Being American is like being a two-sided coin, an identity associated with the country in which you live and thrive, but also the location from which you or your ancestors came. Because immigration played such a large role in the shaping of this country, the idea of being “American” cannot independently exist, but must coexist with an ancestral label, such as Chinese American, Italian American, Jewish American, etc. These immigrants brought their culture, skills, and way of life to America, shaping it into the diverse land it is today. However, leaving your home for an unfamiliar land is a difficult experience, so fortunately there were a few accommodations that facilitated/motivated their move. A few of them include the familiarity of a community, sponsors, and good prospects. In terms of community, people often gather in places shared with people similar to themselves. In terms of immigration, immigrants were often self-segregated, living in areas where their own culture resided. This is how cultural societies like Chinatown and Little Italy developed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinatown harbors the classic immigration story, of hardship in struggle, humility in poor conditions, and comfort in community. The Chinatown in New York City lies in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and has taken over parts of Little Italy, harboring the largest population of Chinese in America, with at least 70,000 Chinese within two square miles. It is “bounded by Kenmore and Delancey streets on the north, East and Worth streets on the South, Allen Street on the east, and Broadway on the west” (Waxman). Chinese immigration began during the Gold Rush of the late 1840’s and early 1850’s, as the Chinese were attracted by the prospect of returning to their homeland with some wealth. However, as the Gold Rush died down, they looked for other jobs, and in their desperation, they were willing to accept lower wages. This led to an increase in employment for the Chinese, as employers were willing to save expenses by hiring immigrants instead of white workers. This led to feelings of resentment toward the Chinese by white citizens, and fueled racist mindsets among white citizens, as was blatantly expressed in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (“Chinese”). The racist mindsets led to discrimination, and so the Chinese needed to fend for themselves by “providing their own food, healthcare, businesses, offices, and jobs,” which allowed the community to develop into the self-sufficient Chinatown it is today (Nicholson). This self-sufficient attitude of Chinatown allowed them to not only provide for themselves, but made it possible for them to support incoming Chinese immigrants and also to sponsor Chinese to immigrate to America. This idea of a support system plays a crucial role in the development of any immigrant neighborhood, especially and most notably in Chinatown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Words on a page and a real experience are both necessary in learning about a deeply personal process like immigration. Immigration is all about the people, their fears, joys, need to change, etc. Because of this, I’m glad I had the opportunity to go to Chinatown to inquire about the people’s lives and experiences on immigration. As soon as I got off Grand Street stop, I was immersed in the culture of the Chinatown, with bright, playful Asian music saturating the usually dingy air of the subway station. When I entered the streets, one of the first things I noticed was the 1 to 4 ratio between the non-Chinese and Chinese, which I expected, but it was just a new sight and still surprising to see in person. It really was a little China in the middle of New York City. I decided I would explore the area a bit. The experience of walking into a brand name store was pretty much the same as it has always been, an employee asks me if I need help, I look at the prices and buy something if I needed to. This experience was drastically different from the small businesses in Chinatown. I walked into a clothing store, which was basically a narrow hallway, and I saw a couple of things I liked, but to my surprise nothing had a price tag on it. Also, I was not asked if I needed help, but the next woman who walked in, who was East Asian, was immediately taken care of. I know what you’re thinking. I’m not mentioning this as a racist or xenophobic incident, but rather, as a small-scaled illustration of what Chinatown was like. As mentioned before, it was an area developed by self-construction because of rejection, and it became self-sufficient, with no need for outside help or inclusion. This lead to the prominent language of the town to be, rather than English, Chinese, and more specifically, the Cantonese dialect. Even to this day, many of the residents in Chinatown do not know English, and because of this, it was pretty difficult to interview the locals. Many of my conversations had to begin with, “Hello, do you have a minute?” and if I didn’t get a response, my following question would be, “Do you speak English?” Many would shake their heads, ‘no.’ I really wanted to hear about the immigration stories from the older generation, as well as the younger, but the language barrier made it impossible to collect accounts from the elderly.

 

 

 

 

After walking around the area for a few hours, while I was down Eldridge Street, I fortunately came across two individuals, Tuan and Oliver. We’ll start with Oliver, a videographer, who was kind enough to give some background information about Chinatown. The reason Chinatowns developed is because, when a family leaves their homes and goes to a foreign land, they are likely to gather near either people they know, extended family or family friends, or people who are like them, share in their culture and way of life. He also shared with me that the biggest Chinatown in the United States is here in New York City, but he was actually raised in another well-known Chinatown, the one in San Francisco. He was born and raised in a slightly diverse neighborhood called the Sunset district. In contrast with the neighborhood in which he lived, the schools he attended were incredibly homogenous, all East Asian, most Chinese. His elementary school was actually a Chinese school, a lasting legacy from the area’s self-sufficiency. Because I couldn’t get accounts from the older community, I inquired about Oliver’s parents, and their immigration experience. They were both teens when they moved to the U.S., his father with a Chinese education, and mother with an American education. It was tough for his father to find work with a Chinese education, and so it was necessary for them to live in Chinatown, where jobs are provided for Chinese immigrants. Chinatown, once again, shows that it is self-sufficient and has evolved into a place where the Chinese could fit in. This idea of belonging is important in deciding on where to live, and this community allowed for this sense of belonging, familiarity, and opportunity they could not receive anywhere else.

