英语15篇文章背完大学英语六级词汇Unit8Part1

　　UNIT 8

　　Chinese-American Relations: A History

　　The Nineteenth Century to World WarⅡ

　　The Nineteenth Century

　　In the 19th century,

　　the United States was

　　a relative newcomer to

　　the area of international affairs.

　　Relations with China really began,

　　not so subtly, in the 19th century

　　with its discriminatory immigration

　　policy against China. The Gold Rush

　　of 1849 in California, the building

　　of railroads, and the American industrial

　　revolution of the second half

　　of the 19th century, attracted

　　many Chinese immigrants with dreams

　　of the good life in America.

　　At that time, it was perceived

　　by most of the world, that

　　America was the land of opportunity,

　　success, and wealth.

　　As the Chinese population

　　in the United States grew in size,

　　pressures to limit the number

　　of these coming into the United States

　　became strong. Laws, such as

　　placing a police tax on

　　Chinese people in California in 1862

　　and The Chinese Exclusion Act passed

　　in 1882, officially testified

　　to blatant discrimination against

　　Chinese people. The latter felt

　　forced to congregate in areas

　　of big cities, such as San Francisco,

　　New York, and Boston. Chinatown

　　soon became part of American

　　urban vocabulary. It seemed that

　　the timid Chinese were susceptible

　　to being pushed around. It appeared

　　that Chinese and other Oriental immigrants

　　were not welcome with open arms,

　　but were welcome only when

　　hard labour was needed to do

　　the toughest jobs, especially

　　in railroad construction and

　　in the new industries that were

　　fast developing at the time.

　　It would be well into

　　the 20th century before such discriminatory

　　laws would be suspended.

　　The Early Twentieth Century

　　During the second half of

　　the 19th century, the United States

　　was preoccupied with a civil war

　　and a post civil war

　　industrial revolution. American

　　foreign policy with China did not

　　really take form until 1899

　　and 1900. By the turn

　　of the century, the United States

　　was ascending as a major player

　　in international affairs, especially

　　in the western hemisphere.

　　American foreign policy, at the time,

　　focused mostly on Latin America.

　　However, in 1899, the Americans

　　saw economic opportunities in

　　an already politically suppressed China.

　　For decades, European countries

　　had been reaping the economic benefits

　　by exploiting of the countrys resources

　　and markets while claiming chunks

　　of territory as their own.

　　It had become a closed club

　　of the countries already established there.

　　The United States, fearing that

　　China was about to officially partitioned,

　　wanted access to those lucrative assets

　　as well. American Secretary of State,

　　John Hay, perhaps using some

　　Big Stick and gunboat tactics,

　　popular American strategies at the time,

　　was well positioned to get

　　the established foreign nations

　　in China to conform to an agreement

　　called the Open Door policy for China.

　　This benchmark intervention by

　　the United States, conferred on

　　all countries, equal and impartial trade

　　with all parts of China, while

　　preserving the territorial and administrative

　　integrity of the country.

　　The American approach did little

　　to respect Chinas customary opposition

　　to foreign intrusion. To China,

　　the United States was only

　　one more country to bully it,

　　to exploit its resources and

　　sovereignty and, further, to deny

　　it of its autonomy, integrity,

　　and dignity. This collective foreign presence,

　　boosted by American interests,

　　diffused any hope for China

　　to break the chains of humiliating

　　foreign occupation. The Chinese were

　　virtually captives or prisoners

　　in their own country.

　　The United States did not deviate

　　far from this economic

　　policy toward China, until

　　the communist take over in 1949.