Chapter 349 China Town (seven)
In fact, when the wave of anti-Chinese in California started, wealthy businessmen and gentry in the United States had already returned to China one after another. Rich men were not interested in receiving the popularity, and the gentleman did not stand under the dangerous wall. Therefore, after 1870, those who went to the United States were basically ordinary Chinese coolies in the poor class.
However, at the beginning of the promulgation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the number of Chinese in the United States did not decrease significantly, but instead increased to a certain extent. Because major Chinese guilds took advantage of the influence of the Chinese Exclusion Act and began to engage in large-scale smuggling transactions.
Those Chinese coolies who are regarded as "class enemies" by American trade unions have always been popular among major capitalists and farmers, especially those labor-intensive production enterprises, which require Chinese workers to reduce production costs.
At that time, half of the textile workers in California were Chinese, while more than 80% of the agricultural laborers in California were from China. Many of them had just participated in the Pacific Railway project.
The "Chinese Exclusion Act" actually touched the interests of those big capitalists, who hoped to continue to obtain cheap labor, so under the planning of the guild halls and halls, many Chinese workers sneaked across the border from the Mexican side every month.
However, under the promotion of some politicians and media at that time, the entire American society fell into a hysterical anti-Chinese atmosphere, and excluding and oppressing Chinese people became a manifestation of "political correctness". It seemed that no one would support them would not be a real American.
So when anti-Chinese changes from simple public criticism to substantial violent activities, it is really not surprising at all.
The famous "Shiquan Massacre" broke out in 1885 because the Pacific Railway Coal Mine Company has been recruiting Chinese miners with low wages, causing many white miners to be unemployed. Incited by the national trade union organization "Labor Knights", 150 white miners in Shiquan City in Wyoming destroyed Chinatown in Shiquan City with full armed forces.
In this organized destruction and killing, a total of 79 Chinese buildings were burned, twenty-eight unarmed Chinese were killed, fifteen were seriously injured, and twenty-six others fled into nearby mountains and forests, unfortunately suffering from wolves and all were killed.
The tragedy shocked the whole American society, but the police arrested only sixteen suspects afterwards. Because American law stipulates that Chinese people are not allowed to submit testimony against whites in court, all the suspects were released in court because of "insufficient evidence".
Afterwards, under the strong protest and negotiations of the Qing diplomats, the US government symbolically compensated the Qing court 149,000 US dollars, not to compensate the victims of the tragedy, but to the wage scholarships for Chinese students studying in the United States. It is a pity that those Chinese students studying in the United States would not know that the scholarships they worked hard were actually exchanged for the blood of their fellow countrymen.
Since then, violent cases against Chinese communities have occurred frequently across the United States, dozens of Chinatowns have been burned down and thousands of Chinese immigrants have been forced to displace.
During that period, the number of Chinese people in the United States began to decrease sharply. In addition to the unbearable laborers returning to China, the Chinese Exclusion Act, coupled with the prohibition of intermarriage from interracial marriage, also effectively eliminated the Chinese community in North America from a racial level.
Because most of the Chinese workers who came to the United States are men, and their wives and children stayed in China, the "Chinese Exclusion Act" blocked the Chinese workers' families' path to the United States, and the law prohibiting intermarriage from interracial marriage cut off the possibility of Chinese workers' bloodlines getting married and thriving in the local area.
In the year one and two years, the Chinese Exclusion Act expired and expired, but then, Democratic Congressman Thomas Jerry, a California Democratic Congressman, proposed a more severe "Jerry Act" based on the original Chinese Exclusion Act. In addition to requiring all Chinese people to register and obtain residence permits, the bill also deprived Chinese expatriates of their personal protection rights, that is, once Chinese are arrested, they will not be allowed to be released on bail.
The original validity period of the Jerry Act was also ten years, but in 1902, the U.S. Congress turned it into a permanent bill.
By 1940, the number of Chinese people in the United States was only 77,500, all of whom were gathered in Chinatowns everywhere, making a living by operating various service industries.
Chinese coolies are from the bottom of their homes and have never received higher education. The same is true for their children. Not only are they unable to afford tuition fees, but there is also ubiquitous racial discrimination. Few people can persist in high school.
At that time, Chinese in San Francisco, in addition to operating daily necessities imported from China, were mainly involved in the laundry and catering industries, especially the business of handmade laundry in San Francisco, which was almost monopolized by Chinese.
What remains are some buyers who cannot be bought on the table, such as gambling stalls and brothels, and the halls have begun to get involved in new narcotics business. Just like cocaine that was once popular in the United States, many Chinese halls have participated in the sale.
"Mennie is respected by all Chinese gangs. He set rules for them and divided the sphere of influence of the hall. No one must break his rules, otherwise he will be severely punished. The Chinese like him and are afraid of him, so they gave him the nickname "White Devil". "Clay turned the steering wheel, and the car turned a corner and drove up a ramp.
Jack Marenni is indeed a ruthless character. He is a "Chinatown Squad" composed of five agents, and is famous for his ruthless style.
When Marenni was in office, he convened all the leaders of the hall to hold a meeting and asked the hall to stop fighting in his jurisdiction, especially prohibiting drug and prostitution transactions, otherwise he would wash his butt and wait for jail, and then be deported by the government.
After the inspector took office, the street gang fight gradually disappeared in Chinatown, and the crime rate also decreased significantly. He controlled a large number of informants and monitored the criminal activities of the entire community. This senior American police officer became the underground emperor of this community.
The gangster activities in Chinatown were effectively curbed, and the entire community gradually flourished. As a result, a large number of restaurants, cocktail bars and coffee shops were gathered, as well as many underground casinos and striptease nightclubs, Chinatown became San Francisco's most famous gold-selling caves and amusement parks.
Many years ago, Marenni's boss intended to transfer this outstanding supervision and transferred it back to the General Administration as the head of the General Administration. It is said that this proposal was unanimously opposed by the Chinatown community, and the superiors finally had to keep Marenni in Chinatown.
"The old guy has been in this business for more than thirty years, and fifteen of them have been in Chinatown. Nothing happens there can escape the eyes of this white devil." After the road is clear, Clay's mood has also become more relaxed.
"He is already sixty-sixty-three years old this year. If you are in charge, where are you going to start? Buy him with money? To be honest, he should not be short of this." Welbe took out a cigarette with a filter from the cigarette box, and then knocked it twice on the silver box lid, with a fanged and clawed Hydra on the box lid.
"He is just an intermediate police officer and should have a lot of things he wants." Clay shrugged his shoulders and replied.
"As far as I know, his youngest daughter has always wanted to study in Europe, and his eldest son is serving in the US Marines in the Philippines." Welbe pulled out the bounced cigarette lighter and lit the cigarette in his hand.
"I understand, sir." Clay looked suddenly enlightened.
"Be careful when looking at the road, Clay, we are already fifteen minutes late. I don't want to completely ruin the plan for the day because of a traffic accident." Verbey exhaled a cigarette and raised his hand to knock on the guardrail on the side of the car door.
ps: Thank you for your understanding, everything is on track.
Chapter completed!