GEOG 301 Spring 2013 Chinese Migration: Then & Now Introduction My name is Henry Chao and I am a citizen

of the United States, a proud one I may add. Though I have been a citizen for many years now, I am still very much proud of my native Taiwan where I was born. In order for my parents and I to even have the possibility to immigrate to the United States, we need to look back at history and those who came before us as they paved the way for a life with a better chance for equality. During the 19th century, there was a huge wave of Chinese immigration to the United States; a first of roughly four waves of Chinese immigration into the United States. The Chinese immigration into the United States can be best explained by the Neo-Classical theory of immigration. The Neo-Classical Theory best associates with the first wave of Chinese immigration which we will be discussing further; the Neo-Classical Theory is based largely on economics and states that migration of workers across international boundaries is determined by differential employment opportunities and wage rates between the origin and destination countries. During the mid to late 1800s the Chinese began to emigrate from China to the United States due to heavy taxation, corruption, and oppression by the Qing Dynasty; besides the aforementioned, the pressures of population increases, lack of food, and natural disasters pushed the Chinese to the United States. Most of the early immigrants who arrived in the United States were young males; and for the most part arrived and settled in the West, California in particular. With a high influx of young Chinese males, the United States would recruit them for labor towards economic growth. Manual labor that included working in mines, railway construction,

farming, and fishing. The Chinese workforce in the United States had grown to about 10 percent of the total population and of the labor force in California. The Chinese had provided cheap labor and began to cause intense job competition between themselves and the white European Americans. Racial ideology and economic competition began to trigger animosity towards the Chinese which eventually led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. For my research, I will introduce you to the first wave of Chinese migrants into the United States of the late 1800s and the struggles they came upon. I will discuss the Exclusion Act of 1882 as well as its repeal in 1943. I will compare the Chinese of the past to the Chinese of in the present day United States. I would like to show how the Neo-Classical Theory of migration still exists amongst the Chinese and how there may even be a slight hint of reverse migration back into China and Taiwan due to economic shortfalls in the United States currently. In discussing my research further, I would like to present to you several abstracts on migration related articles. The articles Ive chose to discuss are Migration, Chinese Americans: Community Formation in Time and Space, and Why Chinese immigrants choose America. Each of these articles play a valid role in my research and brings us a little closer to the theory as to why the Chinese migrated to America and why they still continue to migrate to America in present day. In order for us to understand migration and the different theories and concepts which Castle brings to our attention, we need to first define it. Migration comes from the word migrate which according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online Edition means, to move from one country, place, or locality to another. Migration

The first article, Migration by Stephen Castles is an important article to read as it gives us and overview of the many different theories of migration, various historical global migrations, and types of migrants which existed. To quickly sum things up, Stephen Castles article as its title states is about migration; mainly the different theories of migration, the reason why migration is so important is because, as Stephen Castle mentions, Migration has become a major factor in social change. Migration, according to Castle is a concept with no single correct definition and should instead be defined with specifications in both space and time of the phenomenon. Castles article may present multiple theories of migration, however, as we re-read the article it is my opinion that he emphasizes on one theory in particular; the migration systems theory. Though the theories such as the neoclassical economic, human capital, dual labor market, and historical-structuralist are presented, it is the migration systems theory which stands out and stands to be most important in Castles eyes. Out of all the theories presented before it, the migration systems theory is a new approach in migration; it suggests that migratory movements generally arise from the existence of prior links between sending and receiving countries based on colonization, political influence, trade, investment, or cultural ties. The migration systems theory emphasizes on the interactions of macro and micro structures; structures which include factors such as global markets, migration laws and policies of sending and receiving countries, informal social networks, migratory chains, to name a few. These interactions are pertinent to the Chinese migration movement as global economics and international relations play a huge role. The neoclassical economic theory is what interests me in this article as I feel that it directly relates to the reasoning as to why the Chinese migrated to the United States. The neoclassical economic theory is an economic approach pertaining to labor migration. As stated in

