Chinese Immigrants

In today’s American society diversity extends throughout every community. No matter what part of the country you go to, many ethnicities surround. Most every person today has a relative who came to America many years ago; America is a nation built of immigrants. In the 1800’s many different groups of Immigrants came to America seeking, “The American Dream.” One of these groups was the Chinese. The Chinese immigrants came to America for multiple reasons. Although coming with hope, most faced many hardships when they arrived.

The Chinese came to America, the majority being during the 19th century, with hopes of finding gold in California and living “The American Dream.” The Chinese called California “Gold Mountain” as it was during the time of the Gold Rush. However, the gold rush was not the only reason that the Chinese came to America. After losing the first Opium war China had to give up its trade protectionism and to concede land settlements to the victorious foreign powers. With economic collapse, natural disasters and further foreign imperial expansion the situation in China deteriorated quickly by events in result of the Second Opium War and the Taiping rebellion which led to more than twenty million deaths. The continued poverty and destruction drove many millions to settle in Southeast Asia. Also, many Chinese families sent boys to America for schooling. Also, some Chinese came to America as wealthy businessmen, restaurant owners, hotel managers, and skillful artisans. These Chinese immigrants were accepted at first because they weren’t looked at as a threat to others’ jobs yet. However, this positive view of Chinese immigrants did not last long.

As more Chinese immigrants entered America many settled, previous immigrants felt that the Chinese were stealing jobs that belonged to them. The Chinese were often feared and resented for their willingness to work long hours and accept little pay. The Chinese were also feared because of their appearance, strange languages, and unfamiliar customs. By 1851 more than 25,000 Chinese immigrants were working in America in the gold rush region. As these immigrants worked longer and harder they became more and more resented. It was reported that in 1862 alone more than eighty-eight Chinese immigrants were murdered. The majority of Chinese migrants were peasants, farmers, and craftsmen. They were young men, who were usually married, whom left their wives and children behind since they only had the intention of staying in America temporarily. In 1852, the ratio of males to females was 1,685:1. Due to the lack of Chinese women in the United Stated at that time, a number of single Chinese men intermarried with Americans of European descent, bringing more people into the Chinese culture. The Chinese quickly became a target of many hate crimes and were habitually tortured.

Leaving China was illegal at the time and any attempt to do so was punishable by death. As the power of the Qing dynasty declined departure was still banned, however was not enforced. To avoid as much trouble as possible, many Chinese left from the British colony of Hong Kong. More seldom they left from the Portuguese colony of Macau. The transpacific