The Chinese Immigration

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During the early 1850s to late 1990s, the United States experienced an enormous rush of Asian immigration from various countries such as China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. For most of these immigrants, they traveled far and wide on dangerous journeys out at sea and away from their homeland of origin in order to escape the horrors of tyranny, discover wealth during the California gold rush, and create new opportunities of a better life for their families and future descendants. Countless bodies were lost at sea and many more of these immigrants died from starvation and disease. Although these Asian immigrants were overjoyed when they reached the main lands of the United States, their struggles were only beginning as many of them were not met with open arms of acceptance. Instead, most of these Asian immigrants were met with harsh racism, various amounts of mistreatment, and unpleasant living conditions from many Americans. In spite of all these hindrances, most Asian immigrants were able to adapt to their new environment, find occupations despite the undercut wages, and build homes for their families. (something here) . After a while, these Asian immigrants were able to learn English and understand the protocols of the United States judicial system in order to change certain laws which discriminated them. Even though some may group Asians into one large category, the fact of the matter is that there are many distinct ethnic backgrounds with different histories and methodology of persevering through hardships in order to reach the blissful freedom of the United States. The Chinese immigrants were the pioneers out of all the other Asian immigrants that traveled across the Pacific Ocean to reach the United States. Initially at the star... ... middle of paper ... ...an Life. New York: Perennial, 2002. Print. Hing, Bill Ong. Making and Remaking Asian America through Immigration Policy, 1850-1990. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1993. Print. Kil, Sang Hea. "Fearing Yellow, Imagining White: Media Analysis Of The Chinese Exclusion Act Of 1882." Social Identities 18.6 (2012): 663-677. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2014. Schmidt, Ronald. Newcomers, Outsiders, & Insiders: Immigrants and American Racial Politics in the Early Twenty-first Century. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2010. Print. The Library of Congress. "Hawaii: Life in a Plantation Society." Japanese Immigration. The Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. "Chinese Exclusion Laws- Background." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 13 May 2014.

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