Looking Back at Chinese Exclusion Act

Looking Back at Chinese Exclusion

Act: “Nothing Less Than the

Legalization of Racial Discrimination”

Li

ang Ke

One hundred and thirty years after passage of the Chinese

Exclusion Act, on June 18, 2012 the US Congress formally

passed a statement of "regret" for the past

discriminatory laws against Chinese immigrants. The rare

apology came on a resolution sponsored by Judy May Chu,

who is granddaughter of Chinese immigrants hurt by the

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racial discriminatory act, and also the first Chinese

American woman elected to Congress.

Just as Chu said, the Chinese Exclusion Act and the

following series of ugly laws targeting Chinese

immigrants were "incompatible with America’s founding

principles". Over one hundred years ago, an accurate

definition for the Chinese Exclusion Act had already been

made. It is "nothing less than the legalization of racial

discrimination." This critic was given by George Frisbie

Hoar (1826-1904), who is a Republican Senator and an

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anti-slavery/anti-imperialist .

Background of the Act

The world famous California Gold Rush began in January

1848 when a small gold nugget was discovered by James W.

Marshall at Sutter’s Mill, in Coloma, California. News of

the discovery attracted 300,000 people all over the world

to California to realize their dream of "making great

fortune overnight". That was also the starting point for

Chinese immigration pouring into the United States to

achieve their "American Dream".

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The enthusiasm of gold was spreaded by businessmen,

seamen, missionaries, etc. from Hong Kong to inland

provinces of China. Suffering from First Opium War and

Taiping Rebellion some Chinese found this gold dream

catering for their longing for peace and wealth. Through

legal or illegal ways, hundreds of Chinese peasants

losing their farmland came to California which place they

called "Gold Mountain".

The first group of Chinese gold diggers came from Perl

River Delta region, 60% of whom were from Taishan in

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Guangdong province. The rest were mainly from Panyu,

Xinhui and other places near Taishan. Back home, those

immigrants were experienced rice cultivator, familiar

with all kinds of skills, such as ditching, damming and

pumping. By applying all these skills in gold mining,

their advantages showed up almost as soon as they had

arrived. Local laborers made a joke that even the gold

was so little that it could stick between bug’s teeth; it

would be panned out by Chinese. This joke could also be

seen as one of the symptom of the resentment toward

Chinese immigrants.

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However during the early stages of the Gold Rush, when

surface gold was plentiful, the Chinese were tolerated

for their efficiency and low wages. When the California

Gold Rush ended in 1855, Chinese labourers began to work

for subsequent large labour projects. For example, the

construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad

created abundant job opportunities for Chinese

immigrants.

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Though these immigrants faced tough life in America,

their wages were ten times as what they would gain in

China. During the early stages, a Chinese labourer could

save 80$-100$ per year. Back in China, his income gained

from agricultural activities was only 8$-10$ per year. On

the other hand the Chinese workers provided cheap labour

and did not use any of the public infrastructure because

the Chinese migrant population was predominantly made up

of healthy male adults. This became one of the most

important reasons Chinese migrants were accepted or even

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welcomed by local employers at first. As the supply and

demand matched well, Chinese labourers composed largest

immigrant group in California by 1860.

In 1868 Burlingame Treaty were signed by the US

government and the Qing government. This treaty contained

article that "Granted certain privileges to either

country residing in the other" . This became another

impetus to Chinese immigration. In 1851 the number of

Chinese residents in California was 25,000. By 1870

Chinese immigrants living in west coast had increased to

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63,000. Most of them settled in enclaves in cities,

taking low end wage jobs such as restaurant work and

laundry.

Animosity and discrimination toward Chinese intensified,

accompanying the gradual increasing competition between

them and local workers. This can be proved indirectly by

a series of offensive slang emerging at that time point

at Chinese laborers, such as "Coolies" "John Chinaman"

"Chink" and so on. The media was infected by widespread

dislike of Chinese. Newspapers around the country and

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especially in California started to discredit and blame

the Chinese for most things, e.g., white unemployment.

Ruthless violence also emerged. In 1871 a cluster of

whites killed more than twenty Chinese overnight in Los

Angeles.

With the post Civil War economy in decline by the 1870s,

anti-Chinese animosity became politicized by labor leader

Denis Kearney and his Workingman's Party as well as by

California Governor John Bigler, both of whom blamed

Chinese "coolies" for depressed wage levels. However, as

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Chinese migrants provided essential tax revenue which

could help fill the fiscal gap, the California government

did not wish to exclude Chinese migrant workers from

immigration at first. Some capitalists and entrepreneurs

were also against their exclusion based on economic

factors. Only later when the fiscal condition was

gradually recovered and there was no more urgent need for

the government to exploit Chinese workers, the last

protection for them disappeared. The Chinese Exclusion

Act was passed in 1882.

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The Act

The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed

by Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882.

First part of this act clarified that

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of

Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That

from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act,

and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the

coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby,

suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese

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laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said ninety days, to

remain within the United States. " It means that Chinese skilled

and unskilled laborers were excluded from entering the

country for ten years. Those who broke this law would

face the penalty of imprisonment and deportation. The Act

also made Chinese immigrants permanent aliens by

excluding them from U.S. citizenship.

The few Chinese non-laborers who wished to immigrate had

to obtain certificates from the Chinese government.

