Canada history research paper 2000

Ethno-cultural diversity in the experience of widowhood in later life: Chinesewidows in Canada Anne Martin-Matthews a,⁎,1, Catherine E. Tong a, Carolyn J. Rosenthal b, Lynn McDonald c aThe University of British Columbia, CanadabMcMaster University, CanadacUniversity of Toronto, Canada article info abstract Article history:

Received 2 February 2012 Received in revised form 2 October 2012 Accepted 2 December 2012 This paper utilizes Helena Znaniecka Lopata's concept of life frameworks as a lens through which to understand the experience of widowhood amongst elderly Chinese immigrant women living in Toronto, Canada. While Lopata defined life frameworks as including social supports, social relations and social roles, for these widows, personal resources (framed in Chinese cultural context) were also important aspects of life frameworks. In-depth interviews with 20 widows contacted through a Chinese community center were conducted in Mandarin and Cantonese and then transcribed and interpreted through team-based qualitative analyses.

These women ranged in age from 69 to 93 years and had been in Canada an average of 17 years, with over half of them widowed following immigration. Our analysis framed the widows' narratives in terms of four types of supports defined by Lopata: social, service, financial and emotional supports. They had fairly extensive social and service supports focused primarily around family and the Chinese community. Although norms of filial piety traditionally dictate sons as primary supports, daughters predominated as providers of supports to these widows. Interpreted from a life course perspective, financial supports were deemed sufficient, despite overall limited financial means. Emotional support was more nuanced and complex for these widows. Loneliness and feelings of social isolation were prevalent. Nevertheless, themes of acceptance and satisfaction dominated our findings, as did reciprocity and exchange. The narrative accounts of these widows depict a complexity of experience rooted in their biographies as Chinese women and as immigrants, rather than primarily in widowhood itself.

Widowhood Chinese elders Ethnicity Immigration Adaptation Supports Mei Lin In China, Mei Lin, a civil manager, and her husband, a chemical engineer, raised four children. They had limited means and at times experienced difﬁculties obtaining such basic necessities as ﬁrewood, rice, and salt. With their children raised and one daughter living in Canada, Mei Lin and her husband decided to emigrate, anticipating a more comfortable old age outside China. In 1995, at the age of 60, Mei Lin immigrated to Canada with her husband and their only son.

Keen to learn, Mei Lin enrolled in English language classes.

However, her husband became ill shortly after their arrival, and died of a stroke within the year. Despite the presence of relatives, Mei Lin felt alone and overcome with sadness and grief. For a time, Mei Lin lived with her daughter but did not want to burden her children ﬁnancially or emotionally. She contributed to household chores and kept to herself.

Mei Lin now lives in seniors' housing, with many Chinese older adults. The building manager organizes social activities and outings. Mei Lin attends weekly church services and related events. Her children call regularly, but are very busy with work.

Most of her social interactions are with individuals who speak Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507– 518 ⁎Corresponding author at: Department of Sociology, ANSO Building-6303 N.W. Marine Drive, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada. Tel.: + 1 604 822 2574; fax: + 1 604 822 6161. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Martin-Matthews).

1Although Anne Martin-Matthews was one of the three guest editors of this volume, she was not involved in the reviewing of this article nor in the editorial decisions concerning it. 0890-4065/$ –see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2012.12.011 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Aging Studies journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jaging Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Mandarin. An inability to fully communicate in English limits her access to needed medical services and to activities, although she does use public transit. Her Canadian pension enables her to no longer worry about affording basic necessities. Mei Lin summarizes:“There is no bigﬁnancial problem. Just the language problem. My current situation is very lonely. I live here alone.” Introduction Helena Znaniecka Lopata's 1987 volume,Widows: The Middle East, Asia and the Pacific,was“a pioneering effort to advance the understanding of the role of widow outside Western culture” (Martin Matthews, 1991). Lopata's editing of two distinct volumes, one focused on widowhood in North America, and another on widowhood in other areas of the world, reflected her keen understanding of the ways in which widowhood in later life is fundamentally shaped by ethno-cultural, socio- political, religious and economic contexts. In her last book on widowhood,Lopata (1996: 220)further observed that“the location of a widow in the social structure in terms of social class and minority community is a major influence on these resources…[which] include her knowledge of what is available and how to reach her goals, plus…her self-concept”. Variations from one society to another, and within societies, often reflect social and cultural norms surrounding death, mourning, and remarriage.

One of the most notable changes in the field of widowhood research in the past two decades has been the examination of ethno-cultural diversity. Today, there is an emergent and informative body of work on the experiences of widowhood in international context (Martin-Matthews, 2011). These studies, typically focused on widowhood among women, although not necessarily in later life, highlight the relationship between the nature of widowhood and the status of women in society.

This paper contributes to our understanding of the com- plexity and variety of widowhood through its analysis of data from a study of elderly widowed Chinese women living in Canada. Our study was informed by, and builds upon, Lopata's recognition of how the experience of growing older (and being widowed)“in ethnic communities differs from other local settlements…[as a result of]…shared subculture, social organization, and the uniqueness of their consciousness of kind…[and] the ethnic identity, forged out of a modified combination of home country culture at various levels and host country culture”(Lopata, 1996: 58).

These issues are highly relevant in the Canadian context, where substantial changes in the ethno-cultural diversity of the population have occurred over several decades. An estimated 30 percent of the Canadian population over the age of 65 was born outside Canada (although the majority have ‘aged-in-place’there). Between 1981 and 2001, the propor- tion of Canadian residents over the age of 65 who belong to a visible minority increased from two to seven percent (Turcotte & Schellenberg, 2006) 2; by 2006 this figure had further increased to nine percent, with the largest proportion (35%) being Chinese (Statistics Canada, 2008). In all, Chineseelders comprise about 3% of the elderly population in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2008). Among persons aged 25 to 54 years, the proportion belonging to a visible minority group increased from five to fourteen percent, suggesting that issues of ethno- cultural diversity will be salient in Canada for years to come (Martin-Matthews, 2011).

This study, while small and necessarily exploratory, exam- ines the diversity and heterogeneity of widowhood in later life. It focuses on ethno-cultural variability in widowhood, specifically amongst a sample of older immigrant women from China.

Approaches to the study of ethno-cultural diversity in widowhood Understanding widowhood: Helena Lopata's life frameworks Lopata's pioneering investigations of widowhood in cross- national and internationally comparative context were ground- ed in her sociological curiosity as to the relationship between social structure and the life of society and of the community in which individuals are located, as well as their personal resources. Her particular interest was in the nature of social support as experienced in widowhood. For Lopata,“Cultures provide the basic ways of thinking, doing, and having for people who have been socialized into them. For example, culture provides the rituals of mourning and the prescribed ways of behaving as a widow. Of course, most societies have more than one culture, or subcultures…The life of a widow thus varies considerably by her position in the system”(Lopata, 1987a: 2).

Lopata utilized the concept of‘life frameworks’composed of the support systems, social relations, and social roles of its members spread across religious, economic, political, family, educational, and recreational institutions (Lopata, 1987b: 218).

In observing the great heterogeneity of widows across the world,Lopata (1987a)suggested that such variability arises not only from the wide range of societies and communities in which widows are located, but also from the ways they are lodged in them or combine and create life frameworks. The support systems of widows are foundational to life frame- works, and the broad corpus of Lopata's research on widow- hood focuses on analysis of these systems.

