Encyclopedia of World CulturesVolume I - NORTH AMERICA - E ppsx

94 East Asians of Canada East Asians of Canada ETHNONYMS: Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Nikkei (Japanese), Orientals Orientation Identification. As used here, 'East Asians in Canada" re- fers to Canadians of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Filipino ethnic ancestry. The Chinese in Canada can be divided into two major subgroups-those who came before 1947 and those who have come since then. The earlier group was composed almost totally of men who lived in western Canada. They came primarily from Guangdong Province in southern China. Those who have arrived since 1947 have more often been families, with a substantial percentage emigrating from Hong Kong. Within each subgroup further distinctions can be made on the basis of time of migration to Canada, social status, and place of birth. The Japanese in Canada are a het- erogeneous group, consisting of the issei, nisei, sansei, yonsei, and the shin eijusha. The issei, or first generation, in Canada is made up of the early immigrants who came to Canada roughly between 1877 and 1907. The nisei are the children of the issei who as a group were born between about 1908 and 1940. In Japanese, nisei means 'second generation," sansei, "third generation," and yonsei, "fourth generation.' The Japa- nese immigrants who came to Canada after World War 11 are called the 'shin eijusha." Theoretically, these new immigrants can be called "issei," but they prefer to be known as the new immigrants because they are mostly technicians and professionals, unlike the issei before the war who were mostly laborers, farmers, and fishermen. The Koreans and Filipinos are more homogeneous groups, as many are skilled technicians or professionals who have settled in Canada only in the last few decades and have assimilated easily into the Canadian economy. Location. Prior to the post-World War 11 influx, East Asians in general lived mainly in British Columbia and other western provinces. The Chinese were concentrated in British Columbia as well, though Chinese communities did form in large cities elsewhere (for example, Toronto) prior to World War I. In 1986, Ontario contained the largest number of people in each of the four groups with 156,170 Chinese, 44,195 Filipinos, 17,200 Koreans, and 16,150 Japanese. Brit- ish Columbia is home for 112,605 Chinese, 15,905 Japanese, 15,810 Filipinos, and 5,065 Koreans. Alberta also has many East Asians, and Manitoba has a sizable (15,815) Filipino population. There are relatively few East Asians in the Mari- time Provinces or in Quebec, with the exception of the Chi- nese who number 23,205 in the latter. Demography. According to estimates from the 1986 census, there are 360,320 Chinese, 93,285 Filipinos, 40,995 Jap- anese, and 27,285 Koreans in Canada. East Asians constitute about 2 percent of the population of Canada. Their number has increased rapidly in the last thirty years, both through natural population growth and through increased immigration under the Immigration Act of 1952 and subsequent amendments. For the Japanese, intermarriage of the sansei and younger nisei with non-Japanese has contributed to the natural population growth. The younger group in the Japa- nese-Canadian demographic profile provides a contrasting pattern to the general Canadian population profile in that the population pyramid base is wider indicating the population as a whole is younger. Filipinos in Canada today are mostly young with a high percentage of females, many of whom have arrived since the 1960s. linguistic Affiliation. Prior to the end of World War 11, when they were isolated from the general population, the Chinese and Japanese maintained their native languages. Full participation in their community often required knowledge of the local or regional dialect of Japanese or Cantonese or Mandarin. But those who have settled in Canada in the last thirty years and their children are more often bilingual in the native language and English, with many Chinese from Hong Kong speaking Hong Kong Chinese. Many recent Filipino and Korean immigrants have arrived already speaking English along with their native language. History and Cultural Relations The history of the Chinese and Japanese in Canada is essentially one of racial discrimination from the time of arrival to after the Second World War. Koreans and Filipinos, because they have arrived recently during the period when Canada has embraced an official policy of multiculturalism, have suf- fered much less from racial discrimination. There has been little organized cooperation among any of the four East Asian groups, either in the past or today. Chinee. Chinese first immigrated to Canada in the 1850s to participate in the Fraser River gold rush. When the mines gave out, some moved on to California and others returned to China, but the majority stayed on in British Columbia where they worked in low-level service jobs. In the 1880s a second wave of Chinese men arrived in Canada. In all, about seven- teen thousand came, with most recruited to work on the ex- tension of the Canadian Pacific Railroad through British Co- lumbia. Whites in British Columbia expected that once the railroad was completed, the laborers would return to China. But many could not afford the trip back and instead settled in British Columbia where they worked as wage laborers in coal mining, fish canning, and agriculture. Always viewed as less than equal by Whites in British Columbia, their willingness to work hard for low wages and thus take jobs many thought belonged to Whites led to further resentment, harassment, and the formation of anti-Chinese organizations such as the Workingman's Protective Association and the Knights of Labour. White resentment also led the British Columbia government to seek changes in national immigration laws that would effectively end Chinese immigration to Canada. In 1885 a head tax of fifty dollars was placed on immigrating Chinese; in 1901 it was raised to one hundred dollars and in 1905 to five hundred dollars. Because the tax failed to pre- vent immigration, the Chinese Immigration IExclusionl Act was amended in 1923 and immigration ceased until the act was repealed in 1947. Between 1923 and 1947 only forty-four Chinese had immigrated to Canada. The repeal of the act and subsequent measures over the next twenty years gave Chinese the opportunity for full participation in Canadian society, including the right to vote which had previously been denied them. It also opened up immigration, with many of East Asians of Canada 95 those arriving since 1947 coming as families from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere, such as Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and South America. Japanese. The first Japanese in Canada was Manzo Na- gano, a sailor, who arrived in 1877 and after sojourns back to Japan and to the United States eventually settled in Victoria in 1892. The early period of emigration from Japan (1877- 1907) was one in which conflict resulting from racial and cultural differences culminated in the race riots of 1907 in Van- couver. During this period there was considerable hostility toward both the Chinese and Japanese in British Columbia. As noted above, various measures were enacted by the British Columbia government to restrict Chinese immigration and participation in Canadian society. Although aimed at the Chinese, these restrictions applied to the Japanese as well and led to disfranchisement and efforts to restrict naturaliza- tion. These various attempts to enact discriminatory and racist legislation were not occurring in a vacuum. Public agita- tion in the province had been increasing gradually. The perception of Whites in British Columbia that the Japanese were an economic threat rested on several basic cultural differences. The Japanese emphasis on frugality and hard work was reflected in their day-to-day activities and in their customs and habits all of which were based on the traditional Japanese value system. Japanese social organization centered on shared needs as well as on a sense of group con- sciousness. Group solidarity within the Japanese community was further strengthened by its physical and social segregation from White society. Within this bounded territorial space, it was not difficult to retain the highly systematic and interdependent social relations that were based on the principle of social and moral obligation and traditional Japanese practices of mutual assistance such as oyabun-kobun (parent- child) and sempai-kohai (senior-junior) relationships. An- other aspect of traditional Japanese social relations that char- acterized both the oyabun-kobun and sempai-kohai systems was the emphasis placed on one's sense of duty, loyalty, and obligations to one's employers. Out of a sense of unquestion- ing loyalty, the kobun or kohai blindly followed the orders given by the oyabun or sempai. Ironically, these traditional values and customs, which led to the relatively successful adaptation by the Japanese in western Canada, became the main reason that the White community prevented the Japa- nese from becoming equal members of Canadian society. Japanese laborers who came to Canada around 1907 were recruited to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Wellington Colliery. The period from 1908 to 1940 was one of controlled immigration, the major feature of which was the "Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1908, which restricted immigration to returning immigrants, wives and children, and immigrants specifically hired by Canadians. Because of the Anglo-Japanese alliance and labor shortages, anti-Japanese sentiment decreased before and during World War I. It increased again during the depression after the war and led to restrictions on Japanese involvement and ownership rights in the fishing and other industries, professional employment, and access to higher education. As Adachi has noted, to Japanese-Canadians citizenship was meaningless or, at best, symbolized the 'status of second-class citizenship." From 1941 to 1948 the situation worsened, and Japa- nese-Canadians were deprived of their civil rights. The threat of war with Japan and then the war itself increased anti- Japanese feelings and led the government beginning in late 1941 to impound the property of Japanese-Canadians, close their language schools, and halt publication of Japanese- language newspapers. In 1942, 20,881 Japanese-Canadians were rounded up and removed to detention camps in interior British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. Restric- tions were relaxed beginning in 1943, motivated in part by the need for Japanese workers in other parts of Canada. In July 1947 a commission was established to compensate Japanese-Canadians for the property that had been confiscated. It was not until September 1988, however, that all property and civil rights claims were settled, with the final settlement reached by the National Association of Japanese Ca- nadians and the government of Canada. The wartime experience effectively destroyed the Japanese community in Canada, but revitalization has started through the efforts of those who have arrived in the last few decades. Settlements East Asians have always been and continue to be mostly urban. Early Chinese and Japanese immigrants tended to form distinct ethnic communities-"Chinatowns" and "Lit tle Tokyos"-in large cities. Because of their larger numbers, the Chinatowns have been more visible and have drawn more attention. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these communities were typical urban immigrant ghettos. Since the 1950s, as the Chinese and Japanese populations in Canada have increased and become more mobile spatially and socially, the urban communities have become social, political, and symbolic centers as well as residential ones. At the same time, as discrimination has lessened, more Chinese and Japanese have chosen to live outside the traditional communities. For the Japanese, Toronto has in some ways replaced Vancouver as the center of Japanese culture in Canada. Kore- ans and Filipinos have also settled mainly in urban areas (two-thirds of Filipinos live in the Toronto area), but they have not formed distinctive residential enclaves. Filipinos, perhaps more so than the other groups, have settled in the suburbs. Economy Chinese and Japanese laborers who came to British Colum- bia around 1907 were brought in mainly through contractual arrangements between emigration companies and Canadian importers of labor such as the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Wellington Colliery. Many of these men worked for the railroad, on farms, in the fishing industry, and in wood pulp mills. For the Chinese, White Canadians expected that they would return to China once their work on the railroad was completed. When most stayed in Canada and took low-level work at low wages, White resentment resulted and was di- rected both at the Chinese and Japanese. A labor shortage during World War I dampened anti-Asian feelings, but they increased again after the war as a result of a depresssion and unemployment that became marked upon the return of sol- diers. The strong control of the fishing industry on the west coast by the Japanese at this time became a matter of concern for British Columbia politicians, and in 1919 they attempted to limit the number of fishing licenses issued to Japanese fish- 96 East Asians of Canada ermen. As part of the attempt to restrict immigration, the provincial legislature asked the dominion government to amend the British North America Act so that provincial gov- ernments would have the 'power to make laws prohibiting Asiatics from acquiring proprietary interest in agricultural, timber and mining lands or in fishing or other industries, and from employment in these industries." Between 1923 and 1925, the Department of Marine and Fisheries took away close to one thousand fishing licenses from the Japanese, and they were prohibited even from using gasoline-powered fishing boats in order to give White fishermen a competitive ad- vantage. Such economic harassment continued to plague the Japanese fishermen, and consequently, many went into farming. Laws that denied Chinese and Japanese the right to a provincial vote prevented them from participating fully in several areas of professional employment because of a re- quirement that one must be on the voters' list. For example, to secure a logging license, one had to be twenty-one years of age and on the voters' list. These employment restrictions also applied to education, and it was not until the fall of 1945 that McGill University in Montreal accepted a nisei. This de- layed access to education