeds, wine or brandy, etc.) that signify wealth and right fortune. They will, in turn, return half of the presents as a signal of acceptance of the suggestion and a wish to preserve a wonderful relationship with the groom’s family. There is a betrothal assembly quickly after the letter of engagement arrives from the bride’s family. The mother and father of the bridegroom will ship their presents to the bride’s family at this time with the letter of betrothal gifts. In this letter, all the numbers and kinds of presents are recorded

The wedding ceremony date isn’t always picked at random. ‘To select an auspicious date to deliver success to their marriage, many couples seek advice from with a fortune teller, Chinese monk, or Feng Shui master,’ Froelich says. The couple’s Chinese zodiac sign, as well as the couple’s birthday important points (the bride’s birthday being favored over the groom’s), will all play a position in choosing the ideal date. In some locations in China, marriage customs are not especially good. They will prevent the bridegroom from picking her up and making inappropriate jokes, such as asking him to drink a lot of wine, asking her to keep distributing purple envelopes to the bridesmaids or making him seem ugly. And because the reception is hosted at a hotel that both parties have agreed upon, the wedding normally lasts a day.

The Double Happiness sign appears on the Chinese wedding invitation, which is normally crimson with gold calligraphy. It will have the wedding ceremony feast dates, the order of birth, and the names of the bride, groom, and their parents on the inside. The area of the event, as nicely as the timetable for the cocktail reception and dinner, will be provided. A crimson package deal may be provided with the invitation for weddings when friends are unfamiliar with Chinese customs.

Preparing the Marriage Bed, the An Chuang generally takes location on an auspicious day and time, two to three days before the wedding. “This subculture is carried out using a girl relative of correct fortune—one with parents, husband, children, and grandchildren—where the mattress will be dressed in new crimson coloration beddings and pillows with a mix of dried fruits and nuts such as longans, persimmons, and crimson dates,” explains Yu. The combination symbolizes a sweet and long-lasting marriage blessed with fertility and well wishes. Yu additionally explains that no one can sit down or sleep in bed till the couple returns collectively at the stop of the night time of the wedding.

The ceremony of Hair Combing, the night earlier than the wedding, a ceremony is done to represent the couple coming into a new stage of maturity in their separate homes. To ward off evil spirits, the bride and groom will bathe in pomelo leaves and change into new scarlet robes and slippers. The bride will be seated in the front of a reflect (or a window), and the groom will be seated facing the inside of the home. A pair of crimson taper candles, scissors, one stick of incense, a wooden ruler, a hair comb, and pink thread with cypress leaves will be prepared via the respective parents.

The hair-combing ceremony will be initiated by way of a lady of top fortune lighting fixtures one stick of incense and a pair of crimson taper candles. She would say blessings to the bride or groom whilst brushing their hair:

• May the first comb convey you happiness and a long-lasting relationship.
• May the 2nd comb provide you peace and happiness.
• May the third comb bring you a slew of offspring.
• May the fourth comb carry you happiness and true health.

After the bride or groom’s hair has been combed 4 times, the girl of desirable fortune will reduce the pink yarn with cypress leaves in their hair, finishing the ritual.

In all Chinese wedding ceremony decorations, red and gold are essential. Love, success, happiness, prosperity, luck, fertility, honor, and loyalty are related to the former, even as riches are related to the latter.

All Chinese weddings have the Double Happiness sign, which is made up of two comparable Chinese characters that signify joy. ‘It can show up as conventional décor, such as a wall putting made of fresh crimson roses for the tea ceremony, or as neon symptoms for an after-party,’ Froelich explains. Dragons, phoenixes, and mandarin ducks are other lucky symbols that symbolize happiness and loyalty. A 24-carat gold pig necklace (pigs are fertility symbols) is frequently given to the bride as a phase of her bridal jewelry.

Door games, also recognized as changed, are a hallmark of the day’s celebrations. ‘These days, games are updated with amusing testing,’ Froelich explains. ‘The bridesmaids usually put together them to take a look at the groom’s commitment to marrying the bride and to get approval from the bride’s family.’ The duties vary, however, standard video games include checking out the groom’s information about the bride, ingesting something spicy, sour, bitter, and sweet to show that he can deal with every stage of marriage, and at least one painful challenge.

