Chicago Chinatown
The motivations for the Chinese to come to the United States are similar to most immigrants. These motivations are what most people call "The American Dream." These could be looking for a better life, having a better job, running away from political issues. However, for Chinese these American dreams were not too easy to achieve at first compared to other immigrants. Chinese suffered a lot more obstacles and discriminations because they are relatively small and easy to be targeted on. Even more the legal system passed a law in 1963 forbidding Chinese to testify against white men in court. This anti-Chinese action was most critical in the Pacific Coast; as a result, it caused the dispersion of Chinese that had settled in California to the mid-western and eastern states.(Chicago-Chinatown, 1996)1 Many Chinese migrated eastward to some major cities, and some of them chose Chicago. In the 1870s, the first Chinese immigrants arrived in Chicago. Although Chinese in Chicago endured the same restrictions and discrimination that happened in other cities of America, the population of Chinese increased progressively. In 1890, the first Chinese community was built along Clark Street, which is between Van Buren and Harrison Street. Thirty years after, because of the unreasonable increase of housing rent cost, most Chinese moved to the south near Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue, which was Italian and Croatian neighborhood.(Chicago-Chinatown, 1996)1 Soon after the Chinese had settled in the neighborhood, they tried to expand the Cermak Road due to the increasing demand for housing. However, half of the housing plan was cut because some major city projects needed to use this area. Due to many restrictions on the growth of Chinese community, it significantly affected the demography. The gender ratio was unbalanced because family 's life style had changed. In 1910 there were only 65 Chinese women and 1,713 men in Chicago, and by 1926 women were still less than 6 percent of
Bibliography: Chicago-Chinatown, "History," Chicago-Chinatown Online; available from http://www.chicago-chinatown.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?li=26; Internet; accessed on 23, Nov. 2005 Chicago Park District, "Park and Facilities: Ping Tom Memorial Park," Chicago Park District Online; available from http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/ index.cfm/fuseaction/parks.detail/object_id/312b8327-51fb-4d79-984d-b8bd3eb3af32.cfm; Internet; accessed on 23, Nov. 2005 Kiang, Ying-cheng (Harry), "Chicago 's Chinatown," in Encyclopedia of Chicago, 1992; Internet; accessed on 23, Nov. 2005 Steffes, Tracy, "Chicago Chinese," in Encyclopedia of Chicago, 2000; Internet; accessed on 23, Nov. 2005 Olivo, Antonio, Avila, Oscar, "Chinatown 's new reach expands its old borders," Chicago Tribune (2004). [e-Journal] http://metromix.chicagotribune.com /localguide/neighborhoods/mmx-040718-neighborhoods-chinatown,0,6697674.story?coll=mmx-ng_heds (accessed on18 July, 2004).