Chinese-American population holds a unique position in American history. The majority of the initial population of Chinese immigrants arrived in this county under coolie labor contracts, which were similar to the African slaves of the plantations of the South. The Chinese coolies were treated as disposable labor, and given less than full citizen status until the middle of the 1940's. However, this group did not let the American culture assimilate them; rather the Chinese-Americans built their own collective identity, which was a unique reflection of the rich Chinese heritage they left behind.
According to Wei Djao (2003) who interviewed close to a hundred across the world for her book "Being Chinese" there are four factors which contribute to the collective identity building process. She insists that the collective identity building process is a term which does not catch the full measure of the emotion and personality of the process by which a people choose their identity. The acculturation process is a deeply personal journey, and can mean different things to different people as they reach a conclusion with which they are comfortable. The end of the acculturation process is understood as the individual arrives at a self-concept with which the person can identify as his or her own, rather than having that identity forced upon them by another, outside authority.
When the Chinese immigrants were subjected to oppression, control, slavery of the coolie trade, the community stayed strongly associated with their homeland. The idea of the China which they left behind was their only source of comfort, and identity. However, as selected groups of Chinese began to experience a measure of personal, economic or social freedom and acceptance,...
Like the black American of the South, as long as forces created the injustice of slavery and related discrimination, they remained a separate and isolated people. But after real and substantive change in the Chinese community, and how the Chinese were treated in American society, the only obstacles that remained were those of self-perception, and learning to see oneself as a welcomed part of the social order, rather than an isolated person.
For the Chinese in the Diaspora, their collective identity was built on four different social constructs. A study (Djao, 2003) confirmed that the Chinese sense of personal identity was based on the following four factors:
Political influences, and laws governing the people, and whether or not their citizenship is accepted, as well as the Chinese own political allegiance.
Cultural individualism refers to the Chinese way of life, the foods, ceremonies and traditions, and the level to which the Chinese culture was accepted by the surrounding peoples.
Ethnic aspects of Chinese identify refers to ancestral groupings among the world's ethno-cultural categories.
Economic conditions of the people and how these conditions compare to the conditions of their surrounding peoples also contribute to the sense of self-identity.
The political dimension of identity is that aspect of self-definition regarding one's personal allegiance to the government of a society. Through this political allegiance a country confers on its citizens the rights, obligations and freedoms which the country offers its…
