ASAP PRESENTATION ETHNIC STUDIES: INTRODUCTION TO CHINESE AMERICAN HISTORY AND EXPERIENCES The Flushing International High School

W HEN DO YOU THINK THE FIRST ASIAN CAME TO THIS COUNTRY ?

Western interest in the East (Orient) 16 th Century China & India with well developed economies – export all around the world Columbus sent in search for trade route to India, Cathay (China) Wealth to be developed through trade, not industrialization Spices, Porcelain (China), Wooden Furniture, Embroidered fabrics, Trade goods, Commodities & TEA 18 th Century Boston Tea Party But China had little demand for Western goods

O PIUM W ARS British Smuggled Opium into China from India – Americans 2 nd only to British (Perkins, Delano) Beginning of 19 th Century – Epidemic in China Lin Zexu – Confiscated more than 2 million lbs of Western Opium Lost Opium Wars, (Treaty of Nanjing) Forced to Open Trading Ports (Hong Kong, Kowloon)

TAISHAN: “HOME OF OVERSEA CHINESE” Rural Asian Community Many emigrated due to economic hardships History of conflict between Hakkas and Bendi Estimated 75% of oversea Chinese in North America in mid-late 20 th Century migrated from Taishan

G OLD M OUNTAIN Many diverse global immigration to California and American West during the Gold Rush and Western Expansion Entered U.S. during a time of Anglo-American conception of identity, where Chinese were explicitly rejected as inferior, unassimilable, dangerous to democratic forms of gov’t Bachelor Societies Worked on Transcontinental Railroads Laid 10 miles of track in one Day “Not a Chinaman’s Chance”

May 10 th 1869, Promontory Summit, Utah