Transcript PP European views of Asians, Chinese Immigration

European Orientalism
• The starting point of Asian American history
according to historian Gary Okihiro was the
entry of Asians into the Western historical
consciousness
• “The when and where of the Asian American
experience can be found within the European
imagination and contruction of Asians and
Asia”
• Westerners wrote and spoke about and for
the East without allowing the East to speak for
itself
• Europe provided their description of Asia or
the “Orient” and because of this they always
portrayed themselves superior than “other”
civilizations
• Asia was described by Europeans as romantic,
exotic, terrifying, and disgusting, but always
otherwordly
• Early Western articulations of the differences
between Europe and Asia can be traced back
to ancient Greece with Alexander the Great
• Medieval writers also contributed to the
notion of the East-West divide
• The Travels of Sir John Manderville (1356)
• Asian women were also described in an awful
manner
• Religion – more specifically Europeans
perception of the difference between
Christian & non-Christian
Ideology & Power
• Travel narratives, diaries, encyclopedias, and
scholarly texts became basis for the Western
ideas about the “Orient”
• These ideas legitimized Western ambitions to
dominate & appropriate Asia, administratively,
economically, and militarily
• Accuracy and thoroughness about Asia was a
secondary concern for Europeans
Orientalism in America
• Europeans were influential in Americans view
about Asia and Asians
• The “discovery” and conquest of the Americas
were also bound up with Orientalist
projections
• Perception of Asia during the American
Revolution
• Europeans and Americans enjoyed Chinese
luxury goods
• Having access to writings about the Orient, by
way of European travelers, some of the
founding fathers became interested in
Confucianism
• After its formation as a nation, the United
States sought to establish trade with China
• The American India Company established U.S.
trade with China
• Trade amongst the U.S. and China was at
many times strained which opened the door
for racial prejudices
Slavery & Coolies
• The question of slavery in the South during
the 1850-60s & the presence of Asians in the
Americas
• “Coolie” referred to imported Asian contract
laborers, mostly from China and South Asia
• Between 1838 & 1870 over 500,000 Chinese &
South Asian men were shipped to labor in the
Caribbean & South America
• The anti-coolie bill of the 1860s
• Manifest Destiny
Chinese Immigration
• Chinese immigrants were the first Asians to
come to the United States in significant
numbers
• Cantonese from Guangdong’s Pearl River
delta region made up the primary group of
immigrants
• Between 1840 & 1900, 2.5 million Chinese left
for the Americas
• Pull Factors for migrating to the West
• California Gold Rush
Passed in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was a climax to more than thirty years of
progressive racism. Anti-Chinese sentiment had existed ever since the great migration
from China during the gold rush, where white miners and prospectors imposed taxes and
laws to inhibit the Chinese from success. Racial tensions increased as more and more
Chinese emigrated, occupied jobs, and created competition on the job market. By 1882
the Chinese were hated enough to be banned from immigrating; the Chinese Exclusion
Act, initially only a ten year policy, was extended indefinitely, and made permanent in
1902. The Chinese resented the idea that they were being discriminated against, but for
the most part they remained quiet. In 1943, China was an important ally of the United
States against Japan, so the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed
Images of
Chinese
Immigrants
in the 19th
century
"Be Just - Even to John Chinaman," 1893. A judge says to Miss Columbia, "You
allowed that boy to come into your school, it would be inhuman to throw him out now it will be sufficient in the future to keep his brothers out." Note the ironing board and
opium pipe carried by the Chinese. An Irish American holds up a slate with the slogan
"Kick the Heathen Out; He's Got No Vote."
The one unmixable element in the
national pot was the Irish. A female
U.S. figure, ("Uncle Samantha"?)
stirs various stereotypes of different
nationalities into the American
melting pot, in "The Mortar of
Assimilation," 1889
The shadows of immigrant origins loom
over restrictions American plutocrats.
Hypocrisy over immigration.
Why do you think these men, who had
been poor immigrants themselves, would
want to stop this man from entering the
country?
"Welcome to All!" Uncle Sam welcomes
immigrants of all nationalities as clouds of war
approach, 1880
Japanese Immigration
• The boom of the Hawaiian sugar industry in
the 1870s and 1880s attracted Japanese
immigrants
• Closely supervised by the Japanese
government
• Japanese workers were mainly concentrated
in agricultural jobs
• The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907: Japan
agreed to end Japanese immigration to the
U.S.
Japanese immigrants during the 19th and early 20th
century