The groom will also have to hand over a crimson packet with money for the bridesmaids to “surrender” their friend. Only upon triumphing all challenges will he be allowed to enter the bride’s room the place where the closing task is to locate the lacking bridal shoe to put it on the bride’s foot, and then lift her out to the living room for the Chinese tea ceremony.

“The Chinese tea ceremony is a critical tradition to be carried out at Chinese weddings,” shares Yu. “This is the time the bride and groom specific their respect, gratitude, and appreciation for their parents’ love, support, and effort in raising them.” The ceremony takes area at a single location, or separately at the bride and groom’s respective homes. A red tea set with a Double Happiness symbol is used for the tea ceremony the place black tea is sweetened with dried longans, lotus seeds, and crimson dates.

A bridesmaid or a girl of true fortune will supply the teacups to the couple who will kneel (or bow) and serve tea to the mother and father (the groom’s family will be served first) uttering the phrase “please drink tea.” After everyone takes a sip of their tea, the couple will be provided a pink envelope with money or gold jewelry to bless the union, and as a respectable welcome to the family. The couple will then serve tea to the paternal side grandparents, the older uncles’ aunties, and younger uncles’ aunties, and be observed using their older married siblings. They will repeat the identical order for the maternal aspect of the family.

The bride is usually face-covered in a massive sedan chair, which is carried by eight persons. There will be songs and firecrackers when the sedan arrives at the wedding ceremony venue. In a joyous setting, the bride would be led down the red carpet. In a crimson gown, the groom would bow three times to reverence the heavens, parents, and spouse. The new couple would then retire to their bridal room, where a feast would be served to their guests. Wine has to be poured to the pinnacle of a cup but no longer overflow.

The tour to select the bride is still a colorful occasion, even though Chinese wedding traditions have modernized and no longer function as a large parade. It may additionally encompass the whole thing from firecrackers to drums and gongs, as well as a lion dance company. To characterize fertility, a youngster usually walks in front of the procession with the husband.

Depending on the couple, the ceremonial changing of vows may additionally take region at a neighborhood authority’s office, or in an intimate ceremony where the couple stands in front of the family altar to pay appreciation to ancestors and conclude with a bow to each other. Some couples additionally pick to have a Western-style wedding, whole with a white wedding ceremony gown and walking down the aisle.

A lavish eight-course affair hosted by the couple’s parents. The evening’s menu consists of symbolic, auspicious foods, a fish route for abundance, a suckling pig to symbolize the bride’s purity, a fowl dish (usually fowl or duck) for peace, and unity, and a sweet lotus seed dessert for fertility. The bride will alternate into a pink qipao (long Chinese wedding dress) halfway through the banquet, a slideshow of childhood photographs from both facets is a must-do, as is the raucous “yam seng” (cheers) toast made toward the quilt of the reception to congratulate the groom on triumphing the hand of his bride.

The bride visits her household with the groom three days after the wedding. At this point, she is no longer regarded phase of the family. The bride’s family welcomes the couple with a mini dinner party and the groom brings a roasted pig as a gift.

Let our master Chinese wedding ceremony traditions guide assist you in acing the extra usual elements of your wedding ceremony for a smooth-sailing happily-ever-after.

Chinese weddings are rife with historical traditions and rituals that bless the newlyweds and their marriage with happiness, fertility, prosperity, and longevity. As most of these traditions are passed down through the generations via word-of-mouth, modern-day brides can also find it hard to discover sufficient data on the meanings at the back of these traditions and how to prepare for them.

To help brides apprehend the reason for these ancient wedding traditions and inform them in their preparations, we’ve come up with the one and only master Chinese wedding traditions guide you’ll ever need for your wedding ceremony day.

A cultural ambassador is a representative of a culture who serves as a connecting link and a channel of communication between two different countries, consequently enhancing intercultural communication and mutual understanding. A good cultural ambassador not only informs of what exists in their own culture but also conveys the profound meanings hidden within the culture and what they mean to the people in this culture. These deeper symbols and values are what built the culture and what has continued to influence that culture from one generation to another.

If I were to attend an international festival and be asked to share my culture, I would draw from the most important holiday of my culture: Chinese New Year. Holidays are celebrated by every culture and are a valuable tool to understand and get a quick glimpse of people and their traditions and ways of life. The following would be how I would introduce my culture:

Chinese New Year is a significant holiday for Chinese people, just as important as Christmas is for Americans. It not only symbolizes a cherished time for families to reunite but also represents a new start and a time to sweep away the bad luck that happened in the past.

