Chinese aging population in new york city - Research Paper Example

? Chinese aging population’s life in New York General outline Introduction (general overview of the topic) 2. Literature Government intervention to help Chinese aging population in New York Mode of survival of old age population of Chinese origin in New York Major objectives set by the old Chinese in New York Racial discrimination and its effect on aging Chinese population in New York Methods used by Chinese old age population to overcome financial crisis in New York Behaviors of aging population of Chinese origin living in New York Social, political and economical impact on the aging population in New York city Lesson learnt 3. Conclusion Analytical summary Introduction The latest demographics indicate that there is a large population of an aging population of Chinese people who are residing in New York. Their existence goes back to the early days where a large number of Asians migrated to America in search for better living conditions. They arrived in the country poor but currently they have made a remarkable improvement in their living status with the majority of them owning large businesses in the city. This is related with their aggressiveness of achieving the goals that brought them in this new country (Buenker & Ratner, 2005). Literature The retirement age is one of the most challenging days for any generation. This is still the case with the Chinese old age population. Many of the challenges that they face include frequent diseases, low mobility due to old health and need for special care. The government has played an important role in ensuring that it supplies basic commodities such as water and cooking gas to their homes to enable them live a comfortable life (Poston & Bouvier, 2010). Chinese population has been spending much of their time working in trying to expand their businesses. Data indicate that they are less concerned with their health, and the majority of them have not been going to the health centers to seek treatment. In addition to their health, this population likes to exclude themselves with the rest of the population. This has helped them to retain their original identity as they have retained their tradition and culture. It is also indicated that they intermarried with each other, and this has reduced their genes ability to fight various diseases. As a result, they have been susceptible to various diseases that break out frequently in New York. This is unlike aging Africa American who has intermarried with the rest of American population therefore, making them unsusceptible to various diseases in New York. This has been attributed to the reception that they met after migrating to this new country. Americans alienated these Asians from the rest of the population an aspect that made them develop hatred towards the American. This hatred has been passed from one generation to the other (Buenker & Ratner, 2005). The life of the Chinese in American has been that of trying to achieve their objectives, which were to make a fortune. The old age Chinese population spends very little money and save the rest for their planned migration back to their country. Since the Chinese economy has currently recorded a remarkable growth, many of the old Asians who are living in the United States and specifically New York are working hard to invest so that they can go back to their ancestry land and spend their savings there. They have therefore, been said to contribute very little to the growth of American economy. As a result, little attention has been put towards improving their living conditions. Many governments have passed with very little being done to ensure that this population from Asia is comfortable in New York. This has left loopholes to the local population to exploit and discriminate them against the rest of the population (Kua, 1994). The population has gathered their resources to put up care centers where they will reside after their old age. These centers are run by their savings as they do this to reduce the burden of taking care of them by the family members. In addition American government has gone ahead to establish several care centers to assist the aging population to live a comfortable life (Zhao, 2002). Chinese aging population has lived a life of resentment and denial. This has made them be overstressed. Survey indicated that Chinese community in United States has recorded a large number of suicide cases. This has been associated with lack of channels of communicating their woes to the relevant authorities. There are no bodies that represent this population in the government or air their grievances. As a result, this old population has remained with their problems without involving other people. Generation to generation has gone through the same challenges, but this has not made any impact in the government as no legislation has been passed to protect their interest. In addition, a high population of this old generation has been associated with smoking behaviors. According to research that was conducted by departments of community health in the year 2007, Asian community and specifically Chinese old age population are the highest contributors of smoking in the New York. This sparked a campaign that was to educate this population through different Medias such as TV and newspapers on dangers that smoking puts in their lives. This campaign was to be aired in Chinese language as they were the once that were affected by this problem immensely. Despite a slight improvement, in this behavior little has been achieved as the source of the problem has not been pinpointed i.e. causes of their stress (Zhao, 2002). Chinese immigrants have been supporting each other to grow economically. They have gone ahead to set up their own Chinatown in New York. In this town family support each other with basic resources and even in terms of financial assistance. They have been able to establish groups that gather their finances and help each one of them. As a result, they have been able to fight financial strains that have been facing them despite their old age. These aid groups are mainly based on kinship. Therefore, instead of the challenges that faced them after migrating disintegrating them, they integrated them together as they shared the same