The late 1950s marked the start of the Chinese immigration to the British North American regions, which are the present-day Canada. No colonies within the east and west of the British North American regions including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and the United Province of Canada had immigration restrictions. It is also important to note from the outset that the Hudson’s Bay Company controlled vast areas of the British North American regions, where the main residents were the First Nations people. The Chinese immigrants faced various challenges before, during, and after immigrating to Canada.
Various negative and positive factors influenced the first Chinese immigrants to Canada. The negative factors are things that cause people to abandon their own countries in order to pursue a better life in other countries, while positive factors are those that attract people to move to other countries because they believe they have better chances of being successful elsewhere. In the case of the Chinese immigrants, some of the negative factors that made them move to Canada include frequent wars, floods and scarcity of farmland due to increased population. This situation made the land in China very difficult for the Chinese to cultivate and live in peace. Notably, most Chinese immigrants who moved to Canada in the late 19th century came from the Guangdong province where substantial land could not be used to grow food crops despite the region experiencing considerable population growth. An increase in the population meant that there was gradual shortage of viable land, a situation that attracted higher rent for farmland.
On the issue of wars, the last half of the nineteenth century was characterized by lack of law and order within the Chinese provinces. For instance, there was the Taiping revolt among peasants in China because of the poor living conditions, the revolt began in the 1850s and lasted until the 1860s. It is important to note that about twenty million people died across China because of the revolt. Accordingly, between 1854 and 1868 there were other peasant conflicts in the southern parts of China, which claimed about 150, 000 lives. In the course of the foregoing wars, many people including farmers were forced into armies and as a result, crops were destroyed because outlaw gangs raided villages frequently and China’s central government found it impossible to maintain law and order, especially within the southern regions.
There was also the issue of the foreign competition that made conditions more difficult to the ordinary Chinese citizens. For numerous years, countries in Europe had established trade ties with China. The fact that the China had a high population meant that it provided a good market for the European products. Following the loss of the opium wars to Great Britain, China had to open its port cities in order to trade with the European nations. As trade increased in the recently opened ports, the port of Guangzhou received less and less cargo and this state of affairs caused the loss of jobs for the boat crews, porters, and warehouse hands. Accordingly, after losing the opium wars, one of the conditions imposed on China for its surrender was to pay the Great Britain a hefty fine that constituted one-third of the yearly revenue from China’s treasury. The fine was massive and the Chinese government had to pass on the cost to its citizens through increase in taxes. For as long as the negative aspects persisted, the Chinese people struggled to make a living and this situation led to the need for the affected Chinese to move to other regions in order to sustain themselves and their families.
On the other hand, positive factors relate to the high rate of economic growth that attracted workers to the young nation of Canada. As a relatively young nation, there was establishment of new industries and new settlements, which led to the shortage of workers. Consequently, the distance between the British Columbia and the eastern regions of North America and Europe meant that the closest source of cheap labor was in China. Other factors such as the efforts of the labor recruiters, village networks, as well as family influences also played a key role in influencing the immigration of the Chinese people to Canada. Following the discovery of gold in Canada during the late 1850s, many Chinese workers who were offering their services in the neighboring countries began to move to the region as the need for labor grew. Many Chinese workers were also being hired for the purposes of clearing land and constructing roads and railway lines while others found jobs on farms, fish canaries, and in coalmines. Even before the gold rush, the Chinese in the Guangzhou region of China knew about overseas working opportunities and when men left to work in other countries the clan helped the women and children who were left behind.
The Restrictions
Despite the importance of the Chinese immigrants to the growth of the Canadian economy, the European Canadians were aggressive towards them. Such hostility explains the introduction of the head tax restricted immigration in Canada between 1885 and 1920s. Notably, the focus of the tax-restricted immigration was to prohibit the immigration of the Chinese to Canada. It is important to note that from 1885 the flow of the Chinese immigrants was being controlled at the Canadian ports. The Chinese immigrants were required to pat a head tax of fifty dollars before being allowed to enter the Canadian territories. Consequently, the federal government increased the head tax to one hundred dollars following agitation regarding the Chinese immigrants in British Columbia but the politicians were not convinced that such an increase would have the required consequences hence they demanded an increase of the tax to 500 dollars. Following the agitations, the government formed the Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration in 1902. The commission made a finding that the Asian immigrants were not fit for full citizenship and that granting citizenship to the Asian immigrants would be “obnoxious to a free community and dangerous to the state”.
