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Jerett Chunn
Dr. Joshua Howard
HIS 397
16 February 2015
A Community Divided: The effect of Transnationalism on Chinese Americans
Madeline Hsu presents an in-depth study of the relationships and goals of many of the
immigrants that left Taishan County headed for a better opportunity in America. These Chinese
immigrants faced many difficulties from the United States, but they were still able to establish
successful financial endeavors which allowed them to support the family members that were left
behind in China. These immigrants faced hardships that were directly related to the immigration
policies of the United States and the general acceptance of a society where prejudice and
discrimination against Chinese was acceptable. The Exclusion Era and extreme discrimination
were the predominant factors in the production of a transnational community of Chinese in the
United States.
Hsu presents Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch, and Cristina Blanc-Szantons definition
of Transnationalism as the emergence of a social process in which migrants establish social
fields that cross geographic, cultural, and political borders.1 This is a generic definition that
describes the ability of an immigrant to exist within their new territory while being able to
maintain many of the same attributes, relationships, and allegiances that helped to describe them
as members of their previous country. The inability for many male Chinese to bring their female
1Madeline Hsu, Dreaming of Gold, Dreaming of Home (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
2000) 7

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family members along to the United States created a need for a system such as transnationalism
and allowed for it to flourish. The practice of Exclusion was a key factor in fostering a Chinese
American community that relied on transnationality to remain a cohesive unit. Since the
immigration of Chinese women was so heavily relegated because of the threat of prostitution, it
was very difficult for a Chinese man to bring his wife along and permanent immigrate to the
United States.2 This inability to immigrate created a desire among Chinese to send money home
and eventually return to China to reunite their families. The system of Exclusion created a
situation where an immigrant could never be satisfied because everything that they were working
for was left behind in another country. It would have been impossible for the Chinese
immigrants to assimilate and cut all ties to their homeland without being allowed to bring their
families with them and fully immerse themselves in American society.
The Chinese in the United States were usually relegated to businesses that were beneath
the local citizens. Many of the first Chinese to arrive in the mid-nineteenth century were in
search of exploiting the mining opportunities that the gold rush in California produced. They
were eventually forced out of this occupation through discriminatory practices and taxation laws
and a general dislike of their involvement in the field.3 Without this type of enterprise they were
forced into other service occupations such as restaurants and laundry businesses. Many of these
businesses gave the Chinese the ability to work hard and get ahead in a situation that was very
difficult for them. Since many of the white citizens did not want these types of jobs, the Chinese
were capable of excelling in the field because they were not discriminated against. Hsu states,
Because whites disdained the odor and backbreaking work, Chinese were able to develop a

2 Hsu 93.
3 Hsu 58.

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niche in the American economy.4 These opportunities without discrimination allowed for
Chinese immigrants to provide for families back in China. Without this type of menial work that
no one else wanted the Chinese may not have been able to be successful in a transnational
lifestyle because of the extreme prejudice that they encountered in the United States. These
disdainful chores allowed for the hard work ethic of the Chinese to shine and allowed for them to
prosper from the labor that no one else wanted. Hsu noted that During the 1920s, hired
laundrymen could earn US$50 during a good week and support a family in China on just
US$100-150 per year.5 This amount of income allowed for the immigrants to provide for their
families while still making enough to save so that they could potentially retire in China with their
family one day. It was an unjust system but many Chinese were capable of supporting their
families through this type of work. It allowed the migratory providers to give their families a
higher standard of living than anything in the Taishan region of China would have ever allowed.
Another reason that these transnational Chinese communities were so prevalent was
because of the income disparage from local productions and the remittances that were sent back
to China to support families. These families were completely dependent on the money that was
sent back. Upwards of eighty percent of the income for many Chinese families was sent home
from a foreign country.6 This was an extremely large amount of the income of the Chinese
families, and it created a precariously dangerous relationship with the workers abroad. Without
them the entire economic system in Taishan would have been thrown into chaos. For the Taishan
families with relatives in the United States it would have meant economic ruin if they were to

4 Hsu 59.
5 Hsu 60.
6 Hsu 115.

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cease sending monetary support. It was a frustrating system for many overseas laborers because
it virtually prevented them from every returning home and living a traditional familial life.
Another struggle with this type of living situation was with the state of the marriages.
Many were capable of keeping their relationships intact, but there were plenty that immigration
did not bode well for. Divorce and infidelity were unthinkable in a traditional Chinese setting,
but Hsu points out that in places such as Taishan when immigration is involved they were a little
more lax on the rules. If a Chinese immigrant failed to communicate or provide for his family is
was socially acceptable for the wife to attempt to replace him with a provider that was more
successful7. This was truly devastating to family members on both sides of the equation. It
would be terrible for the wife of a Chinese immigrant to stop hearing from her husband, but
never actually find out what happened to him. The constant fear and uncertainty involving
relationships was one of the struggles that the transnational culture had to endure.
The operations of the Taishan community abroad changed dramatically as the tides of
governments and political feelings changed. It seemed that a transnational community was at the
mercy and whim of governments that they did not control. Lines of communication were
interrupted during wartime and it greatly affected the lives of the Chinese still left in Taishan.8
These outside forces devastated the lives of the Chinese in Taishan. It seemed as if the
transnational culture that they had worked so hard to live with was crumbling through the
problems created by war with Japan and changing political attitudes.9 After these complications
it became a better plan for families to reunite in the United States since the War Brides Act of
1945 and the Immigration Act of 1965 eliminated the problems of whole families uniting.10
7 Hsu 119.
8 Hsu 177.
9 Hsu 178.
10 Hsu 179-181.

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The Chinese immigrants from Taishan into the United States met many problems because
of the times that they lived in. Navigating through a country that despised them and legally
prevented them from being a part of it was a burden that could have been considered too much
for many, but this small opportunity was better for the Chinese community of Taishan than any
other option that they had. It was well into the twenty-first century before families could really
be together in the United States, and that is when the idea of transnationism seemed to begin to
fade away from the Taishan in the United States.

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Without all of the hatred and discrimination

the United States seemed to be the best chance at a good life, and many Chinese seemed to
release their hold on their ancestral homeland after they were capable of uniting with their
families after the restrictions were repealed. It was a hard life, but for many it was the only
chance they had at a better life until the unjust practices were removed.

11 Hsu 183.