Tracing the Roots of Anti-Chinese Sentiments in US History

Mimi Yang

A chapter in Global Perspectives on Non-Governmental Organizations from IntechOpen

Abstract: To understand and confront the ongoing Asian/Chinese hate in the USA as another pandemic virus, this article digs into the root cause in history, as anti-Chinese sentiments are nothing new but invariably in a new context and with a new trigger. A close examination of how a racial hierarchy was constructed by the dominant group sets the stage for the study. The paradoxical relationship between the American ideal of equality and the racial hierarchy is discussed in depth. In doing so, we focus on the Chinese experience in the nineteenth century--the construction of the Transcontinental Rails and the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943)--to argue that the roots of anti-Chinese sentiments rest in the racial hierarchy as well as its coexistence with the lofty ideal of freedom and equality.

Keywords: anti-Chinese; the WASPs; a city upon a hill; the Empire of Liberty; racial hierarchy; freedom and equality; transcontinental rails; the Chinese Exclusion Act; pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ito:pchaps:277216

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.107016

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