has had serious consequences for the nisei in terms of their occupational mobility. Chinese professionals, because of these restrictions, confined their business to the Chinese community. After release from the detention camps, some Japanese chose to remain in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan where they became farmers. The Japanese who have arrived since World War II are more highly educated than both the prewar Japanese and Canadi- ans in general and are found in relatively large numbers working in the professions, academia, and the arts. The Chinese today are still heavily involved in service industries (restaurants, laundries, garment-making), although recent immigrants are less likely to enter these traditional occupations. The economic nature of the Chinatowns has been transformed in the last two decades from what were essentially residential enclaves that provided products and services to the Chinese community to major economic centers that provide products and services to Canadian society. Many Koreans came to Canada to find economic independence, and many have succeeded. Unemployment is rare among Korean-Canadians and about 50 percent own their own home, a far greater percentage than in Korea. Many are university-educated and work as physicians, lawyers, and pro- fessors, while perhaps some 50 percent own small businesses such as food stores, gasoline stations, restaurants, and real es- tate agencies. In Toronto, for example, Koreans run about twelve hundred convenience stores. The success of these en- terprises rests in part on the willingness of family members to staff the establishments so that they can remain open for long hours. Kinship, Marriage and Family Chinese. Chinese kinship, marriage, and family in Canada have gone through three distinct stages. From the 1880s to 1947, the Chinese in Canada formed a "bachelor community" composed almost entirely of unmarried men or men whose wives and families were in China. These men usually lived in collective households called fang-k'ou- in the China- towns. A few fang-k'ou- still exist, though they are disappear- ing as the few remaining old Chinese bachelors die off. They were organized into numerous associations or fictive kin groups with affiliation based on a common place of birth, surname, or dialect. The second stage took place roughly from 1947 to 1967 and involved the arrival of the wives and children of some of the bachelors and the formation of nuclear families. The third stage began in 1967 and continues today with nuclear families that are similar in size and composition to Canadian families in general. Perhaps the major differences between the contemporary Chinese-Canadian family and other Canadian families are the extent to which adult Chi- nese children provide financial support for their parents and the frequency with which grandparents live with their children and their important contribution to child rearing. Japanese. Many of the Japanese laborers who came to Canada in the early 1900s were unmarried men. Unable to return to Japan, they relied upon arranged marriages or on "picture bride" arrangements, a system whereby pictures of the prospective bride and groom were exchanged and the decision to marry made after consultation with relatives and pos- sibly the nakodo, or go-between. As these brides immigrated to Canada, the demographic composition of the Japanese community gradually changed. Kobayashi has observed that the most significant char- acteristic of Japanese-Canadian marriages today is that Japanese-Canadians are marrying Canadians of other ethnic backgrounds at a rate that suggests that this is the norm rather than the exception. Her analysis of immigrant marriages also reveals that immigrants, too, are intermarrying frequently with non-Japanese Canadians. About 42 percent of Japanese women under the age of forty-four are married to non-Japanese men. In these mixed marriages, however, there are indications that not all aspects of traditional Japanese culture have disappeared. Certairt traditional festivals such as hina-matsuri (dolls festival) on May 3, tango-no-sekku (boys festival) on May 5, and keiro-no-hi (a day set aside to respect the aged) are still celebrated. The celebration of these festivals reinforces Japanese family values. For example, the elderly issei and nisei place considerable emphasis on gaman (forebearance) and enryo (modesty). Gaman means the suppression of emo- tions, the ability to grin and bear all pain, to remain calm and carry out one's task regardless of the circumstances. Enryo means much more than modesty as it encompasses codes of behavior concerning moderation and nonaggression. Self- effacement, self-control, reticence, humility, and denigration of oneself are all included in enryo. With the aging of the issei and nisei, the Japanese-Canadian family is attempting to come to terms with some traditional family values such as oyakoko and kansha. Oyakoko (filial piety) rests on the feeling of kansha (gratitude to one's parents) and children are obliged to fulfill their filial duties to take care of their aging parents. This responsibility often falls on the eldest son or daughter. But in many families, because of the vast geo- graphic distances that often separate the generations in Can- ada, it can be extremely difficult to fulfill one's filial obligations. Koreans and Filipinos. Because of their recent arrival, middle-class socioeconomic status, and residential dispersal, Korean and Filipino families are generally similar to the aver- East Asians of Canada 97 age Canadian family. Many Koreans, however, own small businesses, which are often staffed by family members from three generations, making economic cooperation between extended kin important. And despite economic assimilation, many traditional Korean family values such as the importance of ties to clan members, patriarchal authority, and respect for the elderly remain important. Filipino families in Canada are often formed through a chain migration, with the first immigrant being a young woman with job skills marketa- ble in Canada. She subsequently arranges for her parents, children, siblings, and other relatives to emigrate. Sociopolitical Organization Because of their isolation within Canadian society, both the Chinese and Japanese developed distinct ethnic communities with their own social, economic, and religious institutions, which reflected both the values and customs of the homeland and adaptational needs in Canada. Chinese. The basic social unit in Chinese communities in pre-World War 11 Canada, the fictive clan (clan association or brotherhood), reflected the reality that 90 percent of the population was male. These associations were formed in Chi- nese communities on the basis of shared surnames or combi- nations of names or, less often, common district of origin or dialect. They served a wide range of functions: they helped maintain ties to China and to the men's wives and families there; they provided a forum for the settlement of disputes; they served as centers for organizing festivals; and they offered companionship. The activities of clan associations were supplemented by more formal, broader-based organizations such as the Freemasons, the Chinese Benevolent Associa- tion, and the Chinese Nationalist League. With the growth and demographic change in the Chinese community after World War 11, the type and number of organizations in Chi- nese communities have proliferated. Most are now served by many of the following: community associations, political groups, fraternal organizations, clan associations, schools, recreational/athletic clubs, alumni associations, music/dance societies, churches, commercial associations, youth groups, charities, and religious groups. In many cases, membership in these groups is interlocking; thus special interests are served while community cohesion is reinforced. In addition, there are broader groups that draw a more general membership, including the Chinese Benevolent Association, the Kuomin- tang, and the Freemasons. Japanese. Group solidarity within the post-World War II Japanese community was strengthened by their social and physical segregation in their work and residential environ- ments. Within this bounded territorial space, it was not difficult to retain the highly systematized and interdependent social relations that were based on the principle of social and moral obligations and the traditional practices of mutual assistance such as the oyabun-kobun and sempai-kohai relationships. The oyabun-kobun relationship promoted non-kin social ties on the basis of a wide-ranging set of obligations. The oyabun-kobun relationship is one in which persons unre- lated by kin ties enter into an agreement to assume certain obligations. The kobun, or junior person, receives the bene- fits of the oyabun's wisdom and experience in dealing with day-to-day situations. The kobun, in turn, must be ready to offer his services whenever the oyabun requires them. Simi- larly, the sempai-kohai relationship is based on a sense of responsibility whereby the sempai, or senior member, assumes responsibility for overseeing the social, economic, and religious affairs of the kohai, or junior member. Such a system of social relations provided for a cohesive and unified collectiv- ity, which enjoyed a high degree of competitive power in the economic sphere. With the removal of the Japanese during World War 11, subsequent relocations, and the arrival of the shin eijusha after World War 11, there has been a weakening of these traditional social relations and obligations. The sizable Japanese population, which shared a common language, religion, and similar occupations, led to the formation of various social organizations. Friendship groups and prefectural associations numbered about eighty-four in Vancouver in 1934. These organizations provided the cohesive force necessary to maintain the formal and informal social networks operative in the Japanese community. Prefec- tural association members were able to secure social and financial assistance, and this resource plus the strong cohesive nature of the Japanese family enabled early immigrants to remain competitive in numerous service-oriented businesses. Japanese-language schools were an important means of socialization for the nisei, until the schools were closed by the government in 1942. In 1949 the Japanese finally won the right to vote. Today, both the sansei and shin eijusha are active participants in Canadian society, although their involvement in the academic and business sectors is more noticeable than in the political sector. The National Association of Jap- anese Canadians has played a major role in settling the claims of the Japanese removed during World War 11 and in repre- senting Japanese-Canadian interests in general. Koreans and Filipinos. Koreans and Filipinos in Canada have formed a variety of local and regional associations, with the church (United church for Koreans and Roman Catholic church for Filipinos) and affiliated organizations often the most important institution serving the community. Religion and Expressive Culture The majority of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Filipinos in Canada are Christians. Chinese. Traditional Chinese religious beliefs centered on ancestor worship, which is reported as declining in Canada. But because ancestor worship is practiced in private, just how important it still is is unclear. The majority of Chinese are now Christians, with various denominations (Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal) represented in the larger Chinese communities. The United church is the most important and is the center of social and recreational activities in many communities. Major holidays other than Christian ones are the Lunar New Year, Bright- Clear, and Mid-Autumn. Chinese cultural traditions remain strong in Canada and are reflected in Chinese opera, martial arts, food, and traditional crafts such as paper folding. These traditions are maintained in part through regular cultural ex- changes between Chinese-Canadian communities and the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Japanese. The early issei or Japanese immigrants preferred Buddhism, but by the early 1900s, Christian missionaries were beginning to have some success in winning converts. 98 East Asians of Canada Both the United church of Canada and the Methodists were making considerable inroads especially with the Canadian- bom nisei. Although churches in Canada did not take a stand when Japanese property was confiscated and the Japa- nese were interned during World War II, the Roman Catho- lic, Anglican, and United churches provided elementary school education for children in British Columbia camps. The 1986 census indicates that this education experience helped win converts to the churches, with 10,680 Japanese members of the United church, 3,425 Anglicans, and 1,625 Roman Catholics in comparison to 10,330 Buddhists. There are also Japanese who are Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecos- tals, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons, Lutherans, and other Protestant denominations. More than 25 percent claim no religious affiliation. Recent immigrants reflect the changing religious affiliations of modem Japan in that several shinko shukyo, or "new religions" such as Soka Gakkai, Tenrikyo, P. L. Kyodan, Rissho Kosei Kai, and Konkokyo, are beginning to flourish in such cities as Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. These new religions, however, have their roots in Shintoism and Buddhism. Koreans. For Koreans, earliest contacts with Canada date to 1890 and the arrival of Canadian missionaries in Korea. These missionaries later arranged for the immigration of Ko- reans to Canada. Koreans belong mainly to the Korean United church, the Korean Presbyterian church, and the Ko- rean Roman Catholic church, with the United church being the most influential. At the same time, Korean traditions are maintained and Korean food, dance, music, and martial arts are highy visible in Canadian society. In addition to the major Christian holidays, Korea's National Independence Day is celebrated on March 1. Filipino. The overwhelming majority of Filipinos in Can- ada are Roman Catholics, and their churches are the centers for organized activity outside the family. The Christian holidays are major religious and social events and are celebrated with the incorporation of traditional foods, dance, music, and other customs. See also East Asians of the United States Bibliography Adachi, Ken (1976). The Enemy that Never Was. