Chinese Canadian

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY 1

Social and cultural identities of Canadian-raised Chinese Canadians

Name

Institutional affiliation

SOCIOLOGY 2

Canada is a metropolitan county that has embraced people of all natures and walks of life.

It is renowned for its pluralism of cultures, religions, races and ethnical groups that both

constitute the Canadian fabric. This paper is an analysis of the social and cultural identities of the

Chinese Canadian raised and living in Canada. It will present interview gathered data on the

various cultural twists and turns as experienced by Jim Ching. Mr. Ching is a Chinese-Canadian

born in China (Guangzhou province) but later migrated to Canada. He lives with his parents and

two sisters. He is the only boy in the family, and so fulfills most of the cultural and religious

expectations on behalf of his family. The Chings moved to Canada a decade ago, and since then

every day has been a day full of lessons from the cultural diversity and overwhelming feeling of

freedom and free living.

I caught up Mr. Ching on his way home after school and thought of it as a quick

moment to get his opinion on thoughts about self-identity and general experience on the

multicultural nature of Canada. The questions were well structured to respond to all my needed

to know queries exhaustively.

My first question was on how Mr. Ching other than through his name would introduce

himself and his response was; he was a Chinese Canadian student, from Ottawa. He is of mixed

culture orientation; i.e., both Chinese and Canadian. He, however, stated that it was complicated

to define himself with clarity distinction since there is always the overwhelming feeling of

disjoint within the cultural fabric that constitutes him. This disjoint (he added) is more

pronounced or comes into play in the event of national celebrations in Canada or Chinese when

he often feels culturally torn. He further asserted that during those days (National holidays) there

is always the dilemma on which culture to apply between his authentic Chinese or his raised in

Canadian. For instance; October 1st- National day in The People's Republic of China and Canada

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day on 1st July (Ferraro, 2017). He further explained that during such days when those different

nations are celebrating their nationalities, he is usually at a loss on which to pledge full

patriotism. This disjoint feeling mostly compels him to act as a though a dual composed

individual just as the analogy of the banana states; yellow on the outside but white on the inside

(Moran, 2014).

So with that background in mind, he explained that his only identity would only be an

amalgam of what it takes to be both a Canadian and Chinese. And Besides that, there is also the

burdening identity that comes with being a student in an international institution. Mr. Ching

further added that it's somewhat ironic that many people often profile Canadian based Chinese

residents as entirely Chinese by nationality. This is most cases is due to the facial and physical

structure and body anatomy that betrays one as of Chinese descent. And on a lighter note, he

added that it's often ironic to see a Chinese Canadian wave a Canadian flag during a national day

of celebration in Canada. However, also seeking to understand how he managed to blend the two

cultures during such national holidays he responded that; there is always the feeling of national

displacement. He added that he still endeavors to participate in all elements of the Canadian

metropolitan culture since he knows deep within that he is Canadian by right. And during

Chinese holidays he participates in the organized events of Chinese culture knowing that he is

entirely Chinese by heart.

Evaluating Mr. Ching's comments, I infer that a mixed feeling of nationalism draws both

fulfilling and disjointed sentiments of cultural practice. The fulfilling sense of it draws from the

fact that Mr. Ching identifies himself as of a more vibrant cultural identity as opposed to the

others belonging to individual cultures. There is always the feeling that comes with belonging to

two planes of cultures at the same time. There is richness in every culture, regarding in-depth

SOCIOLOGY 4

knowledge and wisdom (Moran, 2014) and they who are lucky like Mr. Ching to subscribe to

multiple cultures are bound to be more informative. There is also the uniqueness that comes with

a multicultural foundation of identity. The fact that one can be able to represent two or more

cultures is in itself a unique form of existence that enables one to rely on either side.

When asked what compels him to think of his identity as constituted by his multicultural

experience. Mr. Ching responded that he believes that even though there the multicultural aspect,

there is also fundamental in-informing or deforming of certain societal perceptions about other

people or actions. That to him makes sense when he reviews the several times he has had to rely

on his multicultural values to understand others within his school community. He further states

that it's within the Chinese culture that all cultural values are meant for the good of the

community, and everything must be done according to already laid rules. That kind of an

opinion is derived from the communistic past of the Chinese People's Republic during its

communist era (Kohn, 2017). According to him, those values with time got acculturated and

informed the basics of societal living. That law-abiding perception of the laid law is imperative

in in-forming one on the patriotic needs and law-abiding responsibilities. Moreover, he thought

that it's within the Canadian multicultural background that the values of religious, tribal, ethnic

and racial tolerance are upheld and emphasized. According to him that kind of value inculcation,

combined with the law-abiding Chinese values goes a long way to forming a fundamental citizen

living in Canada.

