the positioning of the threshold, and even the direction the house faces is significant because of the Chinese belief that good and bad spirits possess the ability to influence a household's occupants.
Chinese culture is also preserved in the home through the active use of native language. Chinese American parents send their children to Chinese language schools to learn Cantonese. Thus, a household can easily become bilingual, with the children conversing with one another and their friends in English while communicating with their parents in Cantonese. The parents tend also to prefer Chinese language reading material and television programming in Cantonese.
In many homes, a tug of war takes place between Chinese and Western cultural values. The identification of American-born Chinese children with white beliefs and values is common. As one U.S.-born Chinese American lamented, "I am reminded that I am Chinese although my orientation and lifestyle are more American than Chinese. I have little knowledge about Chinese history, language, or culture" (Wong 85). Young Chinese Americans often describe pressures to assimilate into the dominant white culture while simultaneously experiencing ridicule from older immigrants about their inability to speak Chinese or gain full social acceptance by whites.
Many Chinese American families continue to be greatly influenced by the social and political beliefs and values of the country of origin. In China, the traditional family encompasses extended kinship groups and clan members as well as the nuclear family. In fact, the more generations living in one household, the greater the prestige of the family. The traditional family in China is patriarchal, with clearly defined roles of inheritance and responsibility: "The Chinese system of patrilineal descent provided for the equal division of a family's household property and land among all adult sons and for them to share responsibility...