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. Chan, Anthony B. (1983). Gold Mountain: The Chinese in the New World. Vancouver. New Star Books. Johnson, Graham E. (1979). "Chinese Family and Commu- nity in Canada: Tradition and Change." In Two Nations, Many Cultures: Ethnic Groups in Canada, edited by Jean L. Elliot, 358-371. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall of Canada. Kim, Uichol (1989). "Acculturation of Korean Immigrants: What Are the Hidden Costs?" Korea Observer 20:431-454. Kobayashi, Audrey (1989). A Demographic Profile of Japanese Canadians. Winnipeg: National Association of Japanese Canadians. LaViolette, Forrest E. (1948). The Canadian Japanese and World War 11. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Li, Peter S., and B. Singh Bolaria, eds. (1983). Racial Minori- ties in Multicultural Canada. Toronto: Garamond Press. Saito, Shiro (1977). Filipinos Overseas: A Bibliography. New York: Center for Migration Studies. Sugimoto, Howard H. (1972). "The Vancouver Riots of 1907: A Canadian Episode." In East across the Pacific, edited by Hilary Conroy and T. Scott Miyakawa, 92-126. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Sunahara, Ann (1981). The Politics of Racism. Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. Ujimoto, K. Victor (1979). "Postwar Japanese Immigrants in British Columbia: Japanese Culture and job Transferability." In Two Nations, Many Cultures: Ethnic Groups in Canada, edited by Jean L. Elliot, 338-357. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall of Canada. Wickberg, Edgar, ed. (1982). From China to Canada: A His- tory of the Chinese Communities in Canada. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. K. VICTOR UJIMOTO East Asians of the United States ETHNONYMS: Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Orien- tals Orientation Identification. The general category of East Asians in the United States includes Americans of Chinese, Filipino, Japa- nese, and Korean ancestry. Neither East Asians in general nor any of the four East Asian-American groups is a homogeneous cultural group in the United States. Within each are a number of identifiable subgroups, with perhaps the most sigi- ficant being those who arrived before World War II and their descendants and those who have arrived since, the latter, except for Japanese-Americans, making up the overwhelming majority of East Asian-Americans. Other important divisions are based on the region of origin in the sending nation, language, religion, generation, and occupation. Location. Prior to the post-World War II population increase East Asian-Americans were concentrated in Hawaii and California, with small numbers in Washington and Ore- gon. Since World War II, the percentage of East Asians has increased dramatically, partly through immigration to the United States and partly through migration from Hawaii to the mainland. Japanese-Americans remain heavily concen- East Asians of the United States 99 trated in the West (80.3 percent in 1980), mainly in the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose areas, though sizable numbers now live in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City. In 1980, 42.9 percent of Korean-Americans lived in the West, with the other 60 percent distributed almost evenly in the northeastern, north-central, and southern re- gions. In 1980, 52.7 percent of Chinese-Americans lived in the West with 26.8 percent in the East, with major communities in New York City and Boston. Filipino-Americans remain a largely West Coast group with 68.8 percent settled there in 1980. Large Filipino communities also exist in De- troit, Chicago, New York City, and Boston as well as in San Diego, Norfolk, New London, Connecticut, and other cities with large naval bases, reflecting a tradition of Filipino service in the U.S. Navy dating to 1901. Demography. Estimates for 1985 indicate that there were 1,079,400 Chinese, 1,051,600 Filipino, 766,300 Japanese, and 542,400 Korean-Americans in the United States. If immigration figures for 1986 through 1989 are considered, it is likely that Filipinos are now the largest East Asian group in the United States as the number of Filipino immigrants was more than double the number of Chinese ones during this period. The number of East Asians has increased dramatically since the 1950s. In 1940, there were 285,115 Japanese, 106,334 Chinese, 98,535 Filipino, and 8,568 Korean- Americans. Reflecting this heavy recent immigration, the East Asian population contains a majority of immigrants (in 1980, 63.3 percent of the Chinese, 64.7 of the Filipinos, 81.9 percent of the Koreans), and they are a young population (about 60 percent are under forty-four years of age in these three groups). Japanese-Americans were a larger population than the other groups before 1950 and have had a lower rate of immigration since then; thus they have a lower percentage of immigrants (28.4 percent) and are a somewhat older population group. Linguistic Affiliation. The first generation of East Asian immigrants generally spoke the language of their homeland. Thus, Japanese spoke Japanese; Koreans spoke Korean; Chi- nese spoke Cantonese, various Mandarin dialects, or Hakka; and Filipinos spoke Ilocano, Visayan, or Tagalog, with most recent immigrants speaking Tagalog, now the offical language of the Philippines. In the second generation of recent immigrants, relatively few speak the native language regularly or remain fluent in it as adults. Instead, they prefer to speak En- glish. Native language maintenance is a major concern of the first generation of recent immigrants, though language school programs have met with only limited success. History and Cultural Relations The nature of East Asian immigration to and settlement in the United States is a function of a variety of factors including politics and economic conditions in the sending nation, the relationship between the sending nation and the United States, the need for cheap labor in the United States, and the racial prejudice encountered by East Asians in the United States. The Chinese were the first East Asian group to settle in America in significant numbers, with 322,000 arriving between 1850 and 1882. Most were men who worked as laborers in mines, in factories, and on farms to earn money that would enhance their economic status when they returned home. While initial settlement was in the western states, some later were sent east under a contract labor system designed to ex- ploit the Chinese as a source of low-paid labor, and others settled in the south. In response to demands for control of Chinese immigration and settlement that began in California in the 1860s, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which in 1882 effectively ended their immigration until 1943. During this period, the Chinese population in the United States decreased from 107,448 to 61,639. It was also during this period, however, that Chinatowns developed in cities near where the men worked. Unlike Chinese immigrants, the first influx of Filipino, Japanese, and Korean immigrants went to Hawaii where they were recruited to work on the sugar and pineapple plantations. Later, some moved on to California and the Northwest Coast while others immigrated directly from their home- lands, again to work as laborers on farms and in factories and canneries. The Japanese came first, and by 1890 there were 12,000 in Hawaii and 3,000 in California. By 1920 300,000 had come to these two areas. The gentlemen's agreement between the United States and Japan in 1907 placed quotas on and slowed Japanese immigration. Between 1903 and 1905, 7,226 Koreans immigrated to Hawaii; however, Korean immigration virtually disappeared for forty years when the Japa- nese government (which then ruled Korea) ended emigration from the country in 1905. Filipinos were recruited and began immigrating to Hawaii in 1906 in place of the Koreans and Chinese. Between 1909 and 1931 113,000 Filipinos immigrated to Hawaii, with 55,000 settling there, 39,000 returning home, and 18,600 moving on to the mainland. Some Filipi- nos also immigrated directly to California and the Northwest Coast, where they were used as farmworkers in place of the declining numbers of Japanese and Chinese. The Immigra- tion Act of 1924 through quotas virtually eliminated immigration from East Asia. Most immigrants between 1924 and the 1940s were wives of men already in the United States. Many of these were "picture-brides" selected through an ex- change of photographs handled by a matchmaker. Nearly all East Asian men and women lived in distinctively Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino communities in which the native languages and many traditional beliefs and practices were maintained. The marriages also produced a second generation in the United States who were citizens and who spoke English and were much less interested in maintaining the traditional cultures. During World War 11, the four East Asian communities had different experiences. Filipinos were classified as nation- als and therefore could not serve in the U.S. armed forces, though the rules were changed during the war to allow Filipi- nos to serve. The Chinese-American community benefited in some ways from the war, as job opportunities opened up. In 1943 the Exclusion Act was repealed, migration increased, and anti-Chinese sentiments lessened. Because Korea was ruled by Japan, Korean-Americans were classified as Japa- nese, although they were strong supporters of the war and ve- hemently anti-Japanese. Despite their being seen as Japanese, they were not classified as enemy aliens or removed to internment camps. The bombing of Pearl Harbor served as a catalyst to turn years of anti-Japanese feeling on the West Coast into action designed to destroy the Japanese-American community on 100 East Asians of the United States the mainland. Japanese-Americans (including those who were citizens) were classified as enemy aliens and rounded up; by the end of 1942 110,000 from California, Oregon, and Washington had been interned in camps in the California desert, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, and Arkansas. All except those who chose and were allowed to serve in the military and those who chose to resettle in the Midwest and East were kept in the camps until 1945. This mass violation of Japa- nese-Americans' civil rights nearly destroyed the Japanese community in the United States. After release from the camps most returned to California, with many reestablishing farms in the central part of the state. It was not until the late 1980s that the U.S. Congress voted to pay survivors of the camps $20,000 each as compensation for their losses. As noted above, since the end of World War II, there has been a multifold increase in the number of East Asians immigrating to the United States. The repeal of restrictive immigration laws, closer ties between the United States and South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan, and the Hart- Cellar Immigration Act of 1965 which essentially ended the national-origin quota system all encouraged immigration to and settlement in the United States. East Asians who have come to America since World War II are a much different population than those who came earlier. They are younger, include a larger number of women and families, are often highly educated professionals and technicians, and expect to stay in the U.S. The one constant in the settlement histories of the four groups was the economic exploitation and discrimination they experienced. In addition to major discriminatory actions-the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Immigration Act of 1924, and Japanese-American internment during World War II-East Asians were subject to numerous other discriminatory practices. For example, in California they were barred from certain businesses and professions, antimiscegenation laws prevented marriage to Whites, residential restrictions confined East Asians to their own communities, various laws limited their right to own land, Chinese miners (and Mexican miners) had their profits taxed, and so on. Today, although overtly racist policies and laws have essentially disappeared, racism continues. East Asian-American men, for example, make less than White counterparts with equal experience and education, and few have made it to the top level of American businesses. There is also growing resentment among other Americans about East Asian and especially Japanese invest- ment in the U.S. economy and ownership of properties in the United States. The depiction of East Asian-American groups as 'model minorities" troubles some East Asian-Americans, as it suggests that equality has been achieved while contrasting East Asian economic success with other minorities' al- leged failures and thus creating conflict between the groups. Settlements East Asian-Americans are mainly an urban-suburban group, with the place of residence now largely determined by socioeconomic status. The two major nonurban groups are Japanese-Americans in the farming and nursery and related businesses in central California and Filipino-American farm workers in California. Today, Koreatown in Los Angeles is the center of Korean life for the 150,000 Korean-Americans in southern California and the home for many elderly Korean-Americans and recent immigrants. The large China- towns that developed early in the century in cities such as San Francisco, Portland, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City have been transformed into major economic zones pro- viding products and services both to the regional Chinese- American population and to the general economy. The tour- ist trade has also become a major source of income in Chinatowns. Their economic growth has been accompanied by or perhaps was stimulated by their decline as residential districts. As with Koreatown in Los Angeles, most residents are either elderly or are recent immigrants and many are poor. "Little Tokyo" in Los Angeles, which serves Japanese- American communities in southern California, has also un- dergone the same transformation. Filipino-Americans, except for the mostly male communities in Hawaii and California early in the century, have not formed distinct ethnic enclaves comparable to Chinatowns. Economy In general, the economic circumstances of Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipinos in Hawaii and on the mainland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were much the same. The majority were low-paid, unskilled, male workers on sugar plantations in Hawaii and in the railroad, agriculture, fishing, logging, and mining industries on the mainland. When demand for their work diminished and East Asian immigration decreased, those who remained in the United States and their children tended to settle in cities and became involved in service