Chinese Immigration

1. Highlights n Chinese Exclusion Act n Supreme Court on citizenship n Prohibition on immigration extended n California miscegenation laws n San Francisco Earthquake destroys records - increases immigration n Chinese Exclusion act repealed

2. Pictures of Artifacts A wedding certificate

3. Arrival and Processing n Ellis Island -East Coast n Angel Island -West Coast –Between 1910 and 1940, there were as many as 175,000 Chinese immigrants –Bathed with carbolic soap –Clothes and bags disinfected by steam –Barracks fumigated with sulfur dioxide –14 day waiting period

3. Arrival and Processing n Paper Sons and Paper Daughters –Grueling interrogations Minute details - a genuine applicant Memorized months in advance Witnesses needed to agree Deviations would prolong questioning Weeks to several months to years if appealed

3. Arrival and Processing Immigration Station, circa Administration building in left foreground, Hospital in left background, Detention Barracks in mid-center, Julia Morgan-designed employee cottages at back, Perimeter Road on right.

3. Arrival and Processing Disrobing before the leering eyes of strangers or being probed and measured by metal calipers was frightening.

4. Immigration Graph

5. Settlement n Settled in Western United States –California –Washington –Idaho n Railroad workers n Miners n Laundries

5. Settlement n Mining –Mined claims after white man left n Transcontinental railroad –Good hard workers (12,000 out of 13,500) n Laundry –Low cost to get started & profitable n Restaraunts –Fed miners who couldnt cook

6. Famous Chinese-Americans n Gary Locke - Governor or Washington n Maya Lin - Vietnam War Memorial sculptor n Bruce Lee - Actor n I.M. Pei - Architect n Amy Tan - Novelist n Michelle Kwan - Ice Skater

7. Treatment n Exclusion Act of Suspended immigration for 10 years -Couldnt bring family in -Barred from naturalization n Left with what white man didn't want n Barred from marriage to other races n Not allowed to own land

7. Treatment n Why they were not treated well –Shortage of jobs –Worked for less –Concentrated populations –Prejudice 1/3 miners came from southern states Easier to spot

8. Interview "When I first came,Chinese treated worse than dog. Oh, it was terrible, terrible. At that time all Chinese have queue (pigtail) and dress same as in China. The hoodlums, roughnecks and young boys pull your queue, slap your face, throw all kind of vegetables and rotten eggs at you." Andrew Kan in 1924

8. Interview I work on four-mou land [less than one acre, a larger than average holding] year in and year out, from dawn to dusk, but after taxes and providing for your own needs, I make $20 a year. You make that much in one day. No matter how much it cost to get there, or how hard the work is, America is still better than this." -A Chinese farmer

9. Push Factors n Opium War ( ) –Opium War - peasants taxed heavily –Floods and Crop failures - possible famine n Taiping Rebellion ( ) –20 to 30 million died from war and famine n Chinese-Japanese war (1894-5) –Lost control of Korea to Japan

9. Pull Factors n –Gold Rush in California n –Work on the Intercontinental Railroad

10. Three Interesting Facts n Introduced new foods and customs –Firecrackers –Chow Mein n Diet was better than other groups n Could not testify in courts

11. Local Connections n Spokane Chinese Association, SCC Asian Club and Gonzaga University Chinese Students and Scholars Association –Info: ; ; or Spokane Chinese Baptist Church –2326 E. Queen Avenue