IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA Unique factors 1 1st group to pass an immigration law against 2 Only group to pass a law only about them Chinese Exclusion Act 3 Unassimilate able will never be considered white Have changed drastically over the years we once viewed them as violent barbarians 800 million people at this time no problems with overpopulation until 1800 Views of Chinese Americans China Advanced Nation o Economically o Technologically Cosmopolitan Chinese in China Divisions within China o Naturally divided o China is open to the West free market Rivers mountains deserts Divided into provinces o Cultural divisions Regions Very different ways of life Differences o Age o Individualism Surname The Chinese Family o Patriarchy o Clans America loves the youth not the elderly However in China it is the opposite The older you are the better you are The eldest male runs the family Not the best or the youngest In America me is the most important thing In China there is no such thing only family When Chinese introduce themselves they say their last name first because only their last name is important Family is 1 Government and laws are 2 i e even though killing is illegal you should kill for your family Family is male dominated Women are not as important like Scots Irish very large family Live in compounds with all of your extended family Chooses who you marry if you immigrate or not what profession o Eldest Male you go into Guadong or Canton Province o holds Hong Kong today City o Toishan Taishan The vast majority came from this city Right next to the Pacific Ocean Are merchants who own businesses and trade goods with other nations via ports fishermen sailors etc Are not agricultural people do urban work Fireworks explosives one of their biggest exports Immigration to the United States Push Factors o Government o Qing Dynasty pronounced Ching Eldest members take control of divided regions and ignore emperors control Emperor takes control of army who taxpayers are funding and raises taxes to pay for the army that is headed to kill the people Eldest males refuse to do this o Taipei and Boxer Rebellions o Overpopulation o Imperialism European nations tried to take over China live there and take over the economy but do not intermarry mingle with the people Opium Wars Opium the reason for invasion Europeans came in and took over the majority of the jobs creating an unemployment problem for the Chinese Europeans try to take over their culture the youth of China want to have the freedom that youth in Europe do to do what they want and change Did better in US than in China Chinese that immigrated to the US and left China retained their culture better than if they would have stayed in China Financially they made more money in the US than they ever could in China o Weather Tsunami o War and Rebellion in Asia Pull Factors for the Chinese 1st Gold All their main crops are destroyed by flood drought Toshon merchant coast line is hit twice by tsunami destroying all the product stored there Most Chinese do not come to America however but other regions o Gum Saan Gold Mountain Later Work o A lot of jobs little competition for Chinese First Impressions Stereotypes of the Californian WASPs and Chinese Yosemite Sam Californian WASPs gold miners cowboys single males there for both gold and property Put aside family goals for later Appears rugged and unclean killing and preparing his food by himself Is protestant but does not go to church there are no churches in the West On average 5 8 hefty and muscular healthy Chang with Queue long braid Chinese wearing silk pajamas white silk stockings and colorful silk slippers No facial hair they do not grow any Average height 4 8 They look like girls to Americans Not Christians worship Buddha in the temple by lighting incense Can usually speak English but cannot pronounce it well Believe in reincarnation Eat tofu and rice with chopsticks eat very little meat fish do not eat cow Chopsticks look like women s knitting needles to WASPs Chinese Immigration to the United States Money o 3 6 month boat ride and food is very expensive to immigrate o They are not poor like the Irish they have a little money Return Migration The Chinese do not stay here Once push factors go away they will return They are only here because their eldest male told them to They have no intention of staying so they don t remotely bother to assimilate The plan is to stay about 30 years The typical Chinese immigrant returns every 5 years When they return they are married off and have children return back to America o Bachelor Society Hardly any women migrate most are males The men who migrate are not with their families Numbers o 300 000 by 1882 These numbers are good in that they are few o 1 10 of CA total population However they all locate together in a small populated area and this is bad Location o Ethnic Enclave o Chinatown San Francisco CA Work Coolies Hard Labor They will work for the least amount of money no one can compete with them o Gold Miners Chinese are not allowed to own land Foreign Miners Tax 1852 3 out of the 6 they make a month 50 tax Miners start to believe that the Chinese are stealing gold nuggets Cavity searches White prices for gold are 50 higher than Chinese because markets assume if Chinese are selling gold they must have stolen it o Domestics Feminine Jobs Making food for gold miners tailoring clothes washing clothes Chinese do not live in the WASPs homes because the WASPs don t have homes They do their work out on the street o Businesses Instead of delivering food they open a restaurant However they can t own businesses alone because they go home for two years back to China every 5 years To solve this problem they partner with many Chinese so there is always someone in the West WASPs allow this to happen because at the end of the day they need someone to provide these services o Fishermen Fish is not a profitable venture for WASPs most WASPs do not eat fish This helps preserve the Chinese culture by providing fish so they don t have to adopt a more Western diet o Transcontinental Railroad Chinese do not do labor intensive work because they are so skinny and not strong enough Lighters They do what they have skill in explosives The railroad must go through the mountain they needed people who had skill to blow through the mountain They were lighters who lit the fuse very close to the actual explosion extremely dangerous mountain could collapse on them could die in the explosion
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