Introduction

It has been one and a half centuries since Congress passed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, signed into law by President Chester Alan Arthur and enforced vigorously. The Chinese Exclusion Law and other anti-Chinese laws shadowed the lives of the Chinese in the United States for more than sixty-one years until 1943, when they were eventually repealed. However, the fraudulent accusations against the Chinese as ‘disease carriers’ and ‘cheap laborers in the political rhetoric of the nineteenth century still echo in our current situation. The frequent usage of the scientifically baseless and racist slur ‘China virus’ still hits Chinese Americans hard. President Donald Trump used the slur to directly attack China in a time of public health crisis when the Covid-19 pandemic spread around the world. It hurts the lives of Chinese Americans, causing pain in their hearts. ‘Disease carriers’ and ‘China virus’ run in the same historical groove, stirring hatred, racial antagonism, and social conflict. However, the reckless accusations and racially discriminatory legislation against Chinese Americans did not go without opposition and resistance.

The Chinese in the United States pursued justice through the judiciary process, rallied and petitioned to voice their demand for racial equality and, more importantly, continued their participation in social, political, and economic activities, claiming themselves to be Americans during a time when anti-Chinese legislation was imposed. Their fight for racial equality continues into the twenty-first century.