The Ascent of the Chinaman - Essay Example

Your Full Your 9 April Ascent of the Chinaman The United s of America has prided itself on being the melting pot, where people from all parts of the world came, and still come, and yet become American, letting go of their old animosities and rancor. However, that statement does not ring completely true; although it is true that the USA’s population comprises of immigrants and their children, however, the immigrants have always had to face derision, animosity and downright hatred and bigotry in this land. Through sheer tenacity and hard work, as well as society turning out to be more tolerant, such immigrants have finally managed to earn a place of respect in the United States. The case of the Chinese is no different, who started immigrating in droves during the California Gold Rush. Gold was discovered by John Sutter in California at Sutter Mills in the beginning of the year 1848, however, it was not until Samuel Brannan, a store owner as well as a newspaper publisher, announced that gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada foothills that the news spread like wild fire. Brannan was not interested in gold mining himself, however, he must have known that people would always rush to find gold and that would mean more business for him. Thus began the era known as the California Gold Rush. The California Gold Rush saw opportunists, adventurers and down on their luck people from nearly all over the globe flocking to the region in large numbers. Many made their fortune there while others lost their life’s earnings, some even their lives, in pursuit of untold riches. The more enterprising ones set up industries catering to the needs of these bounty hunters: caterers; clothiers; gun-, iron- and goldsmiths; traders selling all kinds of goods; and inventors who perfected ways of finding and purifying gold which in one form or another are still being used to this day. These people were nicknamed “the forty-niners” to mark the year 1849 when the rush to get gold began, or took momentum to be exact. Numerous old American families owe their heritage, legacy and family fortunes to how their forefathers’ luck or ambition played out. People from all over the globe were drawn towards the American state of California in droves. There were people from Chile, Europe, Africa, Mexico, Australia, Turkey and China as well as from other, distant parts of America. From careful estimates, it can be established that around 90,000 people arrived in California in the beginning of 1849, with half of this number being made up of Americans and the rest from around the world. This number rose to a staggering 300,000 in the next 6-7 years. The Americans were still in majority but there were tens of thousands of people belonging to other nationalities. After the early excitement had died down, the Americans used open hostility, punitive laws and exorbitant taxes to drive out foreigners from the region, especially the more “unsavory” races including the Chinese who were by now viewed as an open threat and the race everyone ganged up on. There was a large number of Chinese people settling in California in 1849-50 with another 20,000 arriving in San Francisco in 1852. Their distinctive features and apparently ‘alien’ ways were probably what caused the locals to have such rancor against them. The fact that they only stuck to themselves and did not really mingle with others did not help matters much, either. However, it was their near-religious approach to work, ability to do menial tasks without batting an eyelid and their consequent successes in this venture that fanned the flames of hatred the most. The Chinese who were not involved with prospecting for gold took up labor in mines as well as on the transcontinental railroad. However, there was apparently no end to racial discrimination or hostility towards them. Employers were keen on employing this ‘economical’ new workforce: they worked hard and were happy with wages much lower than what an American would demand. This earned them the moniker of “yellow peril” by the common white man who saw them as a threat to the job market and had to resort to cheap tricks to keep them in their place. The 1868 Burlingame Treaty promised Chinese immigrants equal rights, which political and labor organizations rejected with furor, dubbing them “cheap Chinese labor” and refusing to absorb them into what they saw was a “white man only” society. Ironically, these white men had mercilessly annihilated hundreds of thousands of Native Americans to take over their lands as well as enslaving Africans. Employers hiring the Chinese came under direct fire and were forced to hire them on the sly or not hire them at all! Many Chinese families were forced into starvation due to a total lack of options for earning a livelihood, while the more rebellious of them resorted to a life of crime to sustain their families. The air of hostility and animosity was so thick that the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning all immigration from China for the next 10 years was passed by the US Congress in 1882. This was the only US law ever passed based on racial discrimination and was given an extension in 1892 by the Geary Act. These laws were very harsh: they forbade immigrants already in the US from ever seeing their loved ones as well as prohibiting Chinese men from marrying white women or holding land ownership rights. All this animosity and hatred finally began to subside in the 40’s when China and US struck up an alliance during the Second World War. Laws prohibiting entry onto US soil and inter-racial marriages were relaxed. Racial discrimination spanning 60-odd years relented in 1943 and Chinese immigration was permitted. However, another large scale Chinese immigration after the gold rush occurred in 1965 with the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which removed race-based restrictions placed on immigration and naturalization. The common peoples’ attitude also softened towards the Chinese and they began to be absorbed into society, slowly working their way up, working hard to establish their own businesses, sharing their culture, cuisine and customs with America. Today, at 22%, the Chinese make up the largest proportion of the Asian American ethnic group, contributing to the overall growth and prosperity of the United States of America. There population stands at more than 3.4 million [around 1% of the total US population] and they are by far one of the most successful ethnic groups in the country, in terms of their contribution to the economy. The Chinese culture is appreciated and celebrated all over America: their customs, heritage and cuisine add color to a society that in actuality is a melting pot of so many other races and their respective cultures. Try imagining life in modern America without its quaint, ethnic touches, the nuances brought in from all over the world. And then try taking out the contributions Chinese people have made to this country and its history: by their hard work, blood, sweat and tears. One cannot help but admire their resolve, their rise from the very bottom of the social hierarchy to their rightful place as hardworking people. Despite having every technique to curb and control their industriousness tried on them, every cruel hurdle placed in their path and laws crafted especially to hold them back, they kept on giving life a good fight. From “cheap Chinese labor” to a workforce to reckon with, Chinese immigrants in the United States of America have come a very long way. Their history full of hardships, tests and loneliness is exemplary for anyone complaining about the unfairness of life. Works Cited “Chinese American History Timeline.” San Francisco State University, n.d. Web. 9 April 2012. Estrada, William David. The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008. Print. “The Gold Rush.” The American Experience. Writ. Michelle Ferrari. Dir. Randall MacLowry. PBS, 2006. DVD. Wey, Nancy. “Chinese Americans in California.” in Five Views: An Ethnic Historic Site Survey for California. National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, 17 Nov. 2004. Web. 10 April 2012. Read More