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Chinese immigration to the United States has come in many waves. Like all the American immigration experiences, the Chinese immigration has seen both hardship and success. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

1800 to 1950

The first Chinese arrived in the United States around 1820. Subsequent immigrants that came from the 1820s up to the late 1840s were mainly men. In 1852, the ratio of Chinese males to females in California was 1,685:1.^[1] Due to the lack of Chinese women in the United States at that time, a number of men intermarried with Americans of European descent. However, the majority of male immigrants lived as bachelors. 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

The first major immigration wave started around the 1850s. The West Coast of North America was being rapidly colonized during the California Gold Rush, while southern China suffered from severe political and economic instability due to the weakness of the Qing Dynasty government, internal rebellions such as the Taiping Rebellion, and external pressures such as the Opium Wars. As a result, many Chinese emigrated from the poor Toisanese- and Cantonese-speaking area in Guangdong province to the United States in order to work. The Chinese population rose from 2,716 in 1851 to 63,000 by 1871. 77% were located in California, with the rest scattered across the West, the South, and New England.^[1] Those in California tried their hand at mining for gold. Eventually, protest rose from white miners to eliminate the growing competition from foreign miners. From 1852 to 1870 (when the Civil Rights Act was passed), the California legislature enforced a series of taxes aimed at foreign miners who were not U.S. citizens. Given that the Chinese were ineligible for citizenship at that time and constituted the largest percentage of the non-white population, the tax revenue was generated almost exclusively by them.^[1] Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began in January 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutters Mill. ... The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun; Mongolian: Манж Чин), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1644 to 1912. ... Combatants Qing Empire Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Commanders Xianfeng Emperor, Tongzhi Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi Hong Xiuquan The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was perhaps the bloodiest civil war in human history, a clash between the forces of the Qing Empire in China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic... The Opium Wars (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), or the Anglo-Chinese Wars were two wars fought in the mid-1800s that were the climax of a long dispute between China and Britain. ... Toisanese or the Taishan dialect (台山話 Toisanese: Hoi4 saan6 wa1, Cantonese: toi4 saan1 wa6), or Seiyap (四邑), is a Chinese dialect (or group of very similar dialects) spoken in and around Taishan, in Guangdong province. ... This article is on all of the Yue dialects. ... Guangdong, often spelt as Kwangtung, is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Several United States laws have been called the Civil Rights Act: Civil Rights Act of 1866 aimed to buttress Civil Rights Laws to protect freedmen and to grant full citizenship to those born on U.S. soil except Indians. ...

After the gold rush wound down in the 1860s, the majority of the work force found jobs in the railroad industry. For the Central Pacific Railroad, hiring Chinese as opposed to whites kept labor costs down by 1/3, since the company would not pay their board or lodging. This type of steep wage inequality was commonplace at the time. ^[1] Laborers used to enduring poor living conditions in their homeland were willing to sign up for prepaid long-term labor contracts to work in the U.S. Many gave the sum of money to their family and did not expect to be able to return home alive.^{[citation needed]} Chinese labor was integral to the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. After that project was completed, many workers relocated and looked for employment elsewhere, such as in farming, manufacturing firms, garment industries, and paper mills. However, widespread anti-Chinese discrimination and violence from whites, including riots and murders, drove many into self-employment. This is the top-level page of WikiProject trains Rail tracks Rail transport refers to the land transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads. ... The Gov. ... The ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10, 1869. ... International Paper Companys Kraft paper mill in Georgetown, South Carolina. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Across the country, Chinese immigrants clustered in Chinatowns. The largest population was in San Francisco. Some estimated over half of these early immigrants were from Taishan.^{[citation needed]} The flow of immigration (encouraged by the Burlingame Treaty of 1868) was stopped by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act outlawed all Chinese immigration to the United States and denied citizenship to those already settled in the country. Renewed in 1892 and extended indefinitely in 1902, the Chinese population declined until the act was repealed in 1943.^[1] Official discrimination extended to the highest levels of the U.S. government: in 1888, U.S. President Grover Cleveland, who supported the Chinese Exclusion Act, proclaimed the Chinese "an element ignorant of our constitution and laws, impossible of assimilation with our people and dangerous to our peace and welfare." For other uses, see Chinatown (disambiguation). ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Taishan (台山; Mandarin: Táishān; Cantonese: Toisan; Taishan dialect: Hoisan, Other: Toishan, Toisaan) is a coastal county-level city in Guangdong Province, China. ... The Burlingame Treaty, between the United States and China, amended the Treaty of Tientsin and established formal friendly relations between the two countries, with the United States granting China Most Favored Nation status. ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law passed on May 6, 1882, following 1880 revisions to the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. ... Year 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ... Citizenship is membership in a political community (originally a city or town but now usually a country) and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was the 22nd (1885–1889) and 24th (1893–1897) President of the United States, and the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms. ...

