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Nina Laudon Whipple AP US History February 2, 2013 Rhetoric of Chinese Immigrants

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Chinese immigrants were as much a part of building the American west as the iconic cowboy in their work on the railroads and in the gold mines. Drawn to the United States by the promise of gold in a time of rebellion and famine, the first wave of Chinese immigrants were skilled tradesmen and craftsmen well known for their strong work ethic (Joe). This group of immigrants was treated fairly well as they contributed to the development of American society. However, when a larger group of unskilled laborers emigrated, tensions grew. While many Chinese took jobs as miners, they were often driven out by violence as hostile racial prejudices escalated (Chao). The Chinese population in America was heavily male, as the immigrants were largely laborers intending to send money back to their family and someday be reunited. Following the decade of gold discovery, many Chinese took jobs that Americans considered too dirty or beneath them, such as working on the railroad. Approximately nine-tenths of the workers on the western leg of the Central Pacific Railroad were Chinese, and they were frequently given the most dangerous jobs (Chao). The Chinese were a source of readily available cheap labor that many Americans felt were taking jobs away from the citizens (Joe). Discrimination lead to repressive legislation and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 stopped Chinese immigration for ten years: the first instance of a single race being targeted and denied entry to the United States.

Laudon Authors such as Sing Kum, Norman Asing, and Saum Song Bo embodied the voices of

Chinese-Americans at the turn of the 20th century, arguing that they had been mistreated despite their attempts to adopt American culture. Kum, Asing, and Bo supported their argument by summarizing the virtuous nature of Chinese immigrants as well as discussing the inequalities they faced. Their purpose was to end discrimination for the Chinese in the United States in order to better their own lives and the future generations of immigrants. Kum, Asing, and Bo wrote in an indignant, wounded, and yet pleading tone to American politicians who had the power to influence the prejudices inflicted upon Chinese-Americans. Chinese culture is largely dependent on virtuous actions and honorable conduct, something that they retained in their emigration into the United States. Kum tells her story as a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. These circumstances corrupted her to gamble, lie, and steal, but she found salvation in Gods help (Kum). In an allusion to the Bible Kum recalls straight is the gate and in this call to Christianity, she grounds herself in righteousness. Bo discusses how he has fallen in love with American manners and ideas in his Protest Against the Statue of Liberty. Here the syntactical structure of the sentence demonstrates the importance of manners over ideas in their order of importance. This reflects the value of virtue over the progression of industry. Asings use of alliteration to describe the Chinese image as peculiarly peaceable creates harsh sounds that foster ideas of contempt at the gentle nature of the Chinese. Such mistreatments were entirely unjust as the Chinese immigrants of the 20th century worked hard to earn a place in American society. The Chinese in America were often subject to prejudice and abuse though they did not deserve such harsh inequalities. A deciding factor in how people were treated in America was

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largely due to the aristocracy of skin that placed European races higher in society than those a little more tanned (Asing). Though Asing wishes to deny this inferiority determined by society, in the argument we are as muchas you are yourself there is a line drawn between white Americans and the Chinese people, continuing their separation opposed to an attempt for unity. In a series of rhetorical questions, Bo decries the restraints placed on the Chinese in that they are not privy to the joys of liberty that men of all other nationalities enjoy. In a country built on immigrants, it was the Chinese who were singled out, assaulted and insulted on the west coast, due to being a powerful labor force (Bo). Some were not even given the power to protest. Chinese society is a patriarchal society, and so when young Sing Kum was pushed into prostitution, she was no more than chattel. The words my father sold me objectify her life as something another can own and toss about as they please (Kum). For some, America was doubly abusive, both from the home and from the public. Chinese immigrants largely retained their culture through the creation of enclaves known today as Chinatowns. These neighborhoods were a refuge for the discrimination many Chinese faced in America as well as a way to practice the traditional values and customs observed in their homeland. The Chinese greatly contributed to the development of America in the face of startling adversity.

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Works Cited Asing, Norman. To His Excellency Governor Bigler (1852). Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present. Ed. Judy Yung, Gordon H. Chang, H. Mark Lai. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. 10-12. Print.

Bo, Saum Song. Letter. The American Missionary October 1885: Vol 39. Issue 10. Print.

Chao, Adam, and Dan Spencer. "Immigration: The Chinese." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2013. <http://library.thinkquest.org/20619/Chinese.html>.

Chinese Women Walking at Angel Island With Umbrellas. California State Parks, State Museum Research Center. 1925. [Online version, http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/ poets/a_f/angel/gallery.htm, January 4, 2013.]

Group Portrait of Chinese Children in San Franciscos Chinatown. California State Parks, State Museum Research Center. 1925. [Online version, http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/ poets/a_f/angel/gallery.htm, January 4, 2013.]

Joe, Elaine. "American Communities Built on Multiculturalism." The Story of Chinatown 17 (Fall 1995): 4. Chinatown Resource Guide. PBS. Web. 03 Feb. 2013. <http:// www.pbs.org/kqed/chinatown/resourceguide/story.html>.

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Kum, Sing. Letter by a Chinese Girl (1876). Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present. Ed. Judy Yung, Gordon H. Chang, H. Mark Lai. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. 15-16. Print.

Labor Union Flyer; Records of the U.S. Circuit Courts, Record Group 21; National Archives and Records Administration [online version available through the Archival Research Catalog (ARC identifier 298113) at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/chinese-boycott/; January 4, 2013].

The Chinese Exclusion Act Handbill. British Columbia Archives (Neg. # PDP 03732). Print.

Three Chinese Women in Traditional Clothing at Angel Island. California State Parks, State Museum Research Center. 1925. [Online version, http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/ poets/a_f/angel/gallery.htm, January 4, 2013.]