Chinese Immigrants in the 19th century
The first Asians in America were from the inner central Asians
They crossed through the ice bridge
Philppino immigrated to the Louisiana area (probably first)
Living segregated through out of all of the parts of Chinese because of the differences in language and food
Rice was introduced by Thailand and Vietnam, not a staple of China just yet
Middle kingdom person - sterrotype: proud and arrogant, but it really means between yellow river (north) and youngxin river (south)
Barbarians were a term to address outsiders from Chinese people, surrounding countries have different advancements than China, China didn’t have any military power as compared to other countries and got stolen by outsiders which is why they address them as barbarians
Immigration Push factors
Population density and Chronic Poverty
1/3 of Chinese property was unliveable at the time because of the mountains
Majority of population did not have any land and lived in poverty
Social Chaos in the 19th century: Opium War (1839-1842)
China has so much wealth
Civil rebellions by the Han against Manchu
Han Dynasty had invented gun powder but did not develop it
King of Han Dynasty was afraid that the gun powder would be used by enemies to overthrow them
Europe developed the gun powder coming from China
Political power was different
Britain was much more advanced now because of the gun powder, they had ships with cannons and etc while China kept fighting with bows and arrows and swords
When Japan was uniformed under Emperor Meiji, they had a lot of military power and China had become jealous about it
Chinese people were upset, Manchu ruled China, they weren’t Chinese, they were from northern China, majority charge, they conquered China
Guangdung and Fujian
Chinese had to leave to Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho
“Toishan” Area in Guangdung, they had less fear about migrating to the Western region, Americas
Ming Dynasty was active in trading
Guangdung hired sailors
Cantonese speakers
Central Chinese had some fear going to different places
Pull Factors
Labor Demand in Hawaii and mainland US
Territorial Expansion in US
Development of capitalism and a need for cheap labor
Chinese were welcomed for cheap labor in the US
Hawaii - sugarcane, kona coffee, pineapple, and macademia nuts harvesting
Native Hawaiians were not interested in cash profits and products, they didn’t want to work
Brought people who wanted to work, which were Chinese since they have been rice farmers
Cheap labor was to max profits for employers
Immigration Dynamics in US
Legislative body
Capitalists (industrialists)
Anglo workers
Immigrants (white and non white)
Anglo workers are Trump supporters?
They aren’t competing for the same job as the immigrants, they don’t want to work in the field
Capitalists bribe the industrialists, it makes it easier to have cheap labor
Arrival of Chinese immigrants in SF
Brought the Chinese to America
Manchu hairstyle - shaven head with long ponytail, black robes were used to hide stains and other dirt on clothes when working in the field
Black robes were worn by workers, yellow silk was worn by royalty
Gold Mine
Gamsan
Tax (Foreign Miner’s Tax Law)
Soap was a luxury item for the elite class, poor people wanted to have soap
So Chinese’s plan was to go to America, work as a gold miner, strike rich, and then buy soap and land (they wanted to be a land owner)
From a “good integer” to “celestials”
Industrialization was better than trading
Cost of power in European society, land was more worth in China
Tax is much greater in Europe, farmer in China was the tax, farming once a year/twice a year
They wanted to buy land - Chinese
Chinese miner had to pay tax and Chinese were surprised by tax
White miners did not have to pay tax
Golden gate bridge said don’t think about hiring Chinese
Celestials were people who came from outside, not one of us (alien, negative conotation)
Good integers - used by California govener, good people used to address the Chinese
Chinese Miners
White miners had a history in killing miners
When Chinese were away, they were killed
Alternatives
Farming “Green Gold”
Rice, Wine industry in Napa, Cherry, Orange
Small Businesses
Wine was already appreciated in China, it was not done by France
Some Chinese knew how to grow the grapes for the wine, and make wine processing and store them in the wine cellar
Chinese’s biggest contribution was farming, not mining
Made California a liveable place
California was known to be a desert, no sources of water
Asians are doing this high tech world
Small Business
Laundry
Restaruants
Tourism
Chinese couldn’t do local jobs, had to do physical jobs even if you are very highly educated
Sacramento, San Joaquin
It was a swamp area, grew rice
Chinese had long grain rice, Japanese short grain rice
Chinese Domestic Workers & Stereotypes
Chinese had more sexist values than Anglo saxans
When they came to America, Chinese men had to swallow their pride
Religion was never a reason, poverty was the reason why Chinese migrated
Confucius, asked about afterlife, philosophy of Chinese was very down to earth