Chinese people have many traditions to follow during Chinese New Year, and lots of them also come with some auspicious meanings that make Chinese people feel hopeful about the new start of the year. One of the examples is “春聯”, the red lucky posters with calligraphy that we put up around Chinese New Year. People attach some “春聯” to the wall to symbolize ringing out the old year and ringing in the new. One of the most commonly used characters is “春”, which literally means “spring”, but which symbolically means hope and optimism for the new year. Another is “恭喜發財”, which means wishing you prosperity and wealth. An interesting detail to note is that people traditionally attach the word “春” upside down to symbolize “春到”, which means the spring has arrived because the character for “upside down” in Chinese sounds the same as the character for ‘arrival.’

‘春聯’ carries the wish of those who put them up, from which we can learn that Chinese people often place their hope in a symbol to grant them good luck. Even on the surface, there is a lot to explore about Chinese New Year traditions; however, if one can look into them deeply, the profound meanings hidden in their background are what people adhere to and what reveal the hopes that Chinese people have in their hearts for life.

Chinese migration: Why did the community migrate to Australia?

Migration is the movement of people from one place to another with the intention of settling, permanently or temporarily at a new location. The movement is often over long distances and from one country to another, but internal migration is also possible.

News of a gold rush in Australia had reached southern China by the early 1850s, sparking an influx into Australia in Chinese migration.

Approximately 7,000 Chinese people are believed to have come to work in the gold areas of Araluen in southern NSW. The Chinese miners often worked under the leadership of a leader in organized organizations of 30 to 100 males, resulting in very effective gold-digging attempts.

Many Chinese immigrants came to Australia as indentured labourers working as shepherds, rural labourers, cooks and gardeners. In 1853, the first boatload of Chinese miners arrived in Victoria. Jealousy arose sometimes due to the success of the Chinese miners and this caused a rise in conflicts between the workers.

Their experiences?

The life of Chinese immigrants wasn’t always easy. They went through many disastrous experiences before arriving in Australia, during their journey to Australia and after having arrived in Australia.

Many Chinese people left China and decided to come to Australia as they didn’t have the ‘perfect, ideal life’ as we know today. They often weren’t provided with basic necessities and facilities by the government to be able to live sustainable and efficient lives. They encountered many problematic issues with their economy which was due to more than one reason, however, some include their rapidly aging population, a falling birth rate, a tightening Federal Reserve and a slowing global economy. Furthermore, another experience that was faced by the immigrants that caused the international migration to Australia was that they strived to provide a better future for their families.

Their experiences during their voyage to Australia was not easy either.

They travelled long distances over a really long time period. The boats they often came in were not hygienic and safe and this led to many of them suffering from diseases and injuries.

When the Chinese immigrants arrived in Australia they still had to undergo unpleasant experiences. In a few goldfields, the Chinese miners were attacked because the European miners were jealous of how successful they were because they worked so hard.

Hardships they might have endured?

Chinese immigrants were struggling to discover a way to earn a living wage. The vast majority of this first group were young and male, many of whom had little formal education and work experience. They had to discover jobs that needed little English facility and those necessary abilities that could be learned rapidly. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the railroad companies were expanding at a breakneck pace, straining to span the continents as cheaply as they could. The job was extremely hard, the pay was small, and at a very high price employee were wounded and murdered. It represented an opportunity to join the workforce for Chinese employees, however, and they accepted reduced salaries. More than 10,000 Chinese employees blasted tunnels, constructed roadbeds and laid hundreds of kilometres of track, often in freezing cold or heat. In a multitude of sectors, Chinese immigrants discovered a job, from making shoes and sewing clothes to rolling cigars.

However, since language obstacles and racial discrimination prevented them from many established trades, they often developed possibilities for themselves and set up fresh companies.

Chinese’s big influx to the colony triggered excellent alarm among Victoria’s politicians and miners. It was stated in the Victorian parliament that having so many Chinese in the colony who were loyal to an overseas emperor who could command them at any time to rise up.

Industries they worked in:

The Chinese labourers were allocated countless employment upon arrival in Australia that helped open up the increasing settlement. Clearing the bush, digging wells and irrigation ditches, and working on the new estates as shepherds included as jobs. Many fresh immigrants had also begun market gardens.

