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How To Say That Lee Chew Lived In A Unique Time Period For Chinese Immigrants

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Lee Chew lived in a unique time period for chinese immigrants in America, preceding the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and living in America after it passed. He was then confronted whether to live in America with the hope of wealth but no hope of being with his family or move back to China. This time period is recorded in a first person biography about Chew’s life, titled Life of a Chinese Immigrant. This primary source was published in a journal, The Independent in 1903. Chew had a very significant encounter with American wealth when a villager brought back huge wealth to the village after going to America. The passage states, “The man had gone away from our village a poor boy. Now he returned with unlimited wealth, which he had obtained …show more content…

He says, “The wealth of this man filled my mind with the idea that I, too, would like to go to the country of wizards and gain some of their wealth” (61). According to the source, Lee Chew sought and gained consent from his father, leaving his mother in tears, and prompting his grandfather to caution him of the evils that he will have to avoid. He was obviously cared for and was going to be missed. Going to America was no small sacrifice. Of $100 his father gave him, half of it was spent on transportation to America. According to measuringworth.com, the $100 his father gave him would be worth about $2,000 today, which was probably very large amount for his Chinese family. According to the passage, Chew worked as a servant his first two years in America and earned about $35, sending most of it home to his parents. One of the most significant things about this time was that he began to break down prejudices he had against Americans. Before, the only ideas he had about Americans came from his village where they called Americans “foreign devils”, “wizards”, and “barbarians”. He describes the family he worked for by saying, “They were very good to me” (62). Next, Chew found some wealth in mining, laundry and railroad construction but

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