History of Chinese Migration to the United States - Research Paper Example

The industrialization in America in 1800s had encouraged immigrants from all over the world to go to the United States. The Chinese were the first Asian immigrants who went to America believing that this is the land of promise, and will unleash them from economic poverty (Oracle, n.d.). Large scale immigration of Chinese to the United States was due to California Gold Rush and others left China as refugees or contract laborers (L.Ling-chi Wang). Wherever they went, the Chinese immigrants brought with them their language, culture, social institutions, and customs; and as time went on, they made lasting contributions to the United States as they tried to become an integral part of the U.S. population. (“Chinese immigration to the US”) Privation of the Chinese immigrants to USA in the 18th century Integration has not been an easy one because the Chinese underwent a long period of discrimination from their adopted country. At the outset, they were at once discriminately treated from among the European immigrants and other racial minorities. They were the first immigrant group singled out for denial of citizenship by the U.S. Congress in 1882. Chinese immigration is separated into three periods: 1849 – 1882, 1882-1965 and 1965 to present. The first period of immigration that begun with the California Gold rush in 1848 (Golden Venture) was cut short by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Exclusion Act suspended labor immigration from China for ten years (USA Chronology). During this first period, the Chinese enjoyed the freedom to travel and become contract laborers in America. Thousands of young male peasants from China were recruited to work in the mines, toil the fields as agricultural workers, and become construction workers to construct a vast railroad network, reclaim swamp-lands, build irrigation system, develop the fishing industry, and work in the labor intensive manufacturing industries in the western states. All along, these Chinese workers felt the anti-sentiments of their presence since they were precluded on becoming permanent settlers. Because of this sentiment, the Chinese immigrants kept to themselves an intention of going back to China when the time comes to enjoy the benefit of their retirement, and to advance their own well being while they are in U.S. According to estimates, there were about 110,000 Chinese populations during the first wave of immigration. The second wave of immigration showed a very limited number of Chinese immigrants to U.S. This is caused by political tensions between the U.S and the Chinese governments that further curtailed the chance of Chinese immigrants to enter America. Because America felt Chinese laborers were no longer needed, beginning in 1882, the naturalization and immigrations became very strict to them. At the onset of 1882, an economic hardship was also felt in the U.S., so much so that European Americans also had to compete with the works reserved for the Chinese. This era is also characterized by the beginning of racial discrimination and hatred because of competition and anti-Chinese riots were frequent scenes in the streets of San Francisco. These scenarios put pressure on the U.S. government so that the exclusion act was promulgated (The Library of Congress). A quota allowing only 108 Chinese immigrants was set; so from the period 1888 to 1965, only diplomats, merchants and students and their dependents were allowed to enter the U.S (“Chinese Americans”) Even those Chinese, who are already in the U.S., are largely discriminated upon, and had to confine their presence in segregated places called Chinatown. They were denied democratic rights, and access to it thru legal procedures was not successful. The third wave of Chinese immigrants came to U.S. after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (National Archives) and the Nationality Act of 1964 (Center for Immigration Studies) were enacted. The enactment of these laws introduced an era of mass immigration which has affected lives of millions not only for Chinese immigrants but for others as well. After this, the Chinese immigrants were liberated from the political oppressions and thousands of Chinese came to U.S. to be reunited with the loved ones. Immigrant class Since 1970s Chinese immigrants to U.S. are distinguished by class. It is already a far cry from whose who entered the U.S. as agricultural laborers and workers before. Today, there are two types of Chinese immigrants: the first ones are those intellectuals, scientists and engineers who come to U.S. for advancement of professions. There are about 250,000 of them who stayed in the U.S. to contribute to science and technology professionally. The other set constitute thousands of Chinese immigrants who left China to escape political instability and repression