Chinese towns and benevolent societies, often based on clan or district connections, created rapidly across Australia to help the Chinese population. Chinese miners followed as gold and other minerals were found in Queensland, Northern Territory, and Northeast Tasmania. Chinese businessmen went along with the miners to help supply products and services to the developing Chinese people. As mining became less lucrative, Chinese miners became increasingly engaged and successful in market gardening, storekeeping, furniture making, banana growing and wholesale, fishing, and pearl diving. The contribution of Chinese labour to the growth of Australia was particularly important.

What contributions did the Chinese people make:

The Chinese people contributed by offering accommodation, medicinal herbs, fresh food, groceries, restaurants, noodle houses, tobacconists, butchers, clerks, carpenters and interpreters. They contributed Chinese goods such as tea, silk, vegetables, herbs, ginger and other spices as well as opium, which they sold to non-Chinese descent. created their own replicas of their homes as what we call now Chinatown. These towns in Australia symbolise the change of attitude in Australia and are a great part of our Australian society and heritage. However their major contribution, however, was in opening up the country.

The story of a Chinese immigrant, Ai Ling Zhou

Ai Ling Zhou migrated to Australia in 1987 because she was disappointed in China’s university system, where at the time she was studying material science engineering. Chinese university graduates were appointed jobs and sent to workplaces by the government, meaning they had no say in want job opportunities they could take. Ai Ling felt very oppressed by this system and saw Australia as a gateway to many new opportunities.

Thus in 1987, she took a flight down to Sydney, Australia. For her adjusting to Australia’s culture was the hardest as she found that her Chinese degree had no value and was regressed into working a measly waitress job and studying English, deprived of her engineering abilities. However, after the Tiananmen Square Massacre, many Chinese Australians were offered visas and permanent residency. This made Ai Ling feel as if she was back on her feet as this pushed her to complete her post-graduate study of economics in 1994. Her contributions have helped Australia open itself to the international market and she is currently a lecturer at Macquarie Unversity. She is extremely glad to have her second try at life in a country like Australia so that she and her son can never experience the life she previously had in China.

Mural Design

For our mural design to represent our chosen ethnic group China, we have made the main colour red as it is their national colour. We felt that it was necessary to include the rich culture of China and we’ve done so by illustrating a Chinese woman adorned with a Hanfu ( a traditional Chinese dress) and intricate Chinese jewellery. Not only did the Chinese contribute their clothing and understanding of silk, but they also brought along with them their gambling games such as mahjong and opium, which may have had negative connotations but nevertheless shaped Australia forever. The red lanterns in the background are reminiscent of Chinese traditions such as Chinese New Year and the ever-popular Chinatowns.

Bibliography:

1. Origins.museumsvictoria.com.au. (2019). [online] Available at: https://origins.museumsvictoria.com.au [Accessed 10 Sep. 2019].
2. The Conversation. (2019). The Conversation: In-depth analysis, research, news and ideas from leading academics and researchers.. [online] Available at: http://theconversation.com [Accessed 10 Sep. 2019].
3. Splash. (2019). Education resources for schools teachers and students – ABC Education. [online] Available at: http://education.abc.net.au [Accessed 10 Sep. 2019].
4. Nma.gov.au. (2019). Home | National Museum of Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.nma.gov.au [Accessed 10 Sep. 2019].
5. Abc.net.au. (2019). ABC – Australian Broadcasting Corporation. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au [Accessed 10 Sep. 2019].

Located at heart of United States, Texas is rich in natural resources and has a business friendly environment. In fact, for a long time now, Texas has been a hub for immigrants from all over the world. The state hosts both immigrants and natives of America. As a result, Texas’ population is rapidly growing. In 2005, Texas had outperformed other American states in population growth. The number of people moving to Texas has been rapidly increasing since the year 2000. People having been rapidly moving to Texas in such of resources and better living standards. To understand the demographic patterns of Texas, it is important to identify the origin of the immigrants in the state.

Apart from foreign immigrants, there is also domestic migration where people move from other states and counties to Texas. Since both these immigrants have diverse origins, they usually differ significantly in work skills, educational attainment, family status and language diversity (Pan, 2016). Statistics, show that the major source of population growth in the United States is international migrants.

There was low immigration in the 19th century. However, in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the immigration trend began an upward mobility. The migration trend still continues up-to today. Notably, from 2000 to 2013, the United States of America received yearly average of over one million migrants. Scholars predict that should the current trend in the United States continue, by 2027, the US will have the highest number of migrants than natural increase. For the migrants who moved to Texas were predominantly people of Asian origin. In fact, 83.2% of the recent migrants were either born in Asia or Latin America.

