Chinese in the US in the 19th Century

"Kiwi" of Shanghai Expat fame posted this piece on the forums, and I thought I would share here. Written by Mark Twain, the story gives interesting insight into what Chinese life was like back then, some in Virginia, but mostly in California.

Chapter LIV

Roughing It - by Mark Twain

Of course there was a large Chinese population in Virginia--it is the case with every town and city on the Pacific coast. They are a harmless race when white men either let them alone or treat them no worse than dogs; in fact they are almost entirely harmless anyhow, for they seldom think of resenting the vilest insults or the cruelest injuries. They are quiet, peaceable, tractable, free from drunkenness, and they are as industrious as the day is long. A disorderly Chinaman is rare, and a lazy one does not exist. So long as a Chinaman has strength to use his hands he needs no support from anybody; white men often complain of want of work, but a Chinaman offers no such complaint; he always manages to find something to do. He is a great convenience to everybody--even to the worst class of white men, for he bears the most of their sins, suffering fines for their petty thefts, imprisonment for their robberies, and death for their murders. Any white man can swear a Chinaman's life away in the courts, but no Chinaman can testify against a white man. Ours is the "land of the free"--nobody denies that--nobody challenges it. [Maybe it is because we won't let other people testify.] As I write, news comes that in broad daylight in San Francisco, some boys have stoned an inoffensive Chinaman to death, and that although a large crowd witnessed the shameful deed, no one interfered.

The story continues on ReadPrint.

Judging by the treatment of the Chinese historically in the US, according to Mark Twain, one can see some of the same treatment in China given to some expats as Americans to the Chinese in the essay. During my recent "Field Trip" it was suggested that all of "us laowais" can earn so much money here, and yet disrespect the local population. While they were lining their pockets with our "fines", they made sure we would understand that the Chinese people were proud. Are all expats like that to Chinese? No. Are all Chinese like that to expats? Of course not. While my views & opinions can get somewhat extreme (I'm not as bad as my laowai friend here is), never confuse my bitterness toward the powers that be with any bitterness toward 90% of the local population. There is still that 10% though that I'd love to toss right into the Huangpu River & watch them sink in that oily, chemically enhanced cesspool.

Field Trip to the PSB office!

I made it to the PSB office yesterday. The PSB are hunting down ALL the foreigners in the Hongquan, WuZhong Road area in an effort to catch those with either illegal passports or those not carrying passports with them (as in my case). This area houses a good number of Koreans and a good number of them were also at the PSB office with us, including local business owners we know.

Our place got fined a couple thousand RMB plus about 1000 RMB each for its 3 foreign employees. This is because the organization is Chinese-owned. Other places, schools, restaurants, bars & such, got sacked with a lot more, some ranging up to 60,000 RMB including sending a few people home packing. These were foreign-owned. Their fines included up to 10,000 RMB per person, for some, deportation (with the option of returning on a new visa) and a nice long speech from the PSB declaring how they were rich, yet should abide by the local laws. Where the rich part comes in, I've no idea. I've heard so far, roughly five Koreans, one American & one Canadian got deported, within the last few days. And this has been going on for about a month now. You do the math.

The real reason, however, is because the local jurisdiction is gearing up for the Spring Festival. For every foreigner & foreign-owned business they bring in & fine, they get a bigger, better New Years Bonus. By the looks of the PSB office we were at, they're making some decent bonuses. About 20 people were waiting, and that's only for the afternoon. I can see eventually other jurisdictions following suit & jumping in to cash in on the rich foreigners. So watch yourself.

As one of my colleagues mentioned, eventually you stop asking how someone on only 4000 RMB/month can afford a BMW.

Another Stop over at the PSB

A couple weeks ago, the Police raided an establishment I happen to be frequenting. That establishment, a school that caters to the Korean Expat crowd. At about 9pm, about 6 PSB officials came in & demanded to see all our passports. We didn't have them (what expat actually does carry their passport around EVERYWHERE they go?). Because of this, we had to go to the PSB office a few days later, where they basically gave us a slap on the wrist.

What went wrong:
We had to sign a piece of paper that neither they nor the school admin could tell us what it said.
They referred to a PSB Guide book written in rather vague English.

Regardless, we had to sign, or face possible deportation. My problem is that this gig is only for a little extra drinking money. I'm an IT consultant. Not a teacher. My visa says so. But they didn't say anything was wrong.

Now, however, they called said establishment again, and demanded to see our passports again. That was Monday. We got our passports back Monday evening. Yesterday, we were told that we will again go talk to the PSB. All I can think is that they somehow didn't bribe enough money to the PSB and now are looking for more.

We'll see what happens I suppose. If I get deported, I leave all my earthly possessions to my lovely wife. ;)

Meet the Beijing Olympic Mascots!

Here we have the 5 mascots of the Beijing Olympics. These five beings will make your stay in Beijing during the Olympics peaceful, harmonious and misinformed well informed.

Beibei, in blue, is busy coordinating the Logistics of organizing the Olympics. Beibei is single-handedly cleaning up the toilets of Beijing & teaching the Beijing Taxi drivers how to correctly answer tourist questions such as, "Is that man peeing on that wall?" and "Hey, wasn't that my hotel?". Wonder if they'll remember the toilets in Qingdao?

Jingjing, armed with lotus leaves on... its head is the first-strike force against the armadas of foreign journalists who will descend upon Beijing in 2008. Should they see anything out of the "ordinary", Jingjing strikes, flying through the air, flinging lotus leaves full of mis-information and false reports, all the while transferring all below-standard toothpaste to Canada & Europe.

Huanhuan is always in touch with the PLA. Huanhuan is ready to lick any capitalist swine who dares to challenge the authority of the Beijing Olympic Mascots. That little ball on his (her?) head? Even though Huanhuan is only one-balled, it's a big ball and it's always tuned into the PLA Anti-disestablishmentary Tank & Da Shan impersonator Division. The Beijing Olympic Mascots have the biggest balls of all! Did you see protesters at the Olympics? Call on Huanhuan to "solve the problem"!

Yingying, also well known on ShanghaiExpat.com is the events coordinator. Rest assured, if you're lost in the Olympic venue, Yingying will direct you to the right place... the sales area. If you're looking for the Gymnastics venue, and you're standing right next to it, be sure that Yingying will guide you through the onslaught of cheap watches, bags & dvd's and within 2 hours, you'll arrive at your point of destination. How convenient!

Nini... well, the token Aztec. This is a secret belonging only to Nini, myself and you, my 2 SinoPenn readers. Her Quetzalcoatl Power helmet allows Nini to fly through the air, spreading the love of all Chinese to the rest of the world! Nini is also the one who rid Ireland of all snakes, hence why she's left only with feathers! After all, snakes are a foreign problem.

There you have it, folks! The Beijing Olympics Mascots! Spreading the love of all Chinese People through lead paint, defense network hacking & cardboard Baozi's to the rest of the world!