This study examines the language experiences of two distinct Chinese immigrant groups in the U.S.: a Mandarin-speaking group and a Fujianese-speaking group across two generations. The different language trajectories of the parents' generation, along with their social class and different settlement patterns in the U.S., shaped the second-generation children's different perceptions towards their heritage language and English. Because of these underlying sociocultural forces and the different power relations between the heritage language and English in U.S. society, the maintenance of the heritage language is kept at a minimum level of communication for the Fujianese children, but is resisted by the Mandarin children. (Contains 3 footnotes and 2 tables.)