Chinese Americans

“ Such a condition would be deplorable in itself, but in addition it must be understood that just as we Americans derive our chief impression of the Chinese nation from the Chinese quarters in Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, so the Chinese in their home form their impression of Americans from the American communities in the Orient, in which the daughters of shame are most in evidence. ”

“ Although the educational work of the Americans in China is on the whole admirable, nothing directed by foreigners can adequately satisfy the needs of the country. The Chinese have a civilization and a national temperament in many ways superior to those of white men. A few Europeans ultimately discover this, but Americans never do. They remain always missionaries—not of Christianity, though they often think that is what they are preaching, but of Americanism. What is Americanism? ”

“ The right to shut out the Chinese coolies is not questioned; but if these be debarred, why not debar the illiterate and unskilled laboring class that comes from Ireland, Italy, and Austria-Hungary? The Chinese certainly can fill a place in our industries which the other races do not fill equally well. Their presence in the kitchen would tend to alleviate domestic conditions that are responsible in large measure for the breaking up of American home life. It is a ludicrous error to suppose that all the Chinese who come to America are laundrymen at home. ”

“ True, the Chinese had encouraged American activities in China. They had looked upon them as a safeguard to their own national life. Since they were conducted in a fair spirit and without political afterthought, the Chinese did hope and expect as a minimum that Americans would stand by their guns and not let themselves be excluded by political intrigue or other means from their share in the development and activities of China. ”

“ They do not assimilate with the Americans. Many are common laborers, laundrymen, and small merchants. In New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities there are large settlements of them. In San Francisco many have acquired wealth. The Chinese quarter is to all intents and purposes a Chinese city. None of these people, or very few, are Americanized in the sense of taking an active part in the government; Americans do not permit it. I was told that the Chinese were among the best citizens, the percentage of criminals being very small. ”

“ Americans have not sought territorial advantage in China and on more than one occasion, our Government has exerted its influence in favour of peace and justice for the sorely beset Celestials.
The flag of the United States first appeared in Chinese waters on a trading ship in 1785. From the beginning, Americans had less trouble with the Chinese than Europeans had experienced, partly because they had recently been at war with the English whom the Chinese hated and feared, and partly because they were less violently aggressive in dealing with the Chinese. ”

“ There are twenty times as many Chinese in America as there are Americans in China, and we give to China as much in trade advantage as we receive from her, not to speak of the money which Americans voluntarily contribute to extend education and religion in the Celestial empire. ”

“ People in China are not asking that their coolies be allowed entrance into the States, but they only ask that the Americans cease treating the Chinese with contempt and allow their merchants and students the same privileges that other foreigners receive. ”

“ Americans who have been in China, missionaries, doctors, teachers, officials, and businessmen, have a good record. So the way to friendship is all paved for you. Added to this is the fact that we are allies—a fact in which the Chinese take pride. The first thing you should learn to say in China is “I am an American.” It is the best passport you can have.
THE CHINESE PEOPLE ARE LIKE AMERICANS
OF ALL the peoples of Asia, the Chinese are most like Americans. Those who know both peoples often remark at the likenesses. ”

“ The sufferings and indignities they now underwent were extreme; nor did their assertion, that they were Americans, prove of much service to them, for they were told that, in that case, they "ought to speak a different language, and wear a different dress."
It is very certain, however, that the Chinese generally at Canton know perfectly well the difference between an American and an Englishman, politically. But, on the other hand, when an Englishman gets into trouble there, he most commonly declares himself to be an American; and how could the Chinese prove that he is not so? ”

“ The universal knowledge that America has no political aims in China, of itself gives Americans the confidence of the Chinese and predisposes the latter to favour intimate coöperation. Our policy is known to be constructive and not to imply insidious dangers to their national life. It would be discouraging to the Chinese, should Americans fail to take a prominent part in the development of Chinese resources. ”

“ The United States Government does not allow the Chinese to vote, yet tens of thousands of poor Americans, "white trash" in the South, ignorant negroes, low Irish and Italians who can not speak the tongue, are welcome and courted by both parties. It is difficult for me to overlook this insult on the part of America. There is a large settlement of Chinese in New York, but they are as isolated as if they were in China. In San Francisco there is the largest settlement, and many fine merchants live there, and also in Los Angeles. ”

“ Americans are apt to think of themselves as China's best friends and the facts stated show that there is some ground for the claim. But before we exalt ourselves overmuch, we might profitably read the correspondence between the Chinese Ministers at Washington and our Secretaries of State regarding the outrages upon Chinese in the United States. Many Chinese have suffered from mob violence in San Francisco and Tacoma and other Pacific Coast cities almost as sorely as Americans have suffered in China. ”

“ Japan will harp on the color question first, last, and all the time. She will tell the Chinese what she has been telling them ever since Pearl Harbor—that Americans look down on nonwhite peoples and that the Chinese can never hope to be treated on terms of equality by America. "Why fight for the white man?" Japan dins into Chinese ears.
To counteract this propaganda you have to show the Chinese that Americans treat the Chinese as we treat any of our allies, and that we respect them as human beings on an equality with ourselves. ”

