Chinese Immigrants -

Opium War

1839-1842

Britain and China

led to migration

Taiping Rebellion

1850-1864

devastated Southern China

millions died, farmlands destroyed

led to migration

Coolie System

asian workers recruited to work overseas under labor contracts

debt was repaid through labor

Credit-Ticket system

migrants borrowed money for passage and repaid via wages

proletarianization

process by which people lose access to land or independent means of survival to become wage laborers

lose the land you used to survive off of

sell ur labor for wages

Treaty of Nanjing

1842

ended First Opium War between Britain and China

cede Hong Kong to Britain

Open trading ports to Britain

grant extraterritoriality

pay large indemnities

Treaty of Tianjin

1858

result of Second Opium War

,ore ports opened to foreign trade

foreign diplomats allowed in Beijing

legalized opium trade

expanded missionary activity

Treaty of Wangxi

1844

signed between US and China after Britain’s success in the Opium War

granted US same privileges as Britain

Treaty of Kanghwa

1876

Japan forced Korean to open ports

modeled after Western unequal treaties imposed on China

Korea declared “independent” from China

Gold Rush

1848 Discovery of gold in CA

Transcontinental Railroad

1860ish to 1869

Citizenship Act

1790 - naturalization for free white persons

Burlingame Treaty

1868

US and China recognized mutual rights of travel and migration

promoted more open relations

Page Law

1875

federal immigration law targeting “undesirable immigrants”

mainly block Chinese women

claimed they were stopping prostitution

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882

first major US federal law to exclude entire group based on race/national origin

suspended immigration of Chinese laborers

Anti-Chinese Violence

1871: Los Angeles Massacres: mob attacked and killed Chinese residents

1880s expulsions: Tacoma, Truckee locations > white residents and local leaders forced Chinese communities to leave town by burning down their homes

Angel Island

1910 - 1943

immigration detention station in west coast

paper son

hated by:

John Bigler

Denis Kearny: The Chinese Must Go!

Samuel Gompers

Foreign Miners tax

1850

extra tax aimed at non-citizen miners (targeting Chinese heavily)

Queue ordinance

1876

forced cutting of queue

Pole tax

tax/fees aimed at Chinese businesses or labor—-another financial pressure tatic

Cubic Air Ordinance

1870

minimum amount of air/space per person in housing

used to raid and punish Chinatown residents

Yick Wo vs Hopkins

1886 sf required laundires in wooden buildings to get special permit

white and chinese laundromats wre in wooden buildings

law written in neutral way

Yick Wo was Chinese laundromat who applied for a permit, was denied, continued to operate, got arrest and then challenged it

ruling that even if law is neutral on its face, if it is applied in discriminatory way, violates the equal protection clause

Wom Kim Ark

1898

born in the US to Chinese parents

us gov said he was not a citizen bc his parents were chinese

however, court decided that if you are born on us soil, you are a us citizen

Scott Act

1888

if Chinese immigrants left US, many could not return even if they had legal documents

Chan Chae Peing

1899

Chae Chan Ping was a Chinese laborer living in the United States.

He left the U.S. temporarily to visit China.

Before leaving, he obtained a re-entry certificate, which should have allowed him to return.

The U.S. government passed a new law that banned Chinese laborers from re-entering the United States.

When Chae Chan Ping tried to return to San Francisco, he was denied entry, even though he had valid documents.

Geary Act

1892

required Chinese residents to carry certificates of reidence

failure to carry papers could mean arrest, detention, deportation

Fong Yue Ting

1893

said that the government had the constitutional power to deport Chinese immigrants under the Geary Act