Further, parliament passed legislation in 1903 increasing the head tax to 500 dollars and as a consequence, the number of the Chinese immigrants who paid the head tax dropped significantly but the Chinese were still determined to move to Canada. Later on, the immigration of the Chinese increased and this situation led to the enactment of the Chinese Immigration Act, which banned most of the Chinese immigrants including the Chinese who had acquired British nationality from entering Canadian territories. However, the Act exempted diplomats, merchants, and foreign students. As such, the rate of the Chinese immigration to Canada reflected the change in the Canadian immigration policy.
Chinese Settlement Patterns in Canada
Economic Life
Following the arrival of the Chinese to British Columbia, they started getting involved in all manner of work including working as cooks, domestic servants, laborers, merchants, and laundry men. However, the main economic activity among the Chinese Canadians was offering auxiliary services towards the construction of the railway. Largely, the Chinese immigrants involved themselves in exploitative labor in Canada.
Accordingly, there was the credit-ticket system where the Chinese lenders in China and in North America would reach an agreement to provide for the travel expenses of the immigrants who were then bound to the lenders until they repaid the debts in full, despite such contracts not being legally enforceable in Canada. Further, the work of the Chinese Canadian laborers was structured through contracts and in some cases organized through Chinese work gangs. By the turn of the twentieth century, the Chinese cannery bosses were employed on contractual basis and would then recruit workers and bear the financial risk in case of low production. Such hiring strategy was also apparent in the 1880s during the railway construction. The Canadian employers considered the Chinese immigrants as a source of cheap labor that they could exploit because the Chinese were desperate and therefore ready to accept low pay. Accordingly, the Chinese Canadian professionals were mainly involved in the service industry because they were barred from practicing in lucrative professions such as law, accountancy, and pharmacy.
Social, education, and Political Life
Although the Chinese immigrants to Canada had to incorporate some aspects of North American culture, they maintained the system of kinship that is typical of a Chinese community. Through the kinship system, the Chinese Canadians were able to provide for the community and personal welfare. Accordingly, though the Chinese Canadians migrated from rural settings in China, they had to adapt to the urban conditions in Canada and such adaptations helped them to adjust to foreign cultures and overcome racism and discrimination. It is important to note that the European Canadians isolated the Chinese immigrants because they considered them as sojourners whose interest was to obtain short-term financial security for their relatives back in China. In particular, during the 19th century the Caucasian community in British Columbia considered the Chinese immigrants as people who they could not assimilate into the society. Some aspects of the Chinese culture strengthened the Caucasian racist perceptions towards the immigrants. For instance, the Caucasians perceived the poor living conditions among the Chinese Canadian settlements as a conduit for diseases that could spread to the Caucasian neighborhoods.
During the early 1900s, political associations such as the freemasons and Guomindang were influencing politics and community issues within Chinatowns. The bigger Chinese Canadian communities created the Chinese Benevolent Association, which became a key aspect of their organizational structures and helped in the adjudication of conflicts within the community while also being the voice of the community to the outside world. The Freemasons, Guomindang, as well as the Chinese Benevolent Associations are some of the examples of associations that the Chinese Canadians used in a bid to further their interests in Canada.
With regard to the education of the Chinese Canadians, the Chinese schools in Canada began to be witnessed in the 1890s. Within the British Columbia, Chinese schools gained popularity among the immigrant Chinese community during the late 19th century and early 20th century when there were attempts to discriminate the Chinese Canadian children. It is noteworthy that even when the Chinese Canadians were prohibited from practicing in professional fields, they were never prohibited from attending colleges and universities. Accordingly, with the increase in the influence and professional character among various Chinese communities, more Chinese Canadians began to seek higher education.
Regarding the political life of the Chinese Canadians, they were always active when it came to politics. For instance, they had to fight racism and exclusion and with the help of organizations such as the Victoria Workingmen's Protection Association that was created in 1876, they were largely successful. The major focus of the Victoria Workingmen's Protection Association was to fight against economic restrictions and the poor working conditions that the Chinese immigrants were facing. One major activity by the organization is the 1878 protests by the Victoria's Chinese merchants who petitioned the government to eliminate the provincial head tax that amounted to sixty dollars. Accordingly, the Chinese Canadians through the Chinese Association of Canada lobbied against the passing of the exclusion of the Chinese immigrants just before the enactment of The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Conclusion
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