The Chinese had immigrated to many places, but perhaps the most well known is California. The Chinese immigration to California was a period of discrimination, conflict, and compromise because the Chinese found hard-to-find gold with smart technologies, got good jobs for low pay, and had better ways to mine for gold. They were more diligent than the other miners, so they were blamed for almost everything that went wrong with the mining machines and mining. The Chinese couldn't testify in courts and whose murders were not taken seriously by the Americans and courts. They had their tools broken up, had their houses burnt up, and were taunted and stoned. Chinese laborers were forced to leave or be beaten up and imprisoned. However, they became war allies with the U.S. in World War I and World War II.
When the Chinese Exclusion Act was first passed in 1882, it cause a lot of conflict, and the Chinese boycotted all American goods and culture, such as American ways of living, to force the Americans to repeal it, but it didn't work. In fact, it made Americans more active in making sure the Act was obeyed (Chinese Immigration and Chinese Exclusion Acts). The Americans were angry with the Chinese because the Chinese were finding gold at places where Americans had given up on. All Chinese miners were banned from all of California: San Francisco, Sacramento, and the mining fields (Chinese Exclusion Act). To stay in or enter California, you needed a certificate to prove that you were not Chinese if you had a Chinese-looking face (Chinese Exclusion Act). Because of all of the laws in the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Geary Act, very few foreigners could stay in or enter California (Chinese Exclusion Act). The Geary Act extended the Chinese Exclusion Act after it expired in 1892. It was made permanent in 1902 (Chinese Exclusion Act). If a master of a vessel or ship violated any of the laws, he would have his ship seized and confiscated (Chinese Exclusion Act). The master of the ship or vessel would be fined $1000 if he let a Chinese person in without permission of the government (Chinese Exclusion Act). A Chinese person that was allowed inside California would have to trade some his goods, or he would have be sent back to China without a single speck of gold (Chinese Exclusion Act). If he tried to enter into California with a false, non-Chinese sounding name or tried to impersonate someone that was not Chinese (and was someone allowed to stay) and he was caught, he would be fined $1000 and imprisoned for not more than five years (Chinese Exclusion Act). A Chinese person causing trouble or murdering any European or American man would be fined and thrown in jail for not more than one year (Chinese Exclusion Act). If he obeyed all the laws in the Act, he might compromise and have a treaty with the Americans and not be punished like the other Chinese unless he murdered or caused trouble (Chinese Exclusion Act).
Even though miners were banned, some Chinese became laundrymen, cooks, and cigar makers, but the Americans still cheated them. After the discrimination started, racist American employers started hiding the Chinese laundrymen's identity and coworkers and customers usually stole bundles of clothing from the Chinese man (Magagini). It caused conflict between the Americans and Chinese.
The Chinese back in China heard stories of “gold mountains” or mountains of gold from newspapers and neighbors (Ketchum 86). On the ship to California, they ate and drank rotten and moldy food, and nearly starved (Ketchum 86). Some people were tricked by Americans into emigrating from China and were chained to and imprisoned on the boat (Ketchum 86). They were beaten if they tried to escape (Ketchum 86). Some desperate Chinese even threw themselves into the Pacific Ocean because they couldn't stand the torture (Ketchum 86). If they even got to the mines, some couldn't even mine or prospect for gold (Chinese Exclusion Act). If the ones who were allowed to prospect for gold struck it rich, they were murdered and had their houses burnt (Ketchum 90). They were forced off of good mines that contained lots of easy-to-get gold (Chinese Exclusion Act). The Chinese miners were also stoned, had their tools broken, their claims jumped, and were taunted by American and European children (Ketchum 90). Racist American union leaders also attacked Chinese miners and laborers for almost no reason except that they were believed to be the cause of depressed wages and the lack of jobs (The Chinese in California). If anybody murdered a Chinese man, Americans acted as if it weren't serious at all (Chinese Exclusion Act). The case would still be put to court, but it was useless. The only defendants would be the Chinese, and because the Chinese were not allowed to testify in court because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, hanging for murdering a Chinese man was impossible (Blake and Daily, 29).