“ Asiatic Immigration.—Utterly distinct from all other immigrants in the nineteenth century are the Chinese. Coming from a civilization already ancient when Europe was barbarian, the Chinaman complacently refuses to assimilate with Americans, and the latter reciprocate by denying him the right of citizenship. His residence is temporary, he comes without his family, and he accumulates what to him is a fortune for his declining years in China. The gold discoveries of California first attracted him, and the largest migration was 40,000 in 1882, the year when Congress prohibited further incoming. ”

“ It is the desire of this Government to maintain its relations of friendship with the part of Chinese people and Chinese officials not concerned in outrages on Americans. Among these we consider Li Hung Chang, just appointed viceroy of Chili. You will to the extent of your power aid the Government of China, or any part thereof, in repressing such outrages and in rescuing Americans, and in protecting American citizens and interests, and wherever Chinese Government fails to render such protection you will do all in your power to supply it. ”

“ I expect to see, if the Americans are successful in the Far East, China compelled to be orderly so as to afford a field for foreign commerce and industry; a government which the West will consider good substituted for the present go-as-you-please anarchy; a gradually increasing flow of wealth from China to the investing countries, the chief of which is America; the development of a sweated proletariat; the spread of Christianity; the substitution of the American civilization for the Chinese ”

“ And I think their thought is as capable of enriching our culture as their commerce of enriching our pockets.
In the Treaty Ports, Europeans and Americans live in their own quarters, with streets well paved and lighted, houses in European style, and shops full of American and English goods. There is generally also a Chinese part of the town, with narrow streets, gaily decorated shops, and the rich mixture of smells characteristic of China. Often one passes through a gate, suddenly, from one to the other ”

“ Since the Japanese war and the recent easy march of the allied forces to Peking, the tendency has been to decry and scout the danger. But it is scarcely an exaggeration, in presence of its history and attainments, to assert that no nation or race of ancient or modern times has stronger claim than the Chinese to be called a great people. The fact that the United States has been compelled to violate its early traditions and much vaunted principles in the exclusion of the Chinese from competition with its own people is a high testimony to their race capacity and endurance. ”

“ Considering that the Chinese have a civilization of their own, and that their modes of thoughts, ideas, and habits are, in many respects, different from those of the western people, it is not surprising that frictions and disputes have occasionally occurred and that even foreign wars have been waged between China and the Occident, but it is gratifying to observe that no force has ever been resorted to against China by the United States of America. ”

“ Gentlemen, these things have been put into laws and organized before people of influence, and their animus spent itself in that infamous legislation in Congress which abrogated a treaty without consultation and flew in the face of a hundred years of precedents.
What is the fact? Why, the fact is that Chinamen are human beings. They are honest human beings as the rule goes. The word of a Chinese merchant in California is taken everywhere. They are industrious and frugal. ”

“ Some ingenious lawyers had devised a scheme by which any young Chinaman on payment of a couple of hundred dollars could procure a father which father would swear the young Chinaman was born in America—thus proving him to be an American citizen with the 186right to breathe United States air. And the Chinese themselves, assisted by some white men, were manufacturing certificates establishing their right to cross the border, and in that way were crossing over in large batches. ”

“ We must also sympathize with the Whites in Kenya Colony in their opposition to a filling of their country with cheap Hindu labor. As Americans we can understand the Negro and recognize his cheerful qualities, but we can have little sympathy with the Hindu whom we have expressly barred from our Pacific Coast. These Hindus, with the Chinese, have ruined the native races of many of the Polynesian Islands. They have been for ages in contact with the highest civilizations, but have failed to benefit by such contact, either physically, intellectually, or morally. ”

“ At any rate, as soon as Chinese immigration changes its character so as to form permanent settlements upon American soil, one consequence is certain: the Chinaman, transplanting himself permanently from his own home to this country, will soon cease to be a Chinaman; he will be obliged to identify himself with the interests of this country, to accommodate himself to the requirements of our civilization. ”

“ At the same time the Legislature of California appointed a special committee to investigate the subject and prepare a memorial to Congress. It was issued August, 1877, as an "Address to the people of the United States, upon the social, moral and political effect of Chinese immigration." This address contains evidence to prove that "the Chinaman is a factor hostile to the prosperity, the progress and the civilization of the American people." ”

“ Even the funny-looking, be-cued little Chinese children wear a look of solemn inquisitiveness, as they toddle along the streets of San Francisco by the side of their queer-looking mothers. In his own land, overpopulated and misgoverned, the Chinaman has a hard fight for existence. In these United States his advent is regarded somewhat in the same spirit as that of the seventeen year locusts, or the cotton-worm. The history of a people may be read in their physiognomy. The monotony of Chinese life during these thousands of years is reflected in the dull, monotonous faces of Chinamen. ”

“ When we take into consideration the further fact that the typical white man, the world over, acts as if he were a lord of creation, and treats Asiatics with more or less condescension as if they were his inferiors, we can understand the very natural resentment of the Chinese, who have just as much pride of race as we have, and who indeed consider themselves the most highly civilized people in the world. ”

“ They are, it is true, a very conservative race; slow to change, and ardently attached to their native land; but if it were otherwise, I submit whether the courtesies they have received are of the sort which would specially incline them to fall in love with our country or ourselves. The Chinese can be Americanized ”