Summary of Iris Chang's The Chinese in America

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The first wave of Chinese emigration to the United States began in the mid-nineteenth century, when China was still an imperial state ruled by the surviving members of the Qing dynasty. The Qing, originally from Manchuria, had held power for two hundred years, but their power was waning.
#2 The Chinese civilization was centered around the two rivers that flowed from Tibet to the sea, the Yangtze River in the south and the Yellow River in the north. The Gobi Desert dominated the north-central area of China.
#3 The Chinese civil service was formed out of the need for a centralized state to control a diverse population speaking different dialects, despite the fact that most people rarely traveled far from their home villages.
#4 The peasants in China worked extremely hard, but they were never given anything in return. They were fed a sparse but nutritious diet, and hardly anything was wasted. They lived and died without ever seeing any members of the class that ruled over them.

Sujets

• American
• América
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Social Science
• Ethnic Studies
• Asian American Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 14 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798822510340
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Iris Chang's The Chinese in America
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15 Insights from Chapter 16 Insights from Chapter 17 Insights from Chapter 18 Insights from Chapter 19
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The first wave of Chinese emigration to the United States began in the mid-nineteenth century, when China was still an imperial state ruled by the surviving members of the Qing dynasty. The Qing, originally from Manchuria, had held power for two hundred years, but their power was waning.

#2

The Chinese civilization was centered around the two rivers that flowed from Tibet to the sea, the Yangtze River in the south and the Yellow River in the north. The Gobi Desert dominated the north-central area of China.

#3

The Chinese civil service was formed out of the need for a centralized state to control a diverse population speaking different dialects, despite the fact that most people rarely traveled far from their home villages.

#4

The peasants in China worked extremely hard, but they were never given anything in return. They were fed a sparse but nutritious diet, and hardly anything was wasted. They lived and died without ever seeing any members of the class that ruled over them.

#5

The Chinese had a long history of repelling all outsiders, but in 1644, the Manchu tribesmen from Manchuria conquered the Han people and established the Qing dynasty. They banned intermarriage between the Han and the Manchu, and they implemented a system of exams that promoted merit rather than lineage.

#6

The imperial exam system in China created a society in which the Han constantly competed against each other for favor with their rulers. The system suppressed rebellion until the nineteenth century.

#7

The Chinese port cities of Shanghai, Canton, and Hong Kong were more cosmopolitan and progressive than the rest of China. They were also influenced by overseas merchants, and their residents were more concerned with making money than with respect for status.

#8

The Chinese had been adventurous and robust world travelers in the past, but the nineteenth century saw their decline as a world power. The Industrial Revolution vaulted many European countries far ahead of China in technological development.

#9

The Qing dynasty, which ruled over China from 1644 to 1912, was a corrupt and inefficient government that allowed the ruling class to live beyond their means. The Chinese population had more than doubled during this time, and overcrowding caused shortages of arable land, which led to higher rents for tenant farmers.

#10

The Chinese government tried to stop the drug traffic, but they were unsuccessful. In 1839, the Qing emperor appointed a special commissioner, Lin Zexu, to end the drug traffic. In Canton, Lin confiscated 20,000 chests of opium and ordered the narcotic to be dissolved in fresh lime and water and flushed out to sea.

#11

The Qing dynasty had begun to shift the burdens of the indemnities from the peasants to the government, which caused many to become even more in debt. This led to many peasants selling all their possessions to pay down the debt, and many ended up in jail when they couldn’t pay.

#12

The promise of gold attracted many Chinese to move to California. They heard stories of a land full of wealth, and they wanted to get in on it.

#13

The Chinese community in the Canton region was frenetically preparing to send their young men to Gold Mountain. They married them off to local women, and even encouraged them to have children in the months or even weeks before they left.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

America in the 21st century is a land of opportunity for many hopeful immigrants. America was a place where a person could walk away from their past and start again, reinventing themselves and giving that new self a better life.

#2

There was no America in the mid-nineteenth century. The eastern, populated half of the country was sharply divided into two separate social and economic spheres. The South was dominated by a vast agricultural system that was sustained in large part by the work of slaves.

#3

Americans began to move deeper into the interior of the continent in the early nineteenth century, striking out through the Ohio and Missouri valleys and settling the Midwest. They began to feel hemmed in by the arrival of each new family.

#4

The Chinese were also heading to California, but they faced many difficulties along the way. The greatest threat to them would come not from the harshness of nature, but from the cruelty of other humans and the racism endemic to their beloved Gold Mountain.

#5

The Chinese population in America was very small at the time of the gold rush, and they were marketed as sideshow curiosities. They were also the first Asian women to perform in America.

#6

The story of the Bunker twins is similar to the American Horatio Alger legend. The twins were born in Siam in 1811, and when they came of age, they were sent on a world tour by their family. They made a fortune touring the United States and Europe, and when their contract expired on their 21st birthday, they retired and lived in Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

The Chinese crimps used a variety of methods to fill their quotas. Men in debt, men imprisoned after clan fights, and men eager for work to avoid starvation were all ideal candidates for entrapment, but for naive youths arriving in coastal cities, the danger of entrapment was greatest.

#2

The Chinese were sent to work on the Cuban and Peruvian sugar plantations, and the conditions were horrible. They were made to labor twenty-one out of the twenty-four hours, and they were fed only about three unripe bananas per meal.

#3

Before the gold rush, San Francisco had been a desolate area of sand dunes and hills. In 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill near the Sacramento River, and thousands of gold hunters descended on San Francisco.

#4

San Francisco was a city of young men on the make, and violence was the rule in the settling of disputes. Without a government in which the people had confidence, mob rule prevailed.

#5

The first wave of Chinese immigrants to America arrived in the West in the mid- to late 1800s, and they were met with a strange mix of greed and curiosity.
Insights from Chapter 4

#1

The Chinese gold rush was born out of the desperation of people living bleak lives of interminable desperation. They traveled to California and began mining for gold, and they were known for their hard work and cleanliness.