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Gold Mountain, Chinese Gold Rush
First major wave of immigration. Chinese workers wanted to escape famine and civil war in their country and be able to send money to their families. -
Transcontinental Railroad
Hired because they earned lower-paying wages than American workers, and for enduring difficult and dangerous work tasks, Chinese immigrants were mostly responsible for laying out the Transcontinental Railroad which was accomplished in 1868. Along the way, men began providing other services, including laundry, makeshift restaurants and providing care for children. -
Anti-Chinese Violence
After the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Chinese immigrants became targets of segregation and violence in large cities like Los Angeles. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
Chinese immigrants were denied entry to the US after the Act had been passed by Congress, calming the anti-Chinese fervor. Citizenship was denied to Chinese already in the US, freezing the Chinese population already in place in 1882. -
The Geary Act
A kind of extension to the Chinese Exclusion Act that required that Chinese laborers wanting to travel to China and come back to have proof of residence in the US and to carry along with them identifications papers. -
San Francisco Earthquake and Paper Sons
The earthquake provoked fires that destroyed immigration records and gave way for chinese immigrants to bring in some more. Those were able to claim they were born in the US, making them able to bring in their sons from China and giving existence to what we know today as "paper sons". -
Immigration Act
The act excluded all Chinese classes from immigration. From this period up to WWII, 90% of all Chinese immigrants came from China's Guangdong Province. -
Act to Repeal the Chinese Exclusion Acts
After China joined the Allied Powers, Roosevelt signed this act, also known as the Magnuson Act. It also created an annual quota of 105 visas/year to Chinese immigrants -
The Immigration and Nationality Act (or the McCarran-Walters Act)
Preferences for entry became skills and family reunification. -
Human Rights Restoration Act of 1996
A law is passed which allows asylum to people who are forced abortion or sterilization in their home countries.
