Need helping making a term paper about Chinese American Culture
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ChineseAmericans.pptxCHAPTER 16: Chinese Americans Chyi-Kong (Karen) Chang
SERGIO OSEGUEDA MSN-FNP-BC
Overview of China
China (the People's Republic of China), literally “Central Kingdom,” occupies the eastern portion of Asia and is slightly larger in area than the United States (World Almanac, 2015).
In fact, China occupies roughly 3,705,386 square miles (9,596,960 square kilometers) (Central Intelligence Agency, 2015).
In July of 2014, the total population of China was estimated at 1,355,692,576
China has some of the largest cities in the world by population.
The principal agricultural products of China include rice, wheat, potatoes, grains, tea, and cotton
Overview of Chinese Americans
The majority of Chinese Americans are immigrants from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and mainland China.
Today, the 3,535,382 Chinese Americans constitute the largest group of Asian Americans.
The states with the largest populations of Chinese Americans are California (704,850), New York (284,144), and Hawaii (68,804).
Chinese Americans are noted for maintaining high educational standards.
Of the number of Chinese Americans in the United States, 65.1% participate in the workforce. Chinese Americans have lower labor force participation rates than Filipinos (71.0%) and Asian Indians (72.3%).
Chinese
Chinese culture is dominated by Confucianism, which encourages individuals to pursue reciprocity, benevolence, respect for authority, self-improvement, filial piety, righteousness, modesty, integrity, and wisdom.
A harmonious relationship with nature and other people is stressed, and a person is expected to accommodate rather than confront.
Reciprocation, or treating others as one would wish to be treated, is often practiced and expected in interpersonal relationships.
Communication
Dialect:
A wide cultural and linguistic diversity exists among Chinese Americans.
Linguistic diversity may cause communication problems among Chinese people.
Although the official Chinese language is Mandarin (Putonghūa), there are many dialects spoken that are not understood by other groups of Chinese
Style, Volume, and Touch:
The Chinese value silence and avoid disagreeing or criticizing, especially in public.
On the other hand, the word “yes” with or without nodding may merely mean “I heard you” and may not indicate agreement or consent. In some circumstances, “yes” can even mean “no” or “perhaps.”
Context
Communication among the Chinese is high-context, in contrast to communication among mainstream Americans.
A high-context communication is one in which most of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the persons involved, whereas very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted message.
The Chinese people tend to perceive, value, and rely on nonverbal and contextual cues during communication and do not communicate explicitly (Millet, 2010). For example, facial expressions, tensions, movements, pace of speech, and location of interactions are perceived during interactions to formulate specific meanings.
Kinesics
In the past, Chinese people greeted others by bowing. It is more commonplace now to greet people with “Have you had your breakfast [lunch, dinner]?” The greeting person is not really interested in the question literally.
Instead, it is merely a culturally determined format of greeting other people. Nodding the head may indicate “yes,” whereas shaking the head may indicate “no.”
Chinese Americans, like other immigrants, experience a great amount of stress when they are in health care facilities.
Implications for Nursing Care
It is important for the nurse to remember that there are diverse Chinese dialects that are not comprehensible to other Chinese groups.
If the client needs a translator in the health care setting, the nurse must first find out which dialect the client speaks and then find a translator who can speak that dialect.
Some Chinese Americans hesitate to ask questions when they do not understand; therefore, after rapport has been established, the nurse should elicit and encourage Chinese Americans to verbalize their feelings and ask questions.
In addition, because some Chinese Americans do not ordinarily touch another person during conversation, it is important for the nurse to explain the necessity of touching for therapeutic purposes
Space
Chinese Americans and most middle-class mainstream Americans are categorized 393as noncontact individuals.
People from a contact group may perceive people from a noncontact group as being shy, uninterested, cold, and impolite.
Chinese people feel more comfortable in a side-by-side or right-angle arrangement and may feel uncomfortable when placed in a face-to-face situation.
Social Organization
Effect of Immigration on Social Organization: Many early Chinese immigrants came to this country as contract laborers or with money that was borrowed from various Chinese-American organizations. These organizations assumed a supervisory role for these early immigrants once they arrived in the United States
Chinese immigrants were similar to immigrants from other ethnic and cultural groups in that most of them were unfamiliar with the language and the culture of the United States. Therefore, many of the early Chinese immigrants worked as laborers in gangs.
Family
The Chinese family can be classified into five categories: old immigrant families, professional immigrant families, American-born Chinese families, new working-class immigrant families, and biracial/bicultural Chinese families (Wong, 2006).
The socioeconomic, educational, or acculturation status of these families varies.
The old immigrant families may own small grocery stores or restaurants, speak limited English, and hold onto traditional Chinese values.
The parents of professional immigrant families mostly came to the United States as international students and have professional jobs after graduation.
Family
Chinese, like other Asian Americans, have a culture of collectivism. This culture of collectivism emphasizes loyalty to family and devotion to tradition and de-emphasizes individual feelings
The Chinese family generally has a hierarchical structure. The older children have authority over the younger children, and the younger children must show deference to authority figures, usually the elderly male in the household (Chin, 2005).
Boys may be more valued than girls. Husbands may have more authority over their wives. Wives may be expected to be obedient to parents and parents-in-law (Cheung et al., 2005); failure to do so causes shame for the family.
Marital Status
Because of the early Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States, there was a disproportionately large number of Chinese men compared with Chinese women.
Many of the early unmarried Chinese men who came to the United States had virtually no opportunity to marry; thus in 1890 only 26.1% of the total number of Chinese-American men were married.
Chinese Americans divorce less frequently than their American counterparts (Sung, 1967).
Religion
There are four primary religions in China: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism).