challenge. This has been the breakthrough towards overcoming old age (Poston & Bouvier, 2010). Despite the effort by the aging population to live high standard life, this population has faced the challenge of lack adequate facilities that are important for human existence. Health services and education facilities have been inadequate in areas that the majority of the Chinese population leaves. This has had an impact on the health of an aging population as they had to seek treatment other areas. Some of the old age diseases are rampant in these areas as the aging population has low immunity towards the diseases. Some of these diseases have claimed lives of thousands of old age Chinese with no party interested in looking at this issue. Nevertheless the government has established several facilities such as toilets and help centers to cater for emergency cases that might arise in regions inhabited by this old population (Buenker & Ratner, 2005). The aging population has been able to overcome many odds that have faced them since they migrated to America. The first challenge that they faced them was that their education system was not compatible with that of United States. As a result, majority of them never qualified to work in American firms, and for many years, they remained unemployed up to the time when they brought their resources together. This gave them a base of starting businesses which helped to sustain themselves. This was a great challenge as life in New York was so expensive for the majority of them to afford. This made majority of them to take up lowly paying jobs such as being house helps despite their qualification, which could only be recognized in their country (Zhao, 2002). The population has improved their education standards and living conditions since they first migrated to America. Statistics indicate that the Chinese population has improved tremendously as they started enrolling in schools after going through various tribulations in the new country. Currently the aging population already occupies various positions in the American economy. Despite this, they still retain their culture and originality. The family spending and income have also improved in comparison to the previous decade as they have put much emphasis on attaining high standard of living. Their lives are based on the need to outdo the Americans as a way of ensuring that they impact back after suffering for decades in the hands of the Americans (Bot & Makoni, 2005). This effort has made them to afford a descent life despite their age. The population has been able to utilize their entrepreneurship ideas that they learnt in china. In Chinatown which is situated in the suburbs of New York, there are many types of business ranging from hand-laundry business, restaurants and other businesses that are performing well in the competitive market despite being headed by an old generation of people. This has enabled them to improve their living conditions as well as their living standards. This success has not gone unnoticed as they have faced various threats from their competitors in the business sector (Bot & Makoni, 2005). The old age population who never saved money for their old age days are finding it hard to cope with high living conditions in the New York City. Some of them have almost turned to be a burden to their family and has been taken to day care centers. This is putting a burden to the government who provide them with food and medical services. This is despite their little contribution to growth of United States economy as most of their funds are in Chinese banks. The aging population has been spending much of their time in educating the young generation on cultural matters and their goals in New York. As a result, even the new generation has been keenly following the Chinese culture which is characterized by their diet and even mode of dressing. Upholding of this culture has enabled them to remain united. This is unlike other Asian communities that have been overtaken by the western values. As a result, they have lost their identity and originality therefore, has no culture to be associated with. The study conducted indicated that a majority of old age Chinese people has deep knowledge on Chinese narratives. This is an indication of the retained love that this population has retained towards their original country (Bot & Makoni, 2005). The aging population has been able to retain their behavior. A study that was conducted indicated that Chinese old population in New York rarely developed alcoholism habits. This was clarified by studying other Chinese community in Hong Kong. There was a similarity as both populations have low prevalence to alcoholism. This indicated that the aging Chinese population in New York has been able to maintain their genetic makeup. They have also been able to pass this behavior from one generation to the other through living together (Kua, 1994). As a result despite their age they have been able to run their activities smoothly. The aging Chinese American population has spent much of their life struggling to be recognized as the rest of American population. Many scholars have organized different movements aimed at sensitizing the government about the challenges that they face in this new country. Nevertheless, they have not been able to make a remarkable progress as the society refer them as the minority group (Kua, 1994). Chinese population has ensured that they integrate with the history that is happening in United States. Major changes have happened in United States history. This has been in the economic, social and political sector. Nevertheless the aging population has remained intact. One of the strategies that they use to fit in the current state of the country is to update themselves with the events that are happening in the country and New York to be specific. Despite a strong wave of modernism, the aging population has ensured that they retain their old culture which they inherited from their homeland. This has acted as their main buster towards overcoming this challenges they faced in the new country. New York has in the past few years experienced increased inflation. This was having an impact on the old generation some of those have retired. The aging Chinese population was not spared but they came up with