Maizy Chen's Last Chance

In the 1850s, war and devastation in China led thousands of Chinese people to immigrate to other countries, hoping to make money to send back to their families. Chinese immigration to America began in the 19th century during the California Gold Rush and the building of the Central Pacific Railroad. Chinese immigrants who made their way to San Francisco went to the gold mines, which they nicknamed “Gold Mountains.” Many white miners were hostile toward them, leading to violence against the Chinese miners. The government taxed the Chinese miners unfairly and did not prosecute racist violence. To defend themselves, Chinese miners stayed together in large groups. The railroad, which connected the eastern and western US coasts, was constructed largely from the labor of Chinese immigrants. The work was dangerous because of the nature and conditions of the construction as well as the racial discrimination and violence. For protection, and because white Americans did not want to live alongside them, many Chinese immigrants gathered in Chinatowns in large cities; the largest Chinatown was in San Francisco.

Even after the completion of the railroad, Chinese Americans faced prejudice and discriminatory laws. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigration for 10 years. Some states did not allow marriages between Chinese immigrants and white citizens or prohibited Chinese people from taking out bank loans. Chinese immigrants in San Francisco were segregated, received unfair wages, and faced discrimination based on their dress and hairstyles. The racist color metaphor “Yellow Peril” arose in several Western societies to insinuate that white civilization was under threat due to increased Asian immigration. This caused further fear and led to the Page Act of 1875, which banned Chinese women from entering the US, to deter Chinese people from staying in the country long term. These xenophobic attitudes and policies caused extensive anti-Chinese discrimination among the American public.

In 1906, the San Francisco Earthquake caused large-scale devastation in the city, but in destroying documents like birth certificates, it also created more opportunities for Chinese immigrants to enter the US as “paper sons.” Paper sons were immigrants who bought documentation claiming that they were blood relatives of Chinese people who already lived in the US; they feature prominently in Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, as one of Maizy’s ancestors helped them immigrate. Later, during World War II, the US and China allied against Japan, which eventually ended the Exclusion Act and reopened immigration in a limited way. However, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor also increased anti-Asian sentiment in the US. Although there were improvements for Chinese Americans following World War II, prejudice and discrimination against the community continued and still persist. For instance, many Americans blamed China for the Covid-19 pandemic, which triggered a new wave of discrimination and violence against Chinese Americans.