But he, on the contrary, didn't fail to affirm that, the disjointing feeling comes to play

when one is confronted with a situation that warrants the application of either tenet of the

multicultural. He believed that Canada is known to be a very liberal country with a vibrant

exercise of democracy and deeply enshrined human rights. However, the Chinese culture is

SOCIOLOGY 5

highly conservative and doesn't admit tolerance to beliefs that contradict its values. That conflict

he noted was alarming when he had to embrace the modernized and liberal cultures and

orientations evident in Canada.

With that inculcation of values element in mind, I further wished to get an in-depth

thought as to what he thought had changed over time. Mr. Ching responded that with inculcation

and adoption of the elements of both cultures into modern day values had also posed conflicts in

several cultural values. He believed that such conflicting cultural based situations are not likely

to change even as time goes by. However, he noted that there were aspects that have had to

change over time because they lacked meaningful purpose in the 21st century and the lifestyle of

Canada. Canada is a liberal country based on democracy as a system of governance that upholds

the rights of all citizens (Abada, 2008). It thus made no sense for an individual to cling to some

of the conservative cultural values emphasized by the Chinese culture. He further mentioned that

the Chinese culture was highly traditional and therefore envisaged an impasse when it came to

which values to identify within given situations. To this effect, he gave an effaceable example

that acknowledging matters of same-sex marriages and unions which is socially becoming

accepted in Canada is still not acceptable in China (Kleinman, 2013). He invited us to imagine of

a Chinese Canadian (not necessarily himself) who is has a same-sex oriented friend and wished

to visit the People's Republic of China for the festive holidays. Such a trip according to him

would be filled with anxiety and dread at the very thought that one is in a country whose culture

is shy in addressing such orientation matters.

With that example, he underscored that such disjoints in the multicultural view of

tolerance is one of the fundamental aspects that have had to change since the society has to be

viewed as a cohesive group of individuals with respectable rights (Ferraro, 2017). However, he

SOCIOLOGY 6

added some aspects could not change owing to the intensity of their values. To this effect, he

gave another example of an element such as religion. Religion according to him was quite

controversial since it addressed the inner beings of a person and his spiritual aspirations. On that

note, he added that tolerance was, therefore, the societal value that had to be upheld if

communities were to live in mutual respect of one another and clinging to conservative opinions

would be retrogressive.

That was seemingly informative, and so I also sought to know the challenges that he has

encountered by being multicultured. He (Mr. Ching) stated that there always were some

hardships in addressing the questions about his identity. Considering the just mentioned

disjointed multicultural background (he referred) all Chinese Canadians fundamentally bore the

central struggle of defining their personalities. To explain this further, he stated that, it was often

primarily hard to identify with the linguistic rich Canadian culture when all one knew was

communicated in the Chinese language. You see, Canada has two dominant official languages

French and English (Ferraro, 2017). Neither both of the official languages in Canada are freely

spoken in China (Kleinman, 2013). The official language in the People's Republic of China he

added was Chinese. So according to him a Chinese Canadian will in most cases have to learn the

three dialects all at once to remain relevant within the two cultures. Language is the medium of

cultural learning according to Ferraro (Ferraro, 2017) and so in light of this, he added if one was

to acquire both the cultural tenets of the two cultures they had to learn the languages first. His

main issues with the acquisition of language were the complexities involved. He believed that

learning a new language was never an easy task. That was especially so in an environment where

one doesn't get to converse in it substantively enough to determine its twist and turns. And thus

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he affirmatively concluded that the most significant challenge for himself and other Chinese

Canadians was the acquisition of language.

After asking him if there were other challenges other than matters language he responded

that. The stereotyping that comes with the foreign culture was also another issue to contend with.

According to Kleinman, he added, one thing that is anatomically distinct in the Chinese was their

facial structure (Kleinman, 2013). He gave the instance, in the presence of a group of people who

may bear Chinese prejudice; there is always the feeling of biases involved. One is profiled by a

simple look or glance since the facial structure is evidentially revealing.

