Distinguishing between wives and prostitutes

Since it was practically impossible to distinguish between wives and prostitutes, perhaps the only manageable way to solve the problem in those days was to prevent Asian women from emigrating at all.

Last October, I received an invitation to attend a “walk for reconciliation against racism” regarding the expulsion of Chinese from Tacoma. My immediate reaction was indignation.

It’s been 139 years and people still haven’t forgiven anyone for this episode? They haven’t moved on? That’s on them, not white people. Especially considering the following history lesson that the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation doesn’t want you to know about.

The Chinese-American community in the 19th century wasn’t what you think

Let’s start with a quiz.

In the mid 1800s, what percent of the Chinese population living in the United States was made up of Chinese women?

a) 51%

b) 45%

c) 10%

d) 2%

If you chose A, take a step back and adjust your expectations.

In 1855, women accounted for only 2% of the Chinese population in America. And most of them were slaves. (More on that in a minute.)

Most economic migrants were men, especially young men. The view at the time was that women were not suitable for the types of jobs that migrants did – agriculture, construction, and mining. However, limiting migration mostly to men made many overseas Chinese communities unsustainable. Often, migrants left behind wives and families, or wanted to return to their hometowns as soon as possible to get married and have children, thus fulfilling their Confucian duty to carry on the family line.

Chinese migration in the mid-late 19th century

To the western mind, it was offensive that 98% of the Chinese who came to our shores were male. Did that mean that the Chinese didn’t really want to become Americans? Were they going to go back to their homes in China after striking it rich in our gold mines? Yes it did. Yes they were. “The great majority regarded themselves as sojourners, i.e. people who intended to return to China rather than settle permanently in the places to which they had moved” (UW).

Their loyalty to China was on full display: Chinese men in those days wore their hair in a queue, signifying their compliance with the Qing Dynasty’s mandate to always wear their hair that way. Ironically, the Chinese men living in America at that time had forgotten, or more likely never learned, that the hairstyle was a symbol of their own oppression. For over 260 years, all Han Chinese men had been required to wear a queue.

With the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the Queue order was implemented, decreeing that all Han Chinese men (with the exceptions of monks) were to adopt the Manchu hairstyle of the ‘Queue‘ (a hairstyle categorised by shaving the front of the head and plaiting the remaining hair at the back of the head). This resulted in substantial resistance from Han Chinese people as it was believed that this was entirely against their philosophical and cultural practices. Determined to enforce this hairstyle and to evidence Han Chinese submission to Qing rule and the Manchu people, Han Chinese men were given an ultimatum; adopt the hairstyle or face execution.

Manchester Historian

No matter what you think of America, we have never proclaimed that all immigrants have to wear their hair a certain way or face execution.

In order for the human race to survive, we need to put aside our past grievances, admit our own mistakes and create a future in which all our children can thrive. That requires minorities to forgive.

White Americans saw the queue-wearing Chinese as invaders who were loyal to a far off government. Rumors began to spread (probably erroneously) that they were here only to prepare the way for an invasion through Canada sometime in the near future. The language barrier made it difficult to communicate, and the fact that the men with the funky haircuts seemed to only want to make money and send it back to China meant they were just bleeding the United States of much needed capital.

But the “Yellow Peril” fear was grounded in more than just the sojourning nature of the Chinese. An even bigger problem that white people had with the Chinese visitors was the fact that the vast majority of the Chinese women, who made up only 2% of the Chinese population in the United States, were slaves.

Yes. Slaves.

In 1860s San Francisco, more than 90% of Chinese women worked in brothels. In 1870, this proportion dropped to just over 60%. These girls were turned into prostitutes through either sale or deceit. Some Chinese in San Francisco arranged the transportation and sale of prostitutes in the city. USA Dandelion

In Chinese culture, girls do not carry on the family name so were often unwanted. It was not uncommon for parents to leave their newborn daughters in a market or at city gates for anyone, or death, to take them.

