The Chinese in America: A Historical Timeline
19TH CENTURY
1848	(January 24) Gold is discovered in California. John Sutter’s lumber mill is ground zero for the discovery of gold, and soon word of the gold strike spreads throughout the U.S. and around the world. In China, the news coincides with a period of crop failures and floods in the south, and thousands of Chinese men decide to take a chance at striking it rich in America. They arrive in San Francisco, where the first Chinatown is founded, and are accepted at first by the local population as a cheap source of labor. However, attitudes soon change for the worse.
1850–1852	California institutes a foreign miners’ tax. The first version of this law is passed in 1850 after Americans working the gold fields complain that miners from other countries are taking gold from U.S. citizens. Non-citizens are expected to pay $20 a month for a mining license, an overwhelmingly large sum that causes foreign miners to stage protests that quickly turn violent. Within a year the tax is repealed, but in 1852 is reinstated at rate of $3 a month. It remains in place until 1870.
1854	The California Supreme Court rules that Chinese immigrants cannot testify in court against whites. The Chinese working in the gold fields are finding it increasingly difficult to get ahead, as the foreign miner’s tax is consuming as much as 50 percent of what they earn each month. In addition, they are often forced to work deserted claims, as American miners who resent their presence often use violence to force the Chinese out of productive areas. The California Supreme Court’s decision essentially sanctions this violence by making it impossible for Chinese miners to seek redress in a court of law.
1864–1869	The Central Pacific Railroad uses Chinese laborers. As the gold mines begin to run dry, the Central Pacific Railroad hires Chinese immigrants to work on the western leg of America’s first transcontinental rail line. More than 10,000 Chinese are hired, mostly because they are willing to do the difficult work of blasting tunnels, building beds, and laying track for less pay than anyone else.
1868	(July 28) The Burlingame Treaty is signed. An agreement between the U.S. and China that establishes the right to emigrate for citizens of both countries, the Burlingame Treaty also states that immigrants shall be free from religious persecution and enjoy the same privileges, immunities, or exemptions with respect to travel and residence as citizens (without offering naturalization to immigrants in either country). Not surprisingly, the flow of immigrants arriving from China continues to grow.
1870	(July 14) The Naturalization Act passes in the U.S. Congress. This legislation limits U.S. citizenship to white persons and those of African descent, meaning that Asians are excluded from eligibility.
1882	(May 8) President Chester A. Arthur signs the Chinese Exclusion Act. The U.S. economy enters a period of decline in the early 1870s just as more Chinese immigrants arrive after passage of the Burlingame Treaty. Chinese become subject to increasing discrimination and violence—especially on the West Coast—by Americans who believe the immigrants’ willingness to work for low pay is hurting their own ability to earn better wages. Pressure continues to build, until finally Congress passes legislation that prevents Chinese laborers from immigrating for 10 years and specifically bars those already in the U.S. from naturalization.
1888–1892	Congress passes further restrictions on Chinese immigrants. The Chinese Exclusion Act effectively freezes the Chinese immigrant population. Most current Chinese immigrants are men hoping to save enough money to bring over wives and families, and the new restrictions prevent them from assimilating any further into American society. Nevertheless, they are still subject to continuing harassment and violence from U.S. citizens. Congress creates further limits with the Scott Act in 1888, which prevents any Chinese immigrants who left the U.S. from returning, and the Geary Act in 1892, which extends the Exclusion Act for 10 more years.
20TH CENTURY
1904–1905	(November) American labor leader Gompers denounces Asians. At the annual convention of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in San Francisco, AFL founder Samuel Gompers convinces the rank and file that Japanese, Korean, and Chinese men are not worthy of membership. The Asiatic Exclusion League is created the next year by San Francisco labor unions to push for limitations on immigration of Asian workers.
1906	(April 18) San Francisco’s earthquake brings Chinese "paper sons" to the U.S. Fires from the quake destroy much of the city, including City Hall and the Hall of Records—with all of the information on local inhabitants. In the confusion, many Chinese say they were born in the U.S. and claim citizenship. After acquiring new paperwork, they are then entitled to claim citizenship for their families in China. Sometimes these claims are for nonexistent children, and are sold so other Chinese with no family members in the U.S. can emigrate. These "paper sons" are then free to immigrate.
