本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛150 years ago, Chinese immigrants came to San Francisco (was called “Gold Mountain” by Chinese back then) from the economically collapsed Qing Empire. Unfortunately in this “freedom and opportunity” land they were not able to pursue their American dreams as freely as those European immigrants: they were forced to be out of gold fields and only allowed to take on some low paid and event danger jobs that very few whites would want to do. However Chinese are diligent and thrifty, they soon prospered and profited. Chinese had contributed considerably to the American’s expansion into the West by building railways, developing farming and fishing industries. By 1870, Chinese counted 25% of the totally workforce in California, a highly visible minority.
But the whites’ tolerance of Chinese labors soon came to an end. Huge wave of anti-Chinese sentiment started to develop among white labor unions during the economic downturn in 1870s; the whites complained the Chinese took away their jobs by willing to work underpaid; union leaders and governors in California yelled out “The Chinese Must Go” and urged all American employers to stop hiring Chinese… local newspapers published comics and reports to publicly humiliate Chinese such as “Chinese are mentally, morally and physically inferior”…
This anti-Chinese sentiment went peak in the “1881 Log Angels Chinatown Massacre” where a group of white workers entered Chinatown in Log Angels to destroy all of the Chinese stores and resident houses and killed 20 Chinese. In 1882, US government passed the infamous “Chinese Exclusive Act” to officially ban Chinese from entering America “…the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities…” This is the first law in US history that officially discriminate a specific race. The “Chinese Exclusive Act” had last for 60 years. It was finally repealed during WWII. Within those 60 years, the Chinese’s population in America had dropped so dramatically that Chinese in America became an invisible minority from a highly visible minority.
Similar situation happened in Canada: The first generations of Chinese immigrants came to Canada from US and China to help Canadian government to build pacific railway, 2/3 of them died during the work. After the railway completed, Canadian government started series of acts to restrict Chinese immigrants from entering the country, such as, gradually increasing the “head tax”, and eventually, passed a “Chinese Immigration Act” in 1925 to completely ban Chinese immigrants. This law was lifted in 1947.
Nowadays, institutional discrimination against Chinese in North America has long gone, but social discrimination still exists and anti-Chinese events still happen from time to time. The impact of “Chinese Exclusive Act” to the society is just too deep and it has influenced generations.
Angel Island is “Ellis Island of the West” where the immigration station was built in 1920. During the “Chinese Exclusive Act” period, all of the Chinese immigrants were detained in the immigration station in the island right after their boats reached San Francisco port. They were imprisoned in the island for weeks, months and even years waiting for the interrogation from the immigration office (sort of like you wait for immigration interview, but the differences are, you wait in a prison-like camp, and the interview was like interrogate a criminal). More than 30% of them were eventually deported back to China.
“we are immigrants, but they treat us as criminal”.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
But the whites’ tolerance of Chinese labors soon came to an end. Huge wave of anti-Chinese sentiment started to develop among white labor unions during the economic downturn in 1870s; the whites complained the Chinese took away their jobs by willing to work underpaid; union leaders and governors in California yelled out “The Chinese Must Go” and urged all American employers to stop hiring Chinese… local newspapers published comics and reports to publicly humiliate Chinese such as “Chinese are mentally, morally and physically inferior”…
This anti-Chinese sentiment went peak in the “1881 Log Angels Chinatown Massacre” where a group of white workers entered Chinatown in Log Angels to destroy all of the Chinese stores and resident houses and killed 20 Chinese. In 1882, US government passed the infamous “Chinese Exclusive Act” to officially ban Chinese from entering America “…the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities…” This is the first law in US history that officially discriminate a specific race. The “Chinese Exclusive Act” had last for 60 years. It was finally repealed during WWII. Within those 60 years, the Chinese’s population in America had dropped so dramatically that Chinese in America became an invisible minority from a highly visible minority.
Similar situation happened in Canada: The first generations of Chinese immigrants came to Canada from US and China to help Canadian government to build pacific railway, 2/3 of them died during the work. After the railway completed, Canadian government started series of acts to restrict Chinese immigrants from entering the country, such as, gradually increasing the “head tax”, and eventually, passed a “Chinese Immigration Act” in 1925 to completely ban Chinese immigrants. This law was lifted in 1947.
Nowadays, institutional discrimination against Chinese in North America has long gone, but social discrimination still exists and anti-Chinese events still happen from time to time. The impact of “Chinese Exclusive Act” to the society is just too deep and it has influenced generations.
Angel Island is “Ellis Island of the West” where the immigration station was built in 1920. During the “Chinese Exclusive Act” period, all of the Chinese immigrants were detained in the immigration station in the island right after their boats reached San Francisco port. They were imprisoned in the island for weeks, months and even years waiting for the interrogation from the immigration office (sort of like you wait for immigration interview, but the differences are, you wait in a prison-like camp, and the interview was like interrogate a criminal). More than 30% of them were eventually deported back to China.
“we are immigrants, but they treat us as criminal”.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net