By examining Chinese immigrants, we notice that California is the most predominant destination of immigrants in the United States. It is followed closely by New York City as Texas comes third. In 2013, most Chinese preferred California while immigrants from Latin America moved to Texas.

According to White et al., (2015) persons born in Asia are the second largest group of immigrants in Texas. In the recent years Chinese immigrants have been increasing rapidly. In 2005, there were 21, 092 immigrants of Asian origin however, the numbers have increased to over 50,000 in 2013. This is a clear indication that the number of people leaving China to come live in Texas is increasing. As a result, Chinas total share of Immigrants’ population increased from 17.3% to 40% in 2013 (White et al., 2015). The question many researchers ask themselves is how did so many Chinese find themselves in Texas? Immigration in Texas occurred in two waves: one is after the civil war. During that time, African American workers were replaced by Chinese men. Records show that in 1870, 250 casual laborers were brought from California to work in Texas. Later more and more laborers arrived. After building the Railroad, many workers returned to their homes while some decided to stay.

In late 1800s, the congress enacted a stern, law barring the Chinese Immigration. By then, there were only 710 Chinese in Texas (Reimers, 2016). The early Chinese who were working on the Railroad could send money to China. The Chinese who moved to Texas started restaurants, grocery stores, and insurance company. It should be noted that the culture of Chinese people is deep and inborn. The Chinese are very hardworking people. Therefore, most of the Chinese immigrants are business owners. Some are lawyers, others are doctors, and others are shopkeepers while others are instructors in martial arts. Further, more immigrants work for technological companies like Texas Instruments or Huawei.

The former immigrants who came to Texas before the exclusion were men. However, the exclusion was repealed in 1943 that gave way to second phase of Immigration (Reimers, 2016). In fact, figure 1 shows a massive drop of Asian immigrants in 1940s. Most men who came to Texas in 1890s were unskilled and mostly peasants. Most of these men were from Southern China and Spoke Cantonese Language. However, the newer ones who came were Northern and Central China and majorly spoke Mandarin. The Mandarin speaking Chinese were top-notch professionals who excelled science and engineering at large. In fact, they were members of intellectual and cultural elite and came with their families as permanent residents.

Since then, more people have been coming to the American cities as college or graduate students. These immigrants are a close-knit and supportive group of hardworking individuals who are highly educated with a strong culture. It is said that the Chinese immigrants quickly integrate in the American society thus being appreciated by the larger American community (Pan, 2016). As mentioned earlier, the major reason why Chinese migrate to America is to work and raise their children in an environment where there are good school system, comfortable living conditions, and proper and affordable housing. In America it is easy for the Chinese children to experience diversity in cultures. For instance, Chinese children can freely play basketball and volleyball, eat Italian delicacies such as pizza and pasta, the children can also interact with other people who are not necessarily of Chinese decent.

In fact, there is a lot of freedom in Texas as compared to their homeland in China. Chinese in America love it here. When most immigrants are asked, they say that they feel good in America than they do in China. The Chinese are very committed people. They are dedicated to family, education, and work, therefore, they feel welcomed and loved by non-Asian neighbors and friends. Chinese people are law abiding citizens and live harmoniously with their neighbors.

For any Chinese, being polite is part and parcel of their culture and traditions. The people from Texas seem friendlier than other people from other states. Texas is a vast state, therefore it wipes out the ill memories of the Chinese about the cramped places they have come from. China is too crowded one cannot find a place for a garden. However, in Texas, Chinese people can plant vegetables in gardens.

In Texas, most kids attend public schools, however, many parents have chosen to supplement their Children’s education with weekend Chinese classes. Immigration has long supported growth and dynamism of the United States’ economy. Moreover, these Chinese immigrants are job creators, entrepreneurs, consumers, and taxpayers. They add trillions of Dollars to US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The population of female immigrants were initially more than that of men but recent studies show that the percentage has now leveled. It show that female are 50% while males contribute to the remaining fifty.