Moreover, he added accommodation is one of the primary keys to bearing a multicultural

background. He gave an example of himself that as a Chinese Canadian he has to be mentally

multifaceted to accommodate the contents derived from the two cultures. There are always

moments in his life when the contents and values of the two cultures conflict. He sees this

conflict as a matter of emphasis, where the two cultures are different; the Chinese culture is more

hierarchical and based on stringent enforcement. However, as the Canadian culture (according to

Dewing) he adds, is more open-minded and liberal (Dewing, 2006). With the view of the

political dynamics globally one is often torn in between which of the two countries and cultures

to show allegiance and loyalty. At this point, he threw in an example of the recent 2016 -2017

territorial claims of the southern sea waters and islands. He explained how the People's Republic

of China found itself in a corner against the worlds while it claims territorial sovereignty over

those waters that the United Nations had declared as international waters. That dispute caused a

global uproar and all the Chinese around the globe were expected to show loyalty to their

motherland by protecting the republic from false propaganda (Christiansen, 2014). Moreover, he

added the conflict that such a patriotic call precipitated was heart rendering to him and the rest of

SOCIOLOGY 8

his Chinese Canadian background. This was the case since it also elicited occasions of bad-

mouthing of the Chinese internationally, who were referred to as international grabbers

(Christiansen, 2014). And with that example, he concluded that every Chinese Canadian has

since then been viewed under the same global grabber banner even when other had nothing to do

with it. He recounted of the many times he had to plug in his earphones and listen to his stereo

just to avoid the name calling. And when I asked him how he dealt with the situation he

responded that he had to convince myself that he was a Canadian citizen and it didn't matter.

Moreover, he added he had no direct or indirect influence over what the Chinese Republic at

home did politically. Therefore he had to give everyone who sought to profile him under those ill

sentiments a conscience blackout.

Having adequately dug deep into Mr. Ching's multicultural sentiments, I thought of

asking a question on the religious participation of his family. And after asking him of the

Chinese festivals that he and his family observed while still in Canada, he had the following to

say. As a family, they often participate in the Chinese traditions and practices especially the

religious ones. He recounted of the many national holidays here in Canada they regularly visited

the Taoism temple and participated in the Chinese prayer activities. Taoism is one of the

religious concepts of the Chinese that branch from Confucianism and consists of four things

values; Taoism temple, the Chinese Dragon, imperial guardian lions and joss stick (Coccia,

2014). He added that the Tao concept was a fundamental idea in most Chinese Canadian

philosophical schools here in Canada.

He insisted that those essential pillars of the Chinese religion (as just mentioned) are

obligatory and that one must be involved in to remain religiously attune. These religious he

explained were activities that are always overwhelmingly inspiring since they bring out a whole

SOCIOLOGY 9

different feeling that is different from the Canadian culture. With a light note, he added that the

chanting and body movements were quite complicated to learn at first, but with time he got to

perfect them. However, he said, the Chinese religious practice always served to emphasize the

cultural differences that were inherent in him as a Chinese Canadian. This was the case he added

because they remind him of his home in China. That distinct feeling he recounted, also serves as

a religious bearing that provides a sense of belonging for a Chinese Canadian caught up in the

pluralism of religious cultures as they are found in Canada.

At this point, I thought of asking him which of the two cultures (Chinese and Canadian)

he preferred the preferred. He retorted that rather than favoring a particular individual culture

from the other one, he preferred an amalgam of the two. There are always the positive, negative

and indifferent aspects of every culture (Fieldhouse, 2013). Therefore as an open-minded

student, he added, it was preferable for him to pick and choose those elements that were

productive between the two cultures and shun those that were not. At this point, he exemplified

that with an example that for him to be a balanced and law-abiding citizen in Canada, he had to

adopt the stringent adherence of the law as proposed by the Chinese culture.

Similarly, the pluralistic culture in Canada is fundamental in its tolerance and richness of

diversity. The presence of several cultures is both informative and educating. Mr. Ching further

elaborated that there were aspects of other cultures that combined constitute a rich database of

life lessons that were productive. However, he noted, the Canadian culture in its pluralism

always appeared not to have some distinct aspect that designates it. Pluralism is not a variable

that was self-identifying (Fieldhouse, 2013). According to him, one must belong to some cultural

way of life that was distinct. The very lack of a distinguishing factor from the pluralistic based

religious platform leads to a spiritual emptiness. Besides he explained, where else would a

SOCIOLOGY 10

Chinese Canadian like himself escape to for spiritual guidance if it's not to his authentic religion

that interfaces him with his ancestors and defines him? That reminded me of the Abraham

Maslow (a sociologist and psychologist) hierarchy of needs that put religion as one of the

fundamental aspects that all human beings seek to identify with. It gives them a sense of security

and of belonging (Cheang, 2017).

Having thought of Maslow hierarchy of needs, the basics of food and its distinct cultures

came to mind, and I sought to know which of the Chinese cultural food trends he observed. He

(Mr. Ching) responded that the distinct aspect of the Chinese culture that comes alive daily was

food. Food (he added), has a way of evoking and infusing profound attributes of self-identity,

spirituality, and culture.