ways of overcoming the challenge. One of them was to help each other. The unity among the group mainly between the rich and poor made them to be able to overcome the hard economic times (Lee, 2003). Politically, the group has not been left behind in creating history in New York. Despite the group old age, they have participated in expressing political rights such as voting and have also joined various political movements in the city that fight for public rights. This has made them to be accepted by the rest of the society. This has made their living through the history to smoothen as the society is integrating them as part of America’s population. Some of the population members have involved themselves in politics though they never reached higher positions. This has made the group becoming more interested in politics (Chang, 2004). Socially, the aging population has integrated with the rest of the New York society through trading and other social activities. Although these activities have not changed their culture, it has played an important role in helping them to live in harmony with the rest of New York society. This has played an important role in helping them to be recognized as members of the larger New York society. Nevertheless, their mode of interaction has been criticized with many people referring this group as unsocial. This is a characteristic that they inherited from their homeland china as Chinese people are described as unsocial (Lee, 2003). The aging population from china has upheld family structure as their basic form of living. Their family comprise of more than three family members who live under the same roof. This aspect has increased help of the aging population as some of the family members especially the young generation has taken up the mandate of taking care of the old people (Lee, 2003). The old people are prone to old age diseases. The government has therefore increased the number of health personnel in areas that are inhabited by the old age generation. It has gone further to increase the medical centers and emergency equipments such as ambulances to ensure that any emergency cases are taken care of appropriately. In addition, medicines that will be used by these health personnel have been made available by the government. Some of the diseases that are associated by this generation include heart diseases, diabetes, blood pressure disease etc (Chang, 2004). The aging population invests little on permanent structures. The mode of living that they undertake is that of migrants who will once go back to the place of origin. They follow keenly on the activities that are undertaking in China. This indicates the will of leaving New York to their homeland country. This is despite being integrated into city and being treated by the locals as their fellow countrymen. Many of them are said to have saved much of their money to Chinese banks as they lack trust on the local community. Despite all this, some of them have completely integrated into United States mode of living and gained full citizenship of the country. The major concern is the rebellion they receive from other Americans as there is a notion that they came to take away the opportunities that were initially there for the local people thereby, increasing the employment rate in New York (Chang , 2004). Lesson learnt One of the major lessons learnt from this case is that no matter how one yearn to migrate to a developed country, one will never be comfortable at a new country. Despite the aging population from china spending decades in United States they still plan of going back to their country. This is in spite of the government effort to ensure that their life is as comfortable as possible despite their old age. It creates a warning to all those who might be willing to migrate from their country to a new country to keenly scrutinize their decision as they might get stranded in the new country and wish to go back to homeland country. Second lesson is that culture plays a major role in uniting people who might be faced by a common challenge. Chinese aging population has been able to go through many challenges such as racial discrimination as a result of unity which was enhanced by the culture. This emphasizes the need to have an identity as this defines the person in terms of morals and values. Lastly, the case is a big lesson to all the young generation to plan their old age future. Those old Chinese living in the city who planned for their old age are sailing smooth through their old age while those who poorly planned their future are living on the mercy of the government. Young generation therefore, needs to save funds for their old age. Conclusion The success of the Chinese aging population in America has been through retaining their deep culture that they migrated with from their country. Despite many challenges that they have experienced in the new country, they have remained united and focused towards attaining their independence in the new country. Through their stay in America, they have met racial discrimination, which has hardened them making them opt to stay united. This has prevented them from intermarrying with the rest of the population. As a result, they have been able to form different financial groups that have enabled them to assist each other in time of need. Lastly, they have remained focused through their stay in United States making them work hard towards achievement of their long term dream of migrating back to their country despite their old age. References Bot K.D., Makoni, S. (2005). Language and aging in multilingual contexts. New York: Multilingual Matters. Buenker, J. D., Ratner, L. (2005). Multiculturalism in the United States: a comparative guide to acculturation and ethnicity. Greenwood Publishing Group. Chang I. (2004). The Chinese in America: A Narrative History. Penguin Kua E. H. (1994). Ageing and Old Age: Among Chinese in a Singapore Urban Neighborhood. NUS Press. Lee, E. (2003). At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943. niv of North Carolina Press. Poston, D.L., Bouvier, L. F. (2010). Population and Society: An Introduction to Demography. New York: Cambridge University Press. Zhao X. (2002), Remaking Chinese America: Immigration, Family, and Community, 1940-1965. Rutgers University Press. Read More