by Morgan Chen
An International Studies and Math major with a minor in French, Morgan Chen wrote this essay for Catherine Mintler’s “Myth of the American Dream” class.
The United States: a beacon of wealth and opportunity that shines throughout the world. At least, it portrays itself that way. The poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty famously declares, “‘Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’” (Lazarus 13-14). The statue, itself intended to be a beacon of hope for immigrants to the US, claims that the nation accepts those who are struggling and offers them a better life—the chance to achieve their own American Dream. The poem’s promises may be well known, but that does not mean they are true. Throughout US history, immigrants have played critical roles in building the nation, yet the US has actively worked to exclude them from the prosperity they created.
This statement, however, is a broad generalization: every immigrant has a different experience in the US. To better understand immigration in the US, it can be helpful to examine the more specific experiences of immigrants from different regions of the world. Chinese immigrants are one group whose experiences are often misrepresented or overlooked. Stereotypes about Chinese immigrants, particularly the “fresh off the boat” stereotype and the “model minority” myth, position these immigrants in the minds of many Americans as recent arrivals, educated and wealthy and in need of nothing. In reality, there are many Chinese people whose families have been in the US for generations, as well as many whose have struggled economically or socially.
So, what has the Chinese immigrant American experience been throughout history? Have they been able to chase an achievable American Dream, or has their American Dream been pushed so far out of reach that it is better described as a myth, or even a nightmarish reality? Although some Chinese immigrants have achieved economic success in the US, many barriers have all too often prevented them from becoming prosperous, safe, and valued members of their communities. Legislation and institutions have posed systemic challenges that have made the Chinese immigrant American Dream so unattainable that it may be better described as a myth. Even worse, a racist public has far too frequently caused that dream to become a nightmarish reality. In a society that repeatedly claims that Chinese immigrants do not face challenges in the US, understanding how the US has turned their American Dream into a myth and at times even a nightmare is the first step toward improving conditions in the future.
The earliest Chinese immigrants arrived in the US in the mid-1800s, and many of them held a lofty American Dream. In an article titled “Two Versions of the American Dream: The Golden Mountain in Lin Yutang and Maxine Hong Kingston,” author Chen Lok Chua explains that Chinese immigrants originally called the US the “Golden Mountain,” as their American Dream was to find the newly discovered gold in California and become wealthy (61). Editor Michael Luo confirms this claim in an article for The New Yorker titled “The Forgotten History of Purging Chinese from America.” He writes that Chinese people “came seeking the vast, open spaces of the American frontier—where, they believed, freedom and opportunity awaited.” Both Chua and Luo’s writings show that the American Dream of early Chinese immigrants was very similar to the one we recognize today. They saw the US as a land where gold paved the streets, and a land where they could feel happy, safe, and free.
However, anti-Chinese legislation during the 19th century made these ambitious dreams so difficult to achieve that they were often reduced to mere myths. In an article describing conditions for Chinese immigrants in the mid to late 1800s, writer Doug Chin describes these laws. He explains that “when the first territorial legislature convened [in the state of Washington] in 1853, it immediately adopted a measure to deny Chinese the right to vote, even though there were few if any Chinese living in the territory” (20). He goes on to add, “one law barred Chinese from testifying against whites in court” (20). Each of these laws turned the Chinese immigrant American Dream into a myth because they prevented immigrants from expressing their voices through voting and through the courts. Achieving the kind of economic success that Chinese immigrants required a significant amount of self-advocacy; therefore, this legislation effectively eliminated the possibility for many immigrants to realize their American Dreams. Furthermore, the fact that these laws were written when there were very few Chinese people living in the area shows that Chinese immigrants never had a realistic chance of achieving success. Legislation preventing them from building strong communities and advocating for themselves was in place before they even arrived. These examples of anti-Chinese laws come specifically from a legislature in Washington, but Chin says that this type of legislation was widespread. He writes that there were “many state and local anti-Chinese acts,” and that legislation was a strategy used by hundreds of towns to repel Chinese immigrants (20). Throughout large regions of the US, towns enacted legislation that expelled Chinese immigrants or robbed them of self-advocacy, making it extremely difficult for them to achieve their dreams of prosperity.
