Essay about Simple is Gold For the Chinese People in "Golden Mountain"

Canada is a country built on immigration, mainly British at first, but from all over the world afterwards. Chinese immigration to Canada dates back to the period of the gold rush when they were recruited to mine. In the 1880's, the Chinese population increased after Canada joined the confederation and extra labour was required to build a cross-country railway. Due to the poor economy in China, many Chinese were willing to migrate and work for low wages. The Canadian government seized this opportunity and allowed the companies working on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to import Chinese immigrants. With a drive for completion a significant number of Chinese were recruited. In order to control this increase in immigration, the

The old people, Poh Poh and Wong Bak, never integrated into the Canadian Society, and were unable to accept the Canadian culture. They were deeply devoted to their native country and had to go back to China to die, as indicated by Wong Bak's parting words, "bone must come to rest where they most belong"(Choy Pg. 35). Adults such as Father and Stepmother were trying to fit into the new society and were ready to give up their Chinese ways. At the same time, adults like Stepmother easily became a prisoner who was trapped between two cultures. "'What does this White Demon want?' said Stepmother, I could see she wished Suling were here, with her perfect English"(Choy Pg. 140). The younger generations born in Vancouver, like Juk-Liang and Sekky, were willing to become real Canadians. They hoped to be treated equally as the Canadian children, but even though they were born in Vancouver, they were still considered to be Chinese by other Canadians. The youths were distressed under the pressure of the older adults. The older generation said, "you do not know Chinese, you are mo yung-useless or mo nos-no brain"(Choy Pg. 135). "Smart English not Smart Chinese"(Choy Pg. 141) was another derogatory comment young Chinese Canadians had to endure. It was very hard to balance between their original identities and their chosen identities. For example Mrs. Lim asks Sek-Lung:

We have all been in a situation where we have immigrated to a new country for different reasons regarding, better future, or education. In the book Jade of Peony, Wayson Choy describes a struggle of a Chinese family as they settle in Canada, with their new generation of kids born here, the family struggles to keep their children tied to their Chinese customs and traditions as they fit in this new country. The Chinese culture needs to be more open minded as it limits the future generation’s potential. Chinese culture limitations are seen through the relationship expectations, education, gender roles and jobs.

It was hard for them to fit into Canadian society but still remain true to their Chinese roots. Sek-Lung’s siblings complain that they don’t want to go to Chinese school, although they don't have a problem learning Latin, French and German in their new school. They said that those languages are scientific languages, and Chinese is not. They want to embrace into the languages of their new home and customs, instead of continuing to learn Chinese languages and traditions. Their father and stepmother are very persistent on the subject of the kids going to Chinese school so that they don't completely dismiss their heritage. They don't want their children to lose their identity, but the children want to create their own new identity in Canada and be accepted into Canadian

The differences between generations are always the topics that create conflicts in families. “Children as Enemies” by Ha Jin portrays this conflict through the issues of changing names. The conservative grandparents lock their Chinese culture in the problem while the younger generations soon adapt to the American’s lifestyle. The conservative grandparents are not as accepting of this new American-lifestyle as the younger generations are. By using conflict as a literary device in the story, Ha Jin uses the idea of a gap between generations to portray the issues that come with moving to a new environment through cultural differences.

They are afraid, that the “Canadians” will assume that they are poor. in the poor village in china in which grandmamma grew up, searching through the garbage was acceptable, but in Canadian it is frowned upon. Therefore, Choy identifies that these two generations have different perspectives about Chinese culture, and fails to grasp important information about the norms and cultural views. While the children attempted to fit in, their father and stepmother were determined to hold on to their Chinese roots. It shows that as the younger generations, integrate into the American culture, individuals move forward, and the definitions of “Chinese” as older generation alters, for younger generations. It also portrays that the older generations politically need to adapt need to adopt with the “Canadians”, because as time progresses, identities culture and traditional perspectives will begin to change with the Chinese-Canadian culture. It demonstrates that culture will have to integrate into an Canadian society in order to be inclusive

