English version articles
Author：Xin Su Translator: Ella N. Wu My body, my choice, my rights! Ho Ah Kow, an early fighter for civil rights, won a rare lawsuit Queue Ordinance (or Pigtail Ordinance) of the 1870s. It added a touch of brilliance with Chinese imprints to the history of Americans fighting for civil rights. Ho Ah Kow, a …
Historical Record of Chinese Americans | The Case of Ho Ah Kow’s Queue Read More »
On November 4, 1946 (Year 35 of the Republic of China), the Chairman of the National Government of the Republic of China sent Wang Shijie, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, and Wang Huacheng, Director of the Treaty Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, to meet with Leighton Stuart, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of China, and Robert Smyth, Special Commissioner and Consul General of the United States of America at Tianjin. The men met in a conference room on the third floor of the Nanjing National Executive Yuan to sign the Treaty of Friendship, Commence and Navigation between the United States of America and the Republic of China, commonly known as the “Sino-American Treaty of Friendship, Commence and Navigation” or “Sino-American Commerce Treaty“
The so-called “Chinese problem” was a very controversial topic in San Jose society in the mid-19th century. The church burned down because a pastor organized Sunday schools for Chinese children. A German-immigrated landlord was verbally abused and physically threatened for signing contracts with Chinese businessmen. On February 4, 1886, the California Anti-Chinese Annual Conference, led by the former mayor of St. Jose, was held in St. Jose with the theme, “Chinese must get out!” “, what the hell is going on here?
story, but also because the protests invoked by Vincent’s death revealed the power of pan-Asian unity, collective action, and community mobilization.
Author: Zhida Song-James On May 4, 1912, tens of thousands of New Yorkers gathered in the streets of Greenwich Village, and the march for women’s suffrage was about to start. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, a young Chinese woman, was on horseback leading the procession. It was one of the largest gatherings of US women’s political participation. …
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee – Pioneer in the Pursuing the Suffrage Read More »
Fan Jiao The three amendments (Amendments 13, 14, 15) adopted after the American Civil War (1861-1865) to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for black Americans，among which, the 14th amendment established in 1866, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guaranteed that all persons …
The earliest Chinese settlers in St. Louis congregated in an area between Seventh, Eighth, Market and Walnut Streets, which became the Chinatown of St. Louis, known as Hop Alley. Annie Leong managed one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Chinatown. Gradually, the people of Hop Alley called Annie the mayor of Chinatown.
political struggle and corruption in American society had arguably made Chinatown to be a place filled with vices, violence, and bloody battles, which aggravated the plight of the Chinese whose life had deteriorated since the Chinese Exclusion Act. This kind of situation had not seen any improvement until 1921 and after 1931 it finally disappeared.
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first and only law in US, implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. It was signed on May 6, 1882 and repealed on December 17, 1943. The declining economy and high unemployment were politicized for the anti-Chinese movement by Denis Kearney, a labor leader who was himself an immigrant from Ireland. When the Sand Lot rally erupted in San Francisco in 1877, Kearney helped found the Workingmen’s Party of California with a sledgehammer four-word slogan: “The Chinese must go!” Kearney’s attacks against the Chinese for working for cheaper wages were supported by many white Californians. The Workingmen’s Party won almost every elective seat in San Francisco and successfully promoted anti-Chinese sentiment. By 1882 the federal government was finally convinced to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, banning all Chinese immigrant laborers. The Workingmen’s Party of California was gone after the passage of The Chinese Exclusion Act.
World War II closely linked China and the United States together in the international anti-fascist alliance, during which China was portrayed as a friend and ally by the public media in the United States. Many Chinese Americans actively participated in the anti-Japanese propaganda and war. Not only did they survive the harsh domestic political environment of the exclusion period, but their “popular” role in the war also won them respect and sympathy.