Research Paper on:
Cultural Assessment, Chinese Americans

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Americans are currently the third largest minority group, numbering 14.9 million (Suinn, 2010). The majority of Asian Americans are of Chinese extraction, followed by Filipinos, Asian Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, and  Japanese (Suinn, 2010). The ancient philosophical principles of Confucianism dominate Chinese culture, encouraging the pursuit of righteousness, filial piety, wisdom and decorum (Giger and Davidhizar, 2008). This philosophy stresses  maintaining harmonious relationships, both with nature and with other people, which conveys the societal expectation that the individual will place community needs above personal needs. This societal orientation is quite  different from the American mainstream, which values self-expression and individualism, which are qualities that are discouraged within traditional Chinese culture. Meng, Zhang and Jiang (2011) stress that at the  core of Confucianism is a fundamental belief in humanism that emphasizes consideration for others. Confucianism is considered to be one of the principal religions practiced in China, and religious practice  also includes Taoism and Buddhism. Additionally, as Christian churches have established missions within the countrys various Chinatowns since the nineteenth century, many Chinese Americans are Christian (Wang, 2012). Chinese  immigrants began coming to the US in the late nineteenth century as laborers. Severe restrictions were placed on Chinese immigration due to anti-Chinese bias, but when these laws were lifted  in the 1960s a new wave of immigrants resulted. Since the early 1970s, roughly 250,000 "Chinese intellectuals, scientists and engineers" have journeyed to the US to obtain advanced degrees and  the majority has remained in the US (Wang, 2012). Another significant Chinese immigrant group is comprised of individuals seeking refuge from political instability (Wang, 2012). As this suggests, there is  considerable diversity among Chinese Americans in regards to both their general level of literacy and education. Health beliefs The health beliefs of Chinese Americans derive not only from