the article, Research shows that migration decision making is often a family and community process; in situations of rapid change, a family may decide that one or more members should migrate, in order to minimize risk and maximize family income and survival chances. This theory ties to the Chinese immigration to the United States in the 1800s during the Gold Rush era which we will discuss in further detail later. Migration is an important introductory article to the subject itself and Castles has done just that, in explaining the processes and theories to us. I believe that Castles is not only trying to introduce us to migration, but he is also trying to portray and show the complexity of this topic. Castles is trying to reach out to his audience and enlighten us to be open-minded when thinking about migration, as once again I must reiterate that there is no single correct definition and that there are many faces to migration. Chinese Americans: Community Formation in Time and Space The second article is Chinese Americans: Community Formation in Time and Space by Wei Li. This article serves as a wonderful complement to the Castles article, as well as to my research. Wei Li discusses the history of the Chinese migration and its four stages of immigration. Settlement patterns, globalization, and contemporary Chinese American communities are also discussed. In present day, there are over 2.4 million Chinese Americans populated in the United States, and they are the largest ethnic-Asian group in the country. As stated in the article, This group merits close examination not only because they are the earliest and largest Asian group in the nation, but also their experiences reflect our nations immigration history and population diversity. Chinese Americans are important to the immigration history because they are the first single group of people who were prohibited from immigration to the United States solely based

upon their race and class. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to curb such Chinese immigration. This act was effective until 1943 and eventually transitioned into the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, allowing for a return in Chinese immigration to the United States. Wei Li discusses the history of Chinese immigration from open immigration to exclusion, and from World War II to present. To begin, Wei Li discusses the first stage of immigration; the first stage-immigrants consisted mainly of farmers and laborers with little capital and education. These immigrants first began arriving in the United States in 1850 and mostly settled on the West Coast, California in particular. Wei Li would explicitly state, This first stage of immigration is explained by Neo-Classical Theory in that the differences in income-earning opportunities between origin and destination countries were substantial. This first stage of immigration came from the Pearl River Delta in Southern China, and due to the fact that they were willing to work for low wages, they became sought after by employers in the United States. These Chinese were often faced with racial hostility and used as scapegoats to the economic recessions which would occur in the United States. Laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act had to be put in place to prevent further Chinese from entering, and a total of fifteen exclusionary laws which restricted immigration from China to the United States had to be enforced. Similar to black people after slavery was abolished and they were free people, the Chinese took to new jobs and businesses in order to adapt to the ever-present hostile environment. Chinese Americans would soon create small businesses such as laundries, groceries, and restaurants. They would also move to communities where other Chinese were present, areas which would be known as Chinatowns. Chinatowns in a sense, acted as safe havens for the Chinese community, and became sanctuaries for Chinese immigrants who faced prejudice and violence, along with exclusion from the mainstream society and deportation (Li

216). Some Chinese immigrants migrated from the West Coast to the East Coast altogether, in order to keep a low profile and be sheltered further from the racial hostilities from white people; this is quite similar to the blacks moving from the south to the north. Lis article is basically an introduction of Chinese immigration to the United States. The article gives us good depth on the subjects history; it also provides us with statistics on employment-based immigration for China as well as different settlement patterns. I believe Lis main point in this article is to present to the audience that despite the fact that the Chinese had an early presence in the United States immigration scene, Chinese Americans are in fact still often considered as the Other, and in part this distrust is tempered by the nature of political relationships between the United States and China, and despite the popular majority-population perception of Chinese Americans as the model majority (230). Why Chinese immigrants choose America The third article to be discussed is Why Chinese immigrants choose America by Benjamin Carlson. The main focus of Carlsons article is on the subject of education. It appears that many citizens of China are now migrating to the United States not for economic reasons held in the past, but instead for the purpose of getting an education. Even though the United States ranking in education has been lagging in recent years, many Chinese feel that the United States system is better than that of their own. I believe Carlsons article touches up on the neoclassical theory indirectly, instead of the purpose of economics; we are substituting the focus of economic decisions with that of educational decisions. Chinese Immigration to the United States in the 1800s

The fourth and final article I wanted to share with you is actually a student handout provided by the Teachers Curriculum Institute; this article is titled Chinese Immigration to the United States in the 1800s. This article is important in my research because it gives me a more in depth explanation about Chinese migration. We learn from this article that the Chinese traveled east across the Pacific Ocean to the United States in the early 1850s for the very same reason many Americans migrated out west, that reason being the promise of gold in the Californian mountains. An interesting fact about the Chinese is that there is evidence that early Chinese explorers may have in fact visited North America far before Christopher Columbus ever did and as such, they knew enough about California to have drawn a map of the coast. Chinese immigrants, particularly the Chinese miners, faced a lot of animosity from white miners as white miners resented the competition and violence and harassment began to arise. Even the California governor, John Bigler had declared the Chinese a danger to the welfare of the state and such a statement caused the California legislature to pass a special that took over half of the Chinese miners wages. Continuously harassed by the whites, the Chinese had to either retreat home or to the safety of San Franciscos growing Chinatown. In July 1862, Congress had passed the Pacific Railroad Act, giving two large railroad companies approval to construct and operate a railroad that would reach from coast to coast. The owner of one of the companies, Central Pacific, unable to procure white workers began to instead recruit Chinese laborers willing to submit to the harsh conditions of railroad construction. The Chinese at this time were able to work from start to finish; however, once the railroad was completed in 1869, these same Chinese workers were once again unemployed and unwelcomed. Many ended up returning to China while others brought their families to California.

