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Circa 2002 (Gardner-Chen Family).

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The California gold rush brings the first wave of Chinese immigration, laborers for railroad construction, agriculture, and mining (Zong, Batalova), starting in 1849, continuing throughout the American Industrial Revolution.

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Central Pacific Railroad Company hires over 10,000 Chinese people to build Western-half of first Transcontinental Railroad (Zhao).

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A San Francisco mob attacks the Chinese community, 21 Chinese are killed (Zhao).

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Advocates against Chinese immigration introduce and pass legislation through Congress allowing only 15 Chinese people to arrive per ship, however, President Rutherford B. Hayes vetoes the bill because of its conflict with a treaty agreement between the United States and China. Afterwards, he attempts to revise Burlingame-Seward Treaty so China will put a limit on immigration to America (Office of the Historian).

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The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act is passed, prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers, stating their ineligibility for American citizenship, and requiring all Chinese people traveling in the country to carry a form of identification stating their purpose/status. This is the first Act of its kind in the history of the nation, that set such restrictions on immigration (Office of the Historian).

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Massacre at Rock Springs, Wyoming, leaves 28 Chinese immigrants dead (Zhao).

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The Scott Act prohibits re-entry to the U.S. for Chinese-Americans if they visit China (Office of the Historian).

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The Geary Act renews the Exclusion Act for another decade (Office of the Historian).

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United States V. Wong Kim Ark: Court rules any person born in the United States is a citizen, and citizenship by birth cannot be taken away, regardless of ethnicity (Zhao).

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The Chinese Exclusion Act is made permanent (Zhao).

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Chinese merchants organize a boycott to protest the discriminatory Exclusion Acts. President Theodore Roosevelt asks the Chinese government to suppress it, and the boycott comes to an end within several months (Office of the Historian).

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The National Origins Act of 1924 allows for immigration visas for two percent of the number of each nationality in the United States as per the 1890 census, but completely excludes all Asian immigrants (Office of the Historian).

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Congress rules that U.S. citizens may bring their Chinese wives into the country, if the marriage had occurred before 1924 (Zhao).

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The Chinese Exclusion Act is repealed, and Chinese immigrants are granted the right of naturalization. China is given a token quota of 105 immigrants each year (Zhao).

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Chinese Alien Wives of American Citizens Act allows entry of Chinese wives to American citizens outside of the quota. Over 6,000 Chinese women enter the U.S. within the next couple years (Zhao).

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Justice Department runs a "Chinese Confession Program" in order to investigate Communist activities, and break up networks for Chinese immigration (Zhao).

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Chinese immigration stems mainly from Taiwan, because of the lack of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States until 1979 (Zhao).

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Second wave of Chinese immigration to the United States.

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Large number of Chinese immigrants arrive as refugees from the Vietnam War (Zhao).

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China lessens its controls on emigration (Zong, Batalova).

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Diplomatic relations between U.S. and China are restored (Zong, Batalova).

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299,000 immigrants from mainland China are living in the United States (Zong, Batalova).

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The number of Chinese immigrants has nearly quadrupled: 989,000 (Zong, Batalova).

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Chinese workers on the Central Pacific Railroad 

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Chinese workers on the Central Pacific Railroad 

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Circa 1863 (Digital Public Library of America).

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After a year and a half of writing pen-pal letters back and forth from China to America and a long visit from her pen pal Jesse, Yu Hong married her foreign friend in her hometown of Taishan, Guangdong Province. He spoke just a few Cantonese words that he'd learned on tape on the plane ride, and she spoke what little English she remembered from her days in high school. After their honeymoon in Beijing, Jesse headed back to the United States without Yu Hong. They were separated for nine long months, because the government thought they were a green card marriage, nothing but fraud. In the two years following her arrival in America, Yu Hong and Jesse had their first daughter, Alana Chen Gardner. Yu Hong juggled her school work from Community College of Philadelphia, trying to learn fluent English, and getting her Associate's degree in Photography, while taking care of her baby, with support from her relatives already living in the city. After moving from their small Chinatown loft to a four-bedroom townhouse, she sponsored her parents, so they could also live in America. They lived in the guest bedroom for two years, before moving to their own apartment only a few blocks away. Yu Hong's mother did eventually gain American citizenship, while her father continued to stay on a green card (Chen).

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China is the main source of foreign students enrolled in American higher education, and Chinese receive the second largest amount of employer-sponsored H-1B temporary visas, only following India (Zong, Batalova).

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The number of immigrants from China in America reaches 2.1 million (Zong, Batalova).

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Despite having to endure countless hardships and setbacks, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants have fought tirelessly to achieve their own American Dream. By braving discriminatory laws, prejudiced violence, and working tirelessly for dangerous jobs, like building the first Transcontinental railroad, early Chinese immigrants paved the way for their descendants to have a better life. Without their hard labor, their contributions, and their presence in the United States, this country would not be so great.