industries. Filipinos worked as domestics in hotels and as kitchen workers in restaurants and many men joined the Merchant Marine or the U.S. Navy where they worked as mess stewards or in other low-level service jobs. At the same time, many Filipinos were employed seasonally as farm workers and eventually became active in the unioniza- tion movement. The Chinese were also employed in service industries as well as founding their own businesses, with restaurants, laundries, and garment factories being most common. In Hawaii, many Chinese sugar workers went on to work in the rice industry, and a sizable percentage became business owners or professionals. The Japanese also found work as domestics, gardeners, and farmers, with some finding ways to circumvent laws that prohibited them from owning land. Many of those who owned farms returned to rebuild them after they were released from the World War II internment camps. Both the Japanese and Chinese businesses have been described as 'middleman minority" adaptations charac- terized by self-ownership of family-staffed businesses that provide a unique product or service to the community. The arrival of the post-World War II immigrants has changed the position of East Asian-Americans in the U.S. economy. Many of those who have arrived since 1965 have been highly educated professionals or skilled technicians, and the children of the earlier settlers have had greater access to advanced education and professional employment. These two developments have improved the economic position of East Asian-Americans. Both men and women are now employed at about the same rates as Americans in general. The percentages of East Asian-American women who work (55 percent of Koreans, 58 percent of Chinese, 59 percent of Jap- anese, and 68 percent of Filipinos in 1980) are especially noteworthy. As of 1980, the men were employed in signifi- East Asians of the United States 101 cant numbers in managerial and professional positions (22.5 percent for Filipinos to 38 percent for Chinese), with the largest percentages of women being employed in administra- tive support and service jobs. Unique occupation patterns include 22 percent of Chinese-American men in service jobs, 30.4 percent of Filipino-American men in service and admin- istrative support positions, and 14.4 percent of Korean- American men in sales. For women, 18.2 percent of Chinese- American and 24 percent of Korean-American women work in low-level laborer positions. Gross figures indicate that full-time Chinese-American and Japanese-American men have higher incomes and Filipino-American and Korean- American men have lower incomes than Whites. The Chi- nese and Japanese figures are somewhat misleading, however, in that they do not reflect the fact that men in these groups often have more education and work longer hours than do Whites. Korean-Americans have drawn considerable attention as owners of small businesses, often grocery stores or veg- etable stands, in minority neighborhoods, suggesting a middleman minority role similar to the Chinese and Japanese earlier. Kinship, Marriage and Family Kinship. In the early Korean, Chinese, and Filipino communities, which were composed almost entirely of men, ties to families and wider kin networks were maintained through return visits, correspondence, and the remittance of a percentage of the man's earnings. In the communities that formed in this country, the absence of East Asian women and antimiscegenation laws made marriage and the formation of families and kin groups difficult. Some community cohesion was created through fictive kin groups modeled on clan and extended family structures in the homeland. Chinese men formed fictive clans with recruitment and membership based on immigration from the same village or province or posses- sion of the same surname. When Chinese families began to form later in the early twentieth century with the arrival of Chinese women, these clan associations became less important. Filipinos organized compang, fictive extended families composed of men who immigrated from the same village, with the oldest man usually heading the family. As more Fili- pino women immigrated to the United States, Filipino- American families became more common (though before World War II Filipino-American men still outnumbered women by nearly three to one), and the compadrazgo (godpar- ent) system was transferred to the United States with each individual then enmeshed in a network of actual and fictive kin. The situation for Japanese-Americans was different, as beginning in 1910 stable families began to form and Japanese urban and rural communities also become relatively stable. Although the second-generation Japanese-Americans, the nisei, were being acculturated into American society, the first-generation-based family (issei) was still strong enough to maintain traditional beliefs regarding appropriate behavior between superiors and inferiors as well as filial duties. Marriage and Family. The most noteworthy trend in East Asian-American marriages is the shift from ethnic endoga- mous to ethnic exogamous marriage. In all groups since the 1950s there has been a large increase in the number of marriages to non-ethnic group members, and especially to Whites. Contemporary East Asian-American families are generally small nuclear families. Korean-American and Fili- pino-American households are somewhat larger because of the larger number of children in the former and the presence of non-nuclear family members in the latter. East Asian- American families are notably stable, with over 84 percent of children in all four groups living with both of their parents. Nonetheless, there are concerns in the Chinese-American community about juvenile delinquency and in the Korean- American about what is considered a high divorce rate. There is a major difference in household composition between those already settled in the United States and recent immigrants. Households among the latter frequently contain additional relatives beyond the nuclear family or friends, as these households are often part of the chain migration process through which relatives immigrate to the United States. Within households in all four East Asian-American groups, decision making has become more egalitarian as patriarchal authority has diminished. Women, however, still bear the major responsibility for household tasks, even though a majority of both men and women are employed. Educational opportunities are afforded both boys and girls, and both sexes are encouraged to excel in school. Socialization. As with Americans in general, socialization takes place through the family, the local community, and the formal education system. Many East Asians in the past came to America with a high school education and many of the re. cent immigrants have college and/or professional education or technical training. The children of recent immigrants make full use of educational opportunities in the United States; in fact education for their children is a major reason many East Asians resettle. Programs designed to maintain the traditional culture, such as language classes, youth groups, and cultural programs are offered in all major East Asian communities by ethnic associations and churches. One major problem facing many recent immigrant families is a generational gap between parents who prefer to speak the native language and eat native foods, stress family obligations, and associate mainly with other ethnic group members and their children who see themselves as Americans, speak En- glish, and make friends among non-Asian-Americans. Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. Each of the four East Asian-Amer- ican groups is a diverse ethnic group composed of a number of distinct subgroups. Across all four groups, two internal divisions are most obvious. First is the distinction between those who settled before World War II and their descendants and those who arrived after the war. Second is the distinction in the post-World War II group between the parental and second generation, with the latter composed of those who were born in the United States or came when they were young. Beyond these two categories, each East Asian group displays additional diversity as well as various social institutions developed in the United States. Chinese. Major divisions within the Chinese-American community include those based on place of origin (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia), Cantonese or non- Cantonese ethnicity, rural or urban residence, and support for Taiwan or recognition of the People's Republic of China. Localized in Chinatowns and excluded from full participation in American society for over one hundred years, 102 East Asians of the United States Chinese-Americans developed a complex set of interlocking organizations that enabled them to maintain elements of their traditional culture while adapting to their new life. In the early years, when the population was mostly male, clan and regional associations with affiliation based on surname and region of origin served to affiliate men in the United States and maintain ties with the homeland. Other organizations including secret societies (tongs), guilds, and credit associations were also developed, all of which served economic, political, and social functions. With the arrival of more women and the formation of families in the twentieth century, the second generation of Chinese-Americans appeared. Although they were socially and economically isolated from mainstream society, they learned English in school and formed organizations based on mainstream models and interests. At the same, they were less interested in the traditional culture, and membership in the clan and regional associations declined. In the post-World War 11 immigrant group, the clan and regional associations and tongs have declined in importance as the focus has shifted to forming organizations that will help Chinese-Americans secure full rights as Ameri- can citizens. Filipinos.For Filipino-Americans, the major internal distinction is based on the region from which one emigrated: the Ilocanos from northern Luzon, the Tagalogs from central Luzon, and the Visayans from the central Philippines. Al- though the three groups are no longer as separate as they once were, regional endogamy is still stressed by the post- World War II parental generation, and a preference for affiliation with people from the same region has contributed to the absence of a pan-Filipino organization in the United States. In the mostly male pre-World War 11 Filipino community, few social organizations developed. Instead, social cohesion was achieved through the maintenance of family and kin groups based on traditional practices. Today, the Roman Catholic church is the social center of many Filipino communities, and kinship and friendship networks are also important agents of social cohesion. Japanese. Within the Japanese-American community a major distinction is made on the basis of generation in the United States with the issei being the first generation, the nisei the second, the sansei the third, and the yonsei the fourth. These categories are applied to those who arrived before World War 11. Those who arrived after the war are techni- cally issei, but are not referred to as such. Japanese in the United States also include Japanese businessmen and wives or ex-wives of Americans who worked in Japan after World War II. Both these groups exist outside the Japanese- American community. In the prewar years in California, Japanese-Americans formed a network of interlocking businesses, such as rooming houses, laundries, groceries, and so on, which served the Japanese-American and other East Asian-American communities. At the same time, the issei maintained a cohesive community through educational and cultural organizations, a credit association, and regional associations. The nisei moved away from the more traditional groups and chose instead to form their own organizations often based on existing mainstream models and activities such as recreation leagues. Today, the Japanese-American community is socially complex with distinctions made on the basis of generation, age, political affiliation, life-style, and occupation. At the same time, Japanese values emphasizing group interests over individual interests, deference, loyalty, and reciprocity govern everyday behavior for many Japanese- Americans and are a major source of social cohesion. Koreans. The Korean-American community today is composed mainly of people who immigrated to the United States after World War II and their children. One basic distinction in the community is made among those born in Korea (Ilse), those born in the United States (Ese or samee, and those who came to the United States when they were young. The Ilse tend to speak Korean rather than English, have strong ties to Korea, and emphasize the role and authority of the family and the husband/father. Those in the younger generation are more assimilated into American society. Unlike the other East Asian groups, organizations based on kinship or regional affiliations rarely formed among Korean-Americans. Rather, most organizations have formed on the basis of common interests and include clubs, churches, associations, and political groups. One of the more important are the alumni associations (high school and college) which enmesh Korean-Americans in lifelong social and economic networks. Living outside the Korean-American community are perhaps as many as 100,000 wives or ex-wives of American servicemen who served in Korea, their children, and thousands of Korean children adopted into White families. Political Organizaion. Because they were denied citizenship and the right to vote, East Asian-Americans before World War 11 were essentially powerless to directly influence local, state, or federal policies and actions that affected them. Within the mostly male, relatively isolated East Asian- American communities, social control and decision making was based on traditional beliefs and customs that usually ac- corded much authority to the older men in the community. At the same time, the regional and clan associations, guilds, secret societies, and other organizations served as special interest groups to advance the interests of their members. East Asian-American interests within American society were often handled by umbrella organizations, which included the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and later the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance, the Japanese-Amer- ican Citizen's League, and the Korean Association. A pan- Filipino political organization did not develop, though Filipi- nos were active in labor movements in Hawaii and California. Politics