Editing Chinese Exclusion Act (section)

== Impact ==
A 2024 study found that the legislation harmed the labor market integration of Chinese immigrants in the United States.<ref name="Chen2024">{{Cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Shuo |last2=Xie |first2=Bin |year=2024 |title=Institutional discrimination and assimilation: Evidence from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001449832400041X |journal=Explorations in Economic History |volume=94 |doi=10.1016/j.eeh.2024.101615 |issn=0014-4983}}</ref> In response to the discrimination they faced, Chinese immigrants increasingly invested in education, adopted Americanized names, and enhanced their English proficiency.<ref name="Chen2024" />

=== US–China relations ===
In the American effort to change many aspects of the [[Burlingame Treaty]], the US took advantage of China's weakened position on the international stage. China was dealing with various challenging situations, such as the French government establishing a protectorate over Vietnam, which was a [[Tributary state|tributary country]] to China for a long time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=K. W. |title=A History of the Vietnamese |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-521-87586-8 |chapter=The French conquest}}</ref> More importantly, it faced the [[Senkaku Islands dispute]] with Japan. Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant visited China in 1879, Viceroy [[Li Hongzhang]], an important diplomat, told Grant that if the US helped China pressure the Japanese out of Senkaku Islands, he would make a concession on the Chinese immigration issue. This paved the way for the [[Angell Treaty of 1880]], which greatly diminished Chinese immigrants' rights and interests.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wickberg |first=Edgar |date=August 1985 |title=China and the Overseas Chinese in the United States, 1868–1911. By Shihshan Henry Tsai. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1983. ix, 116 pp. Tables, Illustrations, Appendixes, Glossary, Bibliographical Note, Index. $17.50. |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=829–830 |doi=10.2307/2056473 |jstor=2056473 |s2cid=147093748}}</ref> The Angell Treaty opened the door for the complete prohibition of Chinese immigrants, as politicians realized that the immigrant question was not a priority for the Chinese government, and that China was weak, meaning that even if they had violate the treaties, China would not invade or create major problems. Overall, this shows how the US used its foreign relations with China to achieve its own domestic objectives.

Prior to the approval of the act, relations between China and the United States were generally positive. This was mainly because of the Burlingame Treaty, a treaty which included the right of Chinese people to free immigration and travel within the US, and protection of Chinese citizens residing in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Office of the Historian |date=n.d. |title=The Burlingame-Seward Treaty, 1868 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/burlingame-seward-treaty}}</ref> Moreover, the treaty gave the two countries reciprocal access to education and schooling when living in the other country. Although the US viewed China as an inferior partner, nevertheless the relationship was positive. American politicians and presidents continued to maintain and uphold the treaty, for example, President Rutherford B. Hayes vetoed bills that contrasted the Burlingame Treaty.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Office of the Historian |title=Chinese Immigration and the Chinese Exclusion Acts |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/chinese-immigration}}</ref> As tensions grew domestically in the US however, Hayes began a revision of the Treaty and China agreed to limit immigration to the US However, once discussions began to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the law was then passed, "the Chinese Government considered this a direct insult".<ref name="Milestones">{{Cite web |last=Office of the Historian |title=Milestones: 1866–1898 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/chinese-immigration}}</ref> Furthermore, when the US extended the law to [[Territory of Hawaii|Hawaii]] and the [[Insular Government of the Philippine Islands|Philippines]] in 1902, this was greatly objected by the Chinese government and people, who viewed America as a bullish and imperial power who undermined China.<ref name="Milestones" />

=== Chinese women ===
The Chinese Exclusion Act had many impacts on Chinese women. As such, unique categories were created in the act to prevent their entry, so that the main way they immigrated was through marrying Chinese or native men. The interrogation was similar to male workers, except they had specific questions regarding [[Foot binding|bound feet]] in the early period: women with feet that had been bound tended to be from wealthy families, unbound feet were a sign of being from a low class and so were seen as less desirable by US border officers.<ref name="Lo2008" />

Many women were forced to find alternative immigration methods to be able to reunify with loved ones after the Chinese Exclusion Act. Women would marry or even remarry their partners in Canada so that they were approved for immigration to join their merchant husbands in America. These women navigated and successfully overcame the US government in their many workarounds of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese Exclusion Act significantly impacted single women. Married women had better chances of immigration due to their merchant husbands. However, for single women it was nearly impossible to immigrate. Often the presumption was if they were single Chinese women they were prostitutes or were to be sold into prostitution.<ref name="Lo2008" />

=== US education ===
Recruitment of foreign students to US colleges and universities was an important component in the expansion of American influence. International education programs allowed students to learn from the examples provided at elite universities and to bring their newfound skill sets back to their home countries. As such, international education has historically been seen as a vehicle for improving diplomatic relations and promoting trade. However, the Chinese Exclusion Act forced Chinese students attempting to enter the country to provide proof that they were not trying to bypass regulations.<ref name="Moon2018" /> Laws and regulations that stemmed from the act made for less than ideal situations for Chinese students, leading to criticisms of American society.<ref name="Moon2018" /> Policies and attitudes toward Chinese Americans in the US worked against foreign policy interests by limiting the ability of the US to participate in international education initiatives.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leong |first=K. J. |year=2003 |title=Foreign Policy, National Identity, and Citizenship: The Roosevelt White House and the Expediency of Repeal |journal=Journal of American Ethic History |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=3–30 |jstor=27501347}}</ref>

=== US economy ===
The departure of many skilled and unskilled Chinese workers led to an across-the-board decline. Mines and manufacturers in California, where the majority of Chinese immigrants resided, closed and wages did not climb as anticipated. Furthering this, the value of agricultural produce declined due to falling demand reflective of the diminished population.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Long |first1=Joe |last2=Medici |first2=Carlo |last3=Qian |first3=Nancy |last4=Tabellini |first4=Marco |title=The Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act on the U.S. Economy |url=https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/23-008_ff452f33-bb64-4e13-82a0-89dce7acfeca.pdf}}</ref> Joaquin Miller remarked in 1901 that since the Chinese departure, property value in Californian cities had remained at a standstill and capital investment had been hesitant.{{sfn|Miller|1901}}

=== Race-based US legislation ===
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first legislation that prohibited entry to an immigrant based on race and class. In this way, it facilitated further restriction by both being the model by which future groups could be radicalized as unassimilable aliens, and by also marking a moment where such discrimination could be justifiable.{{sfn|Lee|2002}} The Chinese Exclusion Act's method of "radicalizing" the Chinese as a threat to America's values and working class, "containing" the danger by limiting their social and geographic mobility, and "defending" America through expulsion became the foundation of America's "gatekeeping" ideology.{{sfn|Lee|2002}} The [[Immigration Act of 1924]] placed quotas on all nationalities apart from Northwestern Europe, this could be seen as building off the gatekeeping ideology established with the Chinese Exclusion Act. Public perceptions of many immigrant groups such as Southern and Eastern Europeans in the late 19th and early 20th century had become one of "undesirability" when compared to those with Anglo-Saxon heritage, this was due largely to popular nativity attitudes and accepted racialism.{{sfn|Lee|2002}}<ref name="Jacobson1998" /> In this way, the restriction of these groups by 1924 compared to their Northwestern "desirable" counterparts could be seen to be carrying on the discrimination by perceived racial inferiority of immigrants that started with the Chinese Exclusion Act.{{sfn|Lee|2002}}