International Context of Asian Migration

Question 1

1850-1934

Answer 1

• 1M Asians came to US and Hawaii
• came in waves
• Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Asian Indian, Filipino
• also 1M from Latin America and 35M from Europe

Question 2

Macrofactors

Answer 2

• placement of Asian Americans in society, societal structures, institutions, politics, economics
• forces that produce migrations

Question 3

Microfactors

Answer 3

• individual factors in migration
• perspective of individual Asians
• intertwined w/ macrofactors

Question 4

Push Factors

Answer 4

• government persecution
• poor economic opportunities/instability
• war
• unequal treaties
• history of migration in cultures
• political instability/persecution/social movements
• disease
• famine/natural disasters

Question 5

Pull Factors

Answer 5

• international prestige (coming to US bolsters prestige of other countries)
• Gold Rush
• economic opportunities
• recruitment
• education

Question 6

International Context

Answer 6

• Asian immigration part of “expansion of Europe” process
• imperialism that US joined as part of manifest destiny
• labor needs made Europe and US turn to nonwhite populations

Question 7

Imperialism

Answer 7

• policy, practice, advocacy of extending power and dominion of nation, especially by direct territorial acquisitions or indirect control over political or economic life of other areas
• unequal treaties

Question 8

Global Capitalism and Imperialism

Answer 8

• the two factors that set off push and pull factors in Asian immigration
• takeover of another nation or territory
• appropriation of material resources
• exploitation of labor
• interference/control over political and social structures
• conquest and control over other people’s lands and goods

Question 9

Western Imperialism and Global Capitalism

Answer 9

• from Columbus in 15th C to pinnacle from 1850-1924
• created global system of dependent relations dominated by W Eur
• 84% of land was colonized, mostly by W Eur
• globalization and contact between diverse communities, different countries, etc. culminated in this period and W Eur’s power in imperialism
• alters global power and changes home countries –> sparks migration

Question 10

Before 1850

Answer 10

• Filipino settlements in Louisiana in 1760s (before Revolutionary War)
• Roman Catholic Church allowed division of land between Spain and Portugal
• Columbus found America while trying to find Asia
• Chinese wealth key in building up US strength through merchants
• Hu Kwa, richest man in China, gave Forbes capital to build up railroads
• Chinese laborers = “coolie”

Question 11

World Systems Perspective

Answer 11

• core, periphery, and semi-periphery countries in world system
• 1850s: W Eur is core, US is periphery
• Asian immigration moved US from periphery to core
  -imperialism and industrialization –> core countries
• core countries become core countries because of imperialism over periphery countries
• creates uneven spheres of core and periphery that are interdependent
• sets into motion push/pull factors and labor migratrions

Question 12

White Man’s Burden

Answer 12

• imperialism as ideology
• white man’s burden is to bring civilization to other countries
• written by Rudyard Kipling to justify conquest of the Philippines

Question 13

“East is East and West is West and ne’er the twain shall meet”

Answer 13

• Manifest Destiny
• comes back to Orientalism notion

Question 14

Macro Perspective of Migration

Answer 14

• structural forces
• economic, societal forces
• larger picture, but doesn’t account for individual choices

Question 15

Micro Perspective of Migration

Answer 15

• human agency
• individual choices, but don’t get larger picture

Question 16

Opium War (1839-1840)

Answer 16

• trade balance btwn W and China favored China bcs China got paid in bullion rather than goods for their tea
• GB got opium from India and traded that for tea w/ China
• caused addiction in Chinese, greater debt, social havoc
• Commissioner Lin destroyed opium crates in Canton
• GB sends naval force in retaliation (beginnings of imperialism in China)

Question 17

Treaty of Nanjing

Answer 17

• ended Opium War
• 5 ports opened to uneven W trade w/ GB
• Hong Kong ceded to GB until 1987
• 1/3 annual income of Chinese treasury paid to GB as war reparations
• extraterritoriality of GB: made GB immune to Chinese laws and allowed them to dominate
• “carving Chinese melons” into spheres of influence where different nations had access to different ports on the coast because of unequal treaties
• not formally colonizing China, but China still powerless
• other unequal treaties made later

Question 18

Results for China

Answer 18

• distorts domestic economy in China, as they’re forced to buy imported cotton, industrialization is inhibited, and rural people unemployed because indigenous industries are dying
• taxes to pay for war reparations caused discontent and loss of lands
• rebellions caused by social unrest and dissatisfaction (Taiping Rebellion and Red Turban rebels)
• Ching Dynasty falling apart, weakening government
• natural disasters dislocate many people
• CA Gold Rush pulls people looking for economic stability

Question 19

Guangdong Province

Answer 19

• focal point in China for migrations
• particularly impacted by famine, floods, unequal treaties
• Canton important port for trading networks (infrastructure for labor recruitment)

Question 20

Opening of Japan

Answer 20

• Commodore Matthew Perry, US imperialist
• Japan used to be “shogun” - isolated from W and outside of world
• Perry used gunboat diplomacy to force Japan to sign unequal treaties

