Aging & Social Change: Eleventh Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

This paper presents findings of a qualitative research during COVID-19, using digital technology, about the strategies older Chinese immigrants deployed to deal with intensified isolation caused by the pandemic. The empirical focus of the research is a six-month online lecture series initiated and co-organized by elderly Chinese immigrants in Minnesota, an adult daycare center run by and for Chinese immigrants, and a Chinese American researcher from a local university. Digital participant observation and online interviews have revealed the paradoxical desire of elderly Chinese immigrants to be independent and in community, to engage in self-improvement through culturally-specific learning, and to make meaningful contributions to the society they live in. Their active approach to senior living is encouraged and facilitated by elder-care and other community institutions established and managed by fellow Chinese immigrants. The study of aging experience of Chinese immigrants needs to incorporate an intergenerational perspective acknowledging the importance of “familial” relations and responsibilities of the elderlies. A transnational, transcultural lens is also necessary so that their aging experience is understood as an extension of their life experience in China before their migration to the U.S. This work contributes to multiple literatures including but not limited to Migration Studies and Global Aging.