Friday, July 20, 2007

Chinese Immigration

As we discussed in lecture this week, after the discovery of gold in California, many Chinese men immigrated with dreams of striking it rich and then returning home to their families. However, this was not the case and the most could not even afford to return home. These Chinese immigrants constituted 90 percent of the work force for the railroads. I just thought this was very interesting, because there was no initial conflict between the Americans and the Chinese. For decades now America had been living in a racially/color based hierarchy. They have also been fighting against the Mexicans and Natives for land, and used the idea that they were inferior as a reason for their claim to the land. I do not know if it had anything to do with the fact that they wanted badly to trade with Asia, but I just thought it was very interesting, especially given the recent history, that the US had not problems with the Chinese moving into California. I know there were quotas in place, and maybe there were episodes of racial violence against the Chinese that we did not discuss. It just appears to me that the US only notices race when it is convenient for them.

2 comments:

Monica Bissonnette said...

I also find this very interesting as I did not really think about the fact that there were't any problems with the Chinese at this time

Tai Edwards said...

I think I might have been talking too fast in lecture, but there was definite discrimination against Chinese immigrants to California. Although discrimination might not have been overt or widespread at first, by 1852 the California legislature passed the Foreign Miners Tax Law directed primarily at Chinese miners, to limit them as competition for white miners. By the 1860s, most Chinese miners were forced into other types of wage labor to earn a living.