Chinese Women In The 19th Century

While a great number of Chinese people immigrated here, about ninety-five percent of them were men. To put that into perspective, San Francisco 's Chinese male population in 1850 was four thousand. The female population was only seven. There were many reasons women could not go to America with the main reason being the Page Law of 1875. This law prevented any woman from entering the United States, unless a wife of a business man due to the stereotype Americans had on Chinese women that they were all prostitutes (Wayne). These women were viewed as undesirable immigrants and were treated like it too. Racism and sexism played a significant role in Chinese women’s lives. The minuscule number of women who managed to arrive in California and other

They all were isolated from the culture around them. An excerpt from “Asian American Women: 19th Century” shows a Chinese woman from this time period saying, “For seventeen years I have been in this house without leaving it save two evenings” and she continues to say that she was jealous of Caucasian women “for they have big feet and can go everywhere, and everyday have something new to fill their minds” (Wayne). It is unfathomable to think of a world where someone does not know what is right outside their door. During this time women were not treated well, but for Chinese women is was that much worse because they were an undesired minority in race and gender. However, some women were not as unfortunate. Lai Yun Oi left her home and husband in China in the 1880s to come to America. She was very successful as an Asian women of the time as she was able to support herself in New York and San Francisco by being a seamstress, hairdresser, and business women. The late 1800s also included white Protestant women attempting to save Chinese prostitutes. Some Protestants even had police come to take the women from brothels, like in San

Chinese immigrants were only about one percent of the American population, but yet they were blamed for the economic crisis that came about post Civil War. Since Chinese workers sent their income back home, they did not require as much money to live compared to the European immigrants who had families and houses to care for in the United States. The low income they were willing to work for lowered everyone’s income because they were competing with the Chinese. This caused many white people to despise this race as a whole. The white Americans also argued that the Chinese decreased the American moral and cultural standards by visiting prostitutes, smoking opium, and gambling. Violence towards this race increased greatly. In 1871, nineteen Chinese were killed in Los Angeles and in 1877 more were killed in San Francisco. This violence shows just how large of an issue this was and how the Chinese was America’s scapegoat for the economic crisis. The Californian government passed certain anti-Chinese legislation such as requiring special licenses for Chinese businesses or preventing naturalization (Chinese Exclusion Act). This violated the Burlingame-Seward Treaty, so the federal government was able to nullify much of this. In 1879, Congress passed an act that limited the number the immigrating Chinese to fifteen per ship or vessel. President