EARLY CHINESE
IMMIGRATION
ETHN 100 Week 13 Session 2b
Questions from Takaki, Ch. 8:
Searching for Gold Mountain
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How does Takaki link the arrival of Chinese immigrants to Manifest
Destiny?
What were the key push and pull factors that led to the immigration?
What types of labor did the Chinese provide?
Why were many Chinese immigrants forced into self-employment? What
were some of these forms of self-employment?
How did the social and economic landscape in the agricultural south
encourage Chinese immigration to that region?
How did the 1854 California Supreme Court decision in People v. Hall
situate Chinese immigrants in the American racial hierarchy?
Describe the cultural, economic, and social situation of Chinese women at
the time of immigration to the United States?
Why did Chinatowns emerge in the United States (California, specifically)?
What were some of the prominent organizations that developed, and
what functions did they serve?
How did the San Francisco Earthquake in 1899 impact Chinese
immigration to the United States?
Immigrant Experiences: Early Chinese
vs. European

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Similarities: Intended to be sojourners (make money
and go back to mother country); mainly men,
primarily poor.
Differences: Regional settlement, race, and the first
immigrant group to be shut out by the US
government.
 Chinese
Diaspora existed when immigrants to the US
began to show in large numbers.
 History
of indentured servitude
 “Coolie trade” from Asian countries to the UK.
 Gold Rush attracted Chinese to “Gold Mountain”
Structure of Chinese American
Community


San Francisco – dai fu (big city) – Cultural, economic
and administrative hub of Chinese America.
Key cultural difference between European and
Chinese immigrants: Churches (European) and
Family (Chinese) as key institutions for organizing
communities, transmitting values, customs and
traditions.
Cultural Characteristics an


Family Associations – initially based on blood ties
(clans) it was adapted by immigrants.
District Associations
Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association – AKA the Six
Chinese Companies or Six Companies
 Origins in Guangdong province (primary region of
immigration)
 Often served as the community’s voice to white America.

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American-born Citizen’s groups

Native Sons of the Golden State/Chinese American Citizens
Alliance
Systematic Discrimination
Direct Referential Racism – discriminatory
changes in policy, law, or ordinance that target a
group without explicitly naming them. Extreme
residential discrimination

 California Foreign Miners Tax
 Municipal ordinances on living conditions, employment,
bodies
 Policies aimed at baring Chinese from land ownership
and employment
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882


Barred immigration of Chinese laborers for 20
years (two, ten-year periods)
Outwitted immigration laws (resistance):
undocumented and documented entry
 Undocumented:
Entered the country (CA) via
Northwestern and southern points of entry.
 Extralegal: Misrepresented their status to enter with
papers.
Chinese American Identity and Foreign
Affairs: World War II

World War II: The social developments of World
War II (Pearl Harbor) affected the status of Chinese
in the US.
 Chinese
were re-imagined by the US dominant culture –
admired for their resistance to the Japanese; hard
working peasants (Pearl S. Buck’s, The Good Earth).
 The US and China become allies after the attack on
Pearl Harbor. This had implications for Chinese
immigration to the US. (FDR removes restrictions)
 Population boom: increased immigration; increased
number of American-born Chinese.
Chinese American Identity and Foreign
Affairs: The Cold War Era

The Cold War
 Image of the Chinese shifts again as WWII shifts to the Cold
War.
 Victory of Communist forces of Mao Zaedong in 1949
 “Ping Pong Diplomacy”
 Chinese American groups are under federal surveillance for
ties to Communist China.

Statehood for Hawaii (1959)
 Racial and ethnic demographics added more representation
for APIs
 Hiram Fong – US Senator
 US-born Chinese increase. Population becomes more
educated
Chinese American Identity and Foreign
Affairs: Global Capitalism

Chinese engagement in the global marketplace
increases significantly under a system of “state
capitalism.”
Next Time
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
Japanese and Filipino Americans
Online Session: Amy Tan