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The Huang Twins 黄双胞胎


Santiago

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Chinese Immigration in America

 

The Opium Wars (1839-42, 1856-60) of the mid-nineteenth century between Great Britain and China left China in debt. Floods and drought contributed to an exodus of peasants from their farms, and many left the country to find work. When gold was discovered in the Sacramento Valley of California in 1848, a large uptick in Chinese immigrants entered the United States to join the California Gold Rush.

Following an 1852 crop failure in China, over 20,000 Chinese immigrants came through San Francisco’s customs house (up from 2,716 the previous year) looking for work. Violence soon broke out between white miners and the new arrivals, much of it racially charged. In May 1852, California imposed a Foreign Miners Tax of $3 month meant to target Chinese miners, and crime and violence escalated.

An 1854 Supreme Court Case, People v. Hall, ruled that the Chinese, like African Americans and Native Americans, were not allowed to testify in court, making it effectively impossible for Chinese immigrants to seek justice against the mounting violence. By 1870, Chinese miners had paid $5 million to the state of California via the Foreign Miners Tax, yet they faced continuing discrimination at work and in their camps.

 

The 1871 "Chinese Massacre"

One of the darkest episodes in Los Angeles history was the 1871 "Chinese Massacre".
The event was preceded by simmering anti-Chinese bigotry and, within Chinatown itself, conflict between two competing tongs (gangs).

On the evening of October 24, several white constables entered Chinatown to break up an argument between members of the tongs.
Whether by anger or accident, a white man ended up dead by gunshot wound. Shortly thereafter, a mob of 500 non Asian Angelenos began hunting down and assaulting every Chinese they could find. After five hours, the mobs had killed 19 Chinese men and boys (only one of the victims might have been implicated in the death of the white man).

Chinese homes and businesses had also been looted. Eleven white men including Sheriff James Burns and prominent Angeleno Robert Widney had attempted to stop the mobs but were themselves overwhelmed. The mob even shot and killed one of the white men who was trying to protect the Chinese. The incident drew national attention and provoked a grand jury investigation. Seven men were held responsible and convicted for the riots, but only one actually served any jail time.

 

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Francis and Adam were born and raised in Los Santos San Andreas on 6th November 1990. Their parents married back in 1985 which lead them to believe they were not settling well in Chinese due to unemployment of their mother. They emmigrated to American soil, Los Santos in hopes of finding a better life.

 

The twins never seen much of their mother growing up due to unknown reasons. Their father was the worker in a fish factory full time and claiming any extra shifts he could. At the age of 5, the twins mother sadly passed away due to medical reasons. This portrayed a financial difficulty in their family. While growing up, the twins would try and do small jobs for their neighbours such as washing the vehicles, working as a bartenders, passing the notes. This would sometimes supply food to the table for the twins while their father, would be working a lot.

 

By the time the twins began working their own jobs, Adam worked mostly on the vehicles, as Francis was helping his neighbor at the business. As the years passed, their father was eventually able to take out a loan and use the money for their kids to college. They successfully finished their college and they have recently just moved to Chinatown in a small based two room apartment.

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