While this study of widowed Chinese women in Canada engages the work of Helena Lopata, our conceptual approach also builds on a symbolic interactionist perspective and follows the work ofChambers (2000, 2005),Davidson (2001),Foxman Feldman (2005),andvan den Hoonaard (2001, 2010)in a focus not just on pathology and decrements, but also on widowhood in the context of past and current life experiences and behaviors.

Here, Lopata's concept of life frameworks intersects with principles of linked or interdependent lives in life course theory (Elder, 1994). In this paper, we first examine experi- ences of elderly widowed Chinese women in terms of four types of support, as defined by Lopata. We then consider their social relations and social roles as other dimensions of life frameworks. Finally, we examine other issues that arose in our findings, especially those personal resources reflective of Chinese culture. Throughout, the experiences of these widowed women are understood and broadly interpreted in a life course context. 2The term“visible minority”refers to“persons, other than Aboriginal persons, who are not white in race or colour”(Turcotte & Schellenberg, 2006: 25). 508A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Widowhood in China: aﬁrst view A chapter by Denise Barnes in Lopata's 1987 volume brought, for many of us, our first images of the lives of widows in China. As Barnes noted at the time, widowed women in China“have always been shrouded in a bit of mysticism.”In a chapter that chronicled the changing historical and socio- cultural context of widows' lives in China from Confucian times and to the Cultural Revolution, Barnes traced controversy and contradiction about the status of widow in China. She observed how“The widow's tenuous position in the Chinese culture was probably augmented by the fact that she was female and that a subservient role was already cast for her by Confucian doctrine.

The absence of a husband to dominate the widow only complicated her uncertain position in society”(1987: 209).

Despite the lack of empirical data on the China of 25 years ago, Barnes was able to draw some important insights as to aspects of the social, financial, service and social supports of widows of the time. Several observations are of particular relevance to our study of Chinese widows in Canada. First is the finding of“much giving and taking among the house- holds of widows in China. Although they live apart, women in kin relationships continue to help each other…Reciprocity of services is the norm…”(Barnes, 1987: 203). Barnes also emphasized the ways in which self-reliance is particularly important for widows, who are encouraged to stay integrated in society and to seek out ways in which the services they receive will be least disrupted after the death of a spouse.

As Lopata has noted, many societies, as in North America, do not have a social role of widow, thereby negating that aspect of a woman's identity in most of her social roles (Barnes, 1987b: 227). In the China that Barnes depicted, however, retired widows, like other retirees, had several defined roles to fill within the commune, such as working as mentors, dispute settlement counselors, street cleaners or in child care (Barnes, 1987: 205).

However, in describing Chinese widows' social supports, Barnes was particularly emphatic that“drawing conclusions regarding the emotional support systems of Chinese widows is tricky”(Barnes, 1987: 214). She attributed this to the changing nature of the support that wives, and then widows, traditionally gained from their sons, who were more valuable additions to the family than were daughters. These roles continue to evolve, with cultural changes that now emphasize emotional support from husbands and from daughters, as well as sons.

Barnes' depiction of the practice among older widows of“speaking bitterness”(Barnes, 1987: 215)is relevant to our understanding of widowhood in a life course context.

This involves speaking about the bitter days of the past, with graphic tales of survivorship and overcoming adversity.

Widows' accounts of the lives of mothers or aunts as their status changed from wives to widows are often central to what Barnes describes as a type of“cathartic experience.” It is now 25 years since Lopata's edited volume provided this first insight into widowhood in China. Since then, knowledge of widowhood within China has increased substantially, providing important cultural context as we examine each of the elements of life frameworks in the lives of widowed Chinese women in Canada. First, however, an introduction to Chinese cultural context is provided.Understanding widowhood: Chinese cultural contexts When I was young, I counted on my husband. When I turn old, I will rely on my son. If I have neither husband nor son, whom should I depend upon?Traditional Chinese Nüshu (informal“female writing ”, fromLiu, 2001).

While we are cognizant ofGee's (2000)caution to not homogenize or oversimplify familial norms, generally speaking Chinese society is family-oriented and collectivist in nature (Li, Chi, Krochalk, & Xu, 2011). The concept of filial piety is understood to define generational relations and expectations between older adult Chinese parents and their adult children (Chow, 2006). Indeed, this expectation has now been ratified in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China:“children who have come of age have the duty to support and assist their parents”(inChow, 2006).

At the same time, there is evidence that Chinese people are reticent when discussing death and dying, in part because it is considered to be bad luck or“taboo”(Chan & Mak, 2000; Chow, Chan, & Ho, 2007; Hsu, O'Connor, & Lee, 2009; Wilson & Ryan, 1990). Indeed, death is considered by many to be the “ultimate adversity in human life”(Tang, 2000).

How do these understandings of filial piety and of reticence in discussing death and dying (with attendant implications for bereavement and widowhood) relate to the experiences of Chinese people living in diasporas around the globe? Research in other countries suggests that filial piety is upheld among older adult Chinese immigrants and their adult children (Liu, Ng, Weatherall, & Loong, 2000). There is also evidence that traditional beliefs about death, dying and disease are retained by Chinese immigrants living in other countries (such as Australia and the United States) (Braun & Nichols, 1997; Yeo et al., 2005).

Awareness of these findings prompted our study of the circumstances of widowed elderly Chinese women in Canada.

With the fast pace of growth in the Chinese population in Canada in recent decades, targeted research has increased knowledge about and understanding of this population (Chappell & Kusch, 2007; Lai & Chappell, 2007; Lai, Tsang, Chappell, Lai, & Chau, 2007). However, very little is known about the elderly widowed Chinese population beyondChan's (1983)study of 26 elderly Chinese widows in rooming houses in Montreal's Chinatown, andGee's (2000)study of elderly Chinese women in Vancouver and Victoria.

Methods To explore the widowhood experience among older widowed Chinese women residing in Canada, we conducted 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews. Participants were recruited through a non-profit, charitable social services agency serving the Chinese community in the Greater Toronto area (the largest metropolitan area in Canada). In Toronto approximately nine percent of the population is of Chinese origin (Statistics Canada, 2006).

Recruitment, data collection and qualitative analysis Inclusion criteria for participation in the study were:

having been born in China or Hong Kong, residing in Canada 509 A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. for at least five years, community-dwelling, aged 65 or older, and widowed for at least two years. Individuals who were illiterate or showed signs of advanced cognitive impairment were not eligible to participate in this study. Two research assistants fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese, and English, conducted the interviews. The principal investigators pro- vided both interviewers with a series of training sessions and trial interviews. We took great care with this training, given the sensitive nature of the interviews. With the study advertised widely within the Chinese social service agency, elderly widows then contacted the interviewers to signal their interest in participating in the study, and to provide signed consent. This study received approval from the University of Toronto research ethics board.