Not only did legislation in mid-19th century American turn the Chinese immigrant American Dream into an unattainable myth for most, but virulent racism also turned it into a nightmarish reality in which Chinese people lived under the constant threat of violence. Luo describes in detail the racism that these early Chinese immigrants faced, saying that white workers “perceived the Chinese to be a heathen race, unassimilable and alien to the American way of life.” In 1853, he explains, an American newspaper article declared that Chinese immigrants “‘are not of our people and never will be’” (qtd. in Luo). This racist rhetoric soon became violent action and mobs began killing Chinese people in deadly riots. In one instance, a San Francisco mob burned several Chinatown buildings and shot its residents in a three-day riot that killed four and injured fourteen (Luo). For these early Chinese immigrants, there was no guarantee of safety. Even if they did find gold in the Gold Rush, their American Dream had still become a nightmare because they could not be free from the fear that others in their communities would kill them.
In 1882, just a few decades after Chinese immigrants began arriving in the US in search of gold, the US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This further turned the dreams of Chinese immigrants into myths by prohibiting many from becoming citizens and barring others from the country entirely. Chin also discusses the Chinese Exclusion Act in his article, explaining that it prevented Chinese laborers from entering the US and denied non-laborers who could enter the US the right to become US citizens (19). It was originally in effect for 10 years, but it was extended in 1892, made permanent in 1902, and only finally repealed in 1943 (Chin 19, 21). When outlining the reasoning behind the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chin says that “the Chinese were thought to be unworthy of American citizenship, and even a danger to the political and social integrity of America.” Therefore, they “were not only denied basic civil rights and equal protection under the law, they were denied nationalization and basically denied immigration to the U.S. for decades” (21). For the large numbers of Chinese people who wanted to immigrate to the US but were denied entry by the Chinese Exclusion Act, their American Dream became an unachievable myth immediately. They never had the chance to achieve prosperity and safety in the US. For the few who were able to immigrate under the specific provisions of the act, their American Dream still became a myth because they were unable to become US citizens. Without the ability to become citizens, Chinese immigrants could not access the protections that could help them achieve prosperity, and they were alienated from communities of US citizens. Thus, the Chinese Exclusion Act turned the American Dreams of both hopeful and actual Chinese immigrants into myths by making them virtually impossible to achieve.
But the Chinese Exclusion Act went further than just turning the Chinese immigrant American Dream into a myth: it also turned the American Dreams of Chinese people already in the US into nightmarish realities by worsening their already poor conditions. Chin lists the myriad of effects that the Chinese Exclusion Act had on Chinese people already in the US: it caused “the failure to grow in numbers as an ethnic group, minimal growth of Chinese families, illegal Chinese immigration, isolation and segregation into the Chinatowns, greater drugs and crime in Chinatowns, disappearance of Chinatowns, lack of educational and employment opportunities, [and] separation from families and relatives in China” (21). Luo also shows that the Chinese Exclusion Act worsened life for Chinese people in the US by explaining that in Tacoma, Washington, white residents decided that Chinese residents had to leave by November 1, 1885, and they forcibly drove them out after that date. By denying Chinese communities the ability to grow and strengthen while empowering white Americans to take brutal action against Chinese people, the Chinese Exclusion Act robbed Chinese Americans of a safe home. Without a safe and comfortable place to live, Chinese people could not enjoy the freedom that is characteristic of the American Dream. Instead, they endured the nightmare of constantly fearing acts of discrimination and violence. Additionally, the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented Chinese people from achieving the economic success aspect of their American Dream by reducing their number of opportunities for work and education. In sum, the Chinese Exclusion Act turned the American Dreams of most Chinese immigrants into nightmares by depriving them of opportunity and protection, leaving them vulnerable to isolation and violence.
From 1910-1940, the Chinese immigrants who did manage to arrive in the US had to pass through an immigration station on Angel Island, off the coast of California, but Angel Island turned their American Dreams into myths by denying them entry into the US or deporting them. In the article, “No Lamps Were Lit for Them: Angel Island and the Historiography of Asian American Immigration,” scholar Roger Daniels describes the unique barriers that Angel Island posed to hopeful Chinese immigrants. He says that immigration officers interrogated people harshly to catch them in a lie and send them away. He adds, “These interrogations and investigations could go on for weeks and months—the longest individual confinement is said to have been two years—and, in some instances investigators working out of the Hong Kong consulate would actually visit a Guangdong village in an attempt to break down a cover story.” Immigrants who were forced to return to China after landing on Angel Island saw their American Dreams become myths immediately. Other immigrants were eventually allowed into the US, but the interrogations they endured, along with the lack of agency and racism they faced once they arrived, clearly showed that they were not wanted in the US. Therefore, they were not able to feel like valued members of the communities. They might have had the chance to achieve the American Dream of economic wealth, but they could not achieve the American Dream of living freely and comfortably, so their American Dreams were still myths.
