Asian Exodus Lecture Note

LIFE AND LABOR IN THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD HIST 1301 | History Asian Exodus Like many Europeans in the nineteenth century, a large number of individuals from East Asia and India emigrated to seek employment elsewhere. Most of those departing China did so to avoid poverty. They were mostly male and originated from Guangdong and the southern provinces, particularly Fujian, where agriculture has traditionally been challenging due to the poor quality of the land. Many Chinese people left the harsh conditions brought on by the bloodiest civil war in global history in the middle of the 1800s. The Taiping Rebellion, which took place between 1850 and 1864 and claimed the lives of over twenty million Chinese people, was spearheaded by Hong Xiuquan, a man who considered himself to be "God's Chinese son" and aimed to establish a new moral code for the country. Due to the war's devastation of villages, farms, cattle, and harvests, millions of people perished or were near starvation. Throughout the nineteenth century, Chinese immigration were dispersed all over the world, making their diaspora possibly the largest of any ethnic group. Chinese labourers arrived in the Kingdom of Hawaii to work on farms that produced sugarcane. They looked for employment in the US as labourers in agriculture and service industries, as well as in the construction and mining industries. Similar work was done by thousands of Chinese people in British Columbia, Canada. Chinese immigrants also went to Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Europe, mostly to Britain. When the proprietors of South African gold mines realised that they would put in more hours for less money than native Africans, who frequently left the mines after a few years, they employed them as contract labourers. Numerous Chinese individuals also looked for chances in the Caribbean and South America. After slavery was abolished in Peru in 1854, the nation was in severe need of labour, thus the government paid for the immigration of immigrants. Between 1849 and 1874, some 100,000 Chinese immigrants came to the United States as contract labourers to work on sugarcane and cotton plantations, build railroads, and dig guano, which is the faeces of birds and bats used as fertiliser. They are usually required to labour for four to eight years under their contracts. They endured severe penalties during the period, like as flogging and incarceration in plantation cells. Those who were not forced into financial bondage once their contracts expired frequently relocated to the cities. Chinese immigrants also went to other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Many Chinese labourers built railroads in the former Spanish territory of Cuba. In 1896, China and Spain negotiated a treaty ending all labour contracts that bonded Chinese labourers, out of concern that they were being abused. Porfirio Diaz, the president of Mexico, urged Chinese immigrants to come to the country and settle in the north during the 1870s. In an effort to "civilise" the mostly Native American and mestizo (biracial European and Native American) population in the country's north, Diaz had first recruited White and European settlers to build railroads in Mexico. Diaz urged the Chinese to settle in place of these labourers who decided they didn't want to live in the desert. The economic downturn in Japan also prompted a large number of young people to look elsewhere for opportunities. Farmers were in a terrible situation since they could no longer afford to buy food or pay their taxes due to a drop in rice prices. Allowing sons and occasionally daughters to travel to the city in search of job that, if available, provided pay too little to survive on, let alone send home to family left behind in rural communities, was one way to respond to the situation. For many Japanese, it made more sense to leave the nation and start over somewhere else. It could have appeared like the only option for families forced to sell their farms in order to pay off their debts. In order to secure labour, the Japanese government signed contracts with foreign nations and promoted emigration. It chose men and women in 1885 who were most likely to advance Japan's standing as a reputable, civilised country and gave them advice on how to act when travelling. Most Japanese immigrants came from the Americas and the Pacific area. Japanese contract workers were transferred to the Kingdom of Hawaii and Guam in 1868. Others travelled to the Philippines and Australia. Hawaii was a popular travel destination even after the United States annexed it because labour was needed by the owners of sugarcane plantations. In addition, a large Japanese population established themselves in British Columbia, a province in Canada, and along the US West Coast. A significant number of Japanese emigrants, like Chinese emigrants, migrated to South America. In 1899, Japanese immigrants started coming to Peru. Japan and the United States came to an agreement in 1907 to restrict the number of Japanese immigrants to the US. Then, in 1908, the Japanese government inked a deal with Brazil that permitted the immigration of labourers to work on coffee plantations. Similar to what Diaz had done in Mexico, Brazil had originally looked to Italy for labour in an attempt to increase the proportion of White people in the country. However, the Italians and other European workers felt that the living conditions and salaries were too harsh for them. Many of the first Japanese immigrants to Brazil came here with the intention of making money so they could return home, but many ended up being forced to stay in financial bondage to their employers long after their contracts ended. The biggest Japanese populations outside of Japan in the twenty-first century are found in Brazil and Peru. During the Second Industrial Revolution, Indian labour was also in great demand, and many were forced into becoming indentured labourers due to poverty, mostly on estates that produced sugarcane. In Africa, some 3.5 million Indians were employed on plantations. Indians constructed railroads in East Africa as well. In South America and the Caribbean, where they farmed cash crops, they introduced ganja, a kind of cannabis that they liked more than wine for relaxation. They also joined the workforce in other island countries. The first Indian labourers arrived in Fiji in 1879 to plant sugarcane; they migrated there in such large numbers that they currently make up a sizable section of the population. Asian immigrants encountered greater hostility than did European immigrants. The Chinese Exclusion Act, implemented by the US in 1882, barred all Chinese labourers from entering the nation. All immigration from Asia was prohibited by the JohnsonReed Act, with the exception of those from American possessions in the Pacific. While it did not outright forbid Asian immigration, Canada imposed a $50 levy in 1885 on any Chinese who came to work there. Exempt from the levy were government officials, scientists, merchants, and students; nevertheless, in later years, the fee was increased. South American Asian immigrants encountered animosity as well. In the nineteenth century, there were violent attacks against Chinese people in Peru, much as there had been before Chinese immigration to the United States was prohibited. Portuguese-speaking Brazilians saw Japanese immigrants as inadmissible as they refused to learn English and continued to run newspapers and schools in their own tongue. As a result, in 1923, the government placed a stringent cap on the number of Japanese immigrants. In the early 1900s, Australia similarly desired to restrict immigration to those of European descent. It made an attempt to deter Chinese immigration in the 1850s by preventing relatives of individuals who were already residents from entering the nation. It levied taxes on Chinese immigrants as well. Working class Australians demanded that any furniture created by Chinese labour have a label indicating that fact, arguing that Chinese workers' willingness to labour for cheap wages damaged them. The White Australia Policy, which sought to bar Asians and people from Pacific Islands from entering the nation, included all of this. The Immigration Restriction Act, which excluded anybody who failed a dictation test given in a European language, was passed in 1901 as a result of the White Australia Policy. Asians and Pacific Islanders were naturally disadvantaged by this provision, to which the Japanese people vehemently objected. Examiners were cautious to select languages that test takers were unlikely to know, as allowed by law.