Our team conducted interviews either in the participant's home or in a private space within the social services agency; interviews lasted from 60 to 90 minutes. The interviews consisted of a series of guiding questions about family, friends, life in general, religion, social and financial support, and the immediate and long-term impact of widowhood. We obtained information about living arrangements and socio- demographic characteristics. Development of the interview guide was informed by previous research in Canada (Martin Matthews, 1987, 1991), based on research instruments developed by Lopata. We asked participants about their financial, service and social supports in the thematic sections of the interview guide. To explore the theme of emotional supports, we used queries such as:“who do you talk to when you have problems or concerns?”,and“when you feel sad or when something is worrying you or upsetting you, is there someone you like to talk to?”Interviews were tape-recorded, and then translated and transcribed into English by the two multi-lingual research assistants who also conducted the interviews. These interviewers also prepared linguistic notes and comments to ensure the faithful transcription and interpretation of the interviews. In instances where the translation was unclear, the research team consulted the linguistic notes. The transcripts were then uploaded to the qualitative analysis software, NVivo 9.

The first and second authors conducted the bulk of the coding. We coded transcripts for basic themes in the widow- hood literature (e.g., social support, loneliness) and for themes that were identified in the data (e.g., depictions of survival and hardship in China). Our coding of the responses confirmed how well our data mapped onto the four types of social support outlined byLopata (1979, 1987a,b, 1996). Strategies for establishing and maintaining analytic rigor included the maintenance of an audit trail outlining key analysis de- cisions (Guest & MacQueen, 2008), team-based analysis through meetings and shared coding memos, the examination of stories and themes that did not fit within the overarching coding structure, and consistently returning to the data throughout the writing process.

Participant characteristics The linguistic composition of our sample, with the majority speaking Cantonese, is reflective of the older adult Chinese population in Canada (Chui, Tran, & Flanders, 2005). Eleven of the widows lived with a child, eight lived alone, and one, a live-in-caregiver, resided in the home of her client. Daughterswere most often cited as the immigration sponsor. While not all participants lived in what might be described as an“ethnic community”or“immigrant enclave”(Osypuk, Roux, Hadley, & Kandula, 2009), they shared community ties through the social services agency that assisted with recruitment (Table 1).

Ranging in age from 69 to 93 years at time of interview, these widows frequently referenced important, and some- times tumultuous, events in the history of modern China.

They recalled the formation of the Chinese Soviet Republic (1931), and a few spoke some Russian. They also lived through the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), and the Second World War. Widows from mainland China and those from Hong Kong discussed the impact of the founding of People's Republic of China (1949), the famine of 1959, and the Cultural Revolution, which had its impetus in 1966. Finally, widows from the Hong Kong region discussed the handover of Hong Kong and Macau to China in 1997 and 1999, respectively. As illustrated inTable 2, fully half of our sample emigrated in the period leading up to the handovers (1993–1997). 3 This small sample of elderly widowed Chinese women represents a diversity of experiences of widowhood and immigration, and yet in no way is‘representative’of the population of Chinese women living as widows in Toronto, Canada. While our analysis here is framed in terms of the issues that Lopata saw as key to understanding widowhood (notably, social support systems within life frameworks), our data are rich with the sense of these women as full and complex human beings, many with exceptional life histories of courage and tremendous effort to seek new lives through emigration. All came to Canada well into mid-life, the youngest age 43 and the eldest age 72 at immigration, with most in their 50s and 60s. Most were married when they left China, but Table 1 Participant characteristics (N = 20).

Variable Average (range)Variable Number (percent) Age 79.2 years (69–93)Language of interview Cantonese 14 (70.0) Mandarin 6 (30.0) Years in Canada 16.8 years (8–29)Sponsored by Daughter 11 (55.0) Son 6 (30.0) Multiple children 1 (5.0) No one 1 (5.0) Husband 1 (5.0) Years as widow 13.4 years (4–38)Came to Canada with husband Yes 11 (55.0) No 9 (45.0) Number of children 4 (1–7) Child living in Ontario Yes 14 (70.0) No 6 (30.0) Monthly income ($) 928.6 (0–1100)Receives Canadian Old Age Pension⁎ Yes 16 (84.2) No 3 (15.8) ⁎ One participant did not state if they were in receipt of a Canadian Old Age Pension.

3We have no direct evidence of speciﬁc causality, however. Other factors inﬂuencing the timing of immigration could include changing immigration policies in Canada and the Asian banking crises of the 1990s, for example. 510A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. at least six emigrated as widows. Our effort to retain a sense of them as full persons and as exceptional women is symbolized in the openingvignette, where Mei Lin's story reflects many of the themes of social support, stoicism, and yet loneliness, as identified throughout our analysis. In addition,Table 2provides a brief age-based profile of each of the 20 women. This is intended as a contextual and interpretive device as verbatim responses are cited throughout this paper. 4 Our findings focus primarily on support systems as key dimensions of life frameworks, followed by more summative sections on social relations and on social roles as components of life frameworks. Additional factors relating to personal resources and cultural framings are then considered.

Life frameworks: support systems Lopata examined four types of supports: social, financial/ economic, service and emotional, defining support as any object or action that the giver and/or the receiver defines as necessary or helpful in maintaining a style of life (Lopata, 1979).

Social support: family, friends and faith Widows described a wide variety of social supports, received from traditional sources, such as family, friends and faith-based organizations, as well as less traditional sources, including language support classes, bereavement groups, their children's friends, paid workers (social workers, home care workers and physiotherapists), and building managers and landlords.The vast majority, 19 of the 20 widows, received social support from their immediate or extended family, through annual visits from extended family, to daily interactions with children and grandchildren. Daughters were most frequently cited as sources of support. This is consistent with the prediction ofBarnes (1987)that, as Chinese people become more“westernized,”daughters would take on a greater caregiving role, rather than sons (as filial piety and traditional Chinese norms would have dictated).

Wing Yi was the only widow to report no social support from her family, as both her children live in the United States.

She lives alone in a rented apartment and, despite reporting high levels of loneliness and isolation, would not consider relocation or living with her daughters:

(After my husband's death), life became simpler. There is no more family happiness. Children are not with me…I haven't thought about (moving to the US). Because I think when you live with your children…(pause) because my older daughter is married to a foreigner. She was married to a Chinese, but they divorced. (quietly) The second daughter is married to a Taiwanese. (pause) Taiwanese man is so arrogant. So, I don't want to go.

In contrast to prevailing images of multi-generational households of Chinese immigrants (as dictated by norms of filial piety), several widows live alone, despite the proximity of adult children. As Mary described:

My daughter is a very good daughter and takes very good care of me. I consider myself extremely lucky. She lives close by…she'sﬁve minute drive from here. She is very busy!

(pause) However, she's a very good girl. She takes me out every weekend. She can't come every day but she brings me groceries twice a week. And she takes me out to dim sum every weekend.

4All of the names used in this paper are pseudonyms. While the younger participants from Hong Kong were assigned“Anglicized”names, the older participants, those from Mainland China in particular, were assigned traditional,“Romanized”, Chinese names. Due to the British inﬂuence in Hong Kong throughout the 20th century, it is more common for women in this region to have adopted“Anglicized names”, in addition to their traditional Chinese names. Table 2 Participant Information.

