Chinese America – The Perseverant Underdog Essay

The United States has had tension with Asian immigrants since the first wave of migration in the 1840’s, and in 1882 the United States declared a Chinese Exclusion which was to keep all Chinese from migrating into the United States. For the Chinese already in the U.S this created worry and tension. With the Chinese people no longer being welcome the freedom for the Chinese inside which was already not much was even more condensed. The little equality that they had was taken away and they were excluded, and looked down upon everywhere they went. They had trouble living and socially because of the prejudice they were facing. An example of the Chinese struggle before the exclusion act would be the Chinese Lynching that took place in 1871. In Los Angeles a mob captured men and in this case a 12 year old boy and hung them all at a Spanish hacienda because of the citizens strong discrimination against

In conclusion, Chinese immigrants came to America for gaining money and return to China. This is the main purpose for the most Chinese immigrants. Most of them worked at Railroad Company, so many laborers died after they began working. All

The Chinese Experience records the history of the Chinese in the United States. The three-part documentary shows how the first arrivals from China, their descendants, and recent immigrants have “become American.” It is a story about identity and belonging that is relative to all Americans. The documentary is divided into three programs, each with a focus on a particular time in history. Program 1 describes the first arrivals from China, beginning in the early 1800’s and ending in 1882, the year Congress passed the first Chinese exclusion act. Program 2, which details the years of exclusion and the way they shaped and distorted Chinese American

The first wave begins in the 19th century. There is evidence shows that the first Chinese immigrant in Los Angeles comes from the Northern California because of the Gold Rush and the railroads construction. In the book, The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space, William David Estrada writes, “The rise of the Chinese community of Los Angeles was an outgrowth of larger developments in the United States during the nineteenth century… the Chinese of Los Angeles came to fill an important sector of the economy as entrepreneurs” (p.72.) Estrada also claims that the early work areas that the first Chinese immigrants related. At first, most Chinese work at restaurants, laundries, farms, wholesale stores and casinos. Because of cheap labor, most Chinese can easily find the low-skilled work

One of the first significant pieces of federal legislation aimed at restricting immigration was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese laborers from coming to America. Californians had agitated for the new law, blaming the Chinese, who were willing to work for less, for a decline in wages.The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Those on the West Coast were especially prone to attribute declining wages and economic ills on the despised Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation’s population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.”

When they arrived in America most of the Chinese immigrants moved west. Most of the Chinese immigrants moved west because they wanted to get jobs in rural areas and build homes for their families. A lot of Chinese immigrants got jobs working on building railroads. The Chinese immigrants were very good at this job, because they got paid very low wages, and that affected the pay rates of white Americans, European immigrants, and Russian immigrants. In the 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act stated that Chinese laborers could not enter the country, because chinese immigrants accepted low wages, and also affected the pay rates of others. However Immigrants from Italy and Russia did not have to go through this. They also had an easier time getting jobs because of

Before World-War II, the Chinese immigrants to the U.S had many characteristics. First, the Chinese immigrants mainly came from mainland China, such as the Guangdong province. The Chinese immigrants mainly came from the Guangdong province of China because of the location of Guangdong province. The Guangdong province was close to coastal areas where Guangong people could take the boasts and migrate to America. Also, Guangdong people was far away from the Chinese government's control. Therefore, Chinese immigrants could easily migrated from the Guangdong province of China to America. Second, most of the Chinese immigrants were poor and came from rural areas in China. They migrated to America because they suffered from poor harvests and

“Push factors like Chinese facing military and political chaos, harsh economic conditions, collapsing of the feudal system, a lack of business spirit due to the ineffectiveness of trade regulations, high taxes, lack of private investments and the dream of prosperity in America lcontributed to Chinese immigration. From 1840-1900, a significant influx of Chinese immigrants came to Hawaii and United States. However, they immigrated to other countries, including Australia, Canada, Africa, South