 

 

Funny enough, Tuan was actually from the Sunset District in the Chinatown in San Francisco, as well. Tuan, a graduate student and prospective dentist, immigrated to the U.S when he was around four years old. Moving to America without some kind of support system is not only a terrifyingly difficult thing to do, but it was also rare for South East Asians. Often times, immigrants came for work and then went back to their home countries, they knew a family or individual they could meet and associate with, or they had some other support system, like a sponsoring. For Tuan, his parents were sponsored to come here, which was common at the time, as “more than 80 percent of Chinese immigrants to the United States in the 1970’s and 1980’s were sponsored by family members” (Zhou). Not only did community make it easier to adjust to a new life in America, the community was also what facilitated their immigration story in the first place. When Chinese immigrants arrived, they often added to the self-sufficient area in the form of small business. Tuan’s parents’ arrival was no different, as his mother worked at a nail salon which contributed to the society, and also allowed her to support her family. This importance of business was engrained in the new Chinese American mindset, and so it made sense that both Tuan and Oliver used to be business majors (although, both changed their majors to their present-day aspired professions).

 

For both interviewees, there was a common theme of having to cope with the struggles of moving to an unfamiliar land. People are social beings and the last state they want to be in is one of being alone, so the Chinese immigrants were not different in this sense from other immigrants. They gathered with their respective people, whether it be family, friends, or just people that shared their culture, and they were happy to find a place where they belonged. The most impressive thing about Chinatown was that it became self-sufficient, not only providing for the needs of the people who lived there, but also facilitating the immigration of more immigrants. Of course, there was still the New York City buzz, Cantonese speaking barrier (if they spoke a different dialect), and low-paying jobs that had to be either overcome or gotten used to, but Chinatown played a major role in easing the many of the struggles that immigrants often had to face.

 

The importance of a support system was also evident in the movie, “The Wedding Banquet,” a film directed by Ang Lee. Wai-Tung, a Chinese immigrant, lives with his boyfriend, Simon, but his parents are coming to America to visit, and since they desperately want grandchildren, Tai-Wung hasn’t told them that he’s gay. To satisfy his parents’ wishes and also to help a friend out, he decides to have a sham marriage with Weiwei, one of his tenants. Things go downhill for Wai-Tung when the night of the wedding banquet the two become intimate, and Weiwei becomes pregnant (“Wedding”). From the beginning of the movie until this point, there is the prominent theme of “belonging.” The immigration story is all about belonging, and Tai-Wung, a gay, Chinese man, unaccepted by the traditional, Confucian Chinese tradition, finds his place of belonging with Simon. On the other hand, Weiwei, another Chinese immigrant, has no one, except for her landlord, Wai-Tung. She desires him because she longs for the community of companionship, as was seen through her relationships with other men in the past (she briefly mentions this towards the beginning of the movie). She agrees to marry Wai-Tung to get her green card, but it is clear she also has feelings for him. Wai-Tung showed the system of support for fellow Chinese immigrants in his treatment of Weiwei, allowing her to pay her rent in the only way she can, with her paintings, sometimes letting her skip rent payments entirely, and also in simply acting like a friend, rather than a landlord all the time. There was an intimacy that Wai-Tung shared with Simon, but there was also an intimacy he shared with Weiwei because they shared the same culture. They understood each other’s struggles, the expectation of parents, the difficulties of assimilating to the American culture, and Weiwei even impressed his parents with her deep knowledge of the art of Chinese character writing. These commonalities that were related to the roots of their identity brought a connection between Weiwei and Wai-Tung that Wai-Tung did not and could not share with Simon. This film showed the importance of a support system and a sense of belonging, especially in terms of one’s culture.

 

The foundation of every American’s story begins with immigration, and so the immigration story applies to every individual, making it an affecting story worth telling. Every immigrant people group had a slightly different experience entering the United States, some going through more struggle and discrimination than others, many having to start from the very bottom, a few making their way to the top. However, each immigration story is a tale of culture, whether it be to retain it, like the older generations usually did, or to escape its old traditions, like many of the younger generation do. Assimilation was necessary, to a certain extent, in order to survive in a new world, but one’s culture and upbringings always hold a deeply rooted part of one’s identity and heart. For Wai-Tung, he tried to escape his culture because of its oppressive nature to his own, but in the end, there is always an intimacy between oneself and one’s own cultural identity, which was what drew him to Weiwei, whether he admits it or not. Applying this idea to a larger perspective, in an unfamiliar land, immigrants tend to gather in places where they hope to fit in, where their culture is prominent. Although some Chinese immigrants moved into areas because of friends and family, many did not know anyone from the area, and were drawn there by pure connection of shared culture alone. Once again, a sense of belonging is a central theme in the story of immigration.

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

“Chinese Exclusion Act (1882).” Our Documents – Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). The History

Channel, n.d. Web. 04 May 2017. <https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47>.

Nicholson, Robert. “New York Chinatown History.” New-York-Chinatown.info. WYGK

Publishing, n.d. Web. 09 May 2017. <http://new-york-chinatown.info/chinatown-history/>.

The Wedding Banquet. Dir. Ang Lee. Perf. Winston Chao and Mitchell Lichtenstein. Central

Motion Pictures Corp., Good Machine, 1993. DVD.

Waxman, Sarah. “The History of New York City’s Chinatown.” The History of New York City’s

Chinatown. NY.com, n.d. Web. 04 May 2017. <https://www.ny.com/articles/chinatown.html>.

Zhou, Min. “Family and Kinship Ties.” Contemporary Chinese America Immigration, Ethnicity,

and Community Transformation. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2009. 69-70. Print.