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but which obviously were passed to harass and
deprive them of a livelihood, included the cubic-air law, which prohibited residence in rooms with less than 500 cubic feet of air per person;
the sidewalk ordinance, which made it a misdemeanor for any person to
carry baskets across the shoulders; and the queue ordinance, which required that the hair of every male prisoner in the city jails be cut to within
an inch of the scalp. Laws were also passed by the California legislature that denied Chinese basic civil rights, such as the right to immigrate,
give testimony in court, be employed in public works, intermarry with
whites, and own land. Negatively stereotyped as coolie labor, immoral
and diseased heathens, and unassimilable aliens, the Chinese were driven out of the better-paying jobs in the mines, factories, fishing areas,
and farmlands. They were generally not allowed to live outside Chinatown, and their children were barred from attending white schools.20

    But racial prejudice, segregation, and discriminatory laws against the
Chinese were evidently not enough to assuage popular discontent over
the economic upheavals caused by the growing pains of industrial capitalism. It was not unusual for Chinese to be robbed and murdered with
impunity, but during depression years when the unemployment rate was
high, entire Chinese communities suffered unprecedented racial hatred
and physical violence. On a number of these occasions in the i 87os and
18 8os, Chinese settlements throughout the American West were attacked
by bloodthirsty mobs out to loot, lynch, burn, and drive the Chinese
out. In the Los Angeles riot of 18 7 1, unarmed Chinese were shot down
in cold blood. Others were hauled out of buildings, beaten, and murdered while their homes were looted. In 1885 the massacre of Chinese
miners at Rock Springs, Wyoming, claimed twenty-eight Chinese lives
and caused $147,000 in property damage. All of the shacks belonging
to the Chinese were set on fire, and stragglers were shot as they emerged.
Federal troops had to be called in to protect the survivors.21
    The most damaging blow to Chinese immigration and settlement
proved to be the Chinese Exclusion Act of 18 8 z, passed by a Congress
under siege from white labor and politicians at the height of the antiChinese movement. The act suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers to the United States for ten years. It was renewed in 189 z for another ten years, and in 1904 extended indefinitely. The Exclusion Acts
were strictly enforced until they were repealed in 1943. 21 It was the first
time in American history that a specific group of people was excluded
on the basis of race and class. In the interest of diplomatic and trade relations between China and the United States, Chinese officials, students,
teachers, merchants, and travelers were exempted by treaty provisionsand therein lay the loophole through which Chinese, including women,
were able to continue coming after i 8 8 z. Although the number of Chinese immigrants dropped sharply-only 9z,41 r entered during the Exclusion period (1882-1943 ), as compared to 2- 58,zro prior to the i88z
act-Chinese immigration was not totally stopped.23 As my maternal
great-grandfather and father did, Chinese immigrants who could pool enough money to become partners in import-export businesses were
able to attain merchant status and so send for their wives and children.
Many others who had merchant or U.S. citizenship status would falsely
report a number of sons (rarely daughters) in China, thereby creating
"paper son" slots that were then sold to fellow villagers who desired to
immigrate.

    The class bias of the Exclusion Act applied to women as well as men.
Wives of laborers, although not specifically mentioned in the act, were
barred by implication. The ambiguity was settled two years later in the
separate cases of In re Ah Quan and Case of the Chinese Wife [Ah Moy].
Both women were married to Chinese