The History of Chinese Immigration to the United States - Assignment Example

CHINESE IMMIGRATION Rough Draft Migration is a common phenomenon; people of various countries and from different background migrate in order to seek better opportunities in life. History clearly reveals that the history of Chinese American consisted of ethnic Chinese who were living in United States. Chinese migrating and going towards United States is basically divided in three different parts, beginning with the first one in 19th century. They started off as laborers on various roads like central pacific railroad and transcontinental railroad. Arrival of “Yellow Peril” the name given to Chinese workers at that time gave birth to various opinions about their arrival, from the industrial employers being happy about the arrival of the cheap labor, the general white public was not happy about these new arrivals. Chinese in the beginning also worked in the mining industry however they had to face a lot of discrimination there. By the end of 1868 there were various provisions and rules passed for treating the immigrants well , Treaties like Burlingame Treaty and Tientsin Treaty which were between United States and China and by the end of this United States also declared China as their favorite nations, however when it comes to the general public their reaction was different. The general labor organizations in United States and also the political organizations were completely against Chinese workers and wanted them to leave United States as they considered them degraded race, newspaper was writing against them and the policies made in favor of them also the church leaders were unhappy about their arrival in United States. The general public opinion about Chinese immigrants was so hostile that it forced the passing out of a new act which was the Exclusion act in 1882 which prohibited Chinese entrance in United States for ten years followed by Geary Act which was passed in 1892. These were the only acts passed which were against the entry of any immigrants in United states thus it is clearly depicting the hostility of the public towards earlier Chinese immigrants in United States. This law ended up in creating a lot of problems for not only new Chinese immigrants who wanted to come and live in United States but also for Chinese who were already living in United states as they were without their families and they were not able to meet them or call them as well. Chinese men were not allowed to marry white women under the anti-miscegenation laws. Chinese immigrants were amongst the first Asian immigrants to enter United States. There was a decreasing trend in the immigration of Chinese towards United States during mid 1800’s, there were many reasons for this from the California Gold Rush to the Chinese Exclusion Act which made many Chinese men leave United States and go back to China. Overall there was a decrease in the Chinese Population to about 62,000 people around 1920. After 1940s there was an improvement in the China migrations towards United States, China was with United states during world war thus this also had an impact on the immigrations of Chinese towards United states. After this restrictions like entry to United States of the Chinese immigrants and restrictions on mixed marriages were removed and during the year 1943 the immigration to the U.S was permitted once again and the act which enabled it was Magnuson Act. After the World War there was also an increase in the advancement made by Asian countries like Japan, Korea, India, Vietnamese and even China. There is a huge population of Chinese living in United States and Chinese who are born in United States have extremely less information about the traditional culture of China. As per the findings of 2010, United States Census totaled 3.3 million Chinese living in United States which is almost 1 % of the total population of United States. Chinese migrations are from countries like People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and also Southeast Asia. Chinese people living in United States led a life which was very different compared to the people of America. Chinese had to facial extreme racism along with black after the California gold which brought many rowdy Southern whites. Chinese people were brutally sent out of the mines .The Chinese tried to find the gold bits as well. These Chinese immigrants were not only miners of gold and laborers but they also started working as cooks, peddlers and also store keepers. These Chinese immigrants were doing jobs which many majority of United States was not interested in doing or they use to call these jobs dirty jobs. Later on these Chinese also started working in the agricultural sector, manufacturing sector, some of them became domestic servants and few others became laundry workers, overall majority Chinese immigrants were doing odd jobs. With the passage of time there was an increase in hostility towards the Chinese, the major cause of that was their hardworking nature which made the local majority not being able to compete with them, this was not acceptable by the general majority. There were various acts of violence from the white people and also the local agricultural workers against the Chinese and it lasted for decades, during the year 1862 almost eighty eight Chinese were murdered. By 2006 there was a drastic increase in the Chinese immigrants in United States and they became the third largest immigrants following the Mexican and Filipino. Chinese immigrants have basically settled in two states which are New York and California, but there number is also increasing in other states which are Nebraska and Wyoming which was not a very favorable destination of Chinese immigrants. After 2000 almost more than a quarter of Chinese foreign born arrived in United States. By 2006 women were in majority of the people who were Chinese born and were living In United States and almost two third of the Chinese by 2006 were now working age adults. Year 2006 had brought many changes for the Chinese immigrants with half of them becoming US Citizens and almost two third of them becoming English proficient. Bachelors’ degree was with 2 out of every 5 Chinese who were foreign born adults. Civilian labor force compromised more of foreign born men by 2006 compared to Chinese immigrants (Tsai, Shih-shan H). Works Cited Luo, Leo. "The History of Chinese Immigration to the U.S.." Redirecting you to University of Hawaii.... N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. . comparison, among the 1.0 million immigrants overall who became lawful permanent residents (LPR) in 2010, 45.7 percent did so as immediate family members of US citizens, 20.6 percent through family-sponsored preferences, 14.2 percent as employment-based immigrants, 13.1 percent as refugees, asylees. A small share were also admitted through the Diversity Visa Program (4.8 percent), and through other means (1.7 percent).. "Migration Information Source - Chinese Immigrants in the United States ." Migration Information Source. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. . "migration information." migration information. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. . Coolidge, Mary E. B. R. Chinese Immigration. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Print. Tsai, Shih-shan H. The Chinese Experience in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986. Print. "Chinese Immigration to the United States - For Teachers (Library of Congress)." Library of Congress Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. Read More