Chinese Workers In China

The main reason Chinese immigrants came to America after Civil War was for work. As a

Both migrated towards cities in order to find work. However, even once they found work they received low wages and endured dangerous working conditions. Child labor was also common as displayed in document C where a child working in a sweatshop. Parsons stated “can you not see that it is the INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM and not the “boss” which must be changed?”. She argued that it was not industrialization but corruption and the actions of the bosses that created this situation consisting of unfair treatment of workers (To Tramps – the unemployed, the disinherited and miserable, 1884). In addition, many were discriminated against even in society. The Chinese Exclusion Act demonstrates the racism that still existed in American society during this time period. It stated, “the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby suspended (United States At Large).” At first immigrants were needed to fuel industrialization, but once the United States believed there were enough they limited their immigration and unfairly excluded the

Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos were all brought in to work, but their low standard of living and attempts to organize caused race riots by the white labor force and subsequent removal of foreign workers from the agricultural industry. The need for cheap labor therefore remained. To fill this void, many Mexican workers were brought in;so many that the white worker could not even live in southern California anymore because the wages were so low. Eventually the Mexican worker population grew so massive that they too began to organize, causing the growers to take action against them with "vigilante terrorism and savagery unbelievable in a civilized state" (pg 54). Eventually Mexican labor was withdrawn as well.

In 1848, California struck gold at Sutter's Mill, California. Chinese immigrants now had yet another incentive to go west in search of their fortune. For the most part, these immigrants were young male peasants who came in

This lithograph depicts a common camp scene at the mines in California. The Gold Rush drew thousands of Chinese workers to America. Besides fleeing from poverty and bad political situations in their home country, the one common goal was to reach economic wealth. But as much as they were searching for a better life, most of the Chinese immigrants did not intend to stay in the country permanently (Daniels 11).

Immigration was a crucial aspect of the Gilded Age although it brought many issues to the USA. The large influx of Chinese brought out America’s racist views and caused the economy to be affected negatively. To begin with in the California gold rush, the large number of Chinese were blamed for taking all the gold and they were forcefully relocated to the city to work labor jobs. This large growth of laborers caused businesses to lower their average wages and non-immigrant Americans were unable to find jobs. Ones that did already have jobs were angered by the lower wages. Since the economy in the 1870s was in decline, Anti-Chinese groups, such as the Supreme Order of Caucasians, formed to protest against Chinese immigrants all across USA. Labor

American citizens despised the Chinese workers because they worked very hard and followed instructions for very little pay, as stated in a speech given by a German immigrant on the Chinese exclusion act he said “It is almost impossible for a poor white servant girl to find employment in a white family. No! The mistress of the house wants a Chinaman. Why? He is very handy. She can say, ‘John Chinaman, do this’, and John does it, and John never says a word”. The white immigrants assumed that the Chinese were doing this to spite them and steal the jobs the white immigrants and American citizens thought they were entitled to. Another example of Americans and white immigrants accusing the Chinese of taking

Once the Chang family moved into Los Angeles and had their herbalist shop and asparagus farm under way, they realized the need for more laborers. In order to support their wives and kids with groceries, clothing, and education, the Chang’s needed to find the cheapest labor possible while still establishing the farm as a business that could support their income. The cheapest laborers were relatives, and they were for the most part thankful to come and work for Yitang, even if it was not their ideal working situation. One frustration Sam expressed in the book that may correlate to the continuing poor treatment and vision of the Chinese, is that within the Chinese workforce, most hard-working laborers in the railroad, farming, mining, and

The late 19th century marked a new chapter in American Capitalism. Hawaii and California were both looking for cheap laborers to fuel their new system at this time, and American planters found their answer in Chinese and Japanese immigrants. Even though Chinese and Japanese immigrants both flocked to America, the two countries had different reasons for leaving their homes. American laborers, on the other hand, were appalled by the surplus of laborers and demanded the government to monitor these Asian immigrants. While capitalism pulled Chinese and Japanese people in search of wealth to America, the American government held a strong grip on those that were allowed into the country.

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

Immigrants from China arrived in the West looking for jobs in the building of railroads.

“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

In the early 1800’s industrialization of the northeast and other national endeavors such as railroads and road building required much manual labor. This vast manual labor job market opened the flood gates into the United States for immigrants seeking prosperity and a better life for themselves and their families. By the mid 1800’s many Chinese immigrants had made the voyage to the U.S. and sought work mainly in the factories of the prosperous northeast as well as the California gold mines. Culturally the Chinese people’s actions are motivated by the concept of bringing honor and respect to the family as a whole, and less concerned about individual successes or prestige, which resulted in Chinese immigrant’s willingness to do high quality work for long hours for very little pay. This was beneficial to the employer and company, but displaced many other immigrant workers which caused racial tensions. Chinese immigrants were accustomed to living in tight quarters, working together as families or community units and making do with what was available. These qualities assisted in the development of China Towns, housing and cultural centers for the Chinese immigrant population, near or in the large cities where their populations were greatest such as New York and San Francisco as. Many Americans viewed these China Towns as unsanitary and unhealthy brothels where prostitution and smoking opium was commonplace.

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