Racist Myths And Stereotypes About Chinese Workers

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

Pun Chi said in his appeal to congress, “... we came here presuming that our arrival would be hailed with cordiality and favor… we Chinese are viewed like… enemies….” He then continues further in his appeal multiple injustices that have been happening to Chinese immigrants, that include Chinese not being allowed to bring action or testify against white men, humiliation of the Chinese, and others. Men went over to China and painted such a beautiful picture of America, but when the immigrants arrived they were treated with such disrespect and so cruelly that it is unjustifiable. One can argue that the men who journeyed to foreign

In order to better understand the criticism against these Chinese writers, we must first understand what is meant by orientalist thinking or orientalism for that matter. One of the authorities on the subject, Edward Said explains the term "Orientalism" and tackles the question of East and

The theme of race relations is also significant in Ambrose’s book. For instance, the book indicates incidences of poor race relation between the Irish and the Chinese immigrants. They often reacted to each other with hostility. For examples, he describes that the Irish scorned the Chinese immigrants and sometimes attacked them with pick handles. They also frequently ambushed the Chinese laborers with heavy powder that badly injured the Chinese. The Chinese also fought back by setting off unexpected explosion that buried some Irishmen (Ambrose 327). This reflected the entrenched racism between the two groups.

He goes on to explain that more than half of the Chinese people would come to America if they were allowed to bring wives. To me this document is telling the readers that American’s did not respect the Chinese enough to see their full potential. The Chinese were truly hard workers but they got paid less than most other workers. This document also includes an insight to what it was like to have to live with the Exclusion Act and not be able to have their wives come to American from China. It also includes preventing the Chinese men from marrying an American woman.

As the recession hit, it became attractive to hire Chinese immigrants because they were willing to work for less while whites were not. The presence of Chinese labor became an insecurity for whites as it reminded them that they could easily be replaced as assumptions about white superiority and non-white inferiority came to influence views on work and immigration. As the economy worsened and the panic of 1857 began, racist anti-Chinese rhetoric emerged and spread among labor organizers and “Chinese were accused of being dangerous, deceitful and vicious, criminal, cowardly and inferior from a mental and moral point of view.” White labor organizers used this rhetoric to portray Chinese immigrants as dangerous and as unchristian in ways in

The Gold Rush brought many people from around the world to America, including China. In the year 1852, California’s governor, John Bigler, suggested restricting Chinese immigration. In a public letter, Norman Assing, a prominent San Francisco merchant, restaurant owner, and community leader opposed Bigler’s idea. The excerpt from the letter reads, “The effect of your late message has been… to prejudice the public mind against my people, to enable those who await the opportunity to hurt them down, and rob them of the rewards of their toil… ” Assing sees Bigler’s idea as a method of turning other people against the Chinese, but truly the idea of restricting immigration from China is the part that shows social inequalities.

By using the word “Chinese” a numerous amount of times, she “shines bad light” on it. In other words, the emphasis of the word “Chinese” gives a negative feel to the whole concept of Chinese culture. “When I found out that my parents had invited the minister iver for Christmas eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?” (paragraph 2) Tan is really embarrassed and really cares about what Robert will think about her house, her food, and her family. Theses three things all have one thing in common, which is, the Chinese culture.

In 1879 an anti-Chinese play was created by Henry Grimm; the point of the document was the problem of Chinese people taking over American jobs, this was written in San Francisco, CA. In 1879 there was an anti-Chinese sentiment, the railroad was completed, and a high number act of violence against the Chinese. The document targets the government figures and the America public. This document has a bias towards an argument against Chinese and the

When thousands of Chinese migrated to California after the gold rush the presence caused concern and debate from other Californians. This discussion, popularly called the “Chinese Question,” featured in many of the contemporary accounts of the time. In the American Memory Project’s “California: As I Saw It” online collection, which preserves books written in California from 1849-1900, this topic is debated, especially in conjunction with the Chinese Exclusion Act. The nine authors selected offer varying analyses on Chinese discrimination and this culminating act. Some give racist explanations, but the majority point towards the perceived economic competition between

The UPCD’s decision of contracting Beckwith and Quinn helped, but not entirely, create a cultural clash between the white and Chinese miners. The contractor company was given the important role providing housing to the hired Chinese workers (Wolff 33). The first shelters were subsequently built on the opposite side of the railroad tracks, facing the white town. However, the expansion what would later become Chinatown was by choice from both the Chinese and whites, who did little to close the physical separation. Thus, White and Chinese miners rarely interacted outside of work (Storti 83). This lack of cultural exposure likely generated more unrest, making it difficult for the two ethnicities to empathize with each other and communicate differences. White miners racial prejudice against the Chinese, a national phenomenon, likely inflamed (Laurie

In the mid 19th century, America was viewed as a hotspot for freedom and wealth. When the noise of the gold rush flooded the world, immigrants started to see America more appetizing than ever. The Chinese saw America as a place to have a fresh start and as a place of refuge because of it’s generosity, so they immigrated to the west in great numbers. There was a large Chinese population in Virginia and all along the Pacific coast. Writers Mark Twain and Maxine Hong Kingston both wrote in great detail about the Chinese Immigrants. They went into detail about the immigrants and how they came over and why. Although Twain and Kingston both wrote about the immigrants in a positive light, Twain was sympathetic of the immigrants and Kingston focused more on their image and her ancestors.

Lowe makes note that throughout history, people native of the large Asian countries such as the China, Japanese, Korean, (Asian) Indian, have long played “crucial roles in the building and the sustaining of America”. And for anyone to challenge that statement would be a fool. For instance, a great deal of Hawaii’s plantation immigrant workers was of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent. But often, their efforts have been left unnoticed, left

The only existing element that was protecting their survival and businesses was the Canadian law. Under the protection of the law, by paying their debts to the country, they were successful in establishing an honest business and commenced the construction of the first Chinatown in Alberta. However, the only element that prevented Chinese Canadians to overpopulate and flourish the Canadian economy further was the Chinese Exclusion Act. This had sparked one of the biggest impacts of Chinese Canadians, which was towards the Canadian law. After adequate input from prominent Chinese Canadian pioneers and landowners, the government and city construction planners had finally allowed the construction of another Chinatown to proceed. This aggravated an outrage across surrounding white communities, provoking undemocratic proposals to pass laws such as forcing all Chinese community members to be photographed and fingerprinted for identification. Although some bills failed to pass, one that marked a historical time period in 1923 was the Chinese Exclusion Act, causing thousands of infuriated Chinese Canadians to send telegrams to the Chinese Minister in London and generals in Canada in behalf of their disapproval. Eventually the campaign consequenced in a failure to propose a wrecking amendment, impacting the lives of many Chinese men without families in the

Chinese immigrants increased their population when the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built around 1881-1885. Many cheap Chinese laborers were brought in, however, the Chinese were being shown no gratitude and were declared harsh rules to make sure Canada stayed a white man’s country. The government showed no respect and were paid as little as a dollar a day. The government was discriminating against the Chinese. They were soon to be a threat because they did not assimilate and the government legalized discrimination in 1885.