Question 21

Meiji Restoration (1868)

Answer 21

• response to unequal treaties
• Japan adopted W tech and industrialization/modernization
• sought to acquire power and international prestige of W to compete and keep up with them
• Japan begins its own imperialist endeavors to fuel economic growth
• Japan colonizes Korea and becomes early imperialist power recognized on world stage by W in early 20th C

Question 22

Results in Japan

Answer 22

• imperialism produced dislocations –> emigration forces from Japan
• land taxes placed burden on farmers, who lost their land
• deflationary policies to bring down prices made farmers earn less money and produced more dislocations
• military conscription of males 17-40 yo to build up military might
• conscription deferred by getting W education in US and coming back with that knowledge to perform in Meiji reform programs
• immigrants from SW provinces of Japan (taxes hit them hard, near trading ports where recruiters would take individuals)

Question 23

Chosun/Yi Dynasty (1392-1910) - Korea

Answer 23

• was beginning to fall apart due to factionalism in gov’t
• Japan able to make aggressive moves into Korea
• Japan seeking outside sources of food and raw material for its growth

Question 24

Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)

Answer 24

• China seen as middle kingdom and Japan and Korea seen as tributes/little brothers
• Japan takes on China, beats them, and reorders power in East Asia
• Japan becomes Asian superpower

Question 25

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Answer 25

• had to do with dominance over Korea
• first time non-white nation engages in war with a Western white nation
• Japan defeats Russia
• world realizes Japan is force to be reckoned with

Question 26

Korea as Japanese Colony

Answer 26

• 1910: Korea fully annexed into Japan
• Korea agrarian nation like Japan
• Japan takes over lands as their Empire’s property –> people are dispossessed from lands
• people came from Korea to US from diverse geographical and economic backgrounds, most political refugees from Japanese colonial rule

Question 27

Christian Missionaries in Korea

Answer 27

• most successful in Korea (more than in China and Japan)
• situated in Pyongyang
• missionaries often plantation owners of sugar plantations in HI
• 40% of the emigrants to HI were recent converts due to American Protestant missionaries
• Koreans sought educational opportunities and religious freedom
• missionaries made Christianity attractive and a sign of hope for the future for Koreans

Question 28

India as a British Colony

Answer 28

• GB colony in 1857
• Punjab was one of the last areas to be annexed in 1849
• 99% of Indians coming to the US were from Punjab
• GB instituted land reforms and instituted capitalist and commercial agriculture
• cash economy changed landowning
• small landowners displaced Indians from land (they taxed the land higher)
• Punjab hit by severe famine, crop shortages, and natural disasters in late 19th C
• Sikhs have strong military traditions, so they served in the British military
• fought in Opium War; stationed in Hong Kong afterwards
• from there, they went to British Columbia in Canada, and then on to the US
• 99% immigrants were males; drawn to Canadian railroad companies

Question 29

Philippines

Answer 29

• last group to come
• subject to Spanish, then US colonialism
• 1521: Spain colonizes them
• Spain takes richest agricultural land in this agrarian country and takes cash crops to sell abroad for Spain
• less land for staple crops like rice, which had to be imported into the Philippines

Question 30

1898 Spanish-American and Philippine-American wars

Answer 30

• made US imperial force in Philippines
• wars devastated Philippines
• US arrival continued economic displacement and cash crop policies

Question 31

Ilocos Province

Answer 31

• most emigrants came from Ilocos province in NW Philippines
• smallest area landwise, but most densely populated
• traded w/ China from here
• land not suitable for cash crop growth
• becomes economic backwater/least developed region of Philippines
• people move from - most emigrants came from Ilocos province in NW Philippines
• smallest area landwise, but most densely populated
• traded w/ China from here
• land not suitable for cash crop growth
• becomes economic backwater/least developed region of Philippines to HI and US

Question 32

US Nationals Status

Answer 32

• Filipinos held category as US nationals
• had US passports, but weren’t US citizens
• could bypass immigration restrictions on groups that came before them because they’re ambiguous
• had to wait before coming because of restrictions on groups before them
• primarily labor migrations to HI and US

Question 33

US Colonial Policies in Philippines

Answer 33

• US instituted free public education system in Philippines that inculcated American values into the population (freedom, democracy, English classes
• this was done to win hearts and minds of Filipino people
• Filipinos then sought to continue education in America (like Carlos Bulosan)

Question 34

Benevolent Assimilation

Answer 34

• Filipinos perceived as unready for democracy
• US there on temporary basis to ready Filipinos for self-rule
• had to Americanize Filipinos to bring them closer to civilization

Question 35

Revolving Door Migration

Answer 35

• replacement of groups in waves
• Chinese Exclusion Act, Gentlemen’s Agreement, Immigration Act target different ethnic groups and have different effects on them
• 1965 Immigration Act comes out of CRM and causes racial exclusions to immigration law to be largely removed