Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States
"The murder of Elsie Sigel immediately grabbed the front pages of newspapers, which portrayed Chinese men as dangerous to "innocent" and "virtuous" young white women.
Based on the phrase "the kings from the East" in the Christian scriptural verse Revelation 16:12,[21] Rupert made the claim that China, India, Japan and Korea were attacking the West, but that Jesus Christ would stop them.
In 1862, the Anti-Coolie Act specifically taxed Chinese immigrants at rates over half their income to suppress their jobs and economic participation per yellow peril tropes popular at that time.
In particular, even in his lone dissent against Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), then-Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote of Chinese people as: "a race so different from our own that we do not permit those belonging to it to become citizens of the United States.
[32][33] In 1880, the elected officials of the city of San Francisco passed an ordinance which made it illegal to operate a laundry in a wooden building without a permit from the Board of Supervisors.
[38] Heavy discrimination against Chinese students made it difficult for the US to expand international education opportunities in China and limited the ability of US colleges and universities from improving the reputation of their institutions.
In 1927, the Supreme Court held in Lum v. Rice that Mississippi could require a Chinese child to attend the local school for Black students since she was not white under that state's law.
The United States offered a more stable life, thanks to the gold rush in California, the construction of railways, and the resulting large demand for labor.
Senator Miller submitted a motion to ban the immigration Chinese laborers for 20 years, citing the passage of the 1879 anti-Chinese referendums in California and Nevada by huge margins as proof of popular support.
[43] President Chester A. Arthur vetoed the bill on April 4, 1882, as it violated the provisions of the Angell Treaty, which restricted but did not ban immigration from China.
Without his clearance, Qian found himself unable to pursue his career, and within two weeks, he announced plans to return to mainland China, which had come under the government of Mao Zedong.
[55] During the United States 2010 elections, both major political parties ran numerous negative advertisements focusing on candidates' alleged support for free trade with China.
[62] Earlier in 2010, US Representative John Culberson, had urged President Barack Obama not to allow further contact between NASA and the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
"[65] In January 2016, Trump proposed a 45% tariff on Chinese exports to the United States to give "American workers a level playing field.
"[66][67] When asked about potential Chinese retaliation to the implementation of tariffs, such as sales of US bonds, Trump judged such a scenario to be unlikely: "They won't crash our currency.
[75][76][77] According to the results of a Gallup poll which were published in February 2019, China was considered the greatest enemy of the United States by 21% percent of American respondents, only second to Russia.
[86][87][88][89] Additionally, the racist terms "Wuflu" and "Kung Flu" emerged in the United States during this period as pejorative and xenophobic ways of referring to COVID-19.
Some things will never change...", resulting in a backlash by Chinese-American civil rights activists, arguing that her tweet insulted people of Chinese descent.
[95] The COVID-19 pandemic was first reported in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, and as a result, acts and displays of Sinophobia, have increasingly occurred, as well as incidents of prejudice, xenophobia, discrimination, violence, and racism against people of East Asian ancestry.
[100] A study by the New York University College of Arts & Science found that there was no overall increase of Anti-Asian sentiment among the American population, instead it suggested that "already prejudiced persons" had felt authorized by the pandemic to act openly on their prejudices.
Studies suggest that framing the relationship between the United States and China as a great power competition foments anti-Asian sentiment among White Americans.
According to an analysis conducted by Vladimir Enrique and Medenica David Ebner at Asia Times in June 2021, White Americans are more likely to support war with China if such a military confrontation between the two countries ever materializes.
[102] According to a poll done by Pew Research Center in February 2021, 55% of Americans support limiting Chinese students studying in the United States, while 43% oppose such restrictions.
Anti-China messaging has been used to build bipartisan support for a number of economic policies that promote investment in infrastructure, research, technology, and job creation as necessary to counter China.
Some special interest groups such as the military industrial complex stand to materially benefit from the "China threat" narratives and promote them for that reason.
The survey, conducted by Columbia University and the Committee of 100 with 6,500 respondents, found that 7% reported property destruction, 9% experienced physical assault or intimidation, 20% faced verbal or online harassment, and 46% encountered unequal treatment.
[110] A Texas Senate bill tabled in 2023 by state representatives of the Republican Party, known as SB 147, was met with intense backlash particularly by Asian American groups.
[111] The bill would prohibit "certain aliens or foreign entities" from acquiring real property in the state of Texas, including those with affiliations or origins from China.
[122] On May 8, 2023, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed bills SB 264 and HB 1355 banning Chinese citizens from buying land in the state.
The Justice Department (DOJ) accused the scientist of illegally sending trade secrets to China—the design of a pocket heater used in superconductor research—and threatened him with 80 years in prison and $1 million in fines.
