Chinese Americans are a diverse and prominent community in the United States. They can be found in cities, towns, and rural areas across the nation. Many own restaurants, laundries (which led to the 1886 Supreme Court case Yick Wo vs Hopkins), and a wide range of other businesses.
During the California gold rush, Chinese people worked in gold mines and on railroad construction. But virulent nativism created laws that blocked Chinese immigration and prevented naturalization for existing residents until 1943.
History
In the United States, early Chinese immigrants were a diverse group. Many were poor and working class, but others were affluent and middle-class. They formed close-knit communities with mutual aid (both domestic and international), robust religious, civic and family associations (including clan associations such as the Hip Sing and On Leong associations), and businesses.
They worked as servants, cooks, launderers, merchants and manufacturers of cigar, boots, shoes and textiles. They also ran restaurants, smuggled goods and provided labor in borax and mercury mines. In the 1860s, white miners were so incensed by the competition for jobs that they killed or injured scores of Chinese people in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Today, the Chinese community is a multifaceted and resilient one. Despite retaining some ties to their traditional values and practices, the majority of Chinese Americans have become fully assimilated. This is especially true of the younger generation. Nonetheless, there are still pockets of isolated Chinese communities in the United States.
Language
The linguistic plurality associated with the Chinese language is evident in the vast number of dialects. It is also interesting to note that these differences were allowed to evolve over the years without causing major political disputes in China.
One of the most significant areas of dialect diversity in China is the Han language group, which includes Wu (including Shanghainese), Yue (including Cantonese), Xiang (including Hunanese) and Hakka languages.
Within the Han language group, there are variations of pronunciation, vocabulary and syntax. Many of these differences can be attributed to the influence of different rulers and periods of political fragmentation that resulted in regional centers with distinct linguistic characteristics. In addition, there are 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China, each with its own language or dialect. In some cases, these dialects are influenced by Standard Chinese. Similarly, foreign words continue to enter the Chinese language through transcription according to their pronunciations.
Religion
The Chinese people practice a variety of religious beliefs and rituals. Attempts to categorize them all under Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism have been problematic because many of these practices do not easily fit under any of the three labels. For instance, a belief in ancestor worship, the use of shamans to exorcise ghosts or consult fortunetellers; and the tendency to construe God as government officials are all religious ideas that do not fit comfortably into one of the three traditions.
In addition, the official tally of registered religious believers excludes many underground house churches and banned religious groups, as well as those who follow traditional folk religions. Moreover, the Chinese government is pushing to sinicize religion, forcing it to conform to CCP doctrine and values.
This CFR Backgrounder describes the difficulty of assessing religious trends in China. It also highlights a few key questions for future research on religion in China. Among the most important is whether the Chinese people are moving away from their childhood religion.
Ethnicity
Chinese Americans are a close-knit group of individuals, many of whom feel a deep connection to China and its culture. They have established their own cultural institutions that often resemble small cities in themselves. Despite the hardships of early immigration and long histories of legal discrimination in the United States and Canada, they have managed to create a thriving community in urban centers. These communities are known as Chinatowns and vary widely in income levels and social status.
Although China officially recognizes 55 ethnic minorities in addition to its Han majority, these groups are distinct and have different languages, cultures, and traditions. The Chinese government has taken a hard-line approach to assimilation, employing re-education camps and AI-powered surveillance systems in minority dominated provinces like Xinjiang and Tibet. Despite this, Chinese Texans have maintained some of their traditional practices through community organizations and cultural festivals. In religion, most are Baptists. Many also follow Shequ, a form of Buddhism based on ancestral spirits and ancestor worship.