Editing Chinese Americans (section)

==== Chinese Exclusion Acts ====
{{See also|Chinese Exclusion Act|White Australia policy}}

The [[Burlingame Treaty|Burlingame–Seward Treaty]] of 1868 between the United States and [[Qing China]] supported Chinese migration,<ref name="history.state.gov" /> but the [[Page Act of 1875|Page Law of 1875]] banned all female Chinese migrants from entering the United States. Upon arrival to the U.S. Chinese men and women were separated from each other as they awaited hearings on their immigration status, which often took weeks. During this time the women were subjected to lengthy questioning that focused on their family life and origins. Their responses were then cross examined with others from their village, and any discrepancies were used to justify denial of entry. The stress of being separated from family caused many women to fall ill while they waited for a hearing. Some even committed suicide as they feared being denied access to the country. Once they were approved and allowed into the country, Chinese women migrants faced additional challenges. Many were coerced into prostitution, with over 60% of the adult Chinese women living in California in 1870 working in the trade. Some women were lured to the U.S. with the promise of marriage only to become sex slaves, while others went to the U.S. in order to reunite with their families. Ninety percent of the Chinese women who immigrated to the U.S. between 1898 and 1908 did so to join a husband or father. By 1900, only 4,522 of the 89,837 (5%) Chinese migrants were women.

In 1880, the diplomat [[James Burrill Angell|James B. Angell]] was appointed to negotiate a new treaty with Qing China. The resulting [[Angell Treaty of 1880]] restricted Chinese immigration and banned the naturalization of Chinese migrants.

Two years later, the [[Chinese Exclusion Act]] of 1882 prohibited all Chinese from immigrating for 10 years, and required all Chinese people to carry identification. This was the first act to restrict immigration in American history. Then, six years later, the [[Scott Act (1888)|Scott Act]] of 1888 illegalized reentry to the United States after a visit to China, even for long-term legal residents.

In 1892, the [[Geary Act]] was passed to extend the Chinese Exclusion Act, and in 1902, the prohibition was expanded to cover Hawaii and the Philippines, despite the strong objections from the Chinese government and people.<ref name="history.state.gov" />

Only in 1898, as a result of the ''[[United States v. Wong Kim Ark]]'' Supreme Court decision, ethnic Chinese born in the United States become [[American citizen]]s.

The Chinese Exclusion Acts remained part of the law until 1943. With relations already complicated by the Treaties of Wangxia and Tianjian, the increasingly harsh restrictions on Chinese immigration combined with the [[Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States|rising discrimination against Chinese living in the United States]] in the 1870s-early 1900s.<ref name="history.state.gov" />