Mass media and interpersonal communication are the major channels and the most salient forms in the cultural learning process. Other forms of communication, such as mere observation of strangers on the street, are less influential on the Chinese immigrants' learning of American culture. This paper explores Chinese immigrants' characteristics, and how immigrants from Taiwan and China cope with cultural diversity in adjusting to American culture. This leads to three questions: (a) How do the Chinese immigrants perceive themselves? (b) Under the macroenvironment, how has the mainstream mass media portrayed the image of the Chinese immigrants? (c) How is the deselopment of culture communicated by Chinese immigrants ?A case study of two Chinese immigrant families (one from Taiwan, one from China) within the social and media environment of New York City and Washington DC respectively is proposed.