in the homeland have and continue to be a major concern and a source of conflict especially in the Chinese- American and Korean-American communities. Some Korean-Americans affiliate on the basis of ties to factions in Korea, and a major division in the Chinese-American community involves those who emphasize ties to Taiwan versus those who recognize and want ties strengthened with the Peo- ple's Republic of China. Japanese-Americans have been active in Hawaiian politics and hold many elective offices, a development that has sometimes led to conflict with other ethnic groups. On the mainland, especially since the 1960s and to some extent as a result of the civil rights movement, Chinese and Japanese- Americans especially have been more active in voicing their concerns, participating in the major political party politics, running for office, and seeking government employment. East Asians of the United States 103 Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. Religious beliefs and institutions have been a major force in all East Asian-American communities, both past and present, though the particular beliefs and institutions vary among the four groups. Most Koreans who settled in the United States had already been converted to Christianity (usually Protestantism) in Korea before arriving. In the contemporary Korean-American community the the Korean Christian churches are often the center of community activity and provide many programs of special appeal to women, the elderly, and children. They have also been the locus of language and cultural maintenance programs. In many churches the services are conducted in Korean. Nearly all Filipinos in the United States are Roman Catholics, their ancestors having been converted some generations ago in the Philippines. Because of their dispersed residence pattern, Filipino-Americans do not form their own churches but instead affiliate with the local church. The first generation of Japanese-Americans believed in Buddhism and/or Shintoism. Many were converted in the United States by missionaries to various Protestant denominations, and today the Japanese-American community has perhaps the widest range of religious affiliations of the four East Asian-American groups. Recent immigrants have brought with them some of the new Japanese religions, although all have roots in Buddhism and Shintoism. The religious beliefs and practices of the early Chinese immigrants centered on ancestor worship, Buddhism, and Taoism. Ancestor worship was especially important as a source of community cohesion and as a mechanism to maintain ties with the homeland. Efforts by Protestant missionaries with these immigrants largely failed, and today only about 20 percent of Chinese-Americans are Christians. Recent immigrants have brought with them some of the revived Chi- nese folk religions and have formed Buddhist and Taoist associations. Expressive Culture. The post-World War 11 immigration has revitalized the expressive elements of East Asian culture in the United States. In all four groups, traditional dance, music, theater, and art are flourishing and are a major focus of ethnic solidarity and pride, as are the public celebration of traditional holidays. Some aspects of expressive culture have also become part of the mainstream culture, most notably Chinese and Japanese cuisines, martial arts, architecture, and artistic styles and designs. See also East Asians of Canada Bibliography Almirol, Edwin B. (1983). Ethnic Identity and Social Negotia- tion: A Study of a Filipino Community in California. New York: AMS Press. Bonacich, Edna, and John Modell (1980). The Economic Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese Ameri- can Community. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hurh, Won Moo, and Kwang Chung Kim (1984). Korean Im- migrants in America: A Structural Analysis of Ethnic Confine- ment and Adhesive Adaptation. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. Kendis, Kaoru 0. (1988). A Matter of Comfort: Ethnic Main- tenance and Ethnic Style among Third-Generation Japanese- Americans. New York AMS Press. Kim, Ilsoo. (1981). New Urban Immigrants: The Korean Com- munity in New York. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Kitano, H. L. (1977). Japanese Americans: The Evolution of a Subculture. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Loewen, James W. (1971). The Mississippi Chinese: Between Black and White. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pido, A. J. A. (1985). The Pilipinos in America: Macro-Micro Dimensions of Immigration and Integration. Staten Island, N.Y.: Center for Migration Studies. Sung, Betty Lee (1967). Mountain of Gold. New York: Macmillan. Takali, Ronald (1989). Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. Thernstrom, Stephan (1980). Harvard Encyclopedia of Amer- ican Ethnic Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press. Tsai, F. W. (1980). -Diversity and Conflict between Old and New Chinese Immigrants in the United States." In Source- book on the New Immigration: Implication for the United States and the International Community, edited by Roy S. Bryce- Laporte, 329-337. Washington, D.C.: Research Institute on Immigration and Ethnic Studies, Smithsonian Institution. Wong, Bernard (1983). Patronage, Brokerage, Entrepreneur- ship, and the Chinese Community of New York. New York: AMS Press. Xenos, Peter S., Robert W. Gardner, Herbert R. Barringer, and MichaelJ. Levin (1987). "Asian Americans: Growth and Change in the 1970s." In Pacific Bridges: The New Immigra- tion from Asia and the Pacific Islands, edited by James T. Fawcett and Benjamin V. Carifio, 249-284. Staten Island, N.Y.: Center for Migration Studies. Yanagisako, S. (1985). Transforming the Past: Tradition and Kinship among Japanese Americans. Stanford: Stanford Uni- versity Press. Yu, Eui-Young (1989). "Korean American Community in 1989: Issues and Prospects." Korea Observer 20:275-302. Daniels, Roger (1988). Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850. Seattle: University of Wash- ington Press. [...]... the United States First, strong ties were maintained with the town from which emigration took place, and a weaker sense of Italian identity prevailed Second, within the first two generations of settlement, a syncretic Italian-American culture developed in the United States Key features of the new cultural identity were an Americanized dialect of Italian that replaced the regional languages and dialects,... they were forced to recruit trappers, Metis, and Indians from other tribes into marriages Features evident in Shoshone warfare were war honors, which were the greatest source of prestige, suicide in combat, and horse-stealing raids on foot Chiefs were in charge of large actions and peacemaking Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs Prior to extensive Christian missionary efforts and the introduction... I and the establishment ofthe Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, descendants of this first wave of immigrants who were from Galicia have often preferred to define themselves as Ukrainian The more than 100,000 Ukrainians who came to the United States after World War I were mainly from the center of the Ukraine, and their presence has strengthened Ukrainian identity Fifty percent of Ukrainians lived... available Chicago and Minneapolis were the major centers for urban Swedes, with ties maintained with the Norwegian and German communities Although Swedes resisted intermarriage (except with Norwegians), they nonetheless rapidly assimilated into American society They learned English quickly (most Swedes were literate), desired U.S citizenship, valued public education, and were upwardly mobile, moving... of either Irish or English ancestry People thought of as ethnic Irish in the United States European-Americans today are the descendants of the Roman Catholic Irish who arrived mainly between 1830 and World War 1 Many ofthese immigrants were poor and fled to the United States to escape famine in Ireland They formed distinctively Irish neighborhoods in eastern and midwestern cities, often centered around... decade of the twentieth century mainly settled in cities in northern Ontario where they worked as industrial laborers Often identified by themselves and others as Poles, they were rapidly absorbed by the Canadian Polish community The group that arrived after World War I settled in the prairies where they often established farming communities The group arriving after World War II were more educated and... ownership, and jobs in the service, technical, and-professional sectors With nearly all Portuguese being either first- or second-generation Canadians, ethnic identity remains strong and is a major concern of the first generation This identity is reflected mainly in Portuguesismo, 'being Portuguese." Among central elements of this identity are a strong sense of family, distinct sex roles, respect for the elderly,... maintained a strong sense of ethnic identity centered around the rural communities, membership in the Lutheran church, associations and clubs, and ties to the Norwegian community in the United States Over time, however, the effects of relocations to cities, intermarriage, public education, and the use of English in place of Norwegian have led to assimilation into Canadian society In recent years there... subordinate to the men who were engaged in hunting, fishing, warfare, working with horses, and trade Kinship The Eastern Shoshone used Hawaiian kinship terminology, all cousins being equated with siblings or called by terms derivative from those used for siblings In the terminology, which is still being used, there are distinctions between primary and descriptive terms Collective and quasi-kin terms indicate... are indeed members of the larger family of Eskimo cultures, they refer to themselves in their own language as "Yup'ik," "Inupiat," or "Unangan." To call them "Inuit" is inaccurate, and there is no all-encompassing native name for the entire native population of the Arctic ANN FIENUP-RIORDAN A/7 IV/ European Americans About 80 percent ofAmericans are descended from people of European ethnicity The short . Exclusion Act was repealed, migration increased, and anti-Chinese sentiments lessened. Because Korea was ruled by Japan, Korean-Americans were classified as Japa- nese, although they were strong supporters of the war and ve- hemently anti-Japanese. Despite their being seen as Japanese, they were not classified as enemy aliens or removed to internment camps. The bombing of Pearl Harbor served as a catalyst to turn years of anti-Japanese feeling on the West Coast into action designed to destroy the Japanese-American community on 100 East Asians of the United States the mainland. Japanese-Americans (including those who were citizens) were classified as enemy aliens and rounded up; by the end of 1942 110,000 from California, Oregon, and Washington had been interned in camps in the California desert, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, and Arkansas. All except those who chose and were allowed to serve in the military and those who chose to resettle in the Midwest and East were kept in the camps until 1945. This mass violation of Japa- nese-Americans' civil rights nearly destroyed the Japanese community in the United States. After release from the camps most returned to California, with many reestablishing farms in the central part of the state. It was not until the late 1980s that the U.S. Congress voted to pay survivors of the camps $20,000 each as compensation for their losses. As noted above, since the end of World War II, there has been a multifold increase in the number of East Asians immigrating to the United States. The repeal of restrictive immigration laws, closer ties between the United States and South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan, and the Hart- Cellar Immigration Act of 1965 which essentially ended the national-origin quota system all encouraged immigration to and settlement in the United States. East Asians who have come to America since World War II are a much different population than those who came earlier. They are younger, include a larger number of women and families, are often highly educated professionals and technicians, and expect to stay in the U.S. The one constant in the settlement histories of the four groups was the economic exploitation and discrimination they experienced. In addition to major discriminatory actions-the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Immigration Act of 1924, and Japanese-American internment during World War II-East Asians were subject to numerous other discriminatory practices. For example, in California they were barred from certain businesses and professions, antimiscegenation laws prevented marriage to Whites, residential restrictions confined East Asians to their own communities, various laws limited their right to own land, Chinese miners (and Mexican miners) had their profits taxed, and so on. Today, although overtly racist policies and laws have essentially disappeared, racism continues. East Asian-American men, for example, make less than White counterparts with equal experience and education, and few have made it to the top level of American businesses. There is also growing resentment among other Americans about East Asian and especially Japanese invest- ment in the U.S. economy and ownership of properties in the United States. The depiction of East Asian-American groups as 'model minorities" troubles some East Asian-Americans, as it suggests that equality has been achieved while contrasting East Asian economic success with other minorities' al- leged failures and thus creating conflict between the groups. Settlements East Asian-Americans are mainly an urban-suburban group, with the place of residence now largely determined by socioeconomic status. The two major nonurban groups are Japanese-Americans in the farming and nursery and related businesses in central California and Filipino-American farm workers in California. Today, Koreatown in Los Angeles is the center of Korean life for the 150,000 Korean-Americans in southern California and the home for many elderly Korean-Americans and recent immigrants. The large China- towns that developed early in the century in cities such as San Francisco, Portland, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City have been transformed into major economic zones pro- viding products and services both to the regional Chinese- American population and to the general economy. The tour- ist trade has also become a major source of income in Chinatowns. Their economic growth has been accompanied by or perhaps was stimulated by their decline as residential districts. As with