Angel Island did not only harm Chinese people attempting to enter the US; it also harmed Chinese people in the US by deporting them. Daniels writes that “during the Angel Island years, Chinese who never constituted as much as 1 percent of the nation’s foreign born, were more than 4 percent of those deported.” The disproportionate number of Chinese people deported in the early 20th century shows that they were specifically targeted for deportation, and that the US did not afford them the chance to achieve the American Dream. Even for those who were not ultimately deported, the fear of deportation turned their American Dream into a myth because it deprived them of the opportunity to live comfortably and safely. Angel Island denied some Chinese immigrants entry into the US, deported others, and stole the right to live securely from the rest, thus pushing their American Dream so far out of reach that it became a myth.
Angel Island also turned the American Dream of Chinese immigrants into a nightmare by detaining them in terrible conditions for long periods of time. The stress of going through harsh interrogations was immense, so even if Chinese immigrants eventually arrived in mainland US, the trauma they endured along the way meant they existed in a nightmarish reality. Daniels supports this idea by including a poem carved into the wall at Angel Island in his article, which reads, “‘I hastened to cross the American ocean. / How was I to know that the western barbarians had lost their hearts, and reason?’” The author of this poem had an American Dream, and the fact that they “hastened” to the US shows that they were eager for the chance to achieve this dream. But once they arrived on Angel Island, they discovered that the US did not actually care for them. The barbaric way in which they were treated by immigration officers was a nightmare, and seeing the disdain that the officers had for them meant that they could never achieve the dream of being a valued member of American society.
In the latter half of the 20th century, the Chinese Exclusion Act was no longer in effect and Angel Island was no longer in use, but overt and systemic racism too often made the Chinese immigrant American Dream into an unattainable myth. Two researchers, Hsin-I Cheng and Shanshan Lan, show this in their respective articles, “‘A Wobbly Bed Still Stands on Three Legs’: On Chinese Immigrant Women’s Experiences with Ethnic Community” and “Race, Class and the Politics of Multicultural Learning: Chinese Immigrant Workers and the Brokered American Dream in Chicago.” Cheng interviewed several female Chinese immigrants to the US and discovered that most of the women hoped to achieve upward social mobility, but instead felt trapped in the Chinatowns where they lived, unwelcome in any other place. This was because they had to dedicate all their time to working to survive, and they had neither the time nor the resources to make friends and learn English (Cheng 11). When recounting her interview with one of the women, Cheng writes that “her anticipation of coming to the United States with her son for a better life diminished as time passed” (11). This woman had an American Dream of social and economic success, but this dream devolved into a myth as she realized that she could not move out of Chinatown for new opportunities. Another one of the immigrants interviewed stated, “‘What friends? What community? Everyone is so tired and busy making a living’” (qtd. in Cheng). The American Dream of prosperity includes having a place to live where one can feel welcome and comfortable, but the immigrants interviewed were so busy trying to survive that they did not have the time to discover or create a community where they could thrive. Therefore, their American Dream was a distant myth.
Shanshan Lan further demonstrates that late 20th century America turned the American Dreams of Chinese immigrants into myths through his research into the Chinese American Cultural Center (CACC) in Chicago’s Chinatown. He observed a chef training class at the CACC, and he concluded that the CACC’s efforts to help Chinese immigrants achieve their American Dreams actually transformed those dreams into myths by only teaching students the skills they would need in low-paying service jobs. Lan writes that the future of Chinese immigrants “has already been largely determined by an inherent contradiction within the American Dream: its promise of universal equality and success through hard work depends largely on a racist economic and social structure which offers limited social mobility opportunities for minorities and immigrants of color” (278). The CACC told its students that it would help them achieve their American Dreams, yet it worked within a racist structure in which low-paying service jobs – for example, many kitchen jobs – are the only jobs offered to immigrants and minorities. Instead of attempting to break that structure, the CACC simply accepted it and steered its students toward those low-paying jobs. Thus, the American Dream of upward social mobility became a myth for CACC students. The CACC is just one small example of a larger system in the US: the country promises upward social mobility to Chinese immigrants, but it turns that lofty dream into a myth by making it difficult for them to find the opportunities they need to achieve prosperity.
