Opium Wars In China In The 1800's

In the 1800’s China was at the major world power in economy. However, the power of the Qing dynasty declined during the Opium Wars. This left China as weak nation compared to the United States and other European countries. The Opium Wars resulted in widespread opium addiction in China. A population explosion led to a labor surplus and a without the necessary food production to keep it afloat. This was made worse by several famines. To try to stabilize, the peasants were given high taxation levels. This fuelled peasant unrest and rebellion throughout the 1800's and soon China became engulfed in civil war. As a result the Chinese began to head to America. The Chinese went to California specifically in 1850 for the same reason many Americans

The Chinese were socially discriminated. The Exclusion Act, although it was a legal act, had restricted social improvement for the Chinese. The Exclusion Act froze the Chinese community in place in 1882, and prevented it from growing in United States. Later, the 1924 Immigration Act would enforce this idea even further, excluding all classes of Chinese immigrants and extending restrictions to other Asian immigrant groups. Chinese immigrants were forced to live a life apart, and to build a their own societies. Thus the Chinatowns were born. These Chinatowns were a second home for Chinese immigrants. They were full of shops with familiar food and traditional temples for worship. It also was a good place to do business: The shops and factories in a Chinatown were mostly Chinese-owned and these businesses would hire Chinese workers when many non-Chinese businesses would not. However, these societies were generally unsanitary, controlled by gangs, and full of opium dens. Some Chinatowns were rather large, which made them cramped as well. Locke was a Chinatown in California that was full of issues. It was controlled by the Tong, as many Chinatowns were, and it had many gambling houses and other illegal activities. Locke was viewed as one of the lowest Chinatowns to live in. In addition, many Chinese were beaten just because of their race and some were even lynched. It was looked down upon for a Chinese to marry a white. Thus, many

Legally the Chinese were not without problems. In the 1870s and 1880s various laws were taken against the Chinese. These laws were to stop immigration from China. The Naturalization Act of 1870 gave citizenship rights to African Americans, but excluded Chinese from naturalization. The Chinese were unable to become citizens meaning that they were prohibited from voting and serving on juries. States passed dozens of alien land laws that prohibited non-citizens from purchasing real land, which prevented them from establishing permanent homes and businesses. The Chinese Exclusion Act was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in U.S. The act excluded Chinese skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining from entering the country. Any Chinese that entered illegally faced the penalty of imprisonment and deportation. Many Chinese were relentlessly beaten just because of their race. The Chinese non-laborers who wished to come to the United States had to obtain certification from the Chinese government that they were qualified to immigrate, which proved to be