Of these four primary religions, Buddhism has the largest number of professed followers while Taoism has the smallest number.
Many Chinese Americans convert to Christianity after they come to the United States (Yang, Fenggang, & Tamney, 2006). The number of Chinese Roman Catholics has increased rapidly, particularly among foreign-born Chinese Americans
Time
The Chinese have a different perception and experience regarding time; it is not past, present, or future oriented.
Some Chinese Americans perceive time as a dynamic wheel with circular movements and the present as a reflection of the eternal.
This metaphoric wheel continually turns in an unforeseeable direction, and individuals are expected to adjust to the present, which surrounds the rotating wheel, and seek a harmonious relationship with their surroundings
Because Chinese Americans are perceived as being polychronic, it is important for the nurse to remember that some Chinese Americans may not adhere to fixed schedules
Environmental Control
Many Chinese Americans, especially the first generation, may not believe that they have control over nature because they subscribe to a belief in fatalism and may view people as adjusting to the physical world, not controlling or changing the environment (McBride, Morioka-Douglas, & Yeo, 2003).
In traditional Chinese philosophy, a harmonious relationship with nature is stressed (Chen, 2001).
Ancient Chinese philosophers believed that qi (or chi) was the vital life energy flowing around the universe and differentiated qi into two forces, yin and yang.
Yin and Yang
While yin and yang are opposites, they exist only by virtue of each other.
Yin and yang regulate the universe, including the body and food.
Yang represents the positive, active, or “male” force, and yin represents the negative, inactive, or “female” force.
Accordingly, body organs are categorized into yin and yang groups.
For example, the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys are yin, whereas the gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, bladder, and lymphatic system are yang.
Illness and Wellness Behaviors
Many Chinese Americans underutilize health services because of their socioeconomic status, associated high cost, and perceived cultural insensitivity of the health care system (Chen & Kazanjian, 2005).
Chinese immigrant families may have no health insurance because they may not believe in insuring health or may be unable to afford it (Fisher, 1996).
Many diagnostic tests, such as amniocentesis, glucose tolerance testing, ultrasonography, or drawing blood, are often perceived as being dangerous and unnecessary (Minkler, 1983).
Death and Dying Issues and Practices
Like birth, death is an important life event.
However, it is a cultural taboo for Chinese Americans to talk about death and related issues for fear of bringing bad luck or even jinxing their lives
Talk or even mention of death is to be avoided during daily conversation, especially when illness strikes
For Chinese Americans, the rituals surrounding death can be very elaborate, with the primary purpose to help the dead live a comfortable and rich afterlife.
Upon death, the body is washed and clean clothes are put on.
Among Chinese Americans, burial in the ground is preferred, signifying that the body returns to where it came from (nature).
Folklore and Folk Practices
Maintaining the balance of yin and yang is the fundamental principle of Chinese medicine (Chen, 2001).
Chinese medical practice includes acupuncture, herbal medicines, moxibustion, massage, coining, cupping, and so forth.
Acupuncture involves the insertion of fine, sterile, metal needles through specific body points to treat or cure illnesses such as pain, stroke, or asthma.
Herbal medicines are also categorized according to their yin-yang properties and their therapeutic functions and are prescribed on the basis of the yin-yang nature of the particular illness.
Biological Variations
Body Size and Structure:
Chinese Americans tend to be shorter compared with Whites at all ages, with long trunks and short legs, and tend to complete their growth earlier (Molnar, 2006).
On the standard growth charts, the mean height and weight of Chinese American children fall in the 10th percentile, whereas the mean height and weight of mainstream American children fall in the 50th percentile
Skin Color:
The “yellow” color of the Chinese skin is believed to be caused by a smaller amount of melanin in the skin than in the skin of Black people
Others have theorized that Chinese people may have a thickened corneum, creating the yellowish skin color (Molnar, 2006).
The majority of Chinese infants have mongolian spots
Enzymatic and Genetic Variations
A majority of Chinese Americans have a lactase deficiency and are unable to tolerate fresh milk.
Lactase splits milk sugar (lactose) into simple glucose and galactose.
Lactase deficiency may cause a person who drinks fresh milk to have flatus, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, or vomiting.
Chinese people have relatively higher incidences of thalassemia and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency (Molnar, 2006).
Another genetic difference is that Chinese people usually experience noticeable facial flushing and vasomotor symptoms after drinking alcohol.
Susceptibility to Disease
Infectious Diseases:
TB, intestinal parasites, malaria, malnutrition, anemia, and hepatitis.
Cancer:
East and Southeast Asian women, including Chinese-American women, have the lowest rates of breast cancer screening
Chinese people are also known to be at higher risk for cancers of the nasopharynx, esophagus, stomach, liver, and cervix.
The intake of fermented and moldy foods and of the nitrosamines contained in corn, bran, millet, and pickled vegetables is believed to be a possible contributing factor for esophageal and liver cancers.
Mortality and Leading Causes of Death
In 2007, mortality data revealed the four leading causes of death for Chinese Americans to be identical to those for White Americans: heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, cancer, and chronic respiratory disorders
Chinese Americans have a lower mortality from heart disease (32%) than White Americans (39%) and a higher mortality from cancer (27%) than White Americans (21%).
The fifth leading causes of death for Chinese Americans are pneumonia and influenza.
Implications for Nursing Care
Development norms for Chinese Americans may be different from standards for White Americans.
A standard growth chart for healthy Chinese children and adolescents is available
The nurse should reassure the Chinese American mother that it is normal for her newborn to exhibit more jaundice than other American babies.
Patient and family teaching are important in providing care for the Chinese-American client and family. Lack of knowledge related to illnesses and treatments is a common problem and causes fear and anxiety.