He went further and said that spiritualism dominated a considerable portion of the

Chinese view of food that it the very product offered to their deities as offerings. During major

spiritual events, he noted the Chinese are obligated to provide newly plucked or harvested

produce as thanksgiving and oblation to the gods. The connection between the life force of a

Chinese person and his spiritual world are drawn from the tilling of land (Fieldhouse, 2013).

Chinese cuisines he noted were of paramount importance; especially the Spring rolls that

are a large variety of filled, rolled appetizers or dim sum for seasoning purposes. In fact, they

were his favorite (he added while smiling). Spring rolls are the major preferred dishes in Chinese

Spring Festivals (Fieldhouse, 2013). But since there are no significant festivals celebrated in

Canada, the national holiday serves as festival days. Such dishes he elaborated were to be

honored with Chinese religious chants either sung or playing in the background with the

instrumentality of ‘Guzheng' (A traditional instrument of China origin). Moreover, one is

obligated to adorn in the authentic Chinese dressing that is the ‘Hanfu' (Fieldhouse, 2013). The

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‘Hanfu' designates one spiritual and temporal authority within the Chinese culture and religion.

The level of one's rank ordinarily influences the ornateness of the ‘Hanfu' costume. Identifying

markers of such ranking include the length of a skirt, the wideness of both the sleeves and the

degree of jewelry ornamentation (Cheang, 2017). Such dressings, songs, and food (he added)

always imbued him with the Chinese spiritualism that was both identifying and satisfying.

Chinese culture is very communal; it obligates one to be attuned to every other Chinese

national present within one's neighborhood or vicinity. With that in mind he added, such

collective aspects sprung from the Chinese religious connotations that; ‘one is truly himself

within the community' (Cheang, 2017). That understanding compels him as a Chinese Canadian

to foster stronger communal bonds of friendship and family ties that are long-lasting. He further

added that he had several relatives here in Canada who were also Chinese Canadians raised in

Canada. During national holidays they got to meet up and catch up on the various aspects of their

daily lives and participate in common events together. He mostly appreciated the Chin's family

(Chinese couple that lives in Ottawa, they migrated to Canada after their daughter got cancer and

they had to seek medical expertise abroad. He met up with them during one of the festivals to

which they had been invited to by his aunty. He explained how they were welcoming and open-

minded and since they were the oldest, they were granted the opportunity to lead the festival

celebrations. It further recounts that the event was spiritually overwhelming to see and hear them

chant songs of ancient Chinese tradition. It was remarkable (he added) how even in their old age

their old age they still could remember how to dance and play the ‘Guzheng.' According to him,

their presence revolutionalized his thinking about the Chinese culture. He concluded by asserting

that the Chinese culture was both living and vibrant, a feeling that he had not had for so long,

they re-energized his Chinese zeal and identity.

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Conclusion

Having analyzed the socio-cultural aspects confronting a Chinese Canadian like Mr.

Ching, the following points are arrived at. It's always a hard task to incorporate two or more

elements of different cultures in one's life. Cultures can be liberal and conservative in their

beliefs and value systems. Therefore, it's important that one chooses the best qualities to uphold

in each. The Chinese Canadians have managed to live in the pluralism of cultures and races in

Canada but have not lost the element of their authentic culture. The practice of one's culture is

imperative in determining who they are. Culture is arguably the determinant of self-identity, and

an amalgamated cultural practice leads to a more integral personal identity.

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References

Abada, T., Hou, F., & Ram, B. (2008). Ethnic differences in educational attainment among the

children of Canadian immigrants. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 34(1), 1-30.

Cheang, S. (2017). Chinese robes in Western interiors: transitionality and transformation.

Fashion, Interior Design and the Contours of Modern Identity,(eds.) A. Myzelev and I.

Potvin, 125-46.

Christiansen, F., &Rai, S. M. (2014). Chinese politics and society: An introduction. Routledge.

Coccia, M. (2014). Religious culture, democratisation and patterns of technological innovation.

International Journal of sustainable society, 6(4), 397-418.

Dewing, M., & Leman, M. (2006). Canadian multiculturalism. Ottawa: Library of Parliament,

Parliamentary Research Branch.

Fieldhouse, P. (2013). Food and nutrition: customs and culture. Springer.

Ferraro, G. P., &Briody, E. K. (2017). The cultural dimension of global business. Taylor &

Francis.

Kleinman, A., & Lin, T. Y. (Eds.). (2013). Normal and abnormal behavior in Chinese culture

(Vol. 2). Springer Science & Business Media.

Kohn, L. (2017). Daoism and Chinese culture. Lulu Press, Inc.

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Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences.

Routledge.

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