The Chinese Experience records the history of the Chinese in the United States. The three-part documentary shows how the first arrivals from China, their descendants, and recent immigrants have “become American.” It is a story about identity and belonging that is relative to all Americans. The documentary is divided into three programs, each with a focus on a particular time in history. Program 1 describes the first arrivals from China, beginning in the early 1800’s and ending in 1882, the year Congress passed the first Chinese exclusion act. Program 2, which details the years of exclusion and the way they shaped and distorted Chinese American

Being Canadian is so much more than just the cliché stereotype of living in igloos, playing hockey 24/7, and drinking Tim Hortans coffee every day. Being a part of the Canadian culture means that all Canadians are unified as one big family. Culture is defined as “a set of human made objective and subjective elements that have increased the probability of survival, and resulted in satisfaction for the participants” (Samovar, 1991). Every culture has their own attitudes, customs and beliefs that differentiate one culture from another. Canadian culture can be very distinctive from other cultures. Usually the first impression of Canadians is that we are very polite and we live in an extremely friendly and accepting country. Being Canadian is about having big hearts and appreciating our diverse environment. Our country shares a wide variety of different ethnic backgrounds which makes being Canadian unique.

An immigrant's culture and beliefs take a shift, sometimes going extinct, or they evolve to include elements from both countries; where they grew up, and where they’ll grow old. Transculturation is key in order to fit into a new society, those who do it well have a smoother time transitioning. For example the Hmong and Mexicans both had to flee their country, but the Mexicans found it easier to transition to the American culture than the Hmongs.The Hmongs never thought they would leave their home in Laos, they were happy and thriving on their lands. Unfortunately war struck and the Hmong agreed to help the US fight back, due to their involvement in the war, they were seen as traders, therefore they were persecuted by the Vietnamese. Due to this the Hmong people suffered in

I think when Chinese immigrants were hoping to find a new life in Canada it contributes to the Canadian identity because they thought that Canada is a great place to live in and they were willing to be welcome in Canada because they were hoping to have a better life. When they got here, they learned that

Firstly, second-generation immigrants do not feel connected to their homeland; instead their identity is tied to the place they were born. In a study conducted with Canadian-born Chinese (CBC) young adults, researchers claim: “migration involves constituting a sense of belonging in a new place while maintaining ties to the place of origin” (Kobayashi and Preston 235). This was concluded after many participants articulated a contested sense of belonging. When the old culture is abandoned, most often by second-generation immigrants, they do not connect to their cultural origins. Likewise, when the new

The question of identity is always a difficult one for those living in a culture or group, yet belonging to another. This difficulty frequently remains in the mind of most immigrants, especially the second generations who were born in a country other than their parents. Younger generations feel as if they are forced to change to fit the social standards despite previous culture or group. Furthermore those who wish to adopt a new identity of a group or culture haven't yet been fully accepted by original members due to their former identity.

There is a growing of ethnic groups from non-European societies, who can meet Canadian economic development in term of their level of education, occupational skills and languages. Those ethnic groups are called immigrants because they are neither indigenous nor colonist settlers but are accepted through Canada’s immigration policy (Banting 2010). Even though diverse cultures and differences of minorities were recognized and celebrated within the bilingual framework during the multiculturalism policy of the 1970s, their full equal participations are still excluded from the mainstream society (Leung 2012).

The quantity of individuals who are into Canada is consistently expanding as seen somewhere around 2001 and 2006, the quantity of remotely conceived individuals expanded by 13.6%, and by, 2006 Canada had developed to have 34 ethnic groups with no less than one hundred thousand individuals each, of which eleven have more than 1,000,000 individuals and various others are spoken to in littler sums. 16.2% of the populace self-distinguishes as a noticeable minority (Statistics Canada, 2011). This massive immigration has ensured that multiculturalism in Canada has never faced any threat of collapse. The Canadians know that the only way different cultures are going to strive in the country is by supporting legal immigration of people from various parts of the world into the country. By allowing the settlement of immigrants, multiculturalism in Canada was being

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.