Strangers from a Different Shore

Takaki examines how Asian immigrants came to be viewed as perpetual “strangers” by white Americans. In the mid-19th century there was a sharp increase in immigration from China as Chinese workers responded to the incentives of the California Gold Rush. Some of these newcomers spread across the US into Idaho, New England, and the South. At first Chinese laborers lived and worked in rural areas, but they later opted to live in urban centers.

As the Chinese first arrived in large numbers, they were initially welcomed by those in power, such as state officials in California. These politicians recognized the useful contributions Chinese workers made to California, and even referred to them as potential citizens. However, it did not take long for many working class white Americans to perceive Chinese workers as fierce competition in the labor market, since they would work for less money than white workers, which employers preferred. Chinese workers subsisted on these low wages in part because the families they provided for remained in China, and American dollars were worth more there. Blaming the Chinese workers for taking jobs, many white Americans agitated for their exclusion from the country.

In 1852, under Governor Bigler’s leadership, the California government imposed heavy taxes on Chinese workers, such as the “Foreign Tax on Miners,” among others.