The Coolie Trade

The Coolie Trade or "Yellow Slavery"

Historical Contexts

Introduction

Major Destinations of Chinese laborers:

- American expansion and the abolition of slavery

created a world-wide labor deficit

Backgound:

Abolition of black slaves -> translated to a need for alternative manpower

-> recruitment of unskilled Chinese labourers

1. British colonies:

Singapore

Malaysia

Australia

• Involuntary/voluntary migration of unskilled, indentured Asian labourers starting in 16th century

Migration to America

- China lost first Opium war to British in 1842

End of coolie trade

2. Spanish colonies:

Cuba and Peru

• The trade climaxed in the Modern Period (19th thru early 20th century)

Treaty of Nanking -> Opened five treaty ports, depressed China

-> Transported Southern Chinese to

Southeast Asia, Americas, Australia

3. North America

Chinese Laborers Coming to Americas

Comparison to African Slaves

Media documenting the outrageously brutal and cruel abuse of chinese coolies and public outrage led the British govt. to outlaw the trade in 1916.

• Most laborer were men--poor farmers from Southern part of China (Hong Kong, Macau, Shantou, Shanghai and Guangzhou)

• Coolie contracts based on

- Misleading promises

- Kidnapped

- Clan violence

- Opium-drugging

- Debts

• 99% male
• some voluntary
• some garnered freedom
• shorter lifespan
• technically paid per month
• installment into slavery as part of historical transition: white/black racial spectrum and free/slave labor

- Loss of the Second Opium War

Other reasons:

Wanted to make money in the West (voluntarily)

-> Western = rich, more political power

• Mostly went to work in British, Spanish, and American colonies/states

Treaty of Beijing (1860)

-> More freedom for Westerners to employ the Chinese

*In 1862, Congress enacted the Prohibition of Coolie Trade Act, which forbade American shippers’ participation in the illicit enterprise.

**Around 6 million to 7 million Chinese coolies were exported in total

Anti-Chinese Sentiment

Politics of Asian

Indentured Servitude

The Opium Wars and the influx of Chinese immigrants during the gold rush soured relations between Americans and the Chinese. Suspicious, resentful attitudes began to prevail, and Americans associated the Chinese with Opium, famines, and a crumbling ancient empire. The "coolie" stereotype would be fixed in the American imagination and was later used by nativists to stop the immigration of (what was seen as) an unassimilable rival labor source.

1862: California's Anti-Coolie Act

1882: Chinese Exclusion Act

1902: Chinese Exclusion Act renewed indefinitely.

Workplaces in the United States:

Migration from China

Workplaces where intense labour was necessary

• 1849: first wave of Chinese immigration to the United States - (California Gold Rush-> gold mines)
• Railroad construction sites

• Given dangerous tasks such as clearing areas and laying tracks, also had to endure tedious, tiring work, and racist sentiment.

Railroad in US

Traffickers/ Brokers

Work in Peru and Cuba

• Coolies installed into system of slavery: while some servants left voluntarily, many were bought, sold, and treated as slaves
• Over 50% of Chinese laborers died before their contract was over

Peru

• sugar and cotton plantations (80%)
• railroad construction sites and guano pits

1850s - 1870: 6,000 coolies went to Peru each year

- Coolies work in Peru-> ill-treated, being abused

- Suicides,rebellions, escapes

Cuba

• 1847 to 1874: 125,000 - 500,000 Chinese coolies
• Sugar cane plantations, and work with Africans

Have similar situations with Peru

- severely abused

- insufficient amounts of food, no medical care

- frequent floggings and other physical torture

Coolie brokers - representing employers

-> Signed a employment contracts with coolies

- standard term of contract was 8 years

- Treated like slave - drive to market with whips

-> sold in auctions to highest bidder

Secret Societies

Found job after arrival by the linking of relatives/secret societies/ official foreign worker brokers

- Forcefully renewed their contracts if first contract expired

- Most were forced to work rather than looking for job actively

Migration Conditions from China

Steps:

The trip to Cuba - 170 days

The trip to Peru - 120 days.

*Controlled Chinese passengers by brutality and drugs

1. Men locked up in a coolie house

2. Coolies were put on ship

3. "Checking of physical health and willingness"

4. Coolies were shipped to destination; many died

Panama: 803 people boarded, 480 left

5. Mutinies occured; ships for transatlantic slave trade retooled for coolie trade

Payment

Free Labour: Journey paid by themselves/

loan from their relatives

Credit ticket system: Firstly paid by the broker, coolie indentured to pay back debt

General Working Conditions

General Living Conditions

• Chinese Coolies were exploited
• NO appropriate legal protection
• mistreated (beaten to death)
• starved
• Lack of basic freedoms
• Virtually no salary (Indebted for life)

- Worked long hours to pay off the high interest rates on credit ticket system.

• Lived in crowded places without lights or windows (usually with people from same area or similar dialect)
• smoking opium and gambling

-- more debts

Secret Societies: social and political organizations formed by people who shared similar ancestry or hometowns.

The Six Companies of SF arranged for a variety of services for the Chinese community, organizing a private patrol force for Chinatown, assisting with translations, securing necessary permits, and establishing health and hygiene programs. The Six Companies also represented the entire Chinese community throughout the U.S., dealing with local and national governments on issues such as immigration and persecution.