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Four Periods
- the period of free entry (1858-84);
- the period of restricted entry (1885-1923);
- the period of exclusion (1924-47); and
- the period of selective entry, 1948 to present. (Lai 8)
- recent Taiwanese immigrants
| Beyond the Golden Mountain: A Journey in Chinese-Canadian History
As in America, early Chinese immigrants to Canada arrived mainly from four counties in Canton Providence (Tai-shen, Kai-ping, Ng-ping and Shin-hui). The earliest Chinese immigrants were imported for their labour. Poverty and political turbulence in China during the 19th century forced many young farmers to go to Canada in search of a better life. At first, they expected to return to their hometowns after 2 to 3 years of hard work. However, the inconvenient transportation and continuing civil war in China made it impossible. In addition, Canada''s strict "anti-Chinese" legislation prevented most families of Chinese immigrants from joining them in Canada. In the end, most early Chinese settlers stayed until their death in this rich but often unwelcoming country.
As a result of the gold rush, the first Chinese immigrants arrived in "Maple Leaf country" in 1858 along the west coast. Most of them settled in British Columbia. Twenty years later, there was a large scale influx of Chinese for construction work on the final section of the Canadian Pacific Railway. As many as 17,000 Chinese labourers came to Canada and many lost their lives or were injured during the construction period. After the railroad was completed, some Chinese workers stayed in Victoria and Vancouver to open laundries or restaurants, while others moved to eastern parts of Canada. While early Chinese immigrants came to Canada as labourers to earn their living, today''s Chinese immigrants follow a very different pattern. Most Chinese from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China have moved to Canada for investment opportunities, better education and living conditions, or as a reaction to 1997.
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| Taiwanese immigrants: Yearly Amount of People Accepted
1990-3900; 1991-6400; 1992-7900; 1993-10,000; 1994-7500; 1995-7200
1995 Family class--650
Skilled worker 3,200
Business class --3,300 (investor, entrepreneurs, self-employed)
Retired (abolished category) 40
live-in caregiver 4
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Important Date and Anti-Chinese Movement
History of Chinese immigration: Important Dates & Development
- January 1788-- fifty Chinese artisans and sailors disembarked at Nootka Sound. The Chinese carpenters with the assistance of the native Indians built a two-storey house and a forty ton schooner called North West America, hte first sea-worthy ship constructed in that area. Some of the Chinese workers were assimilated by the Northwest Coast Indians. (Lee 17 )
the period of free entry (1858-84)
- the late 1850''s--the discovery of gold in the Fraser River
- Between 1880 and 1885 about 16,000 Chinese railroad workers were engaged on the railroad construction project. They spread out from various work camps along the railroad line working like an army of ants. (Lee59 )
- reasons for contract laborers
- Not only did the fabulous tales of the Gold Rush attract the poverty-stricken Chinese but at the same time, the colonizers were aware there was a need to replace the source of cheap labor lost by the abolition of the slave trade. The "time had (now) come for yellow to take the place of black at the behest of antislavery sentiment" and initiated the notorious system of the Chinese coolie trade. (Lee 17)
the period of restricted entry (1885-1923): anti-Chinese movements+ nativism
- 1904--500-dollar head tax
the period of exclusion (1924-47)
The post-war recession and high unemployment as a result of demobilization touched off another wave of anti-Chinese sentiment. Labor unions called for a post-war immigration policy: during the reconstruction period there should be a more restrictive Chinese immigration legislation. ... (Lee 131)
In the early 1920''s the opium issue and the general fear arising from the perception that Chinese Canadians were no longer satisfied with their unskilled labor status combined with the foreseeable entrance of Chinese Canadians into professional and big business enterprises caused a panic in the minds of nativists. Chinese Canadians who decided to remain in the country had broken the myth that they were sojourners. All these compound the root of what later became known as the yellow peril phobia. In order to prevent an imaginable war "between the Oriental and the Euro-Canadian for possession of British Columbia," nativists confided that the only way to stop the illusory Chiense Canaidan threat was to "handicap him, hamper him, restrict him as far as possible, put him out of the industrial and commerical running."
the period of selective entry, 1948 to present.
The repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 in 1947 gave little improvement toward Chinese immigration as the regulations governing Asian immigration were still applicable to Chinese. No Chinese, except those who were wives and children under 18 years of age of Canadian citizens, were allowed to land in Canada. The revocation of these regulations in 1956 was the first time the Canadian government unravelled its immigration law toward s Chinese-Canadian community. In early 1962 the federal government further amended the immigration regulations. Discriminatory racial wording which appeared in the preceding regulations were removed. (Lee169)
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Pictures of Early Chinese Immigrant as Contract Laborers
From "Beyond The Gold Mountain" Exhibition, 1997
- Fish Cannery and Other Workers:
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