The Transnational Migration and Connections of the Chinese in Chinese Americans - Enduring Community and Increasing Diversity by Wei Li and Wan Yu

In “Chinese Americans – Enduring Community and Increasing Diversity” by Wei Li and Wan Yu, the two authors introduce the different methods in which the Chinese migrated into the United States. Many Chinese families went after the Gold Rush by splitting households across the Pacific Ocean. Much population, capital, and information led to the growth of Chinese American communities. Nowadays, many Chinese immigrants can be considered “astronaut families” due to families living in both Asian and the U.S. Usually the husband will travel back and forth between America, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to engage in business practices. They usually leave their families in the U.S. and this split often leads to unstable families and divorces. Another form of immigration would be “parachute kids,” which is when parents stay in Asia while their children are funded and sent to America to get an education there which leads to possible kidnapping and gang violence. Recently, money and human capital have been moving back and forth between China and the U.S. Many highly-educated Chinese Americans are now returning back to China to obtain high-ranking positions in China. There are now even areas in China that simulate the suburbs of America to appeal to these returning Chinese.

According to Table 11.3, U.S.-Born and Foreign-Born Chinese: Age and Gender, Late 2000s, the majority of the population of the age 16-64 group in both the U.S-born and foreign- born is larger than any other age group. The 16-64 U.S.-born Chinese make up 50.8% of all U.S.-born Chinese with a slightly larger male population of 346,486 versus 341,117 female. The 16-64 age group dominates in both genders with males being 50.4% in the male category and females being 51.1% in the female category. The 16-64 age foreign-born group contains almost 3 times as many as the U.S-born, they also make up 80.3% of the foreign-born population. There also happens to be more females than males, 1,058,284 and 907,200 respectively. Males of the 16-64 age group make up 82% of the male foreign-born population and females make up 78.8% of the female foreign-born population.

Being one of the U.S.-born Chinese, I can say out of personal experience that there are more foreign-born than U.S.-born. I’ve seen many foreign-born Chinese students in college where it’s more apparent. Also, I have had friends who are parachute kids and their parents are back home in Asia while they are left here to study in college. There is a pretty good mixture of U.S.-born and foreign-born, both sides have a lot they can learn from each other as many U.S.- born have become “whitewashed.” The Chinese population in America is very diverse since there are many dialects and cultures since they come from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or rural parts of China. The authors successfully portray the huge interaction between the U.S. and China, whether it be dealing with population, capital, or work.

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