Reading about the lives of the Italians and the Chinese living in Five Points compelled me to consider the similarities and differences of their experiences. On its face, it seems as if the Italians and Chinese had completely different immigration journeys. For starters, the motivations for each nationality to enter the United States were quite distinct. On one hand, the Italians were influenced by significant push factors such as overpopulation, crop failure, and desperate poverty. On the other hand, many Chinese were enticed to immigrate to America by the pull of striking gold in the California gold rush. Furthermore, the features of each ethnicity are profoundly dissimilar. For example, while the Italians were Catholics who searched for the proper Church upon their arrival to Five Points, the Chinese had their own unique religion and were able to construct their own houses of worship. Moreover, the Italian immigrants tended to be highly skilled artisans or professionals, while Chinese were generally associated with laundry, cigar making, and grocery stores. After studying these examples, one would come to the conclusion that these two groups faced vastly divergent circumstances. However, if one were to examine these two case studies in depth, striking similarities would emerge.
When analyzing the unique path that both the Italians and Chinese paved for themselves in Five Points, we discover characteristics that can seemingly apply to all types of immigrants. For example, there is a preconceived notion that immigrants come to America to achieve the American dream. However, the Italians and the Chinese debunk this theory, as Anbinder notes that many of these immigrants engaged in reverse migration and had a strong desire to return to their countries of origin. Another typical situation involved immigrants who arrived in Five Points with no money, no job, and nowhere to live. Therefore, it would have behooved each nationality to set up ways for their immigrants to get the necessary resources to adapt to American society. Both the Italians and the Chinese created institutions that provided their native brethren with the aid they needed to survive in their adopted homeland. The Italians set up “banks” that loaned money and found jobs for immigrants, while Chinese grocery stores functioned as the place for the Chinese to secure loans, jobs and lodgings. According to Anbinder, these two locations were the first stop for Italian and Chinese immigrants respectively upon their arrival in Five Points. Another common feature among the Chinese and the Italians was the tendency for immigrants to cluster in tenements with people from the same region or village from which they came. This suggests that immigrants in general had the proclivity of living with people with whom they were familiar. Finally, ethnicities with diverse cultural backgrounds wanted to bring their old world culture over to the states. The Italians organized their lavish yearly street processions (festes) in the United States, and the Chinese imported their gambling dens, opium dens, and lavish temples. These are just a few of the many characteristics shared by immigrants to the United States. Whether they were Chinese or Italian, German or Irish, Jewish or Catholic, immigrants seemed to fall into similar habits that help us understand the immigration experience as a whole.
