Jason Xi-Kapitel1,Kultur 1

Although I come from China and know little about the history of German immigration to America, I still have found it interesting to have an overview of German immigration. In the past I didn't realize that there are about 15% of American have German origin, and most Chinese preconceive that English American should constitute a larger percentage. For over a century German American have contributed to the development of America, especially in the Midwest region. They have brought their religion, culture and technology to enrich the diversity of the nation. Based on European civilization, America embraces the immigrants from all parts of the world and develops her unique way of becoming great. The experience of German immigrant epitomizes the vicissitude of American culture.

Differing from the history of German immigration, the immigrants from China suffered a lot more from the predicament they encountered. Because of the geographical location, most Chinese immigrants in the early 20th     

century entered America through the custom in San Francisco, and many of them were trapped in Angel Island, 

where they were censored and quarantined for months or even years. The living condition in Angel Island was terrible: in a not very spacious room might live up to 120 people one day, and the residents had meals that worth 8 cents per day, with endless censorship and discrimination. Some of the immigrants even sharpened their chopsticks and committed suicide. Today there still can be seen the poems and prose that the immigrants wrote about their misfortune all over the wall  of immigrant camp in Angel Island. Even though some fortunate immigrants managed to enter the United States, they contributed to the construction of the railways across Midwest America, in the process many of them died because of the heavy workload and adverse working conditions. There's an old verse saying that under every railroad tie lies a body of Chinese labor. Although Chinese immigrants underwent such harsh experience, we understand that it's the cost of progress and that encourages us to fight for the justice we should have deserved.