A 19th Century Vision of the "Yellow Peril"

    When one hears about the "Chinese Invasion" nowadays, it probably refers to affluent Chinese from Taiwan and mainland China buying expensive homes in exclusive neighborhoods, often sight unseen and paid for in cash.

    Over a century ago, a different form of Chinese invasion worried Americans.  Cheap Chinese labor was a genuine threat to jobs for the white working class.  In 1873, a book entitled "The Chinese Invasion" held that "a heathen Chinese despotism" was taking root in San Francisco over the past quarter-century, and predicted 900,000 more heathens would make their way to California.

    In 1880, Pierton Dooner, a supporter of Denis Kearney who was the leader of anti-Chinese campaigns, wrote "The Last Days of the Republic," a fictional account of a future dystopian society run by Chinese that would be a political, social, and military catastrophe.

    In his introduction, Dooner predicted that 'legions' more Chinese would, if unchecked, come to the U.S. and displace competent and honest white men from work with their cheap labor. His thesis is strikingly similar today in the arguments for building a border wall against Mexican immigrants.

    In his book, San Francisco’s white workers try to massacre the Chinese but were thwarted by the capitalist militia and the Chinese succeeded in a takeover of the U.S., as dramatized in his illustration, The Beginning of The End."

    Dooner used fear and racial vilification in these fantasies to galvanize violence toward and restrictions of opportunities for Chinese in 19th century America. Despite such oppressive obstacles, Chinese resolve, persistence, and resourcefulness enabled them to achieve success and make major contributions to American society, although having to pay a steep price for decades of racial barriers.