Free «Chinese Migration to Los Angeles» Essay Paper

Description of the Research

Los Angeles is a well-known densely populated city in California. Moreover, its county is currently considered as one of the most popular immigration destinations for Chinese. Since the times of the Golden Rush, its geographical position has predetermined its close relations with China. From 2005 to 2014, the number of the Chinese representation, who has moved to Los Angeles, has reached 71,400 people, which is rated as 7.1 per 1,000 residents (Reese). Out of 12 largest Californian counties, Los Angeles is on the fourth place after San Francisco, Santa Clara and Alameda according to the number of immigrants (Reese). While in the previous decades, one could state that such situation is quite beneficial for the Chinese youth, who was in search of the better life in the highly developed Western country. Nowadays, the flow of the immigrants in Los Angeles has become mutually beneficial for both countries.

Aims

The aim of the research is to investigate the migration of Asians to the territory of the United States. It will consider the migration peculiarities throughout history. In particular, the paper will analyze the tendencies and underlying reasons of the Chinese migration to Los Angeles and people’s life in Chinatown. It will also focus on the positive and negative consequences of such migration flow for the county dwellers, economy, social life, and overall development in different areas.

Research Methodology

This is a secondary research based on the literature review and statistics analysis. The review of the quantitative data provided by Pew Research Center, Census Bureau, and primary researches will be considered in order to estimate the number of immigrants on the territory of Los Angeles. The comparative approach will be used in order to understand how big or small the number of Chinese is. From the historical perspective, the understanding of the underlying reasons for the immigrants’ flow will be provided. The estimation of the positive and negative results for the county will be viewed from social and economic perspectives.

Rationale

The research is quite timely because Los Angeles has been under Chinese influence for nearly 150 years. However, there still exists the tense relations between white and Chinese Americans. It is widely believed that moving to another developed country was particularly beneficial for immigrants. However, the rapid development of China and gradually established strong relations between two sides has brought a number of benefits for the United States and Los Angeles in particular. Concerning the tendencies related to the immigrants’ flow, it is quite interesting to define the most essential areas for China-Los Angeles cooperation as well as to show the weak sides that need additional attention from the governments.

Bibliography  

The arrival of the Chinese immigrants to the United States started a long time ago. Since the middle of the 19^th century, single migrants came to Los Angeles and other Californian cities. Ah Fou and Ah Luce were mentioned as the first immigrants who came as servants (Zesch 7). Later, more Chinese settled in Los Angeles and in 1870, the number of them reached 179 people (Zesch 7). This number grew gradually. However, far not all Americans were eager to see the immigrants in their country. The year of 1871 was marked by a cruel anti-Chinese riot of the white Americans (Zesch 7). As a result, this event in China became known in history due to the mass lynching of people because of their race. This period in the US history can be considered as the conception of anti-Chinese discrimination in the country that is observed until today. Obviously, discrimination is a serious social problem, especially for the place, where the number of potentially discriminated people is constantly growing.

Discrimination still exists and is just as common now as ever before. The analysis of public opinion reviews shows that 72% of the Chinese Americans reported that discrimination is a problem in their communities (Lipin). However, not all white Americans accept it as a problem. Such stereotypes on the personal level develop into those on the economic and political one. For instance, the US-Chinese trade is marked by close interrelations and quite often accompanying accusing of the Chinese exporters in unfair prices formation (Lipin). Quite often, Chinese import is portrayed as evil, while the truth is that relations with China are quite beneficial for the United States (Lipin). However, such attitude is positive neither for the American economy nor for their social life. Investments, tourism, technologies development and trade are the spheres that are under the positive influence of China.

Ferdinando Guerra provides a comprehensive report on the close interconnection between China and Los Angeles in various areas. Referring to the historical ties, education, culture, networks creation and such economic aspects as trade, investments, and business development, the author emphasizes that the Chinese immigration is a serious background for the economic development of the Los Angeles County and Chinese population. Tourism, investments and export growth together with new future business prospects are the major advantages Los Angeles gets from tight cooperation with China (Guerra 4-5). Among the growing indexes, one can also point out population number, employment, income per capita, gross product, and technological development (Guerra 10). The University of Los Angeles has provided education to more than 10,000 Chinese students in 2013 (Guerra 6). As a result, these people can add to the economic and cultural development of both countries.

Reese focuses on the similar issues and states that the relations of the Californian counties with China potentially contribute to the high-tech industries development. The Chinese immigrants are highly skilled workers in the sphere of technologies. In the United States, this industry is developing. Hence, such workers are demanded and welcome. Consequently, the era of migration from Mexico has finished, while the new era with the growing number of high-tech oriented Chinese workers has come (Reese). Many of them are real “specialized talents and contribute to the technologies development considerably” (Reese). For the same reasons, Chinese students are massively enrolled in the American colleges and universities, where the education system is better than in China.

The crucial role of the Chinese in expanding of the transnational relations and business was also investigated in Chan’s work. The beneficial relationships between China and the United States were observed since the 1980s and was marked by the rapid development of the Chinese American banks (Chan 148). Later, the growth of the immigrants was also accompanied by strengthening of the trans-Pacific relations due to the existing Chinese firms in California and their peculiar business strategies. The contribution of the Chinese immigrants into the Engineering and Science Association in California was valuable (Chan 154). At the same time, the further contribution to the technologies development was also mentioned.

Conclusion

The analysis of the credible sources shows that California and Los Angeles County relationship is marked by a considerable number of the Chinese immigrants. Mainly, a search for a better life was the main reason for the Chinese’s moving from their native country. While their negative role on the American society is mostly related to discrimination predetermined by different race, the number of the positive outcomes of the Chinese immigration prevails the negative one. Strengthening of the inter-pacific networks, trade, tourism, and contribution to the achievements related to the technologies are the main advantages related to the Chinese flow in Los Angeles