Foreign and Military Affairs

Overseas Chinese's bumpy road toward integration

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-07-02 16:11

BEIJING - When Liu Jian first watched "Beijingers in New York City," a popular TV series about Chinese newcomers' struggle in the United States, he was not fascinated by the story.

But a second viewing one year after his arrival in the United States from Beijing, he was moved to tears.

"The new immigrants' hardship depicted by the drama, this time I really understood," said 24-year-old Liu, who at first even had difficulty in finding the toilets at his school and did not know how to open milk cartons. Such nuisances were numerous for newcomers.

According to statistics released by Chinese authorities, Liu is one of more than 50 million overseas Chinese, the largest number of immigrants worldwide.

Hard Old Times

For hundreds of years overseas Chinese in almost every corner of the world have embarked on a bumpy road of integration into foreign societies, especially those in Europe and North America. They have to overcome linguistic, cultural, political and other obstacles to adapt themselves to local societies.

Such obstacles were even more terrifying in the early days. As early as in the 19th century, Chinese were brought to the United States and Canada as laborers in mines or on the transcontinental railroad, becoming the first large communities of Asian origin in North America.

In the United States, from their arrival during the Gold Rush, the Chinese then labelled as Sick Man of East Asia experienced discrimination, often overt racism, and even exclusion. Action in the form of legislation was often used against Chinese immigrants. The US authorities passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, a law that deprived the Chinese of basic human rights and let it remain in effect until 1943.

Among the Chinese immigrants was the grandfather of former US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who has been appointed US ambassador to China. The senior Locke could not speak one word of English upon his arrival, and lived a humble life.

In Canada, upon the completion of the construction of the Canada Pacific Railway, the Canadian government passed the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, imposing a tax of 50 Canadian dollars upon every person of Chinese origin entering the country. No other immigrant groups were treated the same way. The sum was increased to 500 Canadian dollars in 1903, equivalent to two years' wages of an ordinary Chinese laborer at that time.

From 1885 to 1923, the Canadian government had collected a total of 23 million Canadian dollars from more than 80,000 Chinese immigrants.

When Mao Fen first came to Vancouver, Canada, 44 years ago, his conversation in Chinese language with other Chinese immigrants would reduce them to tears. Their emotions were not merely as a result of homesickness, said 65-year-old Mao.

At that time, new immigrants from China were not welcome among local residents, and if they were unable to speak English, they could barely make a living, he explained.