The Chinese began arriving in the late 1840s at around the same time as the old wave of immigrants, the Germans and Irish. The first Chinese immigrants of the West were “no different from white Europeans” (Kwong). They were hard working, ambitious, and resourceful.

Regardless of the many positive contributions the Chinese Americans made to the development and progression of America, they were faced with a long and extensive struggle against discrimination. The passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act on May 6^th, 1882, which banned the immigration of Chinese laborers, severely limited the immigration of the Chinese to America, and marked the start to a long stretch of legislative, social, and political discrimination against Chinese Americans. John F. Miller, a senator from California argued that the Chinese were like “’inhabitants of another planet’” and encouraged discrimination saying, “’Why not discriminate? Why aid in the increase and distribution over… our domain of a degraded and inferior race and the progenitors of an inferior sort of men?’” (Chang 134). Miller’s view was widely accepted by his fellow politicians and the public in general.

In 1892, the Exclusion Act expired. It was replaced by the Geary Act, which suspended Chinese immigration for another ten years and required all Chinese laborers already living in the United States to register with government for certificates of lawful residence. Any Chinese found without a certificate could be immediately deported. The Geary Act also deprived Chinese immigrants of legal protection in the courts by refusing them bail in cases of habeas corpus. In 1902, the Chinese Exclusion Act was made permanent. Legislators argued that “’The Chinaman in America is forever and always an alien,’ that ‘the Mongolian race (is) not a desirable addition to our population,’ and recognized that ‘(t)he Chinese problem is to the Pacific coast what the negro problem is to the Southern States’” (Chin 37).

The law was finally repealed with the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943, which brought an ending to 61 years of official racial discrimination against the Chinese. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the only act of legislation in the United States that prevented immigration on the basis of race. With the passage of the Magnuson Act, Chinese migration greatly increased and discrimination against Chinese decreased. The Chinese came to America in large numbers, and became better interwoven within society.

MR. TAM AND MR. TENG: Two Chinese Americans who exemplify the success of the Chinese model minority

Mr. Tam

Mr. Tam spent the early years of his childhood in a small town in Canton, China.  The failing conditions of the Chinese economy caused the village to experience times of hardship. The Chinese government, “was so rife with corruption and incompetence” that it brought the economy to the “brink of disaster” (Kwong 217). In the year 1948, within a six-month period, prices rose by a factor of 85,000. A sack of rice, which cost 112 yuan, would cost 63 million yuan six months later (Kwong 217). The dwindling conditions in Tam’s village lead Tam’s grandfather and uncle to immigrate to the United States. Tam’s father moved to Hong Kong and his mother didn’t join the father in Hong Kong until he was five years old. A few good memories Tam recalled included celebrating the Chinese New Year annually, eating his favorite foods (Dim Sum and Wanton-Noodle Soup), and buying fresh meat and vegetables at the Hong Kong street markets for each meal. While in Hong Kong, Tam’s mother was a homemaker and his father was a garment contractor.

Tam grew up in Canton,                           also known as Guangzhou

In June 1967, when Mr. Tam was 16, he left Hong Kong with his family to immigrate to the United States. Hong Kong at the time was in a state of “political turmoil”. Mr. Tam and his family left to escape the deteriorating political and economic conditions in China, and came to America in search of opportunity. Tam had distinct memories of how Chinese schools changed during this period of British rule: he remembered being forced to attend Catholic school and learn English in order to properly assimilate. So many Chinese came to Hong Kong for security purposes that British authorities put up barbed wire to prevent the entrance of more refugees. On May 23, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a presidential directive that allowed refugees in Hong Kong who had been born in Mainland China to immigrate to America.

Hong Kong in the 1960’s

Once in the United States, Tam was shocked by the plethora of opportunites available. He recalled how on his very first day in New York City, he was immediately offered a pizza-delivery position- he didn’t accept the job but he laughed about regretting it due to his love for pizza. Instead, Tam went on to attend and graduate from high school. Tam then attended the City College of New York for only 2 years, quitting due to his father’s need for help in the family’s garment business in Chinatown. Though he was never able to finish his college education, Tam is very happy that he was able to make this sacrifice for his younger brother and sisters; all of his siblings were able to get a college degree because of his hard work.

