Taiwanese Immigrants Struggles in USA

The United States is a melting pot of immigration. Immigrants contribute to this country in agriculture, industry, and technology. In the early age, Japanese immigrants brought agricultural techniques to South America. European immigrants brought grains, vegetables, and livestock. They also taught the original inhabitants to use firearms and gunpowder. Asian immigrants once helped the first railroad across the east and the west of America. Some famous inventors are immigrants. For example, Alexander Graham Bell was the inventor of the telephone; Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of radio transmitters, was an Italian immigrant. Moreover, there are many immigrants from China, India and Iran who hold H-1B visas live in San Francisco adjacent to the Silicon Valley, most of whom work in the high tech industry. In fact, many people, such as George W. Bush, Warren Edward Buffett, and Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, appreciate immigrants’ contribution to the United States. Immigrants’ stories and experiences in the United States have been studied for a period of time.

Taiwanese immigrants are in a small group, but many of them have middle-high level of socioeconomic status. The reason is that Taiwanese tend to come to the United States through employment-based immigration. According to Chien-Juh Gu’s "Contextualizing Vocabularies of Motive in International Migration: The Case of Taiwanese in the United States", most of the Taiwanese immigrants in the United States immigrate for education and job opportunities (159). The author suggests that Taiwanese immigrants believe immigration is a way to get a better social position. However, Taiwanese immigrants face ethnic identity, cultural shock, education, and homesick problems in the United States.

The ethnic identity of Taiwanese immigrants is conflicting among different generations or groups. According to Yowei Kang and Kenneth C. C. Yang’s "The Rhetoric of Ethnic Identity Construction among Taiwanese Immigrants in the United States", ethnic identity has been a serious politic issue in Taiwan for decades because of the relationship with China (164). Although Taiwan has its own land, people, government, and constitution, which are all the conditions to be a country, but the United Nations does not recognize it. For the Taiwanese immigrants in the United States, the first generation’s ethic identity is closer to China. Some of them immigrated to America, and then moved to China when they are old. They believe they are Chinese because their ancestors inherited Chinese culture, and so did they. In contrast, the second generation is close to Taiwan. As the political parties rotate in Taiwan, more and more young immigrants believe they are originally from Taiwan, not China. They state that Taiwan does not belong to China, and they are Taiwanese, not Chinese. Now that they are also American, the second generation is proud of the American citizen identity. They were born in America, grow up in America, and take American education. It is reasonable that they serve and love their new hometown. Although they believe they are American, but they still face the discrimination. Last year, a Taiwanese American, Michael Luo, an editor of New York Times, was shouted by an American that wanted him to go back to China on the street. It is sad that a talented young professional was treated like this. For the second generation of Taiwanese immigrants in the United Stated, they still have a long way to go.

In addition, it is a challenge for Taiwanese immigrants to balance their tradition and American culture. Take marriage for example. The biggest challenge is how to play family roles. In Taiwanese tradition, a woman belongs to her husband’s family after she gets married. That is, her position in this family is the lowest one. She has the duty to serve her husband, un-married siblings, and parents in law. Imagine this situation: a Taiwanese immigrant gets married with an American woman. How does this new family member adapt in a Taiwanese family? Therefore, Taiwanese men rarely marry America women. Nonetheless, when a Taiwanese woman marries to an American man, there should not be too many problems because most of the American families are more open-minded, and they get along with the family members like friends. However, they still have cultural conflicts. For example, Americans celebrate Thanks Giving and New Year according to the Western calendar, but some of the Taiwanese celebrate Chinese New year according to the lunar calendar. A mixed family may have a lot of festivals to celebrate. It sounds like an advantage, but many details should be noticed in this kind of families, such as food. Taiwanese recipes have a lot of differences from American food. Due to the differences of materials and habits of food, this family may need more tolerance to maintain the relationship. Cultural conflicts in mixed families can be a small issue, but sometimes it can be difficult to deal with.

Education is also a difficult decision for immigrant families. In “No Name Woman”, Maxine Hong Kingston implies that family name is very important in Chinese tradition (385). Taiwanese families also pay much attention to the reputation. Many Taiwanese immigrant parents are worried about their children’s competitive abilities in American society. The second generation children go to American schools, and some of whom go to after schools, which are Chinese schools. At Chinese schools the students can learn their native language. In addition, going to after schools is popular in Asian countries, for students can spend extra time on learning literature, science, and arts. Taiwanese parents do not want to see their children experience failure, even though it is also a good opportunity for the children to learn how to succeed next time. One of the reasons is the environment, especially in high-educated or low-income families. High-educated parents often have high expectation for their children, and low-income parents hope that their children earn a better life for the families. In Hsin-Chun Jenny Tsai’s "Contextualizing Immigrants' Lived Experience: Story of Taiwanese Immigrants in the United States", the author states that the most important factors for Taiwanese immigrants to succeed is language and occupational accommodation (82). Sometimes the language can be a stumbling block. Thus, American society does not really accept the first generation immigrants because of the reason. Unless the immigrants are outstanding, they cannot survive in America. Education is the best way for immigrant families to become winners.