ID # Pseudonym Participant information 1 Vivian 69 years, widowed in 1992, immigrated in 1983, lives with daughter 2 Wing Yi 72 years, widowed in 1994, immigrated in 1989, lives alone 3 Kiew 85 years, widowed in 1998, immigrated in 1995, lives alone 4 Mary 82 years, widowed in 1988, immigrated in 1996, lives alone 5 Ping 85 years, widowed in 1999, immigrated in 1993, lives with son 6 Mei Lin 73 years, widowed in 1996, immigrated in 1995, lives alone 7 Sing Mei 86 years, widowed in 2000, immigrated in 1979, lives alone 8 Jia Li 69 years, widowed in 1998, immigrated in 1988, lives with daughter 9 Maggie 80 years, widowed in 1970, immigrated in 1995, lives with son 10 Edith 79 years, widowed in 1999, immigrated in 1988, lives alone 11 Ming 71, widowed in 1993, immigrated in 2000, is a live-in caregiver for an older Chinese lady 12 Iris 79 years, widowed in 2000, immigrated in 1981, lives with daughter 13 Rose 74 years, immigrated in 1996, lives alone⁎ 14 Ivy 73 years, widowed in 1994, immigrated in 1994, lives alone 15 Anna Age not stated, husband died more than 20 years ago, immigrated in 1995, lives with son 16 Elaine 77 years, widowed in 1997, immigrated in 2000, lives with daughter 17 Yao Niang 93 years, widowed in 1996, immigrated in 1984, divides her time between son's house and daughter's house 18 Gloria 81 years, widowed in 2004, immigrated in 1992, lives with son 19 Vera Age not stated, immigrated in 1996, lives with son⁎ 20 Mei Zhen 70 years, widowed in 1997, immigrated in 1986, lives with son ⁎ Missing Information, participants unable to recall year of husband's death.511 A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. For most of these widows, living alone is not necessarily associated with limited social supports. Several live alone, but are supported by children living in the same province.

Others living alone discussed receipt of social support at a distance, with annual or bi-annual visits to China, with relatives traveling to Canada, and with telephone calls in-between. While in-person social support is often provid- ed by proximate children and grandchildren, social support “at a distance”was especially prevalent among siblings.

Most of the widows have siblings living in other major North American cities, or in Hong Kong or mainland China.

However asCicirelli (1982)observed,“thenatureofthe sibling relationship is such that intimacy between siblings is immediately restored even after long absences.”Despite geographic challenges, the widows discussed a variety of social interactions with siblings, including“catching up”, visiting, drinking tea, spending time at the hair salon and sharing advice.

Friends were also cited as key sources of social support, with interactions over tea, meals and card games (e.g., Mahjong), in exercise groups (e.g., Tai Chi), through formal outings organized by charities and community groups, and at faith- based activities (e.g., visiting Buddhist temples together).

Tai Chi was frequently cited as a way of meeting and making new friends, in addition to maintaining physical health. Rose explained:

Yes I have friends. In the morning I go and exercise with them. I go do Tai Chi and take some walks with them. It makes me happy. My day passes quickly when I just laugh and spend time with them. Every day we laugh, talk, exercise and occasionally drink tea.

For those widows who held to some form of religion and were involved with a church or temple (about half the women in our sample), faith-based organizations played an important role in providing social supports. Edith, a Buddhist, explained how her temple arranges activities and outings.

Similarly, despite not feeling overly‘social’by nature, Mary discussed the important social support received from her fellow Christians:

Friends from the church are very supportive. We would listen to the pastor's sharing…Study the bible etc, then dim sum the second and fourth week of the month…I told you I don't like socializing with people. I would say hi to people but I don't really interact with them. But I enjoy going to these meetings, just to see the brothers and sisters.

Despite the important role of friends, and faith-based and social activities, health and mobility issues were identified as significant barriers to accessing social support. These included osteoarthritis, asthma, weak knees, lack of energy, inability to get out in winter, and a fear of slips and falls (as several had previously experienced falling). Some women used mobility aides (e.g., cane, walker, wheelchair, electric scooter). Sing Mei, who uses a wheelchair and relies on costly taxis, explained how her limited mobility prevents her from engaging with friends:

Now they [my friends] don't call me and I have no way to hang out with them either, because I have difﬁculty to walk.Now it seems like we don't hang out with each other anymore…no more.

Financial support: sufﬁciency The term“sufficient”summarizes the widows' perceptions of their financial situation, with enough to get by on and nothing more. In Canada, at age 65 years, individuals are eligible for a range of supports and services, including an old age pension. Some widows were also eligible for an allowance for low-income seniors, and the guaranteed income supple- ment, both of which are means tested on an annual basis (Ontario Seniors' Secretariat, 2011). Such entitlements, pro- viding these women with guaranteed and regular pension checks, represented unprecedented financial security for many.

Most widows had limited means and, at time of interview, received approximately $1000 per month in government support. Nevertheless, these widows overall expressed satis- faction with their financial situation, often citing their ability to afford the necessities, including food. They frequently noted their frugal and financially responsible ways, emphasizing that they do not have“lavish”or“rich”lifestyles.

Jia Li: I don't live a lavish life. I spend the most on my car, maintaining it. I eat normal food. I wear normal clothes.

Nothing fancy. So I have enough money.

Ivy: I have to think about how much I am spending and what I am spending my money on. If I don't have money for certain things, I just need to be more aware to saving up so I can buy things that I want.

Edith: Happy. Now I feel happy. The government's [support] I am satisﬁed with it. I don't have high demands. I don't ask for a lot. If I have enough money to use, that's enough. If I have money for food and basic expenses…Although I don't have a lot…I cannot spend like rich people do…I am satisﬁed now.

Many of the widows juxtaposed their current financial situation with accounts of economic hardship and survival during earlier periods of their lives in China or Hong Kong.

Elaine: [In Canada] I no longer need to work to have money to put food on the table. I can easily have two meals a day. In the past, it was such a challenge and struggle to earn money such that the nine of us can have two meals…When I was younger there was no stopping for relaxation. I had to keep on focusing to earn money. But now I am retired and I have a place to live and food to eat.

Kiew's narrative was similar, but even more explicit in expressing appreciation for the financial security found in Canada:

I never have too much desires. I brought enough clothes from China. Eating, I am not picky…When we were in China, we got used to living poorly. You might think, university professor and stuff…[but], during the famine in 1959–60, there really was nothing to eat. When you were really hungry, you get some rice ticket, it was already a real blessing. For me, I really do not care about my clothes, my food. As long as I am full, then I am good. After ten years, I got 512A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. my pension…It is enough. If you say I am rich, no, normal life, I amﬁne. I am still pretty thankful…thankful towards Canadian government. To be honest, we came here, we did not do much for them…I know, my children work and pay taxes too. But from my personal perspective, I did not do anything, honest. I have to say, I am very satisﬁed. Canada is pretty good. Better than US. Especially, when youﬁrst come, after three months they mail you the health card. After they mail it, you can go to doctor right away, and it is all free. I felt it was so strange, very funny, and very thankful.

Nevertheless, a few widows were clearly dissatisfied with their financial situation, with limited financial resources preventing them from living the life they desired. For example, Rose stated that:

I pay for my rent. My children do not pay me anything. I rely on the funding the government provides me. But I don't have money now. And I haven't paid my rent yet. My children told me that they don't have money too…My economic circumstances are not great. I don't feel that I am doing well.

I don't feel like I have enough money to live on. I can't work because I am old so I can't earn money. I feel that I have to conserve my money because of the living situation I am in.

I can't eat as good or great food. I need to be aware of what I eat and save money so I can have another meal…I can't do the things I want to do or enjoy my life as much as I can because of money.

