Paying the Price: The Adventures of Eddie Fung 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

With riots and protests to his previous veto of the bill, President Chester Arthur signed “An Act to Execute Certain Treaty Stipulations Relating to the Chinese” into law.” Nicknamed the Chinese Exclusion Act, it was one of the first Federal laws that discriminated against immigrants by their ethnicity. It remained law for over sixty years before Congress repealed it in 1943 to help improve Chinese morale against Japan. While originally intending to stay law for only ten years, it was renewed many times. In 1892, it was renewed as The Geary Act and in 1902 it was made permanent; requiring that Chinese immigrants carry with them there certificate of residence.The hostility against Chinese immigrants had been going on for decades prior to the Exclusion Act, going as far back as the end of the California Gold Rush. While Chinese immigrants were often discriminated it was at a local, not federal level. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the Gilded era’s worst policy because it negatively helped redefine the US federal government's stance on immigrants, had many people openly opposing it, and the arguments for the Act were mostly untrue.

Besides, in congress debates, people talked about racism and discriminatory prejudice against Chinese and African American. One senator said this, “the Caucasian race has a right, considering its superiority of intellectual force and mental vigor, to look down upon every other branch of the human family…we are the superior race today.” The Chinese Exclusion Act began being harsher and harsher. Chinese immigrants who have right to return were also forced to go back to China in 1889 by the Scott Act. Later on, other Asians were also prohibited from entering the United States. This is the first law of prohibition of race-based restrictions. After 1882, Chinese visitors who want admission to America had to take strict screening process so that they could prove that they met the requirements for entering. In 1892, the Geary Act was enacted. The Act has three requirements. One is to extend the ban on Chinese immigrants for ten years. Two is to create a presumption that persons of Chinese descent were residing in the United States unlawfully. Three is a requirement for labor to acquire a certificate confirming their legal status.

This chapter describes the story a Vietnamese boy Lac Su. His father was a Chinese and now his family is settled in America. Lac Su from the chapter seems to be an extremely sensitive, timid and scared kid who is finding difficulty in settling in such a different culture. This chapter is divided into two parts. The first one describes a horrible situation for the kid when he has to stay alone in the house and take care of his sister as his mother has left the house without telling any reason. Next morning he receives a call from his mother when she informs him about the reason that his father is hospitalized as he was beaten up and robbed by some Mexican thugs.

During this time the Chinese Exclusion Act was in place, forbidding the entrance of Chinese immigrants into the United States.

The Chinese Exclusion act banned all Chinese people moving to America. Chinese people emigrated to California in 1848 during the California Gold Rush. Massive amounts of Chinese people moved to the west Coast to make money and return home to the Qing Empire. They were mainly drawn to the west coast as a way to prosper economically. Many were discriminated against and given low wages, and had poor

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

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.”

Along with the Chinese, other groups were also interrogated; Japanese picture brides were women who were engaged with men through their sending of photographs. The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882 which forbid immigration of the Chinese particularly, except of those with an American citizen parent. However, the earthquake and fire in 1906 caused many documents to burn. This allowed individuals, referred to as “paper sons and daughters,” to falsely claim that they had a parent in the United States.

Besides the Page Law, the Chinese exclusion act of 1882 affected the characteristics of Chinese immigrants the most. In 1882, Chinese people were excluded because they became a threat to American society. Under the Chinese exclusion act, the number of Chinese was decreased and the bachelor society was formed. The bachelor society was a reaction to the Chinese exclusion act and a shelter for Chinese people to live in. A great example of bachelor society is Chinatown. Because of the influence of the Chinese exclusion act of 1882, Chinese immigrants concentrated in Chinatown and had special characteristics. In Chinatown, the first characteristic of the Chinese immigrants were mostly men because Chinese women were excluded. Besides, most Chinese immigrants formed split households in Chinatown because the Chinese exclusion act prohibited the Chinese family unification and the interracial marriage between White and Chinese.

Chinese Exclusion Act was a law that passed by Congress on May 6 of 1882, that halted the immigration of the Chinese laborers for a span of 10 years and denied neutralization to the existing Chinese in the United States. Following an economic crisis in the late 19th century that left many without jobs and slowed down the expansion of the Western States, many Chinese immigrants laborers were blamed for the falling of wages and lack of employment opportunities. The Chinese laborer faced violence, social isolation, and discriminatory laws that was included in the passage of the exclusion act. Although the act had little effect on the U.S’s economy beyond the Chinese community, it set a lasting effect for immigration policy, it was the first U.S law the refusal to admit members of a specific ethnic group or nationality. Since Chinese immigration was helping the U.S’s economy bloom. Why the sudden stop of only one ethnic group coming to the U.S? What social, economic, and political caused the Chinese Exclusion Act?

Before the war, Chinese Americans were known as non-citizen immigrants who aren’t allow to go back to visit China. The male immigrants can’t to bring their wives over from China and they weren't allowed to marry whites legally. In fact any white American woman that married a non-citizen Chinese man automatically lost her citizenship under US law. This left Chinese communities across the United States empty of children, filled with aging bachelors, and inexorably dying away. Ironically the renewal of the Chinese American community came about because of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 that destroyed immigration and birth records across the city. The US Supreme Court in Wong Kim Ark v. United States in 1898 had affirmed citizenship

In the late 1800s, America passed a fierce act due to the rising tension between the Chinese immigrants and whites. Chinese immigrants were troubled with biased laws and stereotyping. The Chinese Exclusion Act was one of these law. It... The immigrants were stereotyped as barbarians, anti-christian, anti-white, or as slaves. They were called heathens, racial slurs, and much worse; and the Chinese were seen as idolaters, the lowest, and the vilest. Some may argue they were taking over jobs because of how they were willing to work for less. But ultimately, the most influential factor in why Americans passed the Chinese Exclusion Act was racial prejudice toward the Chinese.

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

Jack’s predicament with finding himself being stuck between his original lifestyle and new desire to fit in was cleverly established in the story, drawing my sympathy, as I have also personally experienced this struggle. In the middle of the story when Jack began to realize that his Chinese life was different from others’, he narrated, “Mom learned to cook American style. I played video games and studied French” (4). These succinct sentences stood out, as the surrounding