During the 1800s, African Americans were not the only people segregated against by the whites. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed on the west coast: this prevented the Chinese from working in the U.S. and immigrating to the Country. The Chinese Exclusion Act began when an Irish immigrant by the name of Denis Kearney blamed the Chinese for unemployment in California. He gained a big following and used it to intimidate employers from hiring the Chinese and even leading a big percentage of the Chinese into other cities (A People and A Nation, pg. 541). Results of his movement were the banning of queues (a traditional Chinese hair braid) and Chinese establishments in white neighborhoods. Something interesting that came out of this was who the whites wanted instead of the Chinese. After they removed them from their jobs, there was a shortage of labor workers: because of this they recruited Italians and other immigrants from the east coast and Europe, whom they also segregated against, often violently: for example, a lynching of Italian Americans took place in New Orleans in 1891. Similar circumstances also occurred to the Japanese and the Mexicans. A question that may come to mind: why would the whites segregate against all races besides theirs, and what were they afraid of?

Many years before the Chinese Exclusion Act, in 1848, when James Polk was president, he ordered a survey of the west coast. Within the results they found that there were a lot of natural resources there, and they wanted to have direct access to it. Polk then decided that they would have Chinese people brought to the west to create colonies and develop the west (before the gold was discovered in California). Prior to this, the Chinese and the U.S. or England had been linked for hundreds of years. They were always interested in the China Trade, but the English didn’t have anything the Chinese wanted, which is when they began to illegally import Opium into China. This resulted in most of the Chinese becoming addicted to the drug, until they decided it was enough and began to burn and confiscate chests of opium, which led to the Opium War. When the war began, the English and the Americans said that, “They did it under the banner of free trade; free trade as the core expression of liberty. And how dare the Chinese say they can’t trade Opium into China” (American Experience-PBS). The war ended in 1842 with the Treaty of Nanking that forced the Chinese into a new international system. As a result of all this, China was in poverty and the government was falling apart. When news about the gold in California was delivered, the U.S. ships were already in Chinese ports, ready to take them to the gold rush.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law that singled out a specific race, a specific group of people to be discriminated against: it was a racial exclusion act. When the law was put into action, there was a lot of media coverage about it, such as newspaper articles and photo prints. In 1882, there was a photo print in the newspaper with a picture of two men discussing the Chinese Exclusion Act, underneath the photo it says: “If the Yankee Congress can keep the yellow man out, what is to hinder them from calling us green and keeping us out too?” (‘Which Color Is to Be Tabooed next?/ Th. Nast’). This refers to the thought that whites would segregate against all other races besides themselves, and shows that people of other races were afraid that they were going to be excluded just like the Chinese were. Along with the Chinese Exclusion Act that was put into place in 1882, the Geary Act, which further restricted Chinese immigration was put into action in 1892. The Geary Act, required that Chinese Americans carry certificates of residence, given to them by the Treasury Department. A year after the Chinese Six Companies (a San Francisco based organization) attempted to fight the law, but instead the U.S. Supreme Court continued to uphold the Geary Act. Along with these laws, there was also a lot of violence toward the Chinese, for instance on September 2nd 1885, there was a mob of white coal miners that attacked their Chinese co-workers after they fought about who had the right to mine in certain areas. This was the Rock Springs Massacre (Today in History- September 2).

Of course, the Chinese were not the only minorities that were segregated against. The Japanese and Mexicans were also excluded by the whites, and, just like the Chinese, were prevented from becoming American citizens by law. Another similarity between these races, after they were segregated against, is how they developed their communities with their own economic and residential character. A couple examples of this would be Mexican Barrios, in Los Angeles, Albuquerque, and San Antonio, Little Italy, Jewtown, Polonia, and Greektown. Mexicans were also increasingly isolated, and real-estate covenants had property owners pledge to not sell homes to Mexicans, Jews, or African Americans. European immigrants also encountered prejudgement, resulting in the exclusion of Jews from certain professions, clubs, and neighborhoods, or the incapability of Italians to take part in urban politics. However, people of color (African Americans, Asians, and Mexicans) were definitely discriminated against in a more extreme manner.

Now why were these races segregated against? First, referring to the Chinese Exclusion Act, the whites decided that their jobs were being stolen by the Chinese, and that unemployment in California was their fault. I do not think that labor was the main reason for their discrimination. The primary cause was white purity, and the fact that white people didn’t want to be involved with others that were different from them. The Congress also thought that the Chinese wouldn’t be able to assimilate into their culture, because they ate different food, and followed different religions. This is what made them different from European immigrants, “because they are an unassimilable population, they cannot come to the United States, and those who are here cannot become American citizens” (American Experience-PBS). This racial exclusion act continued for the next 60 years until it finally ended in 1943 when it was repealed with the passage of the Magnuson Act.