Koreatown in Los Angeles, most residents are either elderly or are recent immigrants and many are poor. "Little Tokyo" in Los Angeles, which serves Japanese- American communities in southern California, has also un- dergone the same transformation. Filipino-Americans, except for the mostly male communities in Hawaii and California early in the century, have not formed distinct ethnic enclaves comparable to Chinatowns. Economy In general, the economic circumstances of Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipinos in Hawaii and on the mainland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were much the same. The majority were low-paid, unskilled, male workers on sugar plantations in Hawaii and in the railroad, agriculture, fishing, logging, and mining industries on the mainland. When demand for their work diminished and East Asian immigration decreased, those who remained in the United States and their children tended to settle in cities and became involved in service industries. Filipinos worked as domestics in hotels and as kitchen workers in restaurants and many men joined the Merchant Marine or the U.S. Navy where they worked as mess stewards or in other low-level service jobs. At the same time, many Filipinos were employed seasonally as farm workers and eventually became active in the unioniza- tion movement. The Chinese were also employed in service industries as well as founding their own businesses, with restaurants, laundries, and garment factories being most common. In Hawaii, many Chinese sugar workers went on to work in the rice industry, and a sizable percentage became business owners or professionals. The Japanese also found work as domestics, gardeners, and farmers, with some finding ways to circumvent laws that prohibited them from owning land. Many of those who owned farms returned to rebuild them after they were released from the World War II internment camps. Both the Japanese and Chinese businesses have been described as 'middleman minority" adaptations charac- terized by self-ownership of family-staffed businesses that provide a unique product or service to the community. The arrival of the post -World War II immigrants has changed the position of East Asian-Americans in the U.S. economy. Many of those who have arrived since 1965 have been highly educated professionals or skilled technicians, and the children of the earlier settlers have had greater access to advanced education and professional employment. These two developments have improved the economic position of East Asian-Americans. Both men and women are now employed at about the same rates as Americans in general. The percentages of East Asian-American women who work (55 percent of Koreans, 58 percent of Chinese, 59 percent of Jap- anese, and 68 percent of Filipinos in 1980) are especially noteworthy. As of 1980, the men were employed in signifi- East Asians of the United States 101 cant numbers in managerial and professional positions (22.5 percent for Filipinos to 38 percent for Chinese), with the largest percentages of women being employed in administra- tive support and service jobs. Unique occupation patterns include 22 percent of Chinese-American men in service jobs, 30.4 percent of Filipino-American men in service and admin- istrative support positions, and 14.4 percent of Korean- American men in sales. For women, 18.2 percent of Chinese- American and 24 percent of Korean-American women work in low-level laborer positions. Gross figures indicate that full-time Chinese-American and Japanese-American men have higher incomes and Filipino-American and Korean- American men have lower incomes than Whites. The Chi- nese and Japanese figures are somewhat misleading, however, in that they do not reflect the fact that men in these groups often have more education and work longer hours than do Whites. Korean-Americans have drawn considerable attention as owners of small businesses, often grocery stores or veg- etable stands, in minority neighborhoods, suggesting a middleman minority role similar to the Chinese and Japanese earlier. Kinship, Marriage and Family Kinship. In the early Korean, Chinese, and Filipino communities, which were composed almost entirely of men, ties to families and wider kin networks were maintained through return visits, correspondence, and the remittance of a percentage of the man's earnings. In the communities that formed in this country, the absence of East Asian women and antimiscegenation laws made marriage and the formation of families and kin groups difficult. Some community cohesion was created through fictive kin groups modeled on clan and extended family structures in the homeland. Chinese men formed fictive clans with recruitment and membership based on immigration from the same village or province or posses- sion of the same surname. When Chinese families began to form later in the early twentieth century with the arrival of Chinese women, these clan associations became less important. Filipinos organized compang, fictive extended families composed of men who immigrated from the same village, with the oldest man usually heading the family. As more Fili- pino women immigrated to the United States, Filipino- American families became more common (though before World War II Filipino-American men still outnumbered women by nearly three to one), and the compadrazgo (godpar- ent) system was transferred to the United States with each individual then enmeshed in a network of actual and fictive kin. The situation for Japanese-Americans was different, as beginning in 1910 stable families began to form and Japanese urban and rural communities also become relatively stable. Although the second-generation Japanese-Americans, the nisei, were being acculturated into American society, the first-generation-based family (issei) was still strong enough to maintain traditional beliefs regarding appropriate behavior between superiors and inferiors as well as filial duties. Marriage and Family. The most noteworthy trend in East Asian-American marriages is the shift from ethnic endoga- mous to ethnic exogamous marriage. In all groups since the 1950s there has been a large increase in the number of marriages to non-ethnic group members, and especially to Whites. Contemporary East Asian-American families are generally small nuclear families. Korean-American and Fili- pino-American households are somewhat larger because of the larger number of children in the former and the presence of non-nuclear family members in the latter. East Asian- American families are notably stable, with over 84 percent of children in all four groups living with both of their parents. Nonetheless, there are concerns in the Chinese-American community about juvenile delinquency and in the Korean- American about what is considered a high divorce rate. There is a major difference in household composition between those already settled in the United States and recent immigrants. Households among the latter frequently contain additional relatives beyond the nuclear family or friends, as these households are often part of the chain migration process through which relatives immigrate to the United States. Within households in all four East Asian-American groups, decision making has become more egalitarian as patriarchal authority has diminished. Women, however, still bear the major responsibility for household tasks, even though a majority of both men and women are employed. Educational opportunities are afforded both boys and girls, and both sexes are encouraged to excel in school. Socialization. As with Americans in general, socialization takes place through the family, the local community, and the formal education system. Many East Asians in the past came to America with a high school education and many of the re. cent immigrants have college and/or professional education or technical training. The children of recent immigrants make full use of educational opportunities in the United States; in fact education for their children is a major reason many East Asians resettle. Programs designed to maintain the traditional culture, such as language classes, youth groups, and cultural programs are offered in all major East Asian communities by ethnic associations and churches. One major problem facing many recent immigrant families is a generational gap between parents who prefer to speak the native language and eat native foods, stress family obligations, and associate mainly with other ethnic group members and their children who see themselves as Americans, speak En- glish, and make friends among non-Asian-Americans. Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. Each of the four East Asian-Amer- ican groups is a diverse ethnic group composed of a number of distinct subgroups. Across all four groups, two internal divisions are most obvious. First is the distinction between those who settled before World War II and their descendants and those who arrived after the war. Second is the distinction in the post -World War II group between the parental and second generation, with the latter composed of those who were born in the United States or came when they were young. Beyond these two categories, each East Asian group displays additional diversity as well as various social institutions developed in the United States. Chinese. Major divisions within the Chinese-American community include those based on place of origin (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia), Cantonese or non- Cantonese ethnicity, rural or urban residence, and support for Taiwan or recognition of the People's Republic of China. Localized in Chinatowns and excluded from full participation in American society for over one hundred years, 102 East Asians of the United States Chinese-Americans developed a complex set of interlocking organizations that enabled them to maintain elements of their traditional culture while adapting to their new life. In the early years, when the population was mostly male, clan and regional associations with affiliation based on surname and region of origin served to affiliate men in the United States and maintain ties with the homeland. Other organizations including secret societies (tongs), guilds, and credit associations were also developed, all of which served economic, political, and social functions. With the arrival of more women and the formation of families in the twentieth century, the second generation of Chinese-Americans appeared. Although they were socially and economically isolated from mainstream society, they learned English in school and formed organizations based on mainstream models and interests. At the same, they were less interested in the traditional culture, and membership in the clan and regional associations declined. In the post -World War 11 immigrant group, the clan and regional associations and tongs have declined in importance as the focus has shifted to forming organizations that will help Chinese-Americans secure full rights as Ameri- can citizens. Filipinos.For Filipino-Americans, the major internal distinction is based on the region from which one emigrated: the Ilocanos from northern Luzon, the Tagalogs from central Luzon, and the Visayans from the central Philippines. Al- though the three groups are no longer as separate as they once were, regional endogamy is still stressed by the post- World War II parental generation, and a preference for affiliation with people from the same region has contributed to the absence of a pan-Filipino organization in the United States. In the mostly male pre -World War 11 Filipino community, few social organizations developed. Instead, social cohesion was achieved through the maintenance of family and kin groups based on traditional practices. Today, the Roman Catholic church is the social center of many Filipino communities, and kinship and friendship networks are also important agents of social cohesion. Japanese. Within the Japanese-American community a major distinction is made on the basis of generation in the United States with the issei being the first generation, the nisei the second, the sansei the third, and the yonsei the fourth. These categories are applied to those who arrived before World War 11. Those who arrived after the war are techni- cally issei, but are not referred to as such. Japanese in the United States also include Japanese businessmen and wives or ex-wives of Americans who worked in Japan after World War II. Both these groups exist outside the Japanese- American community. In the prewar years in California, Japanese-Americans formed a network of interlocking businesses, such as rooming houses, laundries, groceries, and so on, which served the Japanese-American and other East Asian-American communities. At the same time, the issei maintained a cohesive community through educational and cultural organizations, a credit association, and regional associations. The nisei moved away from the more traditional groups and chose instead to form their own organizations often based on existing mainstream models and activities such as recreation leagues. Today, the Japanese-American community is socially complex with distinctions made on the basis of generation, age, political affiliation, life-style, and occupation. At the same time, Japanese values emphasizing group interests over individual interests, deference, loyalty, and reciprocity govern everyday behavior for many Japanese- Americans and are a major source of social cohesion. Koreans. The Korean-American community today is composed mainly of people who immigrated to the United States after World War II and their children. One basic distinction in the community is made among those born in Korea (Ilse), those born in the United States (Ese or samee, and those who came to the United States when they were young. The Ilse tend to speak Korean rather than English, have strong ties to Korea, and emphasize the role and authority of the family and the husband/father. Those in the younger generation are more assimilated into American society. Unlike the other East Asian groups, organizations based on kinship or regional affiliations rarely formed among Korean-Americans. Rather, most organizations have formed on the basis of common interests and include clubs, churches, associations, and political groups. One of the more important are the alumni associations (high school and college) which enmesh Korean-Americans in lifelong social and economic networks. Living outside the Korean-American community are perhaps as many as 100,000 wives or ex-wives of American servicemen who served in Korea, their children, and thousands of Korean children adopted into White families. Political Organizaion. Because they were denied citizenship and the right to vote, East Asian-Americans