Our Third Chapter

I just finished reading the latest chapter and I have to say that I'm really liking Takaki so far. Not everything he says I agree with, but the read is enjoyable and he has a readable style, something a few historians could brush up on.

Takaki's point of this chapter is to examine the Chinese role in the industrialization of the United States in the mid to late 1800s. A few key facts stick in my mind. The first is Chinese immigrants were first viewed as "compatriots" when they first arrived in California. Leadership saw the union of both European, American, and Eastern nationalities as important to the success of the nation. It was only till other leaders came into power that anti-racial legislation came into being. The second point is how few Chinese women were present in the earlier "colonization". Men were thrust into a womenless world in which they often felt disheartened because they had left their wives and families behind in China. The Third is how the nations opinion of Chinese changed over the century, from one of curiosity to disdain as "the discovery of unemployment" began to take hold in the quickly industrialized nation. More workers were being flooded into the nation as fewer and fewer jobs were being created to employ them. This, coupled with ingrained racism of American's, did not create a welcome home for most Chinese.

Takaki makes it clear that Chinese immigrants were not like Blacks and European immigrants. He quotes many people representing the Chinese population as being the most educated and morally disciplined of all immigrating and non-white people of the United States. This point is driven home when he quotes white business owners celebrating the virtues of Chinese laborers over any other labor because of their thoroughness and dependability. One was even quoted saying that if there was a choice all workers would be Chinese in his production. I don't think this reflects a racist bias on Takaki's part, but as a contrast to what he says next.

American racism towards "celestials", another name for Chinese and people from eastern Asia, Takaki argues, is greater than that of their racism towards European immigrants, even though the number of Chinese doesn't even break 400,000 total, while European immigrants come flooding in at over 1,000,000 a year. I don't know if these numbers are correct, but it is common knowledge that many more Europeans immigrated to the United States than Chinese during the mid/late 1800s. Basically, the Chinese were treated unfairly and unfairly blamed for the lowering of wages and growing unemployment, when the European immigration was a more obvious threat. This speaks to the inherent prejudice of one against another that looks far different from ones own countenance. Chinese were not allowed to become citzens, they were not allowed to immigrate into the county after 1882, thus excluding many already in the United States from their families. Also, the lack of women immigrants created a sinful need in the male populous, thus the majority of Chinese women in the United States were prostitutes in the California "Chinatowns" of San Francisco and industrialized cities.

At first I felt perturbed by Takaki's universal bias towards Americans of the mid/late 1800s. After reflecting on what he has said and regarding the truths he's recounted as probable exaggerations, the fact is still the same and is hard to deny. Chinese men and women were unfairly subjected to racism and oppression in the United States because of ignorance. If a more cordial relationship, even without "friendship", had been created an even greater prosperity might have been created in the Western states. It is no fairy tale that many Chinese immigrants were respectable workers with skills that were over looked. Escape from our ingrained human prejudices is a flight many cannot make it seems. Reflection on such attitudes and histories can only bring us closer to an understanding, but only if both sides are willing to give.