Service support: facilitating independence These widows received a variety of service supports from both formal and informal sources. Service supports provided by federal, provincial and municipal governments include health services, immigrant language classes and seniors' housing. Family members, friends and community members provided a variety of services, ranging from daily meals to year-end income tax reporting.

Eight of the women live alone, and those living in government-supported seniors' housing were keen to express their appreciation. Edith explained:

So I would like to thank the Canadian government. It treats the seniors very well…very well. If there was no Laorenjin (old age security) and there wasn't this kind of place for us to live, we seniors would not know what our lives would be like.

Mary, also living in supportive housing, appreciated the independence that living in Canada affords her.

I think Canada is a great place!…much better than in Hong Kong. Back then and there, I encountered so much sad happenings, nothing went my way. My foster parent was mean to me, and I had an awful marriage. So when I came, I applied for housing here and it was available in a year! I was so happy! I had my own place.

Formal, publically provided health services were identified as beneficial and supportive of independence and living well.

However, language and communication issues were commonlycited as barriers to receiving formal, public health services.

Mei Lin, introduced in thevignette, discussed her difficulties navigating the public health care system:

So my English is very limited, very limited. So shopping, seeing a doctor, and asking directions, all are very difﬁcult. One time the family doctor asked me to check my eyes [but] no, reference letter had been written by the doctor, I didn't know the directions to the clinic, so I missed the appointment.

Many of the widows also used the services of private traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, acupuncturists and herbalists. Traditional health services are not only culturally relevant but more accessible in terms of language: traditional Chinese practitioners typically provide the added benefit of services in Cantonese or Mandarin. However, these otherwise accessible and culturally appropriate Chinese medicines are not covered under Canadian drug benefit plans for elderly people. This lack of appropriate coverage demonstrates how culture intersects with health beliefs, impacting health behav- ior with potential financial consequences for those with little money to spend. As Lopata observed, home country culture and host country culture may conflict at times.

Family members, friends and community members pro- vide these widows with support services that vary according to each widow's individual needs. One of the most commonly provided service supports was transportation. Many of the widows do not drive and reported difficulties navigating the public transit systems, often because of mobility problems.

Rose explains:

My landlord occasionally helps me. Sometimes if I go out and was unable to bus back home, then my landlord would drive me back home. Sometimes when I go grocery shopping, they would drive me home.

Other essential services provided by family and friends included assistance with annual income tax reporting, lan- guage translation at important medical appointments, grocery shopping, and assistance with moving, cooking and cleaning.

These widows reported receiving additional service supports from family and friends during winter storms and during periods of illness. Despite receiving service supports through- out the year, and in times of heightened need, the widows also emphasized their independence and autonomy in managing activities of daily living. For example, while Rose occasionally receives service support, she emphasizes a desire and need to maintain independence:

I hope and the best would be not to get sick or ill. I don't think anyone can help me if I'm sick. Everyone needs to work, so no one can take care of me. I would need to take care of myself.

Emotional support: ethic of emotional independence Lopata (1987a)found the emotional support systems available to widows to be especially complex, and difficult to examine as separate supports. Barnes, as well, found it “tricky”to ascertain the emotional supports of widows in 513 A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. China. Of the four types of support received by these Chinese widows in Toronto, emotional support was reported the least.

When they did discuss emotional support, these widows frequently cited friends, and specific family members as key sources:

Ivy:When I can't think of solutions to my problems or just need someone to talk to. I would talk to my closest friend which is one of my daughter's best friends. She is in her late 50s.

Mei Zhen:I talk to a few friends, and my siblings…Well my siblings would help me. If I was having a hard time at something they would help me by giving me advice.

However, many of the widows did not cite family members as the providers of emotional support, noting that they do not want to burden them. This was especially true when discussing their children. For example, when some- thing is worrying or upsetting Vera, who lives with her son, she stated that:“I would talk to my friends…I don't want to bother my son and his family because they will worry.” Martin Matthews (1987, 1991)noted the strong ethic of independence that characterized the widowed men and women in her studies in Canada (as did Lopata in her research on Chicago-area widows). This ethic was particu- larly strong amongst this group of Chinese widows, likely for cultural reasons that are further discussed below. These women demonstrated this strong ethic of independence not only with respect to living situation, finances and service support, but especially in relation to emotional indepen- dence. For example, when asked with whom she spoke when something was worrying or upsetting her, Ming responded:

All are things I can handle. It is not possible to be happy every day. When you are faced with something, just think about it in a good way, solve them on your own. Right? They are just small things. Nothing big.

Anna demonstrated an ethic of emotional independence as well, talking with her siblings only as a last resort. Siblings were frequently noted in this context.

I would talk to myself. I would keep whatever I am feeling inside…there are things I can't tell or talk to someone about…these feelings that I have. . . I don't feel comfortable telling them. I don't think my feelings are meant for my friends…these feelings that I have are [also] not meant to be told to my son or grandchildren…it'sthesefeelingsorconcernsthatI would talk to my own siblings (sisters).

In spite of little reference to receipt of emotional support in our interviews with these Chinese widows, and an emphasis instead on what we have termed an ethic of emotional independence, there was ample evidence of great need for emotional support.

The transcripts were replete with references to loneliness and aloneness. The word that most often came to mind when reading these transcripts is“stoic.”These women are clearly survivors, many of them having endured very difficult economic and political times in China. In our qualitative data, many passages are coded as“stories of survival andhardship”, corroborating of Barnes' findings“speaking bitterness”(1987: 215). These women have all outlived their husbands, at least one may have been a“second wife 5”, and they have all successfully transitioned and adapted to a new life half-way across the world. They have demonstrated capacity for dealing, independently, with their pain and emotions, but their words suggest real need for emotional support.

Jia Li:Well, I would categorize friends into three groups:

there is the kind that you say hi and bye to. There is the kind that you do activities with and with whom you can chat about superﬁcial things like which stores have best deals on food.And then there is the kind that you have known forever and thus you can conﬁde in him or her. So basically, there are three categories of friends. During my time volunteering with [local organization], of course, I had a lot of category 1 friends, some category 2 friends, but as for category 3, I don't have any.

She went on to explain,There are certain things that I can't tell my kids. I can only tell my friends—my category 3 friends, which I don't have.

Reflecting on how her life has changed since the death of her husband, Ping, now living with her son and his family, noted:

More or less…you always feel…feel like you have no one to talk to, because my son and my daughter-in-law, they all have to work. I feel very lonely, because they are all very busy.

(pause) They do take care of me and it is not easy, but…I felt very lonely, like no one to talk to.

Just as living alone does not preclude widows from receiving social support, living with family does not necessarily assure emotional support.

Mei Lin, whose history is briefly summarized in the introductoryvignette,expressed similar feelings of loneliness:

My current situation is very lonely. I live here alone. I myself sometimes think nobody will know if I die here…I really think it's meaningless to live. You see, it was not easy for us toﬁnally retire…come to Canada, a place we longed for, then such a tragedy happened. We had been together for a few decades, all children have their own families, ah, he left like this…very sad, very sad.

Sing Mei too described a high degree of social isolation.

