ABSTRACT
The earliest Chinese-American contact occurred in 1784 when the first American trading vessel landed at Canton. However, the first wave of Chinese emigration to the United States in noticeable numbers did not start until the 1850s. The number of immigrants steadily increased to a peak in 1890, with a population of 107,488. Thereafter, as a result of a variety of discriminatory legislation, the number of Chinese immigrants dwindled to 61,639 in 1920. After the Second World War, Chinese immigration again grew. This influx was further hastened by the passage of the New Immigration Act of 1965. The census of 1980 indicated 806,042 Chinese living in the United States. In 1990, the Chinese population in the United States numbered 1,645,472 (table 13.1). Hence, there were three major waves of Chinese immigration to the United States: one before the 1880s, the second after the Second World War, and the third after 1965. 1