Moving forward to the 1870s, the U.S. economy began to fall and as the recession deepened, Chinese immigrants were once again in the spotlight; blamed for taking whites jobs. The Chinese began to face legal harassment and were treated as the African Americans of the South were treated. In 1882, legal harassments went as far as to have Congress pass the Chinese Exclusion Act which was designed to prevent immigration from China. Again, this is the first law to ever be passed in the United States to exclude immigrants from a specific ethic group. This Act would be lifted in 1943, allowing Chinese people from all backgrounds to immigrate to the United States. This article is very important because it gives us a look at the hardships which Chinese Americans endured and also shows how strong they were in history and how strong they have become in present day. Typically in our history class we learn about black history and white history in the United States, but rarely do we ever hear about the difficulties in which Chinese Americans have had to endure. Even though it is never mentioned in the article, this article proves to be of great representation of the neoclassical economic theory as it discusses economic opportunities for migration in two instances. Analysis Though it is rarely represented in U.S. history, the Chinese were and continue to be one of the biggest influences in the history of the United States as well as its economy; evidence of such influence dates back all the way to the Gold Rush era and the construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad of the 1800s. With regards to the Transcontinental Railroad of the 1800s, this railroad was a major point in Americas history as it allowed trade and travel previously unavailable between the western and eastern coasts and in turn improved the United States economy greatly.

The 1800s presented a time and opportunity for the Chinese to migrate to the United States in an effort to earn money for the purpose of either building a life in the United States or to return to China in the future. China during this period of time was economically weak and would be unable to offer the amount of job opportunities and wages as America would be able to. Though, the opportunities in America were quite laborious, they were still sought after by the Chinese immigrants. In present day America, we have once again hit an economic downfall, job opportunities now appear to be scarce and the United States is in tremendous debt in recent years. However, economic downturn is not strictly restricted to the United States; the global economy is at risk as a whole. The Chinese continue to migrate to the United States; why would they do so you may ask? Well, the Chinese continue to migrate to the United States not so much for labor, but instead for its educational system. Even though, students in the United States have been struggling recently, and the U.S. is ranked poorly globally amongst other major nations, their educational system is still considered top notch according to the Chinese. The U.S. education systems fault isnt so much their lessons, but instead it lies in students test taking ability; test taking is something the Chinese are accustomed to and trained for. In being able to learn with more open-minded concepts and ideologies, something different than Chinas more controlled and communist ideologies, the Chinese are able to better grasp the information needed to succeed globally in heightened time of globalization. A case of reverse migration back to China has also been present as Chinas economy appears more stable than that of the U.S. and more businesses and opportunities are turning up in China. The Neo-Classical theory as mentioned earlier is based largely on economics and states that migration of workers across international boundaries is determined by differential

employment opportunities and wage rates between the origin and destination countries. This relates well to the opportunities of the 1800s we just described, however, this is not the case anymore, the Neo-Classical theory in turn has evolved into much more. It is no longer just based largely on economics, but it should now be looked upon to be based on opportunity whether it be economical, educational, or some other facet of opportunity. Is this theory the best when describing the Chinese migration to the United States however? Lets analyze a few other migration theories to see what roles they may have played in Chinese migration. Migration Systems Theory Many would like to believe that the migration systems theory pertains to the Chinese migration to the United States, however, this theory involves two components in its process; it requires a receiving country and a supplying country. What this means is that each country is linked to one another due to a certain relationship, lets use for example a colonial relationship between the United States and China. You may be asking yourself the question now, A colonial relationship, but the U.S. and China does not have one? You are correct; this is not a case similar to that between the U.S. and England, China does not share such a relationship with the U.S. and as such this theory would not apply to their migration. Besides this fact, it should also be taken into account that the U.S. created exclusionary laws which sought to actively prohibit any form of immigration from China and as such, the U.S. at this juncture in history had no desire in having some form of a mutual migration system with China. Dual Labor Market Theory According to Castle, the dual labor market theory focuses on structural demand for lowskilled labor in developed economies (Castles 567). The theory is segmented into two factors, with migration being seen as either demand-driven or supply-driven. The dual labor market