She began the interview on a positive note, talking about her willingness and ability to live on her own, rather than with her children, who had offered her a place to stay with them:

“I am here alone…I live very well by myself.”However as the interview progressed, she candidly described her social isolation:

…[life is] just a bit lonelier…just lonelier…nobody comes to see me. My eldest daughter, sometimes, she comes to see me…The situation of the outside world…I don't know much about it. I seldom interact with other people who are not my 5The term“second wife”refers to a woman who married a man when he was concurrently married to another woman. Until they were banned by the Marriage Laws of 1950 and 1980, concubinage and polygamy were accepted practices which allowed upper class families to expand (Engel, 1984). 514A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

Either someone pushes (my wheelchair and take) me out, or my daughter comes to pick me up. So I seldom interact with the outside world. So I don't know much about the outside world. (I) just watch TV.

In framing our analysis of the support systems that are foundational to Lopata's concept of life frameworks, we have emphasized the verbatim accounts of the widows themselves as they spoke of social, financial, service and emotional supports.

Many of these accounts are of direct relevance also to our understanding of the social relations and social roles of elderly widowed Chinese women living in Canada. In these next two sections, for sake of brevity, we are more summative in presenting results, as we integrate our findings with those in the extant literature.

Life frameworks: social relations Upon the loss of a loved one, Chinese people have been known to say“I am happy if my family are happy”(Chow, 2010: 335). Chow suggests that, in making such a statement, bereaved Chinese people are engaging in patterns of social orientation, relational orientation and the“other-oriented self”(Chow, 2010). Other research indicates that in collec- tivist cultures, such as in China, people tend to focus on the needs of others, rather than on themselves (Gao, 1996), with such behaviors exacerbated in times of grief and loss (Chow, 2010). This emphasis on others was evident in our study, with widows repeatedly discussing the burdens, responsibil- ities and busy schedules of their relatives, especially their children. Even in times of great practical and emotional need, many widows reported concealing these needs, so as to deflect any potential burden from their families and friends.

Although generally it is believed that Chinese people are unlikely to discuss death and the bereavement process, the research ofChow et al. (2007)suggests that widows in Hong Kong did discuss their grief with at least one other person.

These confidants were also not limited to family, as popular belief would suggest, and included close friends, siblings and professionals (Chow et al., 2007). For those widows in our study who reported receiving some emotional support and having someone to talk to, that support similarly was not limited to family.

In the social relations of Chinese widows in Canada, adult children are key sources of social, financial and service supports for their widowed mothers, although less likely to provide emotional support. For the women in our study, sharing information about their experience of widowhood, the bereavement process or emotional problems with others, notably children, was considered to be inappropriate behavior, although exceptions would be made in certain circumstances.

This behavior may also reflect the understanding that, in Chinese culture, children often express their filial piety in instrumental ways (e.g., driving parents to appointments and picking up groceries) (MacKinnon, Glen, & Durst, 2001).

While filial piety is often associated with male children, in particular the first- born male, our study found no preference for male support over female support. There was simply no indication of the expected filial role of sons over daughters. In fact, daughters were predominant in sponsoring their parents'immigration, implicitly agreeing to support them through the process of migrating and acquiring citizenship. Children were an important source of social support both at the onset of widowhood and thereafter, with widows often co-residing with children for a time following bereavement. Children sometimes provided financial support in the period before the widows were eligible for the government old age security benefit and some continued to supplement their widowed mother's income even after she started receiving a government pension.

The importance of family emerged in other ways (beyond specific supports) in our data, with family providing the central meaning in life for these widows. Many spoke of their children's and grandchildren's accomplishments with great pride (more so than in other studies of widows conducted by our research team). These findings appear to support Lopata's observation that“ethnic widows usually have two main directions of social involvement: their children and their community”(Lopata, 1996: 58).

While siblings were often mentioned as a source of help or, sometimes, of emotional support and companionship, this was not with the frequency and intensity found in Canadian research with elderly widows (Martin Matthews, 1991) and with elderly people in general (Connidis, 2010). In part this reflects the lack of availability of siblings on a regular basis; more than half the women had no siblings in Canada.

However, while most women reported having friends, they discussed these relationships in notably superficial terms.

Barriers to friendship and interaction with friends included older age, immigration in later life, co-residence with children who live at a distance from the widow's friends, and lack of transportation.

Somewhat to our surprise (and quite in contrast to Lopata's findings), faith-based organizations (often referred to as‘the Church’) and religion emerged as important sources of friends and help and social integration for these widows.

They also provided meaning and sources of life satisfaction for many. In addition, widows emphasized the importance of regular Tai Chi practice, with its physical and social benefits.

In our study, eight of the widows live alone. This is consistent with trends in Canada and the industrialized world, where widows are increasingly choosing to live alone (Gee, 2000). InGee's study of Chinese Canadian elders (2000),41%of widows lived alone, with negative impact on quality of life.

Chinese widows living alone reported less satisfaction with their health, self, food, spirituality and accommodations, and were less likely to have a“confidante”(Gee, 2000). Living alone, however, did not negatively impact overall life satisfac- tion. We did not observe such negative trends among the widows who live alone. Indeed many of the women who live withfamily reported loneliness and lamented their food, health and accommodations.

Life frameworks: social roles involving reciprocity and exchange These findings advance our understanding of social roles in widowhood among elderly Chinese women, despite some of the challenges of the essentially‘roleless role’of widow- hood, as noted by Lopata. Our interviews with these elderly Chinese widows emphasize the extent to which support was not merely received, but also provided. Indeed, rather than 515 A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. just the giving or receipt of support, exchanges of support were the norm, with the widows themselves providing support to family members, to friends and to the community at large. This included social support, in the form of social visits and outings with friends and family; service support, through child minding, housekeeping and volunteering with local organizations; and financial support, including small monetary gifts to family members and donations to charities.

One widow, Kiew, describes what providing support means to her:

Now, I have a little personal wish…I wish to help anyone.

I will not exclude anyone, poor or rich, old or young, I do not wish people to talk talk talk…I just want real action, to do more for others (holding back tears). That is my biggest happiness right now.

Volunteering and serving others were identified as ways in which widows maintain a role in society. Barnes provides a potential explanation for the extent of these widows' commitment to service to others, to reciprocity and to exchanges of support. She observed that, in communist China, widows were encouraged to continue to lead full, productive lives, despite the death of their husbands, and were often givendefinedrolesasmentors,educators,minders,andeven cleaners. In this cultural context, then,“reciprocity of services is the norm”(Barnes, 1987: 203), and reflects an ethic of“serving the people [that] has deep roots in socialist principles and practices in China”(Barnes, 1987: 204).

Ivy gains a sense of self-worth from her ability to help others:

I would cook for [my family], buy some groceries and occasionally clean the house…It is important to take care and maintain the house. When I am able to do this, I feel important and comfort that I can help.

While, generally, these widows rarely mentioned providing emotional support, some noted their ability to lend a“listening ear”for a friend or someone in need. Jia Li's volunteer work with a bereavement group and her evident provision of emotional support to others is unique in this way:

I helped with the bereavement group, yes. People attending these groups were all very passive. So I took the initiative and showed them how to share with each other my deepest feelings. You know, it is very difﬁcult to talk about these things.

(pause, wept) But I felt much better after that group. I could bravely say that he's not here with me anymore. (wept).

