Migratory History It is said that ethnic Chinese first appeared on the western shores of North America during the period of the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines, which is about between 1521 to 1815. They had accepted commissions as being businessmen, sailors and fishermen on the Spanish galleons that traversed the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and Mexico (Brownstone, 2). Several numbers of ethnic Chinese were able to reach California as this state was still the territory of Mexico until 1848. Future expeditions to Vancouver by John Meares, a British fur trader, brought more Chinese into Vancouver around 1789 (Brownstone, 25). Other historians make mention of the First and Second Opium Wars (1839-1860) as the main triggers for large-scale migration of the Chinese people into the United States. Most of them departed for America either from Hong Kong and Macau. They had contracts as bonded laborers. The original intentions were for these laborers to work only temporarily, as they often left their wives and children in China. There is an instance of almost an entire community of men leaving from Taishan in order to work in California. Historians estimate the number of Chinese who migrated to California from the Gold Rush era to 1882 when laws were passed that forbade such migration to be about 300,000 (Brownstone, 26-35).
As with almost all the tales of the migrant experience, most of the ethnic Chinese moved to the United States is search of the proverbial “green pastures”. Life in China in the middle of the 19th century was difficult. Most peasants slaved away in the fields only to earn very little. Travel for the ordinary man meant lugging one’s produce to the nearest marketplace, which was usually around the fringes of his own hometown. They had no contact with the men who ruled their lives, who were ensconced in privilege thousands of miles away. The peasant also received no or little formal education, making it difficult for him to pass the civil service exams which would guarantee him a career in government service and a better economic life. This situation for many peasants served as triggers for them to seek a better life abroad as the early overseas foreign workers (Chang: The Chinese in America: A Narrative History).
Early and Subsequent Discrimination Under the provisions of the Burlingame Treaty between the United States and China, the immigration of ethnic Chinese to the United States was legitimate. However, only the children of these migrants were afforded US citizenship, while the original migrants themselves were denied this privilege. Many of them experienced culture shock as first of all, they could not speak a word of English, and also, there were those who could not comprehend the new culture in California. Furthermore, they faced oppression and discrimination even from their fellow European immigrants. Many of these immigrants worked as laborers on the railroad system, especially in the area through the Rocky Mountains going into British Columbia. However, they were paid only a dollar a day, or half of what the White workers received as wages (Huang, 145).
This discrimination was further exacerbated by the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which aimed to restrict immigration from China into the United States (Yeefow: 1882 – American Sinophobia, the Chinese Exclusion and “Driving Out”). In the years leading to and during the Cold War, anti-Chinese sentiment continued to grow as many Chinese Americans were suspected of being Communists or supporters of the Communist Party of China. One such case is the case of Professor Qian Xuesen, the founder of the jet propulsion laboratory of Caltech. He was accused of being a Communist, detained under house arrest for five years, before being deported to China. Back in China, he became the head of the Chinese space program (Perrett, 57-61). Communism in America was termed by President Truman as the “great wave of hysteria sweeping the nation”, and thus the identification of the so-called Communists during his term and after that was actually likened to a witch hunt already. Those identified as leaders were immediately prosecuted. Films and television shows such as “I Led Three Lives” on the life of an FBI informant boasting about his experience on being a Communist infiltrator added to the frenzy and helped increase the discrimination against the Chinese community in the United States (Zinn: A People’s History of the United States).
The fight of African Americans for equality and the eradication of discrimination inspired many Asian Americans, among them Chinese Americans, to likewise express their struggle against marginalization and discrimination. The 1960s and the early 1970s saw the birth of the Asian American movement largely inspired by the work of Malcolm X and to a certain extent, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King. Even Chairman Mao’s doctrine on self-determination served to inspire many Asian Americans to join and actively participate in the movement. The San Francisco State Strike of 1968 was also a trigger for the movement. Activities to increase self-determination, a reformulation and reformat of communities, empowerment and also scholarly, economic and social inclusion were implemented by various Asian American groups. A parallel “Serve the People” movement evolved in these communities, serving the disenfranchised, the marginalized, the neglected seniors and other sectors of society that were not empowered (Omatsu, 59-62).
Assimilation/Self-Determination Despite the experience of discrimination, numerous ethnic Chinese were also able to exercise their own self-determination, by doing the activities that they knew very well even in the new environments. Quite a number of Chinese migrants had reached Cuba in the mid-1800s, and some of them journeyed to the southern part of the United States from there. They were used to support or even displace some African American slave workers. Plantation owners liked the Chinese slave labor as they were used to farming crops such as rice and cotton, and were experienced likewise in railroad works. The Chinese entrepreneurial spirit took over as many Chinese settled in the Mississippi area, becoming owners of small businesses such as groceries, and achieving a certain measure of financial success. However, the Chinese community mainly served African-American sectors and lived in these areas as well. Intermarriages between African Americans and Chinese people were fairly common. Unfortunately, the more affluent Chinese decided to distance themselves from the Black community so that they would not be discriminated against by White people. By the end of the Second World War, the Chinese in this area were no longer thought to be a threat to the White people (Wong, 20-22).
Assimilation and self-determination also took place in the number of “Chinatowns” that have sprouted all over the United States. The earliest of these is San Francisco Chinatown, the center of which is found in Stockton and Grant Avenues in the city. These are ethnic enclaves that continue to practice the various elements of culture: language, religion, food, social groups, and the Chinese cultural identity in general. The heritage activities of the peasant-laborer-migrants continue to live on in these enclaves (Diamond, 86-90). This area first grew in the 1960s when many Chinese professionals, arriving in the US took on low-paying jobs there because they could not speak the language. To this day, around 14% of the households in the area are English – Chinese bilingual; many are still monolingual in Mandarin or Cantonese (San Francisco Chronicle: For Chinatown Voters, Mayor’s Support Only Goes So Far). A Chinatown in the US is an “American ghetto” where Chinese culture flourishes. In the past, Chinatowns have been perceived as isolated and different worlds; today, however, there is a sense that the Chinatowns of today are vibrant centers reaching out to the rest of local society and have become symbols of the desire to get rid of the oppression and isolation its residents have felt for so long. For instance, New York Chinatown was the site of massive rallies to protest against police brutality against Chinese-Americans there in 1978 (Zhou, 11).
Conclusion
While the Chinese-Americans today desire to be integrated fully into American and Western culture, they have been able to bring to the table their own ethnic lives and culture and their own characteristics and values of industry and discipline. They also faced discrimination because they were not White, could not speak English, and were all maybe in a state of culture shock as they first went to work or mixed with other races. The original immigrants crossed the Pacific Ocean and other seas to look for the proverbial green pastures elsewhere. They wished to escape the harsh life they had back in China, and overcame discrimination and all the other false accusations made against them simply because their names were one-syllabled and because they spoke in a funny way. However, today, many Chinese -Americans have excelled in business, in the arts, in politics, in education and in sports. Their contributions to American society are just as valuable as with any other race in American society today.
Works Cited
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Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States: Chapter 16: A People’s War?. 2010. Web.