Most of the women in the dust were young, and some were even sold off as infants…Newborn girls could be abandoned in a basket, and some little girls were tied to the head of Chaozhou city, where anyone who wanted a baby girl could take it away. The middleman transported little girls to the United States for sale through acquisition or deception. When entering customs, the middleman bribed the immigration officials of San Francisco Customs. There were also girls who were transported by ship captains to hand over or sell to contractors. Some girls entered rural towns by train or carriage by themselves, and some entered the country from Canada or the coastal bays of the Pacific Ocean.

After 1860, the profitable trade in girls in San Francisco was controlled by criminal gangs. The criminal gangs put the girls in baskets and imported them into San Francisco in bulk as goods. Some companies often had as many as 800 girls, ranging in age from two to 16 years old. USA Dandelion

America’s majority Christian population was appalled by prostitution. And having just fought a war to end slavery, and paid a great price in blood for emancipation, the idea that the Chinese continued to keep slaves was appalling. In those days, missionaries were flocking to China. And Christians put a great deal of pressure on the government to do something to help the Chinese women out of their bondage. For a clearer understanding of what was happening at this time, read some of the first-hand testimonies in the 326-page Report of the Special Committee on Chinese Immigration prepared for the California senate published in 1878.

Here’s the testimony of the Chief of Police in San Francisco in 1878, H. H. Ellis.

Q. — What influence does the presence of the Chinese have upon the morals of the white race?

A. — Very injurious.

Q. — In what respect?

A. — I regard the prostitution question as the worst feature of it, for great numbers of young men visit Chinawomen.

Q. — Are those women held as slaves?

A. — Yes, sir ; they are held under a sort of contract, but they very seldom work it out.

Q. — Is it difficult for those women to escape from that life ?

A. — Yes, sir. When they do escape they are brought back by force, or arrested for some alleged offense.

Despite concerted efforts by white people to stop the illegal and dehumanizing practice of sexual slavery among Chinese men, the black market trade of Chinese women persisted. US officials began taking stronger measures to prevent sexual slaves from entering the US in the first place:

The American consul in Hong Kong, David H. Bailey, implemented a measure from 1875 to 1877 — that women must submit immigration and personal ethics declarations before immigrating to the United States. The statement was then taken to the hospital for careful examination and reported on the personality of each woman. Chinese women had to be questioned many times at the consulate, on the ship, and at customs. The question was directed at her female role and her relationship with her father and husband. Officials judged women’s sexual prospects based on the answers. Some officials tried to distinguish between prostitutes and real wives by examining the physical clues of Chinese women, including leggings, behavior, and their walk. However, it was practically impossible to distinguish between wives and prostitutes. From 1875 to 1882, at least a hundred, and possibly hundreds of women, were sent back to China. The whole process was defined by a larger and clearer assumption: Chinese women were as dishonest as Chinese men.

USA Dandelion

The Page Act

Since it was “practically impossible to distinguish between wives and prostitutes” the easiest and perhaps only way (logistically speaking) to solve the problem in those days was to prevent Asian women from coming to the US in the first place. That’s where the Page Act of 1875 came in. Here’s some of the text from that Act.

FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS. SESS. II. CH. 141. 1875. CHAP. 141.
-An act supplementary to the acts in relation to immigration. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in determining whether the immigration of any subject of China, Japan, or any Oriental country, to the United States, is free and voluntary, (…) it shall be the duty of the consul-general or consul of the United States residing at the port from which it is proposed to convey such subjects, (…) to ascertain whether such immigrant has entered into a contract or agreement for a term of service within the United States, for lewd and immoral purposes;

SEC. 3. That the importation into the United States of women for the purposes of prostitution is hereby forbidden; and all contracts and agreements in relation thereto, made in advance or in pursuance of such illegal importation and purposes, are hereby declared void; and whoever shall knowingly and willfully import, or cause any importation of, women into the United States for the purposes of prostitution, or shall knowingly or willfully hold, or attempt to hold, any woman to such purposes, in pursuance of such illegal importation and contract or agreement, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned not exceeding five years and pay a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars. (As quoted in this ridiculous source.)

