Villarreal 1 Madison Villarreal Whipple AP US History 2/5/2013 Chinese Immigration to America: 1850-1920 In 1851, twenty-five thousand Chinese immigrated

into California for economic opportunity and political freedom, resultantly altering the landscape of America.. (The Chinese) A majority of the immigrants were single men from the Canton Province in China, which was suffering at the time due to the Taiping Rebellion overwhelming the country. (Chinese Immigration to California) In addition to their desire to escape civil war against the Qing Dynasty and achieve the political freedom they had been deprived of, the Chinese immigrants were lured to America by the California Gold Rush of 1849, even giving the United States the nickname of gold mountain. (American Memory) There were abundant opportunities in not only mining gold, but mining other natural resources, such as coal. Other economic opportunities that drove the Chinese to America were the construction of the 1st continental railroad, of which 90% of the workers were of Chinese decent, and farming.(The Chinese) The Burlingame treaty, signed by the Unites states and China in 1868 stated that immigration between the two countries was permitted, however the American reaction to the Chinese immigrants would suggest otherwise.(Chew) Chinese immigrants worked for less pay then Americans, becoming a threat to American-born employment because the immigrants were cheap labor, which increased tension between the two groups. An organization entitled Six Companies protected the Chinese immigrants, but could not shield them from the enmity of working Americans.

Villarreal 2 (The Chinese) Americans claimed that the Chinese immigrants were taking their jobs, and sending the money they made back home, therefore hurting the American economy. In addition, they accused the immigrants of slave trade and of working less efficiently than American laborers.(The Chinese) In 1882, the Chinese Expulsion Act was passed stating that Chinese immigration into the United States would not be allowed for ten years. Six years later, the Scott Act prohibited Chinese laborers who had temporarily left the United States to not be allowed back into the country. The American people continued to oppress the Chinese immigrants in 1892 with the passing of the Geary Law, which extended the Chinese Exclusion Act for ten more years. The law also required the immigrants to register themselves and carry around residency certificates. The Chinese immigrants were very poorly welcomed by the Americans and did not achieve their dreams of equality and freedom they had come to gold mountain for. (Chinese Immigration) The hostility towards the Chinese immigrants put them in a position to release their frustration through artistic expression, as did many of the immigrant writers through persuasive writing, songs and poems. Ng Poon Chew was an influential author of many persuasive pieces that exercised pathos, ethos and specifically logos to prove the Chinese worthiness.(Chew) In Ng Poon Chews newspaper, motifs of facing and overcoming racism, as well as other challenges including assimilating into white culture, were strung throughout articles describing the oppressive treatment of the Chinese. Similar motifs appear in the ballads written during the turn of the century, often written in folk dialect so women and children could comprehend the meanings and obtain advice from the ballads. There often were no rhymes in song, rather the rhymes fit a common way of speaking, in order to appeal to a broader audience.(The Chinese) The Golden Gate Poetry Club

Villarreal 3 showed mastery of the very popular immigrant writing: poetry. The poetry of the time period was often also written without set style, rhymes or lines and had the purpose to amuse. (The Chinese) Although some immigrants did have pleasant experiences in their new home, most wrote of their challenges of being accepted, and in some cases not even being allowed to enter the country as restrictions continued to constrain the little freedom the Chinese immigrants had. Angel Island in San Francisco Bay detained many Chinese attempting to enter the country. (Poetic Waves) On the walls of the wooden buildings of Angel Island are several engraved poems of the pain and sorrow the unfortunate immigrants experienced. (Angel Island Immigration) The morbid and regretful tone of many of the pieces of the time period reflect the incomprehensible difficulty the immigrants had with the scores of obstacles thrown at them. Although the Chinese immigrants had many setbacks, they did flourish in their enclaves, including the most popular, Chinatown, in San Francisco. In these neighborhoods devoted to the Chinese immigrants, still majorly single men, their oriental culture that they still gripped on to flourished. (The Chinese) Chinatown continues to be well known a century later. Other accomplishments of the immigrants, overshadowed by American hostility, include the introduction of the silk industry, and advancements in fishing and agriculture. (The Chinese) First faced with pure disgust, the hard working Chinese pushed through every difficulty thrown at them to keep their culture important throughout the turn of the century and today.

Villarreal 4 Bibliography
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