The Paper Daughters of Chinatown

by Heather B. Moore

Besides passing punitive ordinances aimed specifically at the Chinese, the California legislature denied them basic civil rights, including immigration rights, employment in public works, intermarriage with whites, ability to give testimony in court, and the right to own land.

The Chinese people in America continued to be up against many barriers throughout the early 1900s, and the Chinese Exclusion Act wasn't repealed until 1943. But the Chinese women were up against anti-immigration laws from both sides of the Pacific. Chinese law forbade the emigration of women until 1911. Thus the illegal practice of bringing the women over from China under false pretenses, with false papers, began. And the first "paper daughters" began to arrive . . .