The New Chinese America: Class, Economy, and Social Hierarchy

Introduction: Rethinking Chinese America

Introduction Rethinking Chinese America Schools were in full session in late April.Tests were scheduled and papers and projects were due soon. But few graduating seniors with college admissions in hand would let schoolwork spoil their celebratory mood.The air was filled with a palpable excitement.The few weeks ahead would be about proms, graduations, and gatherings reaf- firming friendships before bidding farewell. Within the Chinese American community, excitement was mixed with high anxiety over the mysterious college admissions process.The success (or failure in some cases) of the soon-to-be-college students prompted many questions from parents with younger children:Why was a particular student accepted by one college but rejected by another? Why did John win a scholarship while his equally outstanding friend Larry got nothing? What exactly were the universities looking for? How much did they weigh extracurricular actives versus grades and test scores? And how should the younger high-school students prepare themselves for the upcoming challenges? Chinese American parents’ high anxiety over the college admissions process and their strong desire to push their children ahead of the game were well anticipated by ethnic educational services. No time would be wasted. Before the departure of the senior class, programs were already scheduled to engage parents of younger children. On April 26, 2008, for example, a two-day “Education Show and Seminars” program was held in Los Angeles.This event was sponsored by Shijie ribao (Chinese Daily News), the most popular Chinese language newspaper in the United States; the Elite Educational Institute; and several professional services. Offering eighteen lectures and thirty exhibit tables, this education fair 1 Th e N e w C h i n e s e A m e r i ca 2 made available bilingual information on a wide range of topics. Lack of English proficiency, however, was not the reason for those who drove for hours to Los Angeles from all over southern California to attend these seminars; most participants were well informed.They came to this event because they believed that their ethnic service providers would have more to offer than what was available from their local high schools. It was a great opportunity for strangers from similar cultural backgrounds and with the same anxieties to mingle and exchange information and knowledge with one another, using a familiar language.The lectures and materials were about American colleges and universities, but all were delivered and disseminated in a unique Chinese American style. This was apparent in the program highlights, including catchy topics such as “Realizing the Ivy League Dream:The Three Musts in College Application ,”“How to Ace the SAT!” and simply,“The Road to Harvard.” Only those in the know were invited to speak; among them were admission officers or members of university recruitment teams, alumni of the Ivy League, and professional education consultants.1 In the past few decades, accompanying the rapid growth of the Chinese American population, many ethnic business districts—the new Chinatowns—have emerged in NewYork, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, and other parts of the United States. Many different classes and programs are offered to both middle-class Chinese Americans and immigrant workers, and advice on education is only one of the hundreds of services provided by Chinese American entrepreneurs.This development reflects a high level of participation in the ethnic economy from a very diverse Chinese American population. There have been ups and downs in the U.S. economy in the past two decades, but even when the price of gas skyrockets and the unemployment rate peaks, a deserted parking lot is a rare scene in Chinese business districts. As many Chinese living in the United States have become Americanized, and a significant proportion of them have achieved middle-class status and become suburban dwellers, the growth of the ethnic economy and its ability to draw participants from the community as entrepreneurs, laborers, and consumers are phenomenal. This book is not about how much the Chinese have achieved in the United States; other scholars have studied that aspect of Chinese American history.2 This study is built upon the existing scholarship, Introduction: Rethinking Chinese America 3 with a clear understanding that a substantial proportion of the Chinese American population has experienced significant upward mobility. Rather than repeating or adding to what has been done, the book will approach the ethnic community from a different angle...