The motivations for the Chinese to come to the United States are similar to most immigrants. These motivations are what most people call "The American Dream." These could be looking for a better life, having a better job, running away from political issues. However, for Chinese these American dreams were not too easy to achieve at first compared to other immigrants. Chinese suffered a lot more obstacles and discriminations because they are relatively small and easy to be targeted on. Even more the legal system passed a law in 1963 forbidding Chinese to testify against white men in court. This anti-Chinese action was most critical in the Pacific Coast; as a result, it caused the dispersion of Chinese that had settled in California to the

The Chinese Exclusion Act was established in 1882, in which the first time United States prevent a group of immigrants with nationality (Lee 4), marked United States’ from welcoming nation to an enclosed and discriminative nation, has monumental impact on each Chinese immigrants and culture of the entire American Chinese community (6). The poor conditions and lack of opportunities in the 19th century China and the Chinese’s hope of accumulating wealth to support their families in China fostered the huge influx of Chinese immigrants to United States. The discovery of gold in California also fuelled many Chinese’s dream of fast wealth (112). Due to the need for mass labour stemming from industrialization and high productivity of Chinese labours, employers would enthusiastically hire Chinese labour, which in turn sparked the increasing competition with the local workers and a growing anti-Chinese sentiment (114).

After the first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States in the early 1840s during the California Gold Rush, many Chinese people continued to travel across the Pacific, escaping poor conditions in China with hopes and ambitions for a better life in America. Many more Chinese immigrants began arriving into the 1860s on the Pacific coast for work in other areas such as the railroad industry. The immigrants noticed an increasing demand for their labor because of their readiness to work for low wages. Many of those who arrived did not plan to stay long, and therefore there was no push for their naturalization. The immigrants left a country with thousands of years of a “decaying feudal system,” corruption, a growing

The government targeted the Asian Americans as a threat. As Takaki asserted, “Unlike European immigrants, Asians were also victimized by the institutionalized racial discrimination of public policies.” These policies include the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the National Origins Act of 1924. The social image of America can clearly be seen as only “whites” when the government institute policies to encourage European women to arrive to America so the immigrants can form families, while Asian women were barred the entry to prevent families to form

In the mid 19th century the Chinese began to migrate to the United States in look for new opportunities. The news of gold had just spread and they made their way over to the mines in hope of striking gold. The idea of the American Dream, which was spreading around America during that time, interested them. It provided a new life, and new opportunities. Some of their purposes in America were to make a living and stay, while others were to work and help their families back home.

China is one of the oldest countries in the world. Most of the Chinese immigrants were motivated to come to America due to the California gold rush .They sold many of items in order to afford a ticket to the New World, this included livestock, and property. The immigrants started arriving around 1850. Many of the Chinese did not have intentions of staying in America, those people were called sojourners (Huot 221). The Chinese were not accepted throughout the nation. One of the most popular reasons for rejection was because

In the 19th century, many people thought that China could not be assimilated and therefore unacceptable. Therefore, they were eventually excluded from the United States in 1882 (Zong & Batalova, 2017). According to the theory of symbolic interactionism, the basic motive behind China's immigration operations is to work. Although they play an indispensable role in the development of the western United States, the Chinese have suffered serious exploitation. They are discriminated against in pay and are forced to work in bad circumstances. White workers regard them as economic competitors and racial underdogs, thereby stimulating the adoption of discriminatory laws and implementing extensive violence against the Chinese (Zong & Batalova, 2017). This has brought sadness and unacceptable experience to Chinese immigrants at that time. Under the racist slogan, "The Chinese must go!" There has been an anti-China campaign. This hostility has prevented the Chinese from becoming Americans. It forced them to flee to Chinatown, where they found security and support. In these slums, they managed to overcome the meager existence, but they were isolated from other people and could not be integrated into mainstream society, even though it may be quite difficult. This shows that white society at that time led to social change for the sake of resource competition, that is, the theory of social conflict. Especially in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, under the influence of structural functionalism, the U.S. economy tended toward workers with valuable skills (Zong & Batalova, 2017). Therefore, Chinese immigrants were initially welcomed. They became an important part of the labor force that laid the foundation for the economic development of the western United States. Chinese people can be found throughout the region,