(The) socioeconomic status of Chinese Americans as presented in the verbal and visual elements of contemporary Chinese American picture books

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

　　　This paper aims to investigate the socioeconomic status (SES) of Chinese Americans presented in the verbal and visual texts of contemporary Chinese picture books based on stories about the Chinese American immigrants from the gold rush to the present and their lives in and outside of Chinatown. Socioeconomic status is the combination of economic and sociological measurement of a person's work experience and of an individual’s or family’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation (Saegert et al 9-11). Some experts divide SES loosely into low, middle and high levels. Socioeconomic status in picture books has three significant effects on children. The first is that children from all backgrounds have opportunities to be exposed to cultural representations of lives of Chinese American people. According to Cai, the first impression is very important for children in their impressionable years. Children’s books about people of other cultures have great potential to impact children’s attitudes toward those people in the future (Images169). Children will be influenced by these representations and construct certain perspectives about Chinese American immigrants. The second is that these picture books can have a great impact on Chinese Americans’ self-esteem, self-concept, and self-positioning by examining their socioeconomic status as revealed in picture books. Children who do not see themselves reflected at all or who see only distorted or comical reflections come to understand that they have little value in society in general (Bishop 3). Lo and Lee also believed that “invisibility is dangerous to one’s self-esteem. “If the world is described and you are not in it, you feel lessened” (15). The third is that through reading works depicting the lives of Chinese Americans which are similar to their own experiences, both Chinese and Chinese Americans will construct appropriate cultural understandings about Chinese heritages, beliefs, and values. Readers’ perceptions of their own cultures are constructed through picture books (Kuo 9). Thus, they will appreciate and take pride in their Chinese heritage.
　　　Picture books help non-Chinese people to understand Chinese immigrants and also contribute to Chinese American children’s understanding of how they are viewed and valued by the world and allow their voices to be heard. Therefore, it is essential to see how picture books portray Chinese people and Chinese Americans.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Chapter I. Introduction 1
• 1.1. A New Trend in the Area of Picture Books in Terms of Multicultural Picture Books 1
• 1.1.1. Positive Changes 5
• 1.1.2. Problems Related to Multiculturalism 8
• 1.2. A Brief Introduction of Research on Chinese American Picture Books 15
• 1.3. The Purpose of the Study 18
• Chapter II. The Evaluation Measurement of Picture Books 21
• 2.1. Picture Books 21
• 2.1.1. Benefits of Picture Books in Terms of Multicultural Picture Books 24
• 2.1.2. Multicultural Picture Books and Authenticity 26
• 2.1.3. Chinese-American Literature and Picture Books 30
• 2.2. Evaluation Measurement 35
• 2.2.1. The Importance of Evaluative Measures 37
• 2.2.2. Previous Researches on Multicultural Evaluation Measures 38
• Chapter III. Socioeconomic Status as Revealed in Picture Books 44
• 3.1. Coolies on Gold Mountain 45
• 3.2. Making the Transition--Chinese-Americans in Chinatown 60
• 3.3. Authentic Life Outside of Chinatown 75
• Chapter IV. Conclusion 86
• 4.1. Authentic Socioeconomic Status of Chinese People 86
• 4.2. Suggestions for Further Studies 89
• Children's Literature Cited 91
• Works Cited 94