The History of Chinese Immigration

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Many cities throughout the United States have a distinct neighborhood known as Chinatown. Chinatowns are ethnic enclaves, which are defined areas in a city with a high concentration of an ethnic group and thus a unique culture set apart from the larger city. To the inhabitants of the city, these ethnic enclaves may exist without much thought of the historical, or modern, reasons for their presence. However it is important to look at the reasons behind their existences and how these areas, like Chinatowns, relate to broader ethnic and race issues in the United States. By examining the history of Chinese immigration as well as some of the reasons why these distinct neighborhoods exist one can better understand modern Chinatowns and their importance in cities across the United States.
It is important to first examine the historical reasons for the growth of ethnic enclaves, particularly Chinatowns, found in numerous cities around the United States. The history of Chinese immigration is deeply tied with the creation of Chinatowns. Chinese immigration to the United States began in the first half of 1800s when “Chinese immigrants fleeing a faltering Qinq Dynasty came to California” (Hathaway, 44). Though the first Chinese immigrants originally planned to return back to their homeland, many of them “stayed on in the United States” and immigration then spread to different parts of the country (Hathaway, 44). As immigration increased and the Chinese population grew, laws began to be enacted in response. The most famous of these laws is the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, which was the first law to put major restrictions and quotas on Chinese immigration. Following the Chinese Exclusion Act, other laws were passed to further restrict immigrati...

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...of Place: Representations of Salinas’ Chinatown.” Oral History Review 37.2 (2010): 225-234

Hathaway, David, and Stephanie Ho. “Small but Resilient: Washington’s Chinatown over the Years” Washington History 15.1 (2003): 42-61

Kanazawa, Mark. “Immigration, Exclusion, and Taxation: Anti-Chinese Legislation in Gold Rush California” The Journal of Economic History 65.3 (2005): 779-805

Lin, Jan. Reconstructing Chinatown. University of Minnesota Press, 1998

Margulis, Harry. “Asian Villages: Downtown Sanctuaries, Immigrant Asian Reception Areas, and Festival Marketplaces.” Journal of Architectural Education 45.3 (1992): 150-160

Yee, Mary. “The Save Chinatown Movement: Surviving Against All Odds.” Pennsylvania Legacies 12.1 (2012): 24-31

Zhou, Min. “Returns on Human Capital in Ethnic Enclaves: New York City’s Chinatown” American Sociological Review 54.4 (1989): 809-820

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