throughout East and Southeast Asia, and the result of dramatic reversal of the U.S.Cold war policies toward China in 1972 and towards Vietnam in 1975. These Chinese people came from the middle and upper class society of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia who wanted a long term solution of security for their families and children. There are also Chinese refugees termed as “boat people” because they escaped Vietnam and Cambodia in 1978. (Li-Chi Wang) Settlement The life of early Chinese immigrants to U.S. was exposed to racial discrimination. Before the 1882 Exclusion of Chinese Act, although antagonized, life patterns were done according to western economic development. The Chinese mostly settled in California and states west of Rocky Mountains because of railroad and mining developments. When these industries declined and discriminations against Chinese became intense, the Chinese were forced to go into small scale business like export-import trading, labor intensive manufacturing of shoes, wool, garment and cigars (Orwell, M, 2010). The Chinese engaged also in the service industry of laundry, domestic work and restaurants. Human rights were practically denied to them as they were evicted from jobs, lands, business and rights. This is practically the reason for the existence of Chinatown as they were forced to settle in their closed community. By the early 20th century, Chinese immigrants have settled in Chinatowns found in major cities in the United States. After the war, the United States became more racially tolerant, emigration from Chinatowns began. Because of employment opportunities, Chinese took this chance to move to other neighborhood, as the more affluent ones chose to live in sprawling suburbs, while the poor remained in the Chinatown. In 1960, there were only 99,935 Chinese immigrants to U.S. This number has more than doubled to 1,551,536 in 2006, and most have stayed in two states only; in California and in New York. (See Table 1) Table 1. Total and Chinese Foreign-Born Populations, 1960 to 2006 Year Foreign Born Chinese born(a) Rank(b) Share of All Foreign Born Number 1960 9,738,091 21 1.0% 99,735 1970 9,619,302 14 1.8% 172,132 1980 14,079,906 10 2.6% 366,500 1990 19,797,316 6 3.4% 676,968 2000 31,107,889 3 3.8% 1,193,685 2006 37,547,315 3 4.1% 1,551,316 Source: Terrazas, A.M. and Devani, B., June 2008, Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Migration Information Guide Recent figures reported that as of 2009, the total number of American-Chinese in U.S. is 3.63 million concentrated in big cities like New York (Choo, Jimmy, 12 Feb. 2011,) Culture and assimilation Because of hardships and difficulties earlier experienced by the Chinese immigrants, they felt that assimilation into the American culture is next to impossible. Chiu, L, 2009, cited study that revealed these Chinese immigrants that mostly were Fujanese, had little access to education, health care and services. This kind of thinking made the Chinese frugal and lives modestly. They had an impression that they have no future in the United States and kept at the back of their minds the idea of eventual returning to China. Against this frame of thinking, in the nineteenth century, the Chinese have maintained their lifestyle in their community. They were able to preserve their culture thru observing customs and festivals through family and district associations. They continued to use their Chinese language and pass this on to their children, send them to exclusive Chinese schools, and motivate them to excel in American education. Until now, the Chinese culture of fixed marriage is still in place; parents look for brides or grooms for their children. Above all, Chinese never forget their families in China, and it has become a regular duty to send remittances to them. Over time because of the observed Chinese frugal culture, they ended up having more money than what they have in China; they had experienced more American freedom, access to education and exempted from the one child policy of China. (Chui, Lisa, 2009). Min Zhou (2004) cited success stories of Chinese immigrants that recalled their persistence in overcoming hardships and discriminations to achieve success, that was even unmatched by the American” whites”. Employment today. Employment status has changed significantly for Chinese immigrants. Most of them are no longer working as construction, extraction and transportation workers, but they could be most likely found working in science and engineering fields. As shown in table below, 29.2% are engaged in services and 29.6% are in management, business, and finance field. It seems there is no longer gender discrimination as both male and female are equally represented in many fields of sciences. In most cases the female exceeds the number of male in some fields, among of which are nurses, health care and administrative