| Abstract |
After mid-19th century, China faced wars and poverty, and the Chinese people couldn't live in peace. During this time, gold mine was found in the Western America and the Central Pacific Railroad was planned to build requiring lots of laborers from foreign countries. When the information was spread to Canton, many Cantonese risked their life crossing the Pacific Ocean to America. They hoped to pursue the American dreams gaining much money and going back to their hometown as soon as possible. Though Chinese came to America with the promise of work, they subsisted on low wage and labored for long and tedious hours under difficult conditions without complaint. In the 1870’s, the nation’s prosperity began to crumble. The mining industry slowed to a crawl. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad put 30,000 men out of work. Migrants to the West in search of small tracts of land for farming were rebuffed and angered by the exorbitant prices charged by the railroad companies. As the economy declined, demagogues arose in the Western States, anxious to galvanize the unrest and near panic of the populace into a political force. The main targets of their attacks were the mining companies, the railroads and the Chinese working men. The difference in color, language, customs and life styles made the Chinese obvious scapegoats. Even their industriousness and resourcefulness, their work habits and no-aggressiveness, so often praised in the past, were now seen as threats to the American working class. The major political parties, both national and local, built into their platforms of the demand that “The Chinese Must Go.” A decade of violence followed. The Chinese were subjected to insults, stoning, bearings, burning, and riots ended in murder, first in California, and then the violence was spread to other states. Finally, the U.S. Congress limited the Chinese workers to entry into American, and then passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This bill broke off Chinese returning to China. Chinese living within the territory of U.S.A. suffered all kinds of discrimination and prejudice for nearly one century. Because different custom and culture, Chinese lived in Chinatown and kept their traditional festival and life in the aspects of food, clothing, living, transportation, and breeding. During 1850s-1890s, American didn’t deal with Chinese; instead, they attacked Chinese and made caricatures or pictures of Chinese in American newspapers and magazines. From this research paper, I would like to figure out an image of Chinese from American’s viewpoint after mid-19th century through caricatures, pictures and photos preserved in the library of U.S. Congress. |
