Editing Chinese Americans (section)

== Discrimination, prejudice, depression and suicide {{anchor|Discrimination_and_stereotypes}} ==
{{Main|Xenophobia|Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States}}

{{See also|Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States|Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic#United States}}
[[File:Los Angeles, corpses of Chinese victims, Oct 1871.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|17 to 20 Chinese immigrants were murdered during the [[Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871|Chinese massacre of 1871]] in Los Angeles.]]
[[File:Thure de Thulstrup - The Massacre of the Chinese at Rock Springs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|An illustration of the [[Rock Springs massacre]] of 1885, in which at least 28 Chinese immigrants were killed]]

=== Perceptions and stereotypes ===
A 2007 analysis indicated that most non-Asian Americans do not differentiate between Chinese Americans and East Asian Americans generally, and perceptions of both groups are nearly identical.<ref name="c100">{{cite web |url=http://www.committee100.org/media/media_eng/042501.html |first= |title=Committee of 100 Announces Results of Landmark National Survey on American Attitudes towards Chinese Americans and Asian Americans |date=25 April 2001 |access-date=14 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929153746/http://www.committee100.org/media/media_eng/042501.html |archive-date=29 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> A 2001 survey of Americans' attitudes toward Asian Americans and Chinese Americans indicated that one fourth of the respondents had somewhat or very negative attitude toward Chinese Americans in general.<ref name="sfgate">{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/04/27/MN199998.DTL |first=Matthew |last=Yi |title=Asian Americans seen negatively |access-date=14 June 2007 |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=27 April 2001 |display-authors=etal |archive-date=14 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914111528/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2001%2F04%2F27%2FMN199998.DTL |url-status=live}}</ref> However, the study did also find several positive perceptions of Chinese Americans: strong family values (91%); honesty as entrepreneurs (77%); high value on education (67%).<ref name="c100" />

=== Anti-Chinese violence in the United States ===
{{Further|Anti-Chinese violence in California|Anti-Chinese violence in Oregon|Anti-Chinese violence in Washington}}

Early Chinese Americans struggled to survive in the United States because of prejudice, discrimination, and violence.

In 1880, motivated by [[Yellow Peril|yellow peril]] and sensationalism surrounding the upcoming presidential election, a mob numbering 3,000 instigated an anti-Chinese riot in Denver, Colorado. A man named Look Young was lynched, and nearly all of [[Chinatown, Denver|Chinatown]] was destroyed. 185 Chinese men were held in jail for three days for their own safety. Most of the rioters arrested were dismissed, and the alleged murderers of Look Young were tried and found not guilty.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wortman |first=Roy T. |title=Denver's Anti-Chinese Riot, 1880 |url=https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2018/ColoradoMagazine_v42n4_Fall1965.pdf |journal=Colorado Magazine |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=265–291}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=The Associated Press |date=October 30, 1996 |title=Race riot tore apart Denver's Chinatown |work=Eugene Register-Guard |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19961030&id=QUxWAAAAIBAJ&pg=6139,7927840 |access-date=October 26, 2023}}</ref>

In 1871, [[Chinese massacre of 1871|17–20 Chinese immigrants]] were murdered in Los Angeles by a mob of around 500 men. This racially motivated massacre was one of the largest mass-[[Lynching in the United States|lynchings in the United States]], and it took place after the accidental killing of Robert Thompson, a local [[rancher]].

The [[Rock Springs massacre]] occurred in 1885, in which at least 28 Chinese immigrants were killed and 15 other Chinese were injured. Many enraged white miners in Sweetwater County felt threatened by the Chinese and they also blamed them for their unemployment. As a result of competition for jobs, white miners expressed their frustration by committing acts of physical violence in which they robbed, shot, and stabbed Chinese in Chinatown. The Chinese quickly tried to flee, but in doing so, many of them ended up being burned alive in their homes, starving to death in hiding places, or being exposed to animal predators which lived in the mountains; some of them were successfully rescued by a passing train. A total of 78 homes were burned.

During the [[Hells Canyon massacre]] of 1887, at least 34 Chinese miners were killed. An accurate account of the event is still unavailable, but it is speculated that the Chinese miners were killed by gunshot during a robbery by a gang of seven armed horse thieves.

Other acts of violence which were committed against Chinese immigrants include the [[San Francisco riot of 1877]], the [[Attack on Squak Valley Chinese laborers, 1885|Issaquah]] and [[Tacoma riot of 1885]], the [[Attack on Squak Valley Chinese laborers, 1885|attack on Squak Valley Chinese laborers]] in 1885, the [[Seattle riot of 1886]], and the [[Pacific Coast race riots of 1907]]. With the spread of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], which is believed to have started in the city of Wuhan, China, [[Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic#North America|numerous incidents of xenophobia and racism]] against Chinese people and people who are perceived to be Chinese have been reported.

=== Depression and suicide ===
In 2008, researchers Georg Hsu and Yu Mui Wan published a paper citing severe stigma of mental illness in the Chinese American community as a barrier to diagnosis and treatment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Georg Hsu |first1=L.K. |last2=Wan |first2=Yu Mui |last3=Chang |first3=Hong |last4=Summergrad |first4=Paul |last5=Tsang |first5=Bill Y.P. |last6=Chen |first6=Hongtu |title=Stigma of Depression Is More Severe in Chinese Americans than Caucasian Americans |journal=Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes |date=September 2008 |volume=71 |issue=3 |pages=210–218 |doi=10.1521/psyc.2008.71.3.210 |pmid=18834272 |s2cid=23003033 }}</ref> In a 1998 study of 29 diagnosed depressive Chinese American immigrants, more than half of respondents avoided labeling their symptoms as depression.<ref name="Yeung2006">{{cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Albert |title=Recognizing and Treating Depression in Asian Americans |journal=Psychiatric Times |date=1 December 2006 |volume=23 |issue=14 |pages=50 |id={{Gale|A156586134}} |url=https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/recognizing-and-treating-depression-asian-americans }}</ref> While patients were able to accurately identify and report depressive symptoms such as "irritability" and "rumination," patients were more likely to attribute their depression to somatic and physical symptoms than as a psychological state.<ref name="Yeung2006" />

Among Asian-American youth in 1980, suicide accounted for 20.8% of Chinese American female deaths.<ref name="Blinn1996" /> Among males, it constituted 15.1% of deaths.<ref name="Blinn1996">{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|304289210}} |last1=Blinn |first1=Robert Eugene |title=Asian-American and Chinese-American suicide in San Francisco |year=1996 }}</ref> The study also reported that suicide rates among Chinese American elderly were higher than that of the national suicide rate for African-American, Hispanic, and Native-American.

A study published in the ''Journal of Aging and Health,'' stated that 18% to 29.4% of older Chinese adults in North America had at least a mild level of depression which was higher than other ethnic groups.<ref name="Dong Chen Li Simon 2014">{{cite journal |last1=Dong |first1=XinQi |last2=Chen |first2=Ruijia |last3=Li |first3=Chengyue |last4=Simon |first4=Melissa A. |title=Understanding Depressive Symptoms Among Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults in the Greater Chicago Area |journal=Journal of Aging and Health |date=October 2014 |volume=26 |issue=7 |pages=1155–1171 |doi=10.1177/0898264314527611 |pmid=25239971 |pmc=9944289 |s2cid=33772989 }}</ref> Further, the study reported that these depressive symptoms among older Chinese adults "tend to remain untreated."<ref name="Dong Chen Li Simon 2014" />