before World War 11 were essentially powerless to directly influence local, state, or federal policies and actions that affected them. Within the mostly male, relatively isolated East Asian- American communities, social control and decision making was based on traditional beliefs and customs that usually ac- corded much authority to the older men in the community. At the same time, the regional and clan associations, guilds, secret societies, and other organizations served as special interest groups to advance the interests of their members. East Asian-American interests within American society were often handled by umbrella organizations, which included the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and later the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance, the Japanese-Amer- ican Citizen's League, and the Korean Association. A pan- Filipino political organization did not develop, though Filipi- nos were active in labor movements in Hawaii and California. Politics in the homeland have and continue to be a major concern and a source of conflict especially in the Chinese- American and Korean-American communities. Some Korean-Americans affiliate on the basis of ties to factions in Korea, and a major division in the Chinese-American community involves those who emphasize ties to Taiwan versus those who recognize and want ties strengthened with the Peo- ple's Republic of China. Japanese-Americans have been active in Hawaiian politics and hold many elective offices, a development that has sometimes led to conflict with other ethnic groups. On the mainland, especially since the 1960s and to some extent as a result of the civil rights movement, Chinese and Japanese- Americans especially have been more active in voicing their concerns, participating in the major political party politics, running for office, and seeking government employment. East Asians of the United States 103 Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. Religious beliefs and institutions have been a major force in all East Asian-American communities, both past and present, though the particular beliefs and institutions vary among the four groups. Most Koreans who settled in the United States had already been converted to Christianity (usually Protestantism) in Korea before arriving. In the contemporary Korean-American community the the Korean Christian churches are often the center of community activity and provide many programs of special appeal to women, the elderly, and children. They have also been the locus of language and cultural maintenance programs. In many churches the services are conducted in Korean. Nearly all Filipinos in the United States are Roman Catholics, their ancestors having been converted some generations ago in the Philippines. Because of their dispersed residence pattern, Filipino-Americans do not form their own churches but instead affiliate with the local church. The first generation of Japanese-Americans believed in Buddhism and/or Shintoism. Many were converted in the United States by missionaries to various Protestant denominations, and today the Japanese-American community has perhaps the widest range of religious affiliations of the four East Asian-American groups. Recent immigrants have brought with them some of the new Japanese religions, although all have roots in Buddhism and Shintoism. The religious beliefs and practices of the early Chinese immigrants centered on ancestor worship, Buddhism, and Taoism. Ancestor worship was especially important as a source of community cohesion and as a mechanism to maintain ties with the homeland. Efforts by Protestant missionaries with these immigrants largely failed, and today only about 20 percent of Chinese-Americans are. few farming communities formed in central California, Louisiana, Illinois, and Arkansas. But the Italian immigrants were mostly an urban group, with at least 85 percent settling in cities. Italy became a unified nation only in 1870; thus Italian immigrants generally felt only a weak identity with Italy and lacked an overarching cultural tradition typical of other immigrant groups. This led to two unique developments in the United States. First, strong ties were maintained with the town from which emigration took place, and a weaker sense of Italian identity prevailed. Second, within the first two generations of settlement, a syncretic Italian-American culture developed in the United States. Key features of the new cultural identity were an Americanized dialect of Italian that replaced the regional languages and dialects, a distinctly Italian tradition within the Irish-dominated American Roman Cath- olic church featuring a more "emotional-celebratory" set of practices, involvement in local politics, and the formation of associations, banks, and labor unions that served the Italian community. At the same time, the large patriarchal families were giving way to small families, with intermarriage to non- Italian Roman Catholics increasing in frequency. Assimilation has progressed rapidly since World War II, and the Italians are now a middle-class, urban-suburban group. Although much of the population has shifted to suburbs, distinct Italian neighborhoods remain in many cities, including Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Newark, and Providence. At the same time, the Italian. American cultural identity is maintained through extended family ties, the church, unique food preferences and practices, and a general sense of respect for the family and its oldest members. Bibliography Alba, Richard D. (1985). Italian Americans. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Belfiglio, C. V. (1983). Italian Experience in Texas. Austin: Eakin Press. Cinel, Dino (1982). From Italy to San Francisco: The Immi- grant Experience. Stanford: Stanford University Press. di Leonardo, Micaela (1984). The Varieties of Ethnic Experi- ence: Kinship, Class, and Gender among California Italian- Americans. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Martinelli, Phyllis C. (1987). Ethnicity in the Sunbelt: Italian- American Migrants in Scottsdale, Arizona. New York: AMS Press. Mormino, Gary R. (1986). Immigrants on the Hill: Italian- Americans in St. Louis, 188 2-1 982. Urbana: University of Il- linois Press. Nelli, Humbert S. (1983). From Immigrants to Ethnics: The Italian Americans. New York: Oxford University Press. . Exclusion Act was repealed, migration increased, and anti-Chinese sentiments lessened. Because Korea was ruled by Japan, Korean-Americans were classified as Japa- nese, although they were strong supporters of the war and ve- hemently anti-Japanese. Despite their being seen as Japanese, they were not classified as enemy aliens or removed to internment camps. The bombing of Pearl Harbor served as a catalyst to turn years of anti-Japanese feeling on the West Coast into action designed to destroy the Japanese-American community on 100 East Asians of the United States the mainland. Japanese-Americans (including those who were citizens) were classified as enemy aliens and rounded up; by the end of 1942 110,000 from California, Oregon, and Washington had been interned in camps in the California desert, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, and Arkansas. All except those who chose and were allowed to serve in the military and those who chose to resettle in the Midwest and East were kept in the camps until 1945. This mass violation of Japa- nese-Americans' civil rights nearly destroyed the Japanese community in the United States. After release from the camps most returned to California, with many reestablishing farms in the central part of the state. It was not until the late 1980s that the U.S. Congress voted to pay survivors of the camps $20,000 each as compensation for their losses. As noted above, since the end of World War II, there has been a multifold increase in the number of East Asians immigrating to the United States. The repeal of restrictive immigration laws, closer ties between the United States and South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan, and the Hart- Cellar Immigration Act of 1965 which essentially ended the national-origin quota system all encouraged immigration to and settlement in the United States. East Asians who have come to America since World War II are a much different population than those who came earlier. They are younger, include a larger number of women and families, are often highly educated professionals and technicians, and expect to stay in the U.S. The one constant in the settlement histories of the four groups was the economic exploitation and discrimination they experienced. In addition to major discriminatory actions-the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Immigration Act of 1924, and Japanese-American internment during World War II-East Asians were subject to numerous other discriminatory practices. For example, in California they were barred from certain businesses and professions, antimiscegenation laws prevented marriage to Whites, residential restrictions confined East Asians to their own communities, various laws limited their right to own land, Chinese miners (and Mexican miners) had their profits taxed, and so on. Today, although overtly racist policies and laws have essentially disappeared, racism continues. East Asian-American men, for example, make less than White counterparts with equal experience and education, and few have made it to the top level of American businesses. There is also growing resentment among other Americans about East Asian and especially Japanese invest- ment in the U.S. economy and ownership of properties in the United States. The depiction of East Asian-American groups as 'model minorities" troubles some East Asian-Americans, as it suggests that equality has been achieved while contrasting East Asian economic success with other minorities' al- leged failures and thus creating conflict between the groups. Settlements East Asian-Americans are mainly an urban-suburban group, with the place of residence now largely determined by socioeconomic status. The two major nonurban groups are Japanese-Americans in the farming and nursery and related businesses in central California and Filipino-American farm workers in California. Today, Koreatown in Los Angeles is the center of Korean life for the 150,000 Korean-Americans in southern California and the home for many elderly Korean-Americans and recent immigrants. The large China- towns that developed early in the century in cities such as San Francisco, Portland, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City have been transformed into major economic zones pro- viding products and services both to the regional Chinese- American population and to the general economy. The tour- ist trade has also become a major source of income in Chinatowns. Their economic growth has been accompanied by or perhaps was stimulated by their decline as residential districts. As with Koreatown in Los Angeles, most residents are either elderly or are recent immigrants and many are poor. "Little Tokyo" in Los Angeles, which serves Japanese- American communities in southern California, has also un- dergone the same transformation. Filipino-Americans, except for the mostly male communities in Hawaii and California early in the century, have not formed distinct ethnic enclaves comparable to Chinatowns. Economy In general, the economic circumstances of Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipinos in Hawaii and on the mainland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were much the same. The majority were low-paid, unskilled, male workers on sugar plantations in Hawaii and in the railroad, agriculture, fishing, logging, and mining industries on the mainland. When demand for their work diminished and East Asian immigration decreased, those who remained in the United States and their children tended to settle in cities and became involved in service industries. Filipinos worked as domestics in hotels and as kitchen workers in restaurants and many men joined the Merchant Marine or the U.S. Navy where they worked as mess stewards or in other low-level service jobs. At the same time, many Filipinos were employed seasonally as farm workers and eventually became active in the unioniza- tion movement. The Chinese were also employed in service industries as well as founding their own businesses, with restaurants, laundries, and garment factories being most common. In Hawaii, many Chinese sugar workers went on to work in the rice industry, and a sizable percentage became business owners or professionals. The Japanese also found work as domestics, gardeners, and farmers, with some finding ways to circumvent laws that prohibited them from owning land. Many of those who owned farms returned to rebuild them after they were released from the World War II internment camps. Both the Japanese and Chinese businesses have been described as 'middleman minority" adaptations charac- terized by self-ownership of family-staffed businesses that provide a unique product or service to the community. The arrival of the post -World War II immigrants has changed the position of East Asian-Americans in the U.S. economy. Many of those who have arrived since 1965 have been highly educated professionals or skilled technicians, and the children of the earlier settlers have had greater access to advanced education and professional employment. These two developments have improved the economic position of East Asian-Americans. Both men and women are now employed at about the same rates as Americans in general. The percentages of East Asian-American women who work (55 percent of Koreans, 58 percent of Chinese, 59 percent of Jap- anese, and 68 percent of Filipinos in 1980) are especially noteworthy. As of 1980, the men were employed in signifi- East Asians of the United States 101 cant numbers in managerial and professional positions (22.5 percent for Filipinos to 38 percent for Chinese), with the largest percentages of women being employed in administra- tive support and service jobs. Unique occupation patterns include 22 percent of Chinese-American men in service jobs, 30.4 percent of Filipino-American men in service and admin- istrative support positions, and 14.4 percent of Korean- American men in sales. For women, 18.2 percent of Chinese- American and 24 percent of Korean-American women work in low-level laborer positions. Gross figures indicate that full-time Chinese-American and Japanese-American men have higher incomes and Filipino-American and Korean- American men have lower incomes than Whites. The Chi- nese and Japanese figures are somewhat misleading, however, in that they do not reflect the fact that men in these groups often have more