This lack of mobility experienced by Chinese immigrants in the late 1900s not only made their American Dreams unattainable but also transformed them into nightmares. When describing her interviews with Chinese immigrants, Cheng says, “The frequent descriptions of immobilities were thematized as a heaven-like dream of liberation turned into a jail-like experience of isolation and suffering” (12). Before coming to the US, Chinese immigrants believed that they would live freely, and that their lives would be “heaven-like.” After coming to the US, they found that they could not leave Chinatown because they did not have the resources to move or learn English, and non-Chinese Americans didn’t welcome them. They felt as though they were isolated and suffering in jail; instead of living their American Dream, they were living a waking nightmare. Cheng says, “These women endured psychological torment in their long wait to immigrate to an idealized United States and then again in their lived version of the American Dream marked by the physical hardship of working for meager wages” (12). Even without the Chinese Exclusion Act and Angel Island, the women interviewed endured a lengthy immigration process. While they waited, their expectations for what the American Dream could be grew. When they finally arrived in the US and found that opportunity and wealth did not come easily, the disappointment of waiting so long for something that did not live up to expectations was a nightmare.
As we have seen, historically, legislation, institutions, and public opinion in the US have turned the American Dreams of many Chinese immigrants into a myth and made their reality into a nightmare. Many would argue, though, that the US has evolved past that level of racism today, and that Chinese immigrants no longer face structural barriers preventing them from reaching the American Dream. One needs only to look at the prevalence of the “model minority” myth to see that this belief is widespread. A brief look at statistics even seems to confirm this notion. Data gathered by the Pew Research Center about Asian Americans as a whole indicates that they have a higher median income than non-Asian Americans, and are less likely to live in poverty (Budiman and Ruiz). This relatively high level of economic success suggests that the American Dream for Chinese immigrants and Asian Americans in general is not a myth, and that conditions for them are not nightmarish at all. The problem with both the model minority myth and these statistics, though, is that they provide an oversimplified understanding of Chinese immigrants in the US. In fact, they themselves are structures that turn the Chinese immigrant American Dream into a myth.
First, the statistics are harmful because they obscure wealth disparities within the Chinese community and the larger Asian community in the US. By only providing an average across all Asian ethnicities, the statistics overlook groups and individuals who are struggling (Budiman and Ruiz). This makes it significantly harder for these struggling people to find necessary support. Second, the model minority myth presents a barrier to the Chinese immigrant American Dream because it posits that all Chinese immigrants and other Asians can thrive in the US without help (Namkung). Gregg Orton, director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, criticizes the model minority myth, saying, “‘For people to assume we’re OK, that we don’t have any reason to complain, it is frustrating’” (qtd. in Namkung). The US has embraced the model minority myth as justification for not considering Chinese immigrants’ complaints or offering them support, and this has barred those who need outside support from achieving the success they wanted. Overall, Chinese immigrants may be stereotyped as model minorities and statistics may suggest that they have high levels of economic achievement, but the assumptions inherent in these beliefs contribute to turning the Chinese immigrant American Dream into a myth.
One could also look to films such as Crazy Rich Asians for proof that Chinese immigrants and other Asians are more accepted in American society than they were in the past and therefore able to achieve the American Dream, but this still overlooks the challenges that modern Chinese immigrants face. Crazy Rich Asians was the first Hollywood movie to have an all-Asian cast in 25 years, and it appeared to be a major victory for Asian Americans (Ho). Writer Karen K. Ho even published an article in Time Magazine titled, “Crazy Rich Asians is Going to Change Hollywood. It’s About Time.” In the article, she celebrates the fact that the film does not portray Asians as a monolith, but instead shows a variety of Asian and Asian American experiences. She predicts that the lasting impact of the film will be powerful: it will lead to more positive, accurate portrayals of Asians in Hollywood, and it will help Asians be accepted into American society. But while it may be true that Chinese immigrants have earned victories in American pop culture through representation in films including Crazy Rich Asians, this has not truly translated into acceptance of Chinese Americans across the country. Too often, celebrating these films as markers of diminishing racism hides the prejudices again Chinese immigrants that still exist. Most recently, the outbreak of COVID-19 has revealed the latent hatred toward Chinese people simmering in American communities. Americans may have enjoyed Crazy Rich Asians, and they may enjoy trendy Asian foods and music, but too many were quick to scapegoat Chinese immigrants for COVID-19. In 2020 and 2021, racist rhetoric and violence toward Chinese people rose exponentially (Luo). If Chinese immigrants do not have the right to feel secure in their own communities, then they cannot live the American Dream of freedom and opportunity, even if they can achieve success in some forms. Additionally, fearing for their lives and lives of their family members is a nightmare. Therefore, racist public opinion that exists despite some improvements in pop culture has once again turned the Chinese immigrant American Dream into a myth and the Chinese immigrant experience into a nightmare.