Tam’s wife, Julie, president of the Staten Island Chinese School with the rest of faculty (front row center)

Tam moved to Staten Island around 28 years ago and has contributed greatly to the local Chinese American community. Tam and his wife founded the Staten Island Chinese School in 1971 and it has burgeoned into an incredible resource for Chinese Americans looking to reconnect with their traditions and roots. The Saturday school allows 110 students, ages 4 to adult, to come expose themselves to a wealth of Chinese traditions, such as tai chi, calligraphy, mandarin and cantonese, kung fu, etc. Tam is very proud of his Chinese heritage and thankful for the opportunities America has given him.

Children perform the “Delicious Little Date” dance during the 40th anniversary celebration of Staten Island’s Chinese School (Bill Lyons/Staten Island Advance)

http://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=q7A7EcuwgAo&video_referrer=watch&ns=1

Mr. Teng

Mr. Chuan Teng was born in 1934 and grew up on a farm in Shixing County, in the Quandong province of China.  Mr. Teng spent the early years of his life helping the family raise cattle and grow rice. At the mere age of 6, Teng learned the basics of calligraphy from his father, a poet and master calligrapher. The lessons proved to be an important influence upon Teng, seeing as he is now an acclaimed master calligrapher and his works reside in many Chinese Americans’ homes. When Teng was 8 years old, the Japanese invaded China and murdered many civilians, including Teng’s grandfather. Teng’s father was a politician from the Nationalist party and a member of the Chinese army. Consequentially, when the Japanese invaded China, Teng and his family fled to Hong Kong; soon after they fled from Hong Kong to Taiwan.

Shixing County, the village where Chuan grew up

Author Iris Chang describes the island of Taiwan as the “last hope and refuge of the exiled Nationalist Regime” (Chang 282). From November 1948 to 1949, more than five thousand Chinese refugees arrived in Taiwan from the mainland each day. Eventually, between one and two million refugees had come to Taiwan, many of which were “former rank-and-file bureaucrats” (Chang 283). Chang compares the “size and character of the dislocation” to the United States theoretically moving its entire bureaucracy to the island of Puerto Pico. According to Chang, the Chinese refugees in Taiwan, “grew up under a different set of oppressive condition, under a regime-in-exile determined to install and sustain of Taiwan the same strongly authoritarian and oligarchic system of governance with which it had ruled China” (Chang 283).

Chuan’s grandfather, the farmer          (1874-1945)

With hopes to escape communism, Teng and his family immigrated to the United States in 1961. Although Teng had attended an undergraduate school in Taiwan, he was determined to further pursue his education. Teng was granted a scholarship and  thus completed his master’s degree in economics at Ohio University. Teng continued to make impressive strides in his economist career: he worked as a financial system analyst serving companies amongst the likes of Young and Republican and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Chuan and his family circa 1947 (Chuan is in the back row center)

After moving to Huguenot, Staten Island in 1973, Teng has continued to make great contributions to the local Chinese American community. With hopes to preserve the Chinese tradition, Teng teaches calligraphy classes at the Staten Island Chinese School IS 73, as well as at the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden in Snug Harbor. Teng is also quite politically active: in 1987 he was president of the Chinese American Voter’s Association of Staten Island and he is also a co-founder of the Asian American Coalition of Staten Island.

Chuan Teng writes names in Chinese characters in the Chinese Scholar’s Garden (Staten Island Advance- Bill Lyons)

The “New Wave”

Mr. Teng and Mr. Tam represent the “new wave” of Chinese immigrants. This new wave of well-educated Chinese was considered the “Uptown Chinese” and had very little in common with the previous Chinese waves of mostly uneducated laborers. This new class experienced immense success with the opportunities offered to them in America. Peter Kwong wrote, “In less than a decade after arrival, a Chinese college graduate could gain a graduate degree, a professional job, citizenship, an upper-middle-class income, and residence in a desirable neighborhood” (Chang 283).

Today, the Chinese are still seen as a model minority and a valuable asset to American society. Chinese immigrants and their children are contributing to the United States in all sectors of society. For example, Mr. Tam and his wife now run a Chinese school on Staten Island. Mr. Teng teaches calligraphy and has raised two successful children; his daughter, Michelle, is a teacher at PS 22 and his son, Michael, is a producer for CBS. Mr. Tam and Mr. Teng’s success stories are only two of thousands of Chinese American success stories. Through years of legislative, social, and political discrimination, the Chinese in America have emerged stronger and more successful than ever.