Chinese Immigration
It happens everyday before our very eyes. Occurring since long before we can remember, immigration has now become a common place idea. People move because of various reasons such as opportunity, persecution, or just plain wanting a new life. The reasons for immigration are important, as well are the results that arise from that change in location. The United States is widely known to harvest the most immigrants from around the world, but more specifically, the immigration of the Chinese around gold rush time in California. Many accounts of this historical event are told, but are depicted in an interesting fashion throughout the book Thousand Pieces of Gold by Ruthanne Lum McCunn. One sees the life of a Chinese woman after moving to the United States and the effects this change had on her and the people around her. Most Chinese males that immigrated to America were assumed to have the lust for gold, while many of the females were known to come only for their husbands or as companions. This research paper will investigate the true reasons for the migration of the Chinese to the United States. Additionally, the reaction of the United States, and how it embraced these immigrants will be studied.
Gangs of roughnecks began attacking any Chinese they saw on the streets. It became popular to catch Chinese and chop off their queues. They robbed and killed many Chinese and burned their homes and businesses. The violence spread all through the Western States. When a white man was killed in a police raid in Los Angeles¯ Chinatown, a huge mob destroyed Chinese houses and businesses. They killed at least 22 Chinese including women and children. They also hung 50 persons from the lamp posts by their queues (Chinese in America, 78-79). successful finding ex-prostitutes and mui tsai (domestic slave girls), probably because no one wanted to be identified as such or there were few women still alive to talk about that experience. In one instance, after a great deal of trouble, [she] finally tracked down the author of an oral history paper on a mui tsai that [she] had found in a university library, only to be told [the author] wanted to hold on to her grandmother's story and develop it into a book someday± (Yung, °Giving Voice to Chinese American Women). In McCunn¯s book, Thousand Pieces of Gold, the main character, Lalu Nathoy, was sold as a slave where she was to be sent to America as a prostitute. This was common for Chinese women to go overseas. Years later, after Americans stopped exploiting Chinese women, China itself enslaved young women. Young Chinese women, basically girls, are brought to America under the assumption that they will be working for Americans, yet when they arrive, they are enslaved by Chinese sweatshops in America (Cerami, 16). These women did not have it any better than the male miners sent from China. The reasons why the Chinese came to the United States were justified. Immigration was not illegal. The Chinese came to the United States with this purpose: to find a way to make money so that they may support their families back home. They had no intention of stealing any gold or jobs from the Americans. They figured that there was plenty to go around in California, but obviously the Californians didn¯t think the same way. The reaction to this immigration, however, was not justified. Of course the Americans felt overwhelmed from all the Chinese t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Chinese America, Chinese United, Judy Yung, Chinese Immigration, Exclusion Act, Lalu Nathoy, Dennis Kearney, Jobs Whites±, United Additionally, Air Ordinance, chinese america, chinese immigrants, chinese united, anti-chinese movement, chinese women, thousand pieces gold, chinese gold, thousand pieces, dowdell 56, pieces gold, cheap labor, book thousand pieces,
Approximate Word count = 1483
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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