What has happened to the Chinese immigrant American Dream throughout history? For most, it has never truly been an achievable dream. From the 1800s through the present day, racist public opinion and legislation have transformed the dream of economic prosperity and social acceptance into a myth at best and a nightmare at worst for far too many Chinese immigrants. As we strive for a more just and equitable future for all people, including Chinese Americans, it is critical that we examine the challenges faced by Chinese immigrants in the past and actively work to undo them. Because Chinese immigrants have long been isolated from the rest of US society, putting effort into helping them integrate into their communities—without robbing them of their own culture—could help them feel more welcome and comfortable, thus making it easier to achieve the American Dream. This could include free, accessible English language classes, resources translated into Chinese and other Asian languages about public services, education about Asian American history in schools, and opportunities for non-Asian community members to learn about Asian culture. Additionally, Chinese immigrants have faced consistent threats of violence, so taking decisive action against anti-Asian violence can give Chinese immigrants the safety they need to chase their American Dream. This might treat anti-Asian violence as a hate crime, as well as increase cultural education in schools to combat xenophobia. It is clear that the Chinese immigrant American Dream has not been an achievable dream in the past, but perhaps we can learn from the myth and nightmare that it became and help Chinese immigrants reach it in the future.
Works Cited
Budiman, Abby and Neil G. Ruiz. “Key Facts About Asian Americans, a Diverse and Growing Population.” Pew Research Center, 29 April 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/29/key-facts-about-asian-americans/. Accessed 11 May 2021.
Cheng, Hsin-I. “‘A Wobbly Bed Still Stands on Three Legs’: On Chinese Immigrant Women’s Experiences with Ethnic Community.” Women & Language, vol. 36, no. 1, Spring 2013, pp. 7-25. http://libraries.ou.edu/access.aspx?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=88790292&site=ehost-live.
Chin, Doug. “The Chinese Exclusion Acts: A Racist Chapter in U.S. Civil Rights History.” Chinese American Forum, vol. 33, no. 1, July 2017, pp. 19-21. EBSCOhost, http://libraries.ou.edu/access.aspx?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=124123986&site=ehost-live.
Chua, Chen Lok. “Two Chinese Versions of the American Dream: The Golden Mountain in Lin Yutang and Maxine Hong Kingston.” MELUS, vol. 8, no. 4, 1981, pp. 61–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/467389. Accessed 20 April 2021.
Daniels, Roger. “No Lamps Were Lit for Them: Angel Island and the Historiography of Asian American Immigration.” Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 17, no. 1, Fall 1997, p. 3, EBSCOhost, http://libraries.ou.edu/access.aspx?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ahl&AN=9712152105&site=ehost-live. Accessed 20 April 2021.
Ho, Karen K. “Crazy Rich Asians is Going to Change Hollywood. It’s About Time.” Time Magazine, 15 August 2018, https://time.com/longform/crazy-rich-asians/. Accessed 11 May 2021.
Lan, Shanshan. “Race, Class and the Politics of Multicultural Learning: Chinese Immigrant Workers and the Brokered American Dream in Chicago.” City & Society, vol. 19, no. 2, 28 June 2008, pp. 254-286, https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ou.edu/10.1525/city.2007.19.2.254. Accessed 20 April 2021.
Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46550/the-new-colossus. Accessed 16 March 2021.
Luo, Michael. “The Forgotten History of the Purging of Chinese From America.” The New Yorker, 22 April 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-forgotten-history-of-the-purging-of-chinese-from-america. Accessed 27 April 2021.
Namkung, Victoria. “The Model Minority Myth Says All Asians are Successful. Why That’s Dangerous.” NBC News, 20 March 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/model-minority-myth-says-asians-are-successful-dangerous-rcna420. Accessed 11 May 2021.