1924	(May 26) The Immigration Act passes in Congress. Included with this legislation is the Asian Exclusion Act, which not only prohibits virtually all immigration from Asia, but more specifically bars all classes of Chinese immigrants not already part of the 1882 Exclusion Act. As a result, the Chinese population in the country increasingly relies upon itself to forge a better life. Chinatowns in major U.S. cities provide social support networks, and district associations perform many of the functions that government agencies or charities would otherwise fulfill.
1943	(December 17) The Magnuson Act repeals the Exclusion laws. Japan’s brutal invasion of China in 1937 leads some Americans to a more sympathetic view of Chinese immigrants. This transformation continues after Japan attacks the U.S. at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and Chinese-Americans immediately begin registering for the draft. Many are still not U.S. citizens due to the 1882 Exclusion Act, but the Magnuson Act changes that situation by lifting restrictions on naturalization. It also reopens the path to immigration, although a limit is set of just 105 Chinese per year.
1945–1946	New legislation brings more Chinese women to America. Congress enacts the War Brides Act in 1945, and follows it with the Fiancée Act of 1946. These new laws allow Chinese-American veterans to bring their wives or fiancées to the U.S. after the end of World War II. As a result, as many as 6,000 Chinese women come to America in the years immediately following the war.
1949	(October 1) The People’s Republic of China is established. China’s civil war ends with a Communist Party victory and the defeated Chinese nationalists fleeing to Taiwan. Shortly thereafter, the United States breaks diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China and gives refugee status to 5,000 highly educated Chinese in the U.S.
1959	Delbert Wong becomes the first Chinese-American judge in the continental United States.Appointed by California Governor Pat Brown to the Los Angeles County Municipal Court bench in 1959, Wong eventually wins election to the Superior Court of California, where he serves for more than 20 years. His milestone appointment caps a decade-long period of assimilation for Chinese-Americans, who are helped by their military experience in World War II and greater access to college through the G.I. Bill.
1965	(October 3) The Immigration and Nationality Act becomes law. This repeals the national origins quotas that have been the basis for regulating immigration to the U.S. since the 1924 Immigration Act. As many as 20,000 people may now apply to come to the U.S. each year from every independent nation—including Taiwan. Over the next decade, Chinese immigration surges, almost doubling the Chinese-American population.
1972	(February) Richard Nixon goes to China. President Nixon spends a total of eight days in Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing, where he meets with Mao Zedong and other leaders of the People’s Republic of China. This unexpected rapprochement leads to a resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the PRC on January 1, 1979. Immigration from mainland China increases, and many families who have been split apart for decades are finally reunited.
1980–2010	Undocumented Chinese flow into the U.S. For many years Fujan province in China supplies a steady stream of illegal immigration into New York. These Chinese immigrants have little education and are essentially indentured servants, often working for years to pay off the person who provides them passage to the U.S. After their debts are paid, the money they earn gets sent back to their families in China. In recent years, the number of immigrants has decreased as economic conditions in Fujan have improved.
1989	(April–June) Tiananmen Square protests end in violence. The Chinese government cracks down on anti-government protesters in Tiananmen Square, who mostly count students and "intellectuals" among their ranks. There has been concern in China for most of the previous decade about a "brain drain" of graduate students who don’t return home after finishing their overseas studies.
1992	(October 9) President Bush signs the Chinese Student Protection Act. This replaces the temporary executive order issued by the President George H.W. Bush that grants permanent residency to all Chinese nationals who are in the U.S. on or before April 11, 1990. The new legislation’s stated purpose is to prevent political persecution of Chinese students in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square violence.
21ST CENTURY
1990s–2000s	Americans reach out to Chinese orphans and abandoned children. Beginning in the late 1970s, the Chinese government enforces a rigid policy of population control (one child per urban couple) to help with social, economic, and environmental problems in the country. Chinese culture has traditionally preferred sons over daughters, and couples seeking a son often give up their daughters for adoption. Starting in the early 1990s, Americans reach out to these children, and from 1995 to 2005 more than 60,000 children are adopted. The numbers have dropped since, as China has begun to ease its one-child policy.