The Page Act was enacted in order to help ensure that any immigration to the United States was “free and voluntary” and to prevent the importation of women for the purposes of prostitution, which was being controlled by Chinese gangs.

For this, white people are demonized and called racist.

Despite the clearly good intentions of the 43rd Congress, woke historians and dishonest apologists still insist that the only motivation behind the Page Act was that white people were racist and white supremacists.

For instance, here’s the introduction to the USA Dandelion article I’ve already quoted several times above:

Chinese women in the 19th century were a special group in American Chinese communities. Some of them were babysitters, laundry workers, or gold diggers. This group of people formed the first batch of families in the Chinese community and raised Children, so their families grew generation after generation. Prostitution was quite common among many ethnic groups in the western United States, and many Chinese women were also prostitutes. The U.S. legislative system passed the Page Act, prohibiting so-called cheap labor and immoral Asian women from entering the United States. Their excuse for discriminating against Chinese women was their image of prostitution, spreading sexually transmitted diseases, and subverting American marriage ethics. With restrictions on female immigration, the federal government successfully prevented the growth of the Chinese population.

Some of them were babysitters? They formed the first batch of families?

An eyewitness testified as follows:

Q. — How many families are there among the Chinese?

A. — Very few. I have never seen a decent, respectable Chinawoman in my life.

Q. — What is the understanding here in regard to the manner in which these women are held?

A.— They are held in bondage, bought and sold. I have had bills of sale translated by Gibson. Report of the Special Committee on Chinese Immigration prepared for the California senate (page 142)

The very same USA Dandelion article goes on to say that “Chinese prostitutes often had contracted syphilis…Their ending was tragic. When they fell ill, they were often thrown onto the streets or locked into a small room, left completely alone until they passed away. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and forced labor, and it contained regulations prohibiting indentured slavery.”

The USA Dandelion article even has the audacity to claim that the Page Act is what limited immigration of Chinese women. It states that after the enactment of the Page Act, the immigration of women was 4% of the Chinese population. But just a few years earlier, the ratio was even lower; the Page Act was NOT the cause for the low number of Chinese women in the country.

Just do an internet search and you’ll find that the accepted narrative is that the Page Act was racist at heart.

You’ll find this, for instance:

Chinese women, however, faced discrimination that was not directly connected to work. Instead, discrimination against Chinese women specifically centered on their perceived sexuality. Americans often assumed that all Chinese immigrant women were prostitutes. This fallacy became an excuse to keep Chinese women from coming to the United States.

(From this ridiculous source)

Only it was NOT a fallacy. It was true. In the mid to late 1800s, at least 90 percent of Chinese women were prostitutes trapped in sexual slavery for life.

The story of Chesaw: How life would have been different if the Chinese had brought wives instead of prostitutes

The following excerpt from the book Straw Hats, Sandals and Steel: The Chinese in Washington State sheds some light on the way Indians treated the Chinese and tells the story of one Chinaman who settled down and married an Indian. He ended up having a town named after him.

The relations of the Orientals and the Indians of eastern Washington left a lot to be desired also. In fact, the situation was downright dangerous. Ac-coding to Esvelt, an old Indian on the Colville Reservation told of perhaps one of the first meetings between Chinese and Indians.

According to the Indian, several Indians spotted two Chinese working on a bar in the river and hurried to report this strange sight to their chiefs. Immediately they returned and captured the Chinese and a tribal conference was held. It was reasoned that since they weren’t white men, and weren’t Indians, they must be devils. Execution was decreed and carried out on the two unfortunate miners.

