chinese

Chinese Immigration

Every person who lives in America is either an immigrant or a descendant of an immigrant. Though we may not consider it, it is a fact that everyone here has come from some other place. The majority of immigrants have come to America voluntarily. Seeking a change they envisioned America as country thriving with different opportunities. For the immigrants it was a chance at a better life, not only for themselves, but for their children. It is estimated that over sixty million people have immigrated to America and it is this immigration that has built America into a "melting pot." America is a country thriving with varies ethnic, cultural, religious, and economic identities. It is this "melting pot" that makes America so unique and cherished by those who live here. On the other hand there are unpleasant aspects of immigration, which include the hardships faced in order to reach America and the struggle to gain acceptance. During 1850 to 1930, immigration was increasing and was welcomed in order to supply the demands of the Industrial Age. Chinese immigrants came to America in search of labor, thus proving to be hard, diligent laborers, only to be discriminated against and treated unjustly.

The reason for immigration is commonly referred to as the push-pull theory. It says that certain factors must be present at both sides in order for immigration to occur. The factors present at the homeland must push immigrants to leave, and factors present at the other end must attract immigrants and pull them to a new place. For the Chinese it was the need to provide for their families that pushed them and the gold and labor that pulled them.

The Chinese were the first Asians to immigrate to America. Most Chinese immigrated as sojourners, immigrants who from the beginning intended to return to their homeland. In the mid 1800's many unskilled Chinese began their journey to the West, particularly California, arriving in vast numbers just after the discovery of gold in California in 1849. Between 1850 to 1882 more than 300,000 Chinese immigrants, mostly impoverished peasants crossed the Pacific and headed for America, the promise land. The majority of Chinese immigrants were from the same region, Canton, which is located in South China. More than...

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...lifications for entry into the America. For instance, in 1917 the Dillingham Commission suggested that immigrants should be literate and that no eastern Asian countries be permitted into the United States, from countries such as China, Japan, and Korea, which were commonly referred to as the "barren zones." Resulting in 1917 was Congress passing a law that required a literacy test for immigrants, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto.

As a result of all these laws, the number of Chinese legally entering the United States fell from 22,781 in 1876 to 10 in 1887. Until 1940, a few thousand Chinese immigrants continued to come to the United States every year, either as immediate relatives of United States citizens, or they immigrated illegally. Some came as traders, who were not excluded from all of the laws. Others came as United States citizens because their Chinese parents had been born in the Unites States.

Though Chinese immigrants were in search of a new beginning and a chance at a better life, they found that it was a lost search. They came to America as diligent hard workers, only to face the prejudices and unjust treatment of the people.