The South takes pride in its iconic and sometimes bizarre dishes. For many generations, Southerners have prepared countless servings of boiled peanuts, fried green tomatoes, and my favorite, banana pudding. Southerners have classified themselves as unofficial professional chefs. Growing up, I spent many Saturday mornings in the kitchen making everything from homemade biscuits to pecan pie with my grandmother. From there my spark for more knowledge and information about different cultures and cuisines grew. Now after working in a restaurant where I serve, prepare, and cook every single day, for almost a year, my interest in the food industry has helped me attain more knowledge about not only the food industry but the culture and history behind the meals. Since I was a child, my favorite food has always been Chinese food. One day I began to wonder how authentic the Chinese food that is served in America is compared to the food served in China. To begin my research, I started with a simple Google search. Then after reading a few articles, I began to do more in depth and real research. My findings were that the Chinese food served in America is far from the traditional meals served and prepared in China. The actual food itself, the preparation, and how it is served is very different from what is actually served in China. To understand what classifies food as Authentic Chinese or American Chinese, it is important to understand the original history and how Chinese food became Americanized.

For thousands of years, the Chinese have taken pride in their many customs and traditions. A Chinese meal is made of multiple components that have been passed down from generation to generation. To begin with, their meals are served with a carbohydrate source and a protein-based item. The most popular carbohydrate source is rice or noodles, so that is what most families serve. Another source of carbohydrates is mantou. In American culture, it can easily be compared to a fluffy and light steamed bread roll. Popular sources of protein include vegetables and fish. Although rice is one of the most well-known and famous Chinese dishes, it is very rare for it to be served at formal celebrations. The fish is usually cooked whole, including the head and tail. At the end of a Chinese meal, to help with a person’s appetite, soup is traditionally served. To eat their food, the Chinese rarely use forks but rather chopsticks and instead of using spoons as common Americans use, they use a wide, flat-bottomed spoons. Chopsticks are two long sticks that are the same size and used to ingest food. Forty-five billion pairs of chopsticks are made every year but in 2006, China passed a five percent tax on disposable chopsticks in effort to preserve not only trees but bamboo as well. Unlike in the South where it seems like the dessert is more important that the actual mal, in China they very seldom actually enjoy a dessert. If they were to partake in dessert after the meal, it would more than likely consist of fresh fruit or a soup containing red beans and sugar.

During the Gold Rush Era, in the mid 1800’s, Chinese settlers travelled to America. They entered the country through California and began to settle in small groups and communities. When they relocated, they did not leave behind their heritage, but rather continued to carry out their traditions and ways in their new homeland. They did not try to impose and compel the natives to adapt to their beliefs and customs but by the 1900’s, the cuisine had spread from the small Chinese settlements into the American cities. During this time, Chinese food was more authentic but over the years, it has changed and adapted and became more Americanized.

The different cultures between the American and Chinese, lead to different adaptations of Chinese food. In China, there are fresh food stands on almost every corner. You can buy anything from fresh-caught fish to fresh-picked vegetables. They rarely use processed foods, but fresh bought products, unlike most Americans. Vegetables, spices, and herbs play a major role in cooking traditional dishes. The most popular being ginger, chilies and mushrooms. Soy sauce, composed of soybeans, wheat, and wheat bran, also plays an important role in traditional Chinese cooking.

Over the years, Chinese food has adapted and changed from traditional Chinese cuisine. Not only is the way that traditional Chinese food is prepared different, but also how it is served, and the actual ingredients are different. One day I would love to travel to China and try real traditional Chinese food instead of the American versions of the same dishes.

Work Cited

1. Chen, Yong. “Rise of Chinese Food in the United States – Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History.” Rise of Chinese Food in the United States – Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, 22 Oct. 2019,oxfordre.com/americanhistory/093/a crefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-273.
2. Wertz, Richard R. The Cultural Heritage of China:: Food & Drink:: Cuisine:: Introduction, www.ibiblio.org/chineseculture/contents/food/p-food-c01s01.html.
3. Wu, Annie. “The 12 Must-Have Chinese Seasonings.” China Highlights, 1 Aug. 2018, www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/cooking-seasonings.htm.
4. Wu, Annie. “What Chinese Eat, Chinese Food Ingredient.” China Highlights, 5 Aug. 2019, www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/chinese-food-type.htm.