Life frameworks: personal resources and personality in cultural context Although her scholarship was well rooted in her sociolog- ical training, Lopata recognized the role of (social) psycholog- ical forces in shaping women's experiences of widowhood. She observed that“it is the personality of the woman herself that influences the degree of initiative she shows in seeking new social roles and relations once the period of heavy grieving is over”(Lopata, 1987a: 4). Lopata also well understood the implications for widows of individualistic American society that“requires the self-confidence and ability to utilize resources that do not come knocking on the door”(Lopata, 1987a:4).

These insights underscore the challenges facing elderly Chinese women, raised in a communal or collectivist culture, and now living as widows in a more individualistic Canada.

The literature on widowhood in China notes how people are believed to limit their social sharing of personal experiences.

Research and non-fiction narratives corroborate that Chinese American immigrant women are hesitant to divulge their emotional support needs (e.g.,Kingston, 1976; Tabora & Flaskerud, 1997). For example, participants inTabora and Flaskerud's (1997)studyfeltitacceptableforothersto demonstrate emotion and seek emotional help, but unac- ceptable for themselves to do so.

“Save the tears and follow the flow”(Jie ai shun bian)isa phrase commonly used in China to console bereaved persons at afuneral(Chow et al., 2007). Its literal meaning connotes the cultural prescription of inhibiting grief and accepting the bereavement experience silently. Indeed, one of the most striking findings of our data is the sense of acceptance and satisfaction expressed by these widows, in spite of life's challenges. In this context, the proscriptions ofJie ai shun bian are reflected in the view that“life is what it is”, and it cannot be changed, so it is best to accept one's lot in life. Many expressed an attitude of acceptance of their circumstances, saying that there was not much they could do to change things.

Iris:It is a sad time that my husband died…butIcan'talwaysbe unhappy and upset and crying about it. You have to understand that people can die early or later in life and have to accept it.

Rose:I feel that it is important to be happy. When you are unhappy, you can get sick or ill very easily.So if you are always unhappy then you will always be ill, always be sick. It's easier to take a step at a time…each day at a time. I mostly feel happy. I am religious and I believe in the Buddha. Iﬁnd it important to be happy. When I am not happy I turn to my religion…Idon'tthink I want to go back and do things over. I'm already old, what is there to do if I were to go back?

Anna:

Interviewer: how do you feel about your life these days?

Anna: Well what is there to say about it. Things will still be the same. I am just so old and I might die soon so what is there not to be satisﬁed about? Doesn't matter whether or not I am satisﬁed, the end result would still be the same…You can't say that I am entirely happy but I am not entirely sad either. I'm in the middle.

For the most part, these Chinese widows derived satisfac- tion from maintaining independence, both practically and emotionally. Their relatively positive perspectives may reflect their having survived severe hardships, including the Cultural Revolution in Mainland China and famines and wars in both China and Hong Kong, and having worked hard to creating new lives following immigration to Canada. These findings reinforce the importance of adopting a life course perspective in seeking to understand the experience of widowhood amongst these immigrants to Canada from China.

Conclusion This paper examines the experiences of Chinese women living as widows in Canada. While it is conceptually grounded 516A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright ©2017. Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. in a symbolic interactionist perspective that recognizes linked lives and a life course approach, there is much that we, as essential outsiders, cannot know and understand about the lives of these women. A key unknown is how their perceptions of widowhood in later life in Canada are framed by their experiences, earlier in their life course, of the lives of widowed relatives in China. Their verbatim accounts provide few hints as to how their awareness of and recollections about the widowhood of their mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers may have shaped their perceptions of their own experience. AsDannefer (2003)has noted, much remains to be done to achieve a“global geography of the life course”.

For many although not all of the women in this study, widowhood is associated with opportunities for personal growth and independence. The verbatim accounts provide compelling depictions of these women‘prevailing’as they take charge of their lives and become more independent over time. This independence suggests that adapting to widowhood represents, for some, a transformation rather than a recovery (Martin-Matthews, 1999). This occurs as they renegotiate aspects of daily life (for some, while also learning a new language and also (re) creating a life in a new culture) and as they reconfigure their sense of self and relationship to others.

In her final writing on a topic that had been a dominant focus of her career, Lopata observed that widowhood is far more“complicated and varied”than she recognized when first writing on the topic more than 40 years ago. And indeed, the narrative accounts of these elderly widowed Chinese women convey a complexity of experience that is rooted in their personal biographies and in their life course experiences as women and as immigrants, rather than exclusively in later-life widowhood itself. When understood in the context of life frameworks, widowhood is shaped by and itself shapes social roles, relations and resources and life circumstances. For example, many elderly people experience the death of their spouse against a backdrop of other age-related changes such as chronic illness, disability, and diminished physical and cognitive capacities (Lund, 1989). The pitfalls of confounding understanding of widowhood with understandings of physical changes and frailty in later life are now well recognized (Chambers, 2005).

The women in this study experienced widowhood against a backdrop not only of all these things, but of immigration as well. This paper has foregrounded their widowhood as a defining factor in framing the discussion of their lives and social worlds, as a dominant (indeed, predominant) charac- teristic of their lived experience in old age. For these women, the circumstances of their immigration (for many of them, undertaken in later life) and of growing old in a foreign land are key factors contributing to the complicated and variable experiences of their lives—as Chinese women, as elderly women, and as widowed women, living out their old age, far from their birthplace, in the distant land of Canada.

Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge funding support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through the project“SEDAP: Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population”(B. Spencer, PI; SSHRC Grant #412-04-1006) for the study of Chinese widows by Lynn McDonald,Carolyn Rosenthal, and Anne Martin-Matthews. Mary Chiu and Mingxiaou Ye of the University of Toronto assisted in the data collection. Hongmei Tong of the University of Calgary assisted with the literature review and reviewed a draft of the manuscript. Funding by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (A. Martin-Matthews, PI: CIHR Grant # IOP-70684) supported additional research assistance at The University of British Columbia.

References Barnes, D. R. (1987).Wives and widows in China. In H. Z. Lopata (Ed.), Widows: Volume I The Middle East, Asia and the Pacific(pp. 194–216).

Durham: Duke University Press.

Braun, K., & Nichols, R. (1997).Death and dying in four Asian American cultures: A descriptive study.Death Studies,21, 327–359.

Chambers, P. (2000).Widowhood in later life. In M. Bernard, J. Phillips, L.

Machin, & V. Harding Davies (Eds.),Women ageing: Changing identities, challenging myths(pp. 127–147). London: Routledge.

Chambers, P. (2005).Older widows and the life course: Multiple narratives of hidden lives.Aldershot, U.K.: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

Chan, K. B. (1983).Coping with aging and managing self-identity: The social world of the elderly Chinese woman.Canadian Ethnic Studies,15(3), 36–50.

Chan, C. L., & Mak, J. M. (2000).Benefits and drawbacks of Chinese rituals surrounding care for the dying. In R. Fielding, & C. L. Chan (Eds.), Psychosocial oncology and palliative care in Hong Kong(pp. 255–270).

Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Chappell, N. L., & Kusch, K. (2007).The gendered nature of filial piety—A study among Chinese Canadians.Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 22,29–45.

Chow, N. (2006).The practice of filial piety and its impact on long-term care policies for elderly people in Asian Chinese communities.Asian Journal of Gerontology and Geriatrics,1(1), 32–35.

