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1.Reasons for immigration
In many cases, the reasons for the immigration were similar, no matter where the people came from. They all wanted to start a new life in the US and had hopes that are closely linked to the theme of the 'American Dream', which could be defined by the three expressions of "equality", "liberty" and "pursuit of happiness".
As John F. Kennedy put it: "There were probably as many reasons for coming to America as there were people who came. It was a highly individual decision. Yet it can be said that three large forces - religious persecution, political oppression and economic hardship - provided the chief motives for the mass migrations to our shores."17
People saw the United States as a country where everything was possible, where they could achieve all aims and where no social or racial barriers would ever prevent them from success. Especially during the time of the gold rush around 1848, people dreamed that it was very easy in the US to get rich quickly, and I think this hope still lingers today, just mentioning the idea that one can rise from "rags to riches" and that you have the possibility to make it "from the log cabin to the White House". Although many immigrants were left disappointed after the arrival in America, the dreams could not be diminished in their home countries and many followed.
Others were politically or religiously persecuted and saw their own chance to survive in coming to the United States, where they were offered a place to start a new life.
At the beginning of the immigration waves, it often occurred (esp. within Chinese families) that the men migrated on their own and left their wives and children at home. This lead to a new increase of immigration numbers, since the families eventually joined their relatives.
Speaking directly of Chinese immigration, one can say that life was not easy in the Oriental states during the beginning of the 20th century, since civil war (1917), the rise of communism and the fight against it by the Kuomintang (nationalist party; 1928) made people suffer a lot. Between 1931 and 1945, China was under Japanese occupation, which increased poverty and political persecution.
Others, like women, had to suffer because of unequal rights that were not bearable any more, as M. Heung explains: "women in the Chinese family are regarded as disposable property or detachable appendages. [...]The marginal status of Chinese women shows itself in their forced transfer from natal families to other families through the practice of arranged marriage, concubinage, adoption and pawning."18. They were badly treated by their husbands or even their mothers and sought refuge in the more modern American society, even if equal rights for women were not fully achieved there either at the first half of the 20th century.
In The Joy Luck Club, we are shown different examples of reasons for immigration. Lindo Jong, for instance, has to leave the country to get away from her broken marriage and her husband's unfair family in the hope of being able to start all over again in America.
All in all, considering the examples above, one can say that there exist a clear connection between most immigration cases, since the immigrants all hoped to get away from the problems in their country to lead a better, free and successful life in the United States.
2.History and present of Chinese immigration
The Pioneers: 1785-1848
The first Chinese immigrants were recorded in 1785, but this small group only followed few people so that up to the mid-19th century, no more than 30 Chinese lived in the United States.
Unrestricted immigration: 1848-82
The discovery of gold in California attracted many Chinese and the number increased to about 100,000 people in 1880. Many of them went to the mining areas, but a lot of them also settled in Hawaii to work in the sugar or the trade business.
At the end of the 1850s, when the gold fever subsided, Chinese helped to build the western sections of the transcontinental railroads, which lead to Chinese people spreading all over the United States because they often followed the railroads. California, however, remained the centre of Chinese population, and 25% of its labour force was made up of Chinese, although they were only a tenth of the total population. This can be easily explained if one knows that immigrants consisted mostly of young men who were able to work hard. They remit funds to their family in China and dreamed of returning to their country after having accumulated enough savings. This aim, however, was not often achieved, and most of them stayed in the United States. Women were not very numerous at this time, they were mainly wives of merchants, but a lot of them worked as prostitutes as well.
The 1870s with its economic depression marks the begin of an anti-Chinese movement and finally lead to the 1st exclusion act in 1882. The entry to the US of Chinese labourers was banned, exempting only diplomats, tourists, merchants, students, and the like (see also statistic in the appendix).
Exclusion:1882-1943
Because of the exclusion act, influx of Chinese immigrants was reduced, but many still found a way round the laws. So policies became stricter and interrogations at the entry ports common practice. Still known today is Angel Island, a detention facility near San Francisco, where many arriving immigrants were kept, often for a long period of time.
The popularity declined, with its anti-climax in 1920, but this also normalised the men-women ratio, also because of the new American-born generation. From a high 2,679 men to 100 women-ratio in 1890, it dropped to a 285:100 in 1940. This made the former bachelor society change into one based on family and Chinese culture became more and more apparent. Chinese-language press appeared and a Chinatown subculture developed, mixing features of Chinese and Western societies.
Many employers, however, refused to hire Chinese labourers who therefore concentrated on the service industry to become domestics or laundrymen or to start a restaurant business.
Restricted immigration:1943-65
During World War II., the wartime labour shortage forced employers to seek for labourers, and the perspectives for Chinese got better. Many of them also served in the American armed forces, which, together with the Chinese resisting to Japanese occupation in China, helped to improve the picture of Chinese in the US. Congress repealed the exclusion acts in 1943 and war veterans could bring their wives to America. The immigration quota remained at 105, but the Chinese were given the right of naturalisation.
Immigration on an equal basis: after 1965
In 1965, Congress finally passed another Immigration Act, which guaranteed equal treatment for applicants from all nations with a quota of 20,000 each. The number of immigrants from mainland China, however, did not greatly increase until the late 1970s when the relations between the two countries normalised and China changed its emigration policy.
From the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, the Chinese population eventually grew to an estimated two million, making it the largest Asian group in America. |
