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Chinese Americans

Chinese Americans are the oldest and largest Asian ethnic group in the United States, consisting of fourth- and fifth-generation Americans of Chinese descent and recent immigrants. Chinese immigrants have been diverse in terms of languages spoken (Cantonese or Mandarin, for example) and points of origin (Hakka from southern China, secondary migrations from Hong Kong, and northern Chinese or indigenous Taiwanese). Chinese immigration and the place of Chinese Americans in the United States must be understood within the broader context of American economic development, as well as domestic and international politics.

U.S. Census Data

U.S. census data do not track the diversity of Chinese immigrants to America in terms of language, class, educational levels, and region. Most of that information derives from the research of contemporary historians and sociologists. Nonetheless, a snapshot using U.S. census data is important. The 2010 census reported that the three metropolitan areas with the largest Chinese American populations were greater New York with 682,265 people, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area with 592,865 people, and the greater Los Angeles combined statistical area with about 473,323 residents. New York is home to the highest Chinese population of any city, with 486,463 residents, while the Los Angeles County city of Monterey Park has the highest percentage of Chinese Americans of any municipality at 43.7 percent of its 24,758 population.

The 2010 census figures also showed that the 10 states with the largest Chinese American populations were California (1,253,100; 3.4 percent), New York (577,000; 3 percent), Texas (157,000; 0.6 percent), New Jersey (134,500; 1.5 percent), Massachusetts (123,000; 1.9 percent), Illinois (104,200; 0.8 percent), Washington (94,200; 1.4 percent), Pennsylvania (85,000; 0.7 percent), Maryland (69,400; 1.2 percent), and Virginia (59,800; 0.7 percent). Hawai'i has the highest concentration of Chinese Americans at 4 percent, or 55,000 people.

Western Colonialism and the Decline of the Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) banned emigration for fear that supporters of the earlier Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) would establish overseas bases from which to continue their efforts to overthrow Qing control and restore the Ming. However, Qing decrees on emigration were largely ignored. The first Chinese presence in North America consisted of sailors and peddlers, who visited New York in 1830. By 1849, 325 Chinese were in the United States, with large-scale migrations beginning after the first and second Opium Wars (1842 and 1860, respectively), both of which resulted in the British wresting major concessions from the Qing Dynasty in the form of access to coastal ports, extraterritoriality, and most favored nation status. The Opium Wars allowed Britain to begin to erode Chinese sovereignty, and British imperialism in Asia and the Pacific regions soon prompted similar efforts by other European nations and, in the latter half of the 19th century, the United States. The effectiveness of the Qing Dynasty at governing a population that had always considered them to be foreign (Manchu rather than Han) was further compromised in the 19th century by natural disasters, crop failures, and rebellions, the most significant being the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), which eventually affected 17 provinces and took an estimated 20 million lives.

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