From C.Y. Lee to Shawn Wong: The Transnational Family and its Implicit Rules

Employing the distinction between explicit and implicit rules as formulated by psychoanalytic theorist and philosopher Slavoj Žižek, this article examines the way in which challenges toward an initial rule-based fantasy take place within transnational families. In particular, the article employs an implicit, unwritten rules framework to assess the effect of transpacific migration on the institution of family within the Chinese American diaspora as represented in post-World War II fiction by Asian Pacific authors C.Y. Lee and Shawn Wong. Suggesting five implicit rules underpinning Chinese American families, the article examines Lee’s The Flower Drum Songto highlight early challenges to these rules before finding in Wong’s Homebasean unflinching adherence to an implicit rule concerning reverence for ancestors. Wong has the advantage of writing in the wake of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and of being in a position to trace more and more challenges to the initial fantasy following later waves of transpacific migration. His novel American Kneesis then shown to epitomize the implicit rules being stretched almost to breaking point as, for instance, the criteria for spouse selection becomes no longer Chinese or partially Chineseor even Asian or partially Asian but Americanization.

Intergenerational Solidarity and Being Primary Caregiver for Older Parents in Chinese American Families: Findings From PIETY Study

Introduction: Guided by the intergenerational solidarity theory, this study examined how different dimension of intergenerational solidarity of adult children associated with their choice of being a primary caregiver for aging parents in the Chinese American families. Methodology: Secondary data from PIETY study were used. Logistic regressions were conducted to examine the relationships between each dimension of intergenerational solidarity and the likelihood of being a primary caregiver to mother or father. Results: Associational solidarity (odds ratio [ OR] = 1.31, for father, OR = 1.27, for mother), normative solidarity ( OR = 1.06, for both father and mother), and structural solidarity ( OR = 0.95, for father, OR = 0.64, for mother) were significant associates of high chances of being primary caregivers for older parents. Discussion: Results from this study confirmed the importance of cultural construct of solidarity in caregiving choice. Practice implications for health care professionals, in particular the nurses were discussed.

Grandparenting and the Receipt of Filial Piety From Adult Children in Chinese American Families

The current study explores the association between grandparent caregiving by Chinese American elders and their perceived receipt of filial support from their adult children, called filial piety (xiao). Many studies find a correlation between grandparent caregiving and filial behaviors from their adult children, which is notably higher among minority families, especially among Asians than among white families, stimulated by the norm of reciprocity, familism, and extended kinship. Drawing from the theory of intergenerational relationships, social exchange theory, and the role theory, this study questions whether a more active engagement in grandparenting renders higher levels of filial piety returns from adult children. It uses the PINE data, a survey on the wellbeing of Chinese American elders in Chicago. The results show that more hours of grandparent caregiving relate to higher returns of filial piety perceived by older parents. Correspondingly, though with a marginal significance, more pressures to take care of a grandchild from adult children reduce the elders’ perception of filial piety receipt. No interaction effect is found between the grandparenting hours and the pressure from adult children. Additionally, Chinese American elders possessing higher levels of education, mastery, and longer stays in the US perceive lower levels of filial piety receipt from adult children. Discussion will focus on how grandparent caregiving can be mutually beneficial and strengthen intergenerational relationships among Chinese American families.

Translation

Chapter 4 reveals that immigrant parents had mixed success in translating the liyi practices of Chinese Popular Religion to their Chinese American children due to four major barriers. First, Chinese American families transmitted practices by modeling rituals without explaining them. The second generation performed customs without fully understanding the symbols and meanings. Second, the dissonant acculturation between parents and children led the second generation to be more Americanized and less receptive to traditional, hierarchical values. Third, Christian dominance and privilege in the United States rendered Chinese practices exotic and superstitious. Fourth, gendered and racialized experiences “othered” Chinese traditions as foreign and outdated. In spite of these barriers, Chinese Americans distilled and hybridized what was most important to them from these practices to sustain familism.