Chinese laborers shaped the US customs: modern border control originated from the Chinese Exclusion Act
Customs, visas, and passport systems were not inventions of Europe and America but were born in the late 19th century when Chinese immigrants flooded into the United States, prompting the need to screen and exclude. The paradox that legal immigration is hard while illegal immigration is easy persists to this day.
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Chinese immigrants shaped the US customs system
In 'The Melancholy Order,' McKeown argues that the global modern customs and immigration control system was not established by white European immigrants, but developed in the late 19th century when a large number of Chinese immigrants poured into the United States, as the US needed to determine who could enter and by what standards to classify them. In a striking phrase, it was Chinese immigrants who shaped the US customs. This system then spread globally, so Chinese immigrants played a key role in the formation of modern border control, thereby also refuting Eurocentrism in immigration history.
— Cheng YanliangFoucault's concept of power runs through the immigration system
McKeown is deeply influenced by Foucault: power is not top-down and concentrated in the state, but exists in everyday details and operates in a network. When immigrants apply for visas, they are required to provide various certificates and materials; this disciplinary mechanism and knowledge discourse precisely reflect the operation of power. Yang Bin points out that the immigration system is full of absurdities and paradoxes. For example, when applying for a student visa, regardless of whether you actually intend to return to your home country after graduation, you must check the box stating that you will return; otherwise, the visa officer will directly reject you. The system appears to operate between legal and illegal, but it is actually riddled with paradoxes created by power.
— Cheng YanliangThe Chinese Exclusion Act established national immigration sovereignty
McKeown analyzes the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, pointing out that its most important aspect was establishing the unilateral jurisdiction of the receiving country. Previously, the authority of the sending and receiving countries was unclear; the Chinese Exclusion Act placed the decision-making power in the hands of the United States, thus giving rise to the distinction between passports and visas today: a passport is an identity document provided by the home country, while a visa is decided by the receiving country whether to accept. In the modern international system, the decision-making power over immigration control ultimately rests with the receiving country—this is the key conclusion drawn from the Chinese Exclusion Act.
— Cheng YanliangIllegal immigration is easy, legal immigration is hard
The US immigration system has a paradoxical outcome: about 10 million low-educated illegal immigrants make up 5% of the US labor force and have long been able to stay due to lax enforcement; conversely, highly educated non-immigrant talents often have to wait years in line to apply for a US green card. The system ostensibly encourages free immigration, but in reality it is centered on screening and obstruction. This absurdity, contrast, and paradox is what McKeown calls the 'melancholy order.' So-called free immigration is merely an invention and imagination of the modern state; immigration has always been defined, classified, and filtered by the state.
— Cheng YanliangIndentured labor replaced black slavery
In the mid-to-late 19th century, as the abolitionist movement surged in the Western world, a labor vacuum appeared on the plantations of the New World. Contracted Chinese laborers emerged as substitutes for black slaves, known as 'selling piglets.' Chinese laborers in the US typically earned about $30 per month, and after deducting living expenses, could send home $80-100 per year; at that time, the average annual income of Chinese farmers was only $8-10, a difference of about tenfold. It was this economic drive that fueled the wave of emigration from South China in the late Qing Dynasty. A case in point is Sun Yat-sen's elder brother, Sun Mei, who started as an indentured laborer and later became a large rancher owning 6,500 acres.
— Cheng YanliangPassports came before ID cards
After the United States and the West established customs systems, Chinese laborers became the first Chinese to possess international identity documents—passports—which appeared in China earlier than domestic ID cards. Chinese laborers crossed clear national borders and, upon arriving in foreign lands, suffered racial discrimination and oppression, shifting from clan and native-place identities to a conscious identification with being Chinese. Overseas Chinese thus became the forerunners of modern Chinese nationalism and revolutionary thought; Sun Yat-sen called them 'the mother of the revolution.' Yang Bin emphasizes that overseas Chinese simultaneously exhibit two trends: 'falling leaves return to the root' (returning to China) and 'taking root where they land' (settling abroad), and one should not only emphasize the former.
— Cheng YanliangIn their own words · checked verbatim
Eitman said in his book that by the 1870s, immigration had shifted from commodities to people, and this shift was basically based on the doctrine of the inalienable rights of the individual, but almost at the moment immigrants were regarded as people, their source of rights was stripped away and redistributed to the state.
艾特曼在书中说，他说到了19世纪70年代，移民已经从商品转向人，这种转变基本上是基于个人权力不可剥夺的信条，但几乎就是在移民被视为人之时，他们的权力来源就被剥夺了，重新分配给了国家。
Yang Bin26:28
His income in the United States was ten times higher than at home, because whether in the South Seas, North America, or South America, these places were sparsely populated with abundant resources, and new industries were emerging that required a large labor force, especially hardworking, experienced, and skilled Chinese laborers, who were particularly welcome.
美国他的收入比在国内的要高10倍，因为无论是在南洋，在北美还是在南美，都属于地广人稀，资源丰富，而且新进行业出现，需要大量的劳动力，特别是勤劳，有经验，有技术的中国劳工，尤其受欢迎。
Yang Bin37:41
Figures
| Monthly wage of Chinese laborers in the US | about $30 | 36:41 |
| Annual amount Chinese laborers could send home | $80-100 | 36:41 |
| Average annual income of Chinese farmers at the time | $8-10 | 36:41 |
| Proportion of illegal immigrants in the US labor force | about 5% | 29:32 |
| Area of land leased by Sun Mei | 6,500 acres | 37:41 |
Glossary
- indentured labor
- A labor model contracted to replace slavery, used to fill the labor vacuum after abolition.
- Natal model
- A model of immigration screening used in the Natal colony of South Africa, based on language tests, later adopted by Australia, New Zealand, and others.
- Canadian principle
- A control principle established in 1909 that decides to accept or reject immigrants based on the economic interests of the host country.
How to listen
For Chinese-speaking listeners interested in immigration, customs systems, global history, and Foucault's theories, especially those concerned with how modern states control populations through documents and permits.
The first 13 minutes recalling the academic journey of the teacher and student can be quickly skipped; dive in directly where Chinese immigrants shaped the customs system.