California has one of the most diverse societies of the world. A great number of ethically different groups are united in its diverse society which is still becoming even more diverse. It is even possible that in future the state won’t have a majority ethnic group. For centuries people were arriving here from all over the world: European settlers, Gold Rush, Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth century. Japanese, Mexican, and Asian American groups enriched the state's heritage after the immigration law was reformed in 1965. Nowadays Los Angeles and San Francisco metropolitan areas are the primary centres of new immigration.
And all these people, people with different backgrounds, different motherlands, different religions, beliefs, moralities and traditions created a great country we call America, and a unique state in it – California. Through the years people like me, people who came here from other world countries were actually creating a new culture, a mix of cultures of the whole earth. People define themselves through the culture associated with their country. A culture is an important piece of identity for each person of the world. With diverse cultures throughout the world, people’s lifestyles vary greatly. America is a unique combination of people because it has a mixture of everyone’s culture joined as the “American culture”.
Families like mine who came to America in the beginning of the twentieth century did so not because they didn’t love their motherland or didn’t want to live there. The reason was different: they knew their future in influenced by communistic ideas China would not be so free and bright. From my parents and relatives I have heard stories about the past and the present of China, about its good and bad sides. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand why they left their homes, their friends and everything they had. At some moments I feel I belong there, to the country where my ancestors lived, to China which we simply left instead of living, working and fighting for its prosperity and well-being. Sometimes I feel we are traitors who just let it go and ran away to look for a place where it is easier to survive and live. But having thought more about it I realized that America was a dream. I understood that It wasn’t an easy step, however, to leave China. People clearly understood that life in America was going to be a battle for survival. America didn’t want our immigrant ancestors. They had to live in cellars and shanties because of poverty and because for some reason they were considered bad for the neighbourhood. These living conditions bred sickness and early death. Their brogue and dress provoked ridicule; their poverty and illiteracy provoked scorn.