Many Western states also enacted discriminatory laws which made it difficult for Chinese and Japanese immigrants to own land and find work. These laws were not overturned until the 1950s, at the dawn of the modern American civil rights movement. Martin Luther King is perhaps most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom This article is about the civil rights movement following the Brown v. ...

1950 to present

With the passage of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, and later the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965, a second wave of Chinese immigration began. There was an increase in immigration of professionals from Mainland China, which began to allow for emigration in 1977. This group of Chinese tended to cluster in suburban areas and to avoid urban Chinatowns and speak fluent Mandarin in addition to their native dialects. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952 (Also known as the McCarran-Walter Act) restricted immigration into the U.S. and is codified under Title 8 of the United States Code. ... President Johnson signs bill at Liberty Island, New York October 3, 1965 The Immigration and Naturalization Services Act of 1965 (also known as the Hart-Celler Act or the INS Act of 1965) abolished the national-origin quotas that had been in place in the United States since the Immigration...

A third wave of recent immigrants consisted of undocumented aliens, chiefly from Fujian province who went to the United States in search of lower-status manual jobs. These aliens tend to concentrate in urban areas such as New York City and there is often very little contact between these Chinese and higher-educated professionals. While most speak some Mandarin, they mostly use Min, which, although somewhat close but not mutually intelligible to Taiwanese or Min Nan, does not generally produce much affinity with Taiwanese Americans. The amount of immigration from this group has begun to decrease as the economic situation in Fujian improves. Typically, an immigrant from Fujian will pay a snakehead several tens of thousands of dollars to be transported to the United States, as well as room and board. The funds for the trip are provided by the immigrant's family and village. The immigrant will usually work for three years, the first two to pay off the debt and the third as profit.   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area... Mandarin (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally speech of officials), or Beifanghua (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally Northern Dialect(s)), is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. ... Min (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; POJ: Bân hong-giân; BUC: Mìng huŏng-ngiòng) is a general term for a group of dialects of the Chinese language spoken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as well as by migrants from this province in Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou... Taiwanese (pe̍h-oÄ“-jÄ«: Tâi-oân-oÄ“ or Tâi-gí; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: TáiyÇ”, Táiwānhuà) is a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken by about 70% of Taiwans population. ... A Taiwanese American is an American of Taiwanese ancestry. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Snakeheads (Chinese: 蛇頭 shé tóu) are Chinese gangs which smuggle people to other countries. ...

Ethnic Chinese immigration to the United States since 1965 has been aided by the fact that the United States maintains separate quotas for Mainland China and Hong Kong. Absent from the list of Chinese Americans are immigrants from Hong Kong, who because of immigration law, tended to immigrate to Canada. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions...

In the 1980s, there was widespread concern by the PRC over a brain drain as graduate students were not returning to the PRC. This exodus worsened after the Tiananmen protests of 1989. The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ... For the Chinese civilization, see China. ... A brain drain or human capital flight is an emigration of trained and talented individuals (human capital) to other nations or jurisdictions, due to conflicts, lack of opportunity, or health hazards where they are living. ... The Unknown Rebel — This famous photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener, depicts a lone protester who single-handedly halted the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour. ...

Many immigrants from the PRC benefited from the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 which granted permanent residency status to immigrants from the PRC. One unintended side effect of the law was that the primary beneficiaries of the law were undocumented Fujianese immigrants, who unlike the Chinese graduate students would have had no chance to gain permanent residency through normal means. The Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (CSPA) was a bill sponsored by U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) which granted permanent residency to all Chinese nationals who arrived in the United States on or before April 11, 1990. ...

Notes

See also

• Chinese American
• Asian American Immigration History
• Immigration to the United States