According to the Act, the certificates had to contain all

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kinds of detailed personal information including "the name,

title, or official rank, if any, the age, height, and all physical peculiarities,

former and present occupation or profession, and place of residence in China

of the person to whom the certificate is issued and that such person is entitled

conformably to the treaty in this act mentioned to come within the United

States" From this indispensable certificate we could find

how difficult it was for Chinese to prove that they were

"qualified to immigrate".

This act was one of the most significant restrictions on

free immigration in the U.S. history. This act was the

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only one that prohibited a particular race from

immigrating in the US history. This act was also the

starting point of Chinese immigrants’ suffering and

struggling.

After the Act's passage, Chinese men in the U.S. had been

deprived of even the smallest chance of starting families

in their new homes or reuniting with their wives in the

US. The police used the slightest opportunity to arrest

them. Many innocent Chinese were relentlessly beaten just

because of their race. What’s more, there were also laws

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stipulating that Chinese immigrants were prohibited from

giving testimony against whites, which means they were

exposed to robbing, abuse and other offensive violation

yet wouldn’t be protected by laws.

The nightmare was not over. Amendments

made in 1884 tightened the provisions

that allowed previous immigrants to leave

and return, and clarified that the law

applied to ethnic Chinese regardless of their country of

origin. The Scott Act (1888) expanded upon the Chinese

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Exclusion Act, prohibiting re-entry after leaving the

U.S. The Act was renewed for ten years by the 1892 Geary

Act, and again with no terminal date in 1902. When the

act was extended in 1902, it required "each Chinese

resident to register and obtain a certificate of

residence. Without a certificate, he or she faced

deportation."

From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station

on what is now Angel Island State Park in San Francisco

Bay served as the processing centre for most of the

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56,113 Chinese immigrants who are recorded as immigrating

or returning from China; upwards of 30% more who showed

up were returned to China.

This Immigration Station was a detention centre in

nature, where about 180,000 Chinese had been prisoned.

The Station has now become a museum to record that period

of dark history. There is a Chinese poem carved on the

wooden wall in the museum. The writer of it was one of

the immigrants stuck there in the first thirty years of

last centry. Two lines of the poem are that "Feeling

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ashamed, one would eventually get all the shame washed;

Take up the sword, so that no enemy dare to swing it

toward your neck. (知知知知知知知 知知知知知知知知，。 )" It has to be admitted that both

this poem and the mood of its writer was stirring but

sad.

Affected by the series of discriminatory laws, the number

of Chinese immigrants dropped sharply from 123,200 in

1870’s to 14,800 in 1890’s. The lowest point came in

1930’s when this number had decreased to less than 5000.

Even after 1943, when the Chinese Exclusion Act was

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repealed by the Magnuson Act, this trend didn’t stop.

The widespread animosity toward Chinese didn’t mitigate

until the Pacific War broke out and China became alliance

of the US. In 1943 the Magnuson Act which permitted

Chinese nationals already residing in the country to

become naturalized citizens and stop hiding from the

threat of deportation was finally passed. It also allowed

a national quota of 105 Chinese immigrants per year.

However large scale Chinese immigration did not occur

until the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act

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of 1965.

Before the US Congress apologised for the Act in 2012,

the California government had done so in the year of

1970, the US Senate in 2011.

Real Root of the Act

The first paragraph of the Chinese Exclusion Act stated

the “reason” why Chinese had to be excluded: “the coming of

Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities

within the territory”. However, the real root of the Act is, as

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mentioned above, the long-standing tendency of racial

discrimination in the US society.

Famous American economist Thomas Sowell had written in

his work “Ethnic America: A History” that American’s

attitude toward Chinese immigrants were harsh and even

rude during that time, for the reason that they were

neither whites nor Christians. Both these were fatal

“weakness” of Chinese. From customs to religious belief,

Chinese are completely different from Americans. They

were seen as a group of people that would never be

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assimilated either physiologically or culturally. This

feel of alienation led to the act of discrimination.

The San Francisco Yearbook 1855 records Californians’

attitude toward Chinese. They felt Chinese were entirely

distinct from them in “language, blood, religious belief

and character”. Some local people viewed Chinese

immigrants as lower-grade people, “just a little bit

higher than blacks”. Some thought they were “even lower

than blacks”. This kind of deep rooted bias led to the

long existed discrimination.

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Even in the 21st century, it is still too early to say

that immigrants from China and other countries have been

treated fairly as native Americans are. Assaults on

Chinese American happened from time to time. In 2011,

Harry Lew, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal, committed

suicide in Afghanistan at the age of 21, after fellow

Marines allegedly hazed him one night. He was a American

born Chinese, nephew of Rep. Judy Chu. The tragedy of the

young man would probably repeat as long as the

discrimination exists.As Chu said, Chinese American

should make their voice heard, trying their best to

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eliminating the discrimination that shouldn’t have taken

its place in American society.

References:

1. Richard Simon(2012) "House apologizes for laws targeting Chinese

immigrants" Los Angeles Times

2. Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act

3. "Text of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act"

http://www.uchastings.edu/racism-race/exclude.html

4. 知知知（2012 知知知知知 知知知知知知知知知知 知知知知）：：，

5. 知知知（2012 知知“知知”知 知知 知知知知知知）： 一，

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