The first generation Taiwanese immigrants in the United States have home sick and social anxiety. Sometimes Taiwanese parents sacrifice too much for their children. They move to America for a better life. Also, they work so hard that they forget to satisfy themselves, including the life quality and passions. When the children grow up, the first generation Taiwanese immigrants start to consider moving back to their hometown. In Hanisko Lenny Chiang’s "Paradise Lost: How Older Adult Taiwanese Immigrants Make Decisions about Their Living Arrangements", the author uses “Loosing Paradise” as an analogy of immigrants who return to Taiwan (101). That is, for old Taiwanese immigrants, living arrangement and home sick could cause the failure of immigration. Another situation is that for the immigrants whose parents do not in America, they worried their parents’ life, especially when the parents are old and sick. The medical care and companion will be a problem. According to American immigration policy, if the children are above 21 year old American citizens, their parents can get Green Cards. However, many parents who have never lived in America are reluctant to move to America because of the environment, health insurances, connections, and lack of convenience. Thus, the immigrants and parents separated by The Pacific Ocean, and the flight tickets are so expensive that it is not affordable for them to visit each other very often. Besides, the first generation immigrants start over their career, which could be an unfamiliar field. The most difficult thing is that they do not have any connections at the beginning. Even the daily life becomes a challenge. Imagine that a new immigrant goes to Subway and does not know how to order a sandwich, and he/she has no idea using a fuel truck nozzle when going to a gas station. Such little things happen every day. Immigrants’ life is never easy.

Taiwanese immigrants struggle for ethnic identity, cultural shock, education, and homesick problems in the United States. Generational differences among Taiwanese immigrants lead to different ethnic identity. In America, perhaps the imperialism results in discrimination, which impacts Taiwanese Americans’ ethnic identity. To adjust the cultural shock is also a struggling process for these immigrants; after all, culture could not be changed overnight. Moreover, Taiwanese believe that children's education cannot be delayed, so they send their children to after schools in order not to lose at the starting point. After the second generation get achievements, their parents begin to think about where to go. However, if the families cannot live together, Taiwanese immigrants could miss their hometown and feel anxious, especially when they have no connections in the new country. Since President Donald Trump tried to change the immigration policy and limit the amount of immigrants, some Taiwanese could be influenced, especially for those who plan to apply for H-1B visas. As the requirements of H-1B visa become stricter, Taiwanese will have less chance to immigrate to America. The new policy just gives Taiwanese people a goal and a motivation to struggle harder than previous immigrants did. Besides, the amount of immigrants from other countries is also limited. No one knows if Trump’s policy can make America great again.

Works Cited

Chiang, Hanisko Lenny. "Paradise Lost: How Older Adult Taiwanese Immigrants Make Decisions about Their Living Arrangements." Journal of Cultural Diversity, vol. 17, no. 3, Fall2010, pp. 99-104. EBSCOhost, lscsproxy.lonestar.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=53500362&site=ehost-live. Accessed 02 Jan. 2018.

Gu, Chien-Juh. "Contextualizing Vocabularies of Motive in International Migration: The Case of Taiwanese in the United States." International Migration, vol. 52, no. 2, Apr. 2014, pp. 158-177. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2011.00729.x. Accessed 02 Jan. 2018.

Kang, Yowei and Kenneth C. C. Yang. "The Rhetoric of Ethnic Identity Construction among Taiwanese Immigrants in the United States." Howard Journal of Communications, vol. 22, no. 2, Apr-Jun2011, pp. 163-182. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/10646175.2011.567141. Accessed 02 Jan. 2018.

Kingston, Maxine Hong. "No Name Woman." The Best American Essays of the Century. edited by Joyce Carol Oates, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN, 2000, pp. 383-391

Tsai, Hsin-Chun Jenny. "Contextualizing Immigrants' Lived Experience: Story of Taiwanese Immigrants in the United States." Journal of Cultural Diversity, vol. 10, no. 3, Fall2003, pp. 76-83. EBSCOhost, lscsproxy.lonestar.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,cpid&custid=s1088435&db=a9h&AN=12165075&site=ehost-live. Accessed 02 Jan. 2018.