Asian American Identity Transformation:
A Brief History of Chinese, Japanese
and Korean Immigrants
Patricia Seo
Department of Sociology
Stanford University
Questions:
What were the immigration experiences of
Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans who first
came to the United States?
 How has the American experience
transformed Asian identity?
 What motivates solidarity between
different groups from East Asia?

 Solidarity
 cooperation and community
Why immigrate?

Voluntary Immigration

Push Factors






Pull Factors





Political or Religious persecution
Refugees
War
Economic
Environmental
Work
Family
Education
Quality of Life
Involuntary Immigration

Many African Americans in the U.S. are descendants of forced
immigrants (slaves)
Chinese Immigration Experience
Chinese Immigration Experience
 Push

Many were escaping intense conflict in China:
 British Opium Wars (1839-42 and 1856-60)
 Peasant rebellions (i.e. Red Turban Rebellion, 1854-64)
 Bloody wars between the Punti (local people) and the
Hakkas (guest people)
 Pull

Factors
Cheap labor and docile work force:


Factors
“They have to work all the time – and no regard is paid to
their complaints for food. . .Slavery is nothing compared
to it.” William Hooper, first person to establish a sugar
plantation on the island of Hawaii.
Hopes for economic opportunities:

1860s, in China a man might earn $3-5/month while in
America he could make $30/month working for the
railroad companies.
Chinese Immigration Experience
White laborers rose up against the
Chinese with racism and violence.
 In response, the United States enacted the
Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.
Severely limited the number of
immigrants from China
From 1910-1940, Angel Island was used
to detain those who were trying to come
the U.S. from China.

Japanese Immigration Experience
Japanese Immigration Experience
 Push

Economic factors:
 1868 Meiji Restoration and new taxes
 During the 1880s, over 300,000 farmers lost their land
because they couldn’t pay the new tax.
 Many farmers and poor Japanese looked to migrate to
Hawaii for better economic opportunities (the emigration
“netsu” – fever).
 Pull

Factors
Factors
Economic opportunities: “money grows on
trees”
Higher wages - $1/day (2 yen) vs. .66 yen/day (carpenter)
 After the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese laborers
were restricted to enter the country. Japanese were a
replacement for the labor shortage.

Japanese Immigration Experience

Discrimination in America:
 1906: Law segregates in schools
 1913: Denial of right to own land to non-citizens

aimed at Japanese farmers
 1924:
Immigration Act denies entry to all Asians
 1942: Japanese Internment





“all persons of Japanese ancestry” are given 2-5 days notice
to dispose of their homes and property and report to the
“camps”
120,000 Japanese Americans detained in the camps
80,000 were U.S. citizens
40,000 were younger than 19 years of age
$400,000,000 worth of Japanese property lost
Japanese Immigration Experience
Japanese Immigration Experience

Restitution (payback) for Internment
 1987:
House of Representatives votes (243
vs. 141) to make an official apology to
Japanese Americans
 1988: U.S. Senate votes (69%) to support
redress for Japanese Americans
 1989 President George Bush signs into law
an entitlement program that pays
$20,000/person to each survivor of the camps.
Japanese Immigration Experience
Korean Immigration Experience
Korean Immigration Experience
Number of Immigrants
Number of Korean Immigrants
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1903-05
1910-24
Tim e Period
1951-64
Korean Immigration Experience
 Push


Economic poverty in Korea
Political factors
 Japan colonizes Korea in 1910.
 Many Koreans came to the U.S. to flee Japanese persecution.
 Many Korean immigrants in early 1900s were patriots trying to
find a way to fight for Korean independence from Japanese
colonial rule.
 Pull


Factors
Factors
Like the Japanese and Chinese, Koreans were drawn by economic
opportunities
American plantation owners wanted Koreans as strike breakers
against an increasingly organizing Japanese labor force.
Transformation of Asian Identity

Importance of the 1965 Immigration Act
 The
1965 Immigration Act dramatically
changed the criteria (or categories) for
immigration applications.
Up to 20,000/country were allowed entry per year.
 National origin was no longer used to influence
immigration chances.
 Because Asian immigration was severely restricted
before 1965, this new act helped many Asian
groups enter America.

Number of Immigrants
Annual Number of Immigrants
25000
20000
1961-1965
15000
1966-1968
10000
1969-1972
5000
0
China and Hong
Kong
Japan
Origin
Korea
Transformation of Asian Identity

Melting Pot (Assimilation)
 Discard
old identity
 Adopt American culture, tastes and habits
 No longer feel ethnic or close to immigrant
identity

Salad Bowl (Pluralism)
“old” culture and identities
 Share common goals of the nation
 Maintain
Transformation of Asian Identity

Stereotypes of Asian Americans
 Asian
Males portrayed in U.S. media
Everybody knows kung-fu
 Everybody is good at math
 Sexually harmless

 Asian
Females portrayed in U.S. media
Submissive and quiet (China Doll) vs.
 The “dragon lady”
 Sexually exotic and desirable

Transformation of Asian Identity

Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner 1979)
 Multiple Social Identities
 Example: ethnic, gender, class, student, son,
daughter, etc. . .
 Identities depend on the Context or Situation
 In-Group vs. Out-Group
 In-Group identities are formed in reaction to an
Out-Group

Asian American Identity is formed in reaction to the
experiences Asians face in the U.S.
Solidarity among Asian Americans
 Vincent




Chin case (1982)
Chinese American laborer murdered by laborers 5 days before his
wedding.
Economically motivated – laborers blamed Chin for “taking away
their jobs” – they thought he was Japanese
Murderers only received 3 years of jail time – very little for the crime
committed.
Became a figure of the Asian American movement and brought
together various different Asian groups to work together.
 LA Riots



(1992)
After policemen were acquitted for the beating of Rodney King,
many people were upset and began rioting in LA.
Korea Town was the main target of rioting and vandalism.
Mobilization of Korean War Veterans – because police were not
stopping the rioters in Korea Town (were protecting more affluent
areas like West LA)
Conclusion
All face discrimination in America
 Identity is transformed due to context:

 Melting
Pot
 Salad Bowl

Identity is transformed due to situation:
 Vincent
Chen
 L.A. Riots