Chow, A. Y. M. (2010).The role of hope and bereavement for Chinese people in Hong Kong.Death Studies,34(4), 330–350.

Chow, A. Y. M., Chan, C. L. W., & Ho, S. M. Y. (2007).Social sharing of the bereavement experience by Chinese bereaved persons in Hong Kong.

Death Studies,31(7), 601–618.

Chui, T., Tran, K., & Flanders, J. (2005).Chinese Canadians: Enriching the cultural mosaic. Canadian Social Trends.Statistics Canada Catalogue no.

11-0008 (Retrieved from:http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc- cel?catno=11-008-X20040047778&lang=eng).

Cicirelli, V. G. (1982).Sibling influence throughout the lifespan. In M. E. Lamb, & B. Sutton-Smith (Eds.),Sibling relationships: Their nature and significance across the lifespan. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associated.

Connidis, I. A. (2010).Family ties and aging(2nd ed.)Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Dannefer, D. (2003).Toward a global geography of the life course: Challenges of late modernity for life course theory. In J. T. Mortimer, & M. J. Shanahan (Eds.),Handbook of the life course(pp. 647–659). New York: Springer Publishing.

Davidson, K. (2001).Late life widowhood, selfishness and new partner choices:

A gendered perspective.Journal of Aging Studies,21(3), 297–317.

Elder, G. H. (1994).Time, human agency and social change: Perspectives on the life course.Social Psychology Quarterly,57(1), 4–15.

Engel, J. W. (1984).Marriage in the People's Republic of China: Analysis of a new law.Journal of Marriage and the Family,46(4), 955–961.

Foxman Feldman, S. E. (2005).More than a dead man's wife: Australian women talk about widowhood.(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Sydney, Australia: School of Behavioural & Community Health Sciences.

Gao, G. (1996).Self and OTHER: A Chinese perspective on interpersonal relationships. In W. B. Gudykunst, S. Ting-Toomey, & T. Nashida (Eds.), Communication in personal relationships across cultures(pp. 81–101).

Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Gee, E. M. (2000).Living arrangements and quality of life among Chinese Canadian elders.Social Indicators Research,51(3), 309–329.

Guest, G., & MacQueen, K. M. (2008).Handbook for team-based qualitative research.Lanham, MD: Altamira.

Hsu, C. Y., O'Connor, M., & Lee, S. (2009).Understandings of death and dying for people of Chinese origin.Death Studies,33(2), 153–174.

Kingston, M. H. (1976).The woman warrior: Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts.New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc.

Lai, D. W. L., & Chappell, N. L. (2007).Use of traditional Chinese medicine by older Chinese immigrants in Canada.Family Practice,24(1), 56–64.517 A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.

Relationships between culture and health status: A multi-site study of the older Chinese in Canada.Canadian Journal on Aging,26(3), 171–184.

Li, Y., Chi, I., Krochalk, P. C., & Xu, L. (2011).Widowhood, family support and self-rated health among older adults in China.International Journal of Social Welfare,20(Special Issue 1), 72–85.

Liu, F. W. (2001).The confrontation between fidelity and fertility: Nüshu, Nüge and peasant women's conceptions of widowhood in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, China.The Journal of Asian Studies,60(4), 1051–1084.

Liu, J. H., Ng, S. H., Weatherall, A., & Loong, C. (2000).Filial piety, acculturation, and intergenerational communication among New Zealand Chinese.Basic and Applied Social Psychology,22(3), 213–223.

Lopata, H. Z. (1979).Women as widows: Support systems.New York: Elsevier.

Lopata, H. Z. (1987a).Widowhood: World perspectives on support systems.

In H. Z. Lopata (Ed.),Widows: Volume 1 The Middle East, Asia and the Pacific(pp. 1–25). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Lopata, H. Z. (1987b).Widowhood and social change. In H. Z. Lopata (Ed.), Widows: Volume 1 The Middle East, Asia and the Pacific(pp. 217–229).

Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Lopata, H. Z. (1996).Current widowhood: Myths and realities.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Lund, D. A. (1989).Older bereaved spouses: Research with practical implications.

New York: Hemisphere Publishing.

MacKinnon, M. E., Glen, L., & Durst, D. (2001).Silent pain: Social isolation of the elderly Chinese in Canada. In I. Chi, N. L. Chappell, & J. Lubben (Eds.), Elderly Chinese in Pacific Rim countries: Social support and integration (pp. 1–15). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Martin Matthews, A. (1987).Support systems of widows in Canada. In H. Z.

Lopata (Ed.),Widows: North America,Vol. 1. (pp. 225–250). Durham, NC:

Duke University Press.

Martin Matthews, A. (1991).Widowhood in later life.Toronto, ON: Butterworths/ Harcourt Brace.

Martin-Matthews, A. (1999).Widowhood: Dominant renditions, changing demography and variable meaning. In S. M. Neysmith (Ed.),Critical issuesfor future social work practice with aging persons(pp. 27–44). New York:

Columbia University Press.

Martin-Matthews, A. (2011).Revisiting‘Widowhood in Later Life’:Changesin patterns and profiles; Advances in research and understanding.Canadian Journal on Aging,30(3), 353–375.

Ontario Seniors' Secretariat (2011). Finances—Old age security pension.

Retrieved from:http://www.seniors.gov.on.ca/en/seniorsguide/finances_3.

php Osypuk, T., Roux, A. V. D., Hadley, C., & Kandula, N. R. (2009).Are immigrant enclaves healthy places to live? The multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.

Social Science & Medicine,69(1), 110–120.

Statistics Canada (2006). Profiles of Ethnic Communities in Canada—The Chinese Community in Canada. Retrieved from:http://www.statcan.gc.

ca/pub/89-621-x/89-621-x2006001-eng.htm Statistics Canada (2008). Ethnic Origin and Visible Minorities. Retrieved from:

http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/rt-td/eth-eng.cfm Tabora, B. L., & Flaskerud, J. H. (1997).Mental health beliefs, practices and knowledge of Chinese American women.Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 18(3), 173–179.

Tang, S. T. (2000).Meanings of dying at home for Chinese patients in Taiwan with terminal cancer.Cancer Nursing,23(5), 367–370.

Turcotte, M., & Schellenberg, G. (2006).A portrait of seniors in Canada.

Statistics Canada catalogue no. 89-519-XIE (Retrieved from:http://epe.

lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/statcan/portrait_of_seniors-e/89-519- XIE2006001.pdf).

van den Hoonaard, D. K. (2001).The widowed self: The older woman's journey through widowhood.Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

van den Hoonaard, D. K. (2010).By himself: The older man's experience of widowhood.Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.

Wilson, B., & Ryan, A. S. (1990).Working with the terminally ill Chinese American. In J. Parry (Ed.),Social work practice with the terminally ill:

A trans-cultural perspective(pp. 145–158). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

Yeo, S. S., Meiser, B., Barlow-Stewart, K., Goldstein, D., Tucker, K., & Eisenbruch, M. (2005).Understanding beliefs of Chinese-Australians about cancer:

The utility of an ethnographic approach.Psycho-Oncology,14(3), 174–186. 518A. Martin-Matthews et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 27 (2013) 507–518Downloaded from ClinicalKey.com at University Of Alberta - Canada Consortium March 06, 2017.