support. More Chinese females are interested in the field of education, training and media and entertainment while construction, mining and transportation are dominated by males. Table 3. Occupations of Employed Workers in the Civilian Labor Force Age 16 and Older by Gender and Origin, 2006   Chinese foreign-born All foreign-born   Male Female Male Female           Persons age 16 and older employed in the civilian labor force 393,223 343,739 13,285,912 8,921,521           Total percent 100 100 100 100     Management, business, finance 14.2 15.4 10.2 9.8     Information technology 10.9 7.7 3.9 1.9     Other sciences and engineering 14 9.6 4.1 2.3     Social services and legal 0.5 0.8 1 1.9     Education/training and media/entertainment 8.6 9.2 3.3 6.9     Physicians 1.9 1.4 1.3 1     Registered nurses 0.1 1.4 0.3 3.3     Other health-care practitioners 0.9 1.6 0.9 3     Health-care support 0.3 2.8 0.6 5.2     Services 19.7 19.5 16.9 25     Sales 7.8 9.5 7.8 10.9     Administrative support 5.5 11.4 5.5 15.1     Farming, fishing, and forestry 0.1 0.1 2.5 1.1     Construction, extraction, and transportation 7.4 1.3 26.8 3.4     Manufacturing, installation, and repair 8.1 8.3 15 9.4 Source: 2006 American Community Survey. Source: Terrazas, A.M. and Devani, B., June 2008, Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Migration Information Guide Conclusion From what has been gathered from various literature reviewed, the Chinese tradition and culture held the Chinese immigrants closely knit, and they found strength in being closely inter-related with each other. They held on because of the belief that their success depends on their own effort that was fashioned out of frugality, dedication to work, family and culture. Racial discrimination is the biggest factor that led the Chinese to live a secluded life, but the racist culture had also defined the success of the Chinese immigrants in U.S. They took pride of their heritage wherever they are, spoke of their own language, a trait that can still be seen with Chinese today. Chinese to Chinese conversations are spoken in their own dialect even in the presence of other nationals. China today, is considered a powerful economy, and Chinese nationals who entered the United States have different reasons beside economic poverty. They stay in U.S. in quest for knowledge, business and trade, and they no longer beg for entry in the mighty U.S. References Center for Immigration Studies, 1995. Three decades of mass immigration. Viewed 05 April 2011. http://www.cis.org/articles/1995/back395.html Chinese Americans. Viewed 05 April 2011 http://hoover.archives.gov/exhibits/China/Chinese_Americans/ Chinese immigration to the U.S. viewed 04 April 2011 http://www.oakton.edu/user/4/billtong/chinaclass/History/immigration.htm Choo, Jimmy, 12 Feb. 2011) US-Chinese half of the total number of 3.63 million concentrated in big cities like New York. Thoughts.com. Viewed 05 April 2011. http://www.thoughts.com/sduggs/us-chinese-half-of-the-total-number-of-363-million-concentrated-in-big-cities-like-new-york Chui, Lisa, 23 July, 2009. Debating Chinese Assimilation. About com.: Chinese culture. Viewed 05 April 2011 http://chineseculture.about.com/b/2009/07/23/debating-chinese-assimilation.htm Golden Venture. Chinese immigration to the U.S. Viewed 05 April 2011http://www.goldenventuremovie.com/Chinese_Immigration.htm L.Ling-Chi Wang. Chinese and Americans. Viewed 05 April 2011 http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Bu-Dr/Chinese-Americans.html National Archives. Teaching with Documents: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Viewed 04 April 2011 http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/ Oracle: think Quest. Immigration: The Journey to America. Viewed 05 April 2011 http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Chinese.html Orwell, Mark, 31 July 2010, Reason for Chinese migration to the U.S., e.how, Viewed 05 April 2011http://www.ehow.com/list_6801459_reasons-chinese-immigration-u_s_.html Ross, Benjamin. 28 Jan. 2010. Chinese New York. BenRoss Blog. Viewed 05 April 2011. http://benross.net/wordpress/chinese-new-york/2010/01/28/ Terrazas, A.M. and Devani, B., June 2008, Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Migration Information Guide, Migration Policy Institute. Viewed 05 April 20011http://www.migrationinformation.org/usfocus/display.cfm?ID=685 The Library of Congress. Chinese immigration to the United States: 1851 to 1900. Rise of Industrial America, 1876 to 1900. Viewed 05 April 2011 http://memory.loc.gov:8081/learn/features/timeline/riseind/chinimms/chinimms.html The United States of America Chronology. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/usa/ChineseExclusion.html Zou, Minh. Contexts: understanding people in their social worlds. A publication of the American Sociological Association. Vol. 3, Number 1, winter 2004. Read More