The Chinese miners, almost totally without women (according to the 1870 census there were only two in eastern Washington) must have had some later dealings with the Indians, for old settlers along the upper reaches of the river swear that there is considerable Chinese blood today on the Colville and Spokane Indian reservations. Several romantic tales tell of the love of a Chinese youth for an Indian maid. However, an authenticated story still remains of the Chinese miner named Chesaw who took an Indian wife and retired to farming. They lived in a cabin on Myers Creek in northeastern Okanogan County for some years. When mining opened up in the region a town grew on the site of the cabin. The once-booming town was named Chesaw in honor of the old Chinese settler.

An uneasy truce between the Indians and the Chinese was in effect until 1875 when violence burst upon the mining camps. The Indians began attacking the mining camps along the Methow River and several Chinese were killed. When the Indian war parties attacked the big Chelan Falls Chinese settlement, the Indians discovered a band of Chinese working on a bench some 300 feet above the river. According to an early Spokesman-Review article, the Chinese were surrounded, with no escape but to jump far below into the river. Unprotected and unable to escape, the Chinese were massacred to a man and their bodies splashed into the river far below.

Hildebrand, Lorraine Barker. Straw Hats, Sandals and Steel: The Chinese in Washington State. p. 17

Do the Indians also need to flagilate themselves in the march for “reconciliation” with the Chinese? Or just the white people?

Conclusion: Reconciliation happens when both parties admit wrong

People would do well to realize that race relations are sort of like marriages. We share the same land, we work in the same places, we eat together, and we sometimes pray together. We also argue, fuss and fight like married couples do. But no matter what, a marriage cannot last when one party continually brings up the bad things the other did in the past.

I’m done with having the so-called sins of my ancestors thrown in my face. Most of these “sins” are taken out of context and distorted, as in the example of the Chinese Expulsion from Tacoma. Many white people stood up for the Chinese and risked their lives and livelihood to protect them. Is that mentioned anywhere in the Chinese Reconciliation park?

In order for the human race to survive, we need to put aside our past grievances, admit our own mistakes and create a future in which all our children can thrive.

“Historically marginalized people” should take responsibility for their own plight. Their ancestors played a role in their own fate. One of the reasons Chinese men immigrated to the US was because 20 to 30 million peasants were killed or died of famine during the Taiping Rebellion, China’s own civil war.

Whether it be the Chinese who were bringing opium and sex slaves into the country in the 19th century, or the black people who had been enslaved in Africa by other Africans for millennia before Europeans came along, or Indians who were engaged in brutal inter-tribal warfare and slavery throughout their history, all of them share some of the blame.

We don’t need to tolerate any longer the twisted revisions of history that paint whites as having no motivation other than white supremacy. My ancestors were not perfect, but we were not nearly the devils that are prowling about right now in organizations that seek to stir up controversies that could easily be resolved by a handshake and an offer of forgiveness.

But the people in charge of “reconciliation projects” have no intention of ever reconciling. There’s no motivation for them to solve the problems they advocate tirelessly about, especially when the solution is a simple act of forgiveness on their part.

We can only reconcile if both parties own up to their own mistakes. Whites have admitted theirs. Will minorities be big enough to admit their own?

Their ability to extend forgiveness will determine if we have a good marriage or we are only engaged in a business-like transactional relationship based on what we can get out of each other, like with a prostitute. I for one am hoping we can build a better marriage.

The Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation needs to find a new cause célèbre.

Post script

I leave you with some images of Chinese-run opium dens in the late 1800s. This is very timely given the same debate is going on now about Chinese immigration. In the 1800s, they brought opium. Now the Chinese are exporting fentanyl to America and Chinese gangs are growing marijuana in our heartland. In the early 1900s, the first plague in America started in Chinatown.

In case you’re offended by a white dude saying all of this, I lived in Taiwan for eight years and studied Mandarin at Cheng Kung University. I’ve lived and breathed Chinese for many years. I am no sinophobe. I love and support all Chinese and people of good will and am happy to apologize for any true missteps of the past. But anybody of any race who is opposed to goodness, beauty and light is an enemy, especially those who twist history to fit their agenda.