theory can be applied to Chinese migration in the early 1800s as many of the Chinese migrants were considered cheap and unskilled, however, I believe this idea changes as early as when the railroad was being constructed. Though, the Chinese were still considered cheap labor, the construction of the railroad did in fact require skilled workers and as such the dual labor market theory does not apply. Moving to present day, it is an afterthought as the Chinese immigrants have moved even further away from such a theory. Historical-Structuralist Theory The historical-structuralist theory is known to be based upon the Marxist concept of an unequal balance between both economic and political power amongst different countries. Under this form of theory, there comes an economic imbalance between countries which causes weakened labor movements, leading to the wealthier and developed countries to amass more wealth and power, while the underdeveloped countries become weaker and poorer. This theory in turn, does not appear to apply to the Chinese migration movement in any way. Conclusion The purpose of this research paper was to discover how the Neo-Classical Theory of migration still exists amongst the Chinese and how there is even a slight reverse migration presently. Based upon my analysis of the different migration theories as well as support from the articles chosen, it is evidenced and concluded that Chinese immigration continues to be represented through the Neo-Classical Theory. As mentioned in Castles article, migration is seen as being caused by differences in supply of and demand for labor in different places. People tend to move from countries where wages are low and labor is plentiful relative to capital to those where the opposite is the case, this represents the purpose of the neoclassical economic theory and supports Chinese migration to the United States as China during the 1800s had more

people than jobs available at wages much lower than that of the United States. Though it can be argued that Chinese migration could be noted as being represented by the migration systems theory, ultimately, it was for reasons of labor that the Chinese first migrated. Migratory movement was not caused by macro or micro structures related to the migrations systems theory. Based upon events which occurred in history as well as through personal accounts, the neoclassical economic theory stands true as to why the Chinese migrated. When I ask my father why he immigrated to the United States during the early 1980s, his explanation to me was to build a better life for our family. My father is living proof that the neoclassical theory exists in the present, that he immigrated to the United States to earn better wages and that there are indeed better job opportunities here. Also based upon recent statistics from websites such as the Migration Information Source and news articles, it appears that the Chinese have surpassed the Spanish immigrants in migration. The Migration Information Source has great supporting information documenting Chinese immigrants obtaining their bachelor degrees as well as providing recent statistics of ongoing migration presently. On the other front, with regards to reverse migration, there has been evidence that Chinese immigrants are reportedly leaving the U.S. to return home as the American Dream is Dead. In receiving an American education, and with recent economic woes in America, many Chinese immigrants are returning home for what they believe is a better quality of life. Their home countries are offering higher skilled workers, better wages and benefits to return home and work; this could spell trouble for America, but that is another discussion all in itself. This gives reason to believe that even at the root of reverse migration, the neoclassical economic theory comes into play.

In closing, through the research conducted for this project, as well as all the articles mentioned and listed in the works cited; the United States will forever share its history with Chinese immigrants. The theory behind the root of Chinese migration will always first and foremost be the neoclassical economic theory, and whether the Chinese choose to continue to migrate to the United States or return home, this is the theory which sparks their movement.

Works Cited Castles, Stephen. Migration Carlson, Benjamin. Why Chinese Immigrants Choose America. Globalpost.com. N.p., 21 Dec.

2012. Web. 1 May 2013. <http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asiapacific/china/121220/chinese-immigrants-america-united-states-schoolseducation>.

Chinese Immigration to the United States in the 1800s. N.p., Web. 1 May 2013. <http://teacherweb.com/CA/SanRamonValleyHighSchool/EchoHamilton/Chines
e-Immigration.pdf>.

Li, Wei. Chinese Americans: Community Formation in Time and Space. Contemporary Ethnic Geographies in America. Ed. Ines Miyares and Christopher Airriess. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007. 213-232. Print. Migration Information Source China: An Emerging Destination for Economic Migration. The Migration Information Source. N.p., May 2011. Web. 1 May 2013. <http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=838>. Migration Information Source Chinese Immigrants in the United States. The Migration Information Source. N.p., May 2010. Web. 1 May 2013. <http://www.migrationinformation.org/usfocus/display.cfm?ID=781>.