education and work longer hours than do Whites. Korean-Americans have drawn considerable attention as owners of small businesses, often grocery stores or veg- etable stands, in minority neighborhoods, suggesting a middleman minority role similar to the Chinese and Japanese earlier. Kinship, Marriage and Family Kinship. In the early Korean, Chinese, and Filipino communities, which were composed almost entirely of men, ties to families and wider kin networks were maintained through return visits, correspondence, and the remittance of a percentage of the man's earnings. In the communities that formed in this country, the absence of East Asian women and antimiscegenation laws made marriage and the formation of families and kin groups difficult. Some community cohesion was created through fictive kin groups modeled on clan and extended family structures in the homeland. Chinese men formed fictive clans with recruitment and membership based on immigration from the same village or province or posses- sion of the same surname. When Chinese families began to form later in the early twentieth century with the arrival of Chinese women, these clan associations became less important. Filipinos organized compang, fictive extended families composed of men who immigrated from the same village, with the oldest man usually heading the family. As more Fili- pino women immigrated to the United States, Filipino- American families became more common (though before World War II Filipino-American men still outnumbered women by nearly three to one), and the compadrazgo (godpar- ent) system was transferred to the United States with each individual then enmeshed in a network of actual and fictive kin. The situation for Japanese-Americans was different, as beginning in 1910 stable families began to form and Japanese urban and rural communities also become relatively stable. Although the second-generation Japanese-Americans, the nisei, were being acculturated into American society, the first-generation-based family (issei) was still strong enough to maintain traditional beliefs regarding appropriate behavior between superiors and inferiors as well as filial duties. Marriage and Family. The most noteworthy trend in East Asian-American marriages is the shift from ethnic endoga- mous to ethnic exogamous marriage. In all groups since the 1950s there has been a large increase in the number of marriages to non-ethnic group members, and especially to Whites. Contemporary East Asian-American families are generally small nuclear families. Korean-American and Fili- pino-American households are somewhat larger because of the larger number of children in the former and the presence of non-nuclear family members in the latter. East Asian- American families are notably stable, with over 84 percent of children in all four groups living with both of their parents. Nonetheless, there are concerns in the Chinese-American community about juvenile delinquency and in the Korean- American about what is considered a high divorce rate. There is a major difference in household composition between those already settled in the United States and recent immigrants. Households among the latter frequently contain additional relatives beyond the nuclear family or friends, as these households are often part of the chain migration process through which relatives immigrate to the United States. Within households in all four East Asian-American groups, decision making has become more egalitarian as patriarchal authority has diminished. Women, however, still bear the major responsibility for household tasks, even though a majority of both men and women are employed. Educational opportunities are afforded both boys and girls, and both sexes are encouraged to excel in school. Socialization. As with Americans in general, socialization takes place through the family, the local community, and the formal education system. Many East Asians in the past came to America with a high school education and many of the re. cent immigrants have college and/or professional education or technical training. The children of recent immigrants make full use of educational opportunities in the United States; in fact education for their children is a major reason many East Asians resettle. Programs designed to maintain the traditional culture, such as language classes, youth groups, and cultural programs are offered in all major East Asian communities by ethnic associations and churches. One major problem facing many recent immigrant families is a generational gap between parents who prefer to speak the native language and eat native foods, stress family obligations, and associate mainly with other ethnic group members and their children who see themselves as Americans, speak En- glish, and make friends among non-Asian-Americans. Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. Each of the four East Asian-Amer- ican groups is a diverse ethnic group composed of a number of distinct subgroups. Across all four groups, two internal divisions are most obvious. First is the distinction between those who settled before World War II and their descendants and those who arrived after the war. Second is the distinction in the post -World War II group between the parental and second generation, with the latter composed of those who were born in the United States or came when they were young. Beyond these two categories, each East Asian group displays additional diversity as well as various social institutions developed in the United States. Chinese. Major divisions within the Chinese-American community include those based on place of origin (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia), Cantonese or non- Cantonese ethnicity, rural or urban residence, and support for Taiwan or recognition of the People's Republic of China. Localized in Chinatowns and excluded from full participation in American society for over one hundred years, 102 East Asians of the United States Chinese-Americans developed a complex set of interlocking organizations that enabled them to maintain elements of their traditional culture while adapting to their new life. In the early years, when the population was mostly male, clan and regional associations with affiliation based on surname and region of origin served to affiliate men in the United States and maintain ties with the homeland. Other organizations including secret societies (tongs), guilds, and credit associations were also developed, all of which served economic, political, and social functions. With the arrival of more women and the formation of families in the twentieth century, the second generation of Chinese-Americans appeared. Although they were socially and economically isolated from mainstream society, they learned English in school and formed organizations based on mainstream models and interests. At the same, they were less interested in the traditional culture, and membership in the clan and regional associations declined. In the post -World War 11 immigrant group, the clan and regional associations and tongs have declined in importance as the focus has shifted to forming organizations that will help Chinese-Americans secure full rights as Ameri- can citizens. Filipinos.For Filipino-Americans, the major internal distinction is based on the region from which one emigrated: the Ilocanos from northern Luzon, the Tagalogs from central Luzon, and the Visayans from the central Philippines. Al- though the three groups are no longer as separate as they once were, regional endogamy is still stressed by the post- World War II parental generation, and a preference for affiliation with people from the same region has contributed to the absence of a pan-Filipino organization in the United States. In the mostly male pre -World War 11 Filipino community, few social organizations developed. Instead, social cohesion was achieved through the maintenance of family and kin groups based on traditional practices. Today, the Roman Catholic church is the social center of many Filipino communities, and kinship and friendship networks are also important agents of social cohesion. Japanese. Within the Japanese-American community a major distinction is made on the basis of generation in the United States with the issei being the first generation, the nisei the second, the sansei the third, and the yonsei the fourth. These categories are applied to those who arrived before World War 11. Those who arrived after the war are techni- cally issei, but are not referred to as such. Japanese in the United States also include Japanese businessmen and wives or ex-wives of Americans who worked in Japan after World War II. Both these groups exist outside the Japanese- American community. In the prewar years in California, Japanese-Americans formed a network of interlocking businesses, such as rooming houses, laundries, groceries, and so on, which served the Japanese-American and other East Asian-American communities. At the same time, the issei maintained a cohesive community through educational and cultural organizations, a credit association, and regional associations. The nisei moved away from the more traditional groups and chose instead to form their own organizations often based on existing mainstream models and activities such as recreation leagues. Today, the Japanese-American community is socially complex with distinctions made on the basis of generation, age, political affiliation, life-style, and occupation. At the same time, Japanese values emphasizing group interests over individual interests, deference, loyalty, and reciprocity govern everyday behavior for many Japanese- Americans and are a major source of social cohesion. Koreans. The Korean-American community today is composed mainly of people who immigrated to the United States after World War II and their children. One basic distinction in the community is made among those born in Korea (Ilse), those born in the United States (Ese or samee, and those who came to the United States when they were young. The Ilse tend to speak Korean rather than English, have strong ties to Korea, and emphasize the role and authority of the family and the husband/father. Those in the younger generation are more assimilated into American society. Unlike the other East Asian groups, organizations based on kinship or regional affiliations rarely formed among Korean-Americans. Rather, most organizations have formed on the basis of common interests and include clubs, churches, associations, and political groups. One of the more important are the alumni associations (high school and college) which enmesh Korean-Americans in lifelong social and economic networks. Living outside the Korean-American community are perhaps as many as 100,000 wives or ex-wives of American servicemen who served in Korea, their children, and thousands of Korean children adopted into White families. Political Organizaion. Because they were denied citizenship and the right to vote, East Asian-Americans before World War 11 were essentially powerless to directly influence local, state, or federal policies and actions that affected them. Within the mostly male, relatively isolated East Asian- American communities, social control and decision making was based on traditional beliefs and customs that usually ac- corded much authority to the older men in the community. At the same time, the regional and clan associations, guilds, secret societies, and other organizations served as special interest groups to advance the interests of their members. East Asian-American interests within American society were often handled by umbrella organizations, which included the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and later the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance, the Japanese-Amer- ican Citizen's League, and the Korean Association. A pan- Filipino political organization did not develop, though Filipi- nos were active in labor movements in Hawaii and California. Politics in the homeland have and continue to be a major concern and a source of conflict especially in the Chinese- American and Korean-American communities. Some Korean-Americans affiliate on the basis of ties to factions in Korea, and a major division in the Chinese-American community involves those who emphasize ties to Taiwan versus those who recognize and want ties strengthened with the Peo- ple's Republic of China. Japanese-Americans have been active in Hawaiian politics and hold many elective offices, a development that has sometimes led to conflict with other ethnic groups. On the mainland, especially since the 1960s and to some extent as a result of the civil rights movement, Chinese and Japanese- Americans especially have been more active in voicing their concerns, participating in the major political party politics, running for office, and seeking government employment. East Asians of the United States 103 Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. Religious beliefs and institutions have been a major force in all East Asian-American communities, both past and present, though the particular beliefs and institutions vary among the four groups. Most Koreans who settled in the United States had already been converted to Christianity (usually Protestantism) in Korea before arriving. In the contemporary Korean-American community the the Korean Christian churches are often the center of community activity and provide many programs of special appeal to women, the elderly, and children. They have also been the locus of language and cultural maintenance programs. In many churches the services are conducted in Korean. Nearly all Filipinos in the United States are Roman Catholics, their ancestors having been converted some generations ago in the Philippines. Because of their dispersed residence pattern, Filipino-Americans do not form their own churches but instead affiliate with the local church. The first generation of Japanese-Americans believed in Buddhism and/or Shintoism. Many were converted in the United States by missionaries to various Protestant denominations, and today the Japanese-American community has perhaps the widest range of religious affiliations of the four East Asian-American groups. Recent immigrants have brought with them some of the new Japanese religions, although all have roots in Buddhism and Shintoism. The religious beliefs and practices of the early Chinese immigrants centered on ancestor worship, Buddhism, and Taoism. Ancestor worship was especially important as a source of community cohesion and as a mechanism to maintain ties with the homeland. Efforts by Protestant missionaries with these immigrants largely failed, and today only about 20 percent of Chinese-Americans are

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