Before picking up this book, I had very little, if any, knowledge about Chinese immigrants to the United States. I would not have been able to distinguish between immigrants from the Guangzhou region as opposed to those from any other region in China; I was completely unaware of the most recent influx of Chinese from Fuzhou province. Additionally, I was ignorant about the Chinese Exclusion Act, signed into law in 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur. The Act called for a 10 year complete stoppage of Chinese labor immigration, specifically “skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining.” Other provisions of this law placed restrictions on Chinese who were already in the United States (they had to receive a reentry certificate if they left the country) and denied State and Federal courts “the right to grant citizenship to Chinese resident aliens,” leaving them no way of becoming US citizens.
In the mid 1800’s, staggering numbers of Chinese laborers migrated to California, beginning during the time of the California Gold Rush; they came also to help build the First Transcontinental Railroad. Animosity toward the Chinese laborers existed during this time, but escalated dramatically as more and more laborers arrived and economic conditions declined following the Civil War. Many Americans believed that the abundance of cheap Chinese labor flooded the job market and the willingness of Chinese workers to accept lower wages, depressed wage levels.
The Exclusion Act was extended for ten additional years and in 1902 it became a permanent law, with even more restrictions, including the requirement that all Chinese register and obtain a certificate of residence.
As Guest mentions, this finally repealed in 1943, as a result of Chinese collaboration with the United States during the Second World War.
The Chinese Exclusion Act significantly restricted Chinese immigration to the United States for more than 60 years. In addition to this legislation, Chinese residents in the US were discriminated against, were mistreated and abused.
The most amazing fact is that during this same period, immigration restrictions were not in place for any other race. That is a very powerful fact that astonishes me. It seems hard to believe that the government could get a way with such a racially discriminatory law.
