Small Producer Family Research Paper

Words: 1020
Pages: 5

The history of Chinese Americans is celebrated for their toughness and adaptability in the face of major legal, economic, and social obstacles. For them to overcome these types of challenges, many of the Chinese immigrant families in America were forced to use certain strategies and family structures that enabled them to survive and maintain their family structure. Two of these family types that they created and used were the split-household family and the small-producer family. The split-household family structure was common among Chinese immigrants from around 1850 to 1920, according to the text. This family structure started because of the severe restrictions that were imposed on them by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Another reason this family …show more content…
The lives of husbands, wives, and children in small-producer families were characterized by an intense work ethic and a blurring of boundaries between work and family life. An informant recounted the daily routine in her family's laundry business during the 1930s and 1940s, where the household consisted of her parents and four children. The work day started at 7:00 in the morning and did not end until midnight, six days a week. Except for school and a short nap in the afternoon, the children worked the same hours as their parents, doing their homework between midnight and 2:00 A.M. Tasks were given out determined by age and gender. Young children performed the most simple tasks such as folding socks and wrapping parcels, while older children ironed handkerchiefs and underwear. The mother operated the collar and cuff press, while the father hand-ironed shirts and uniforms. On Sundays, most families attend church in the mornings and relax in the afternoons. The split-household and small-producer family structures show the amazing strength and adaptability of Chinese American families in navigating the restrictions that were imposed on them by legal, economic, and social