Historical Background for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Chinese Civil War
After the Qin Dynasty crumbled in about 1911, China was plunged into political, social and economic chaos. Rival factions fought for control. Two of the main factions were the Nationalists, led by a man named Chaing Kai-shek, and the Communists, led by a man named Mao Zedong. At first, these two parities worked together to get rid of the warlords, but then the Nationalists turned on the Communists. This began an almost ten-year civil war, which lasted until 1937 when the Japanese invaded China.
Chinese Animosity towards Japanese
The Nationalist and the Communists declared a temporary truce to fight the invading Japanese army. The Japanese army was ruthless to the citizens of China. One of the well-publicized atrocities that occurred during the Japanese occupation of China was the Massacre of Nanking. In 1928, the Nationalists moved the Chinese capital from Beijing to Nanking. As Chinese citizens began fleeing the advancing Japanese army, the population of this city rose from about 250,000 to nearly 1 million. In December 1937, the Japanese were on the outskirts of Nanking. It was at this time that the brutality truly began. Civilians were targeted for torture and mass killings. In the end, 350,000 Chinese citizens were murdered. Japan has never formally taken responsibility for the war crimes committed in China. To this day, it is sticking point in the relations between China and Japan.
Anti-Japanese Sentiment in the United States
Anti-Japanese sentiment in this country began long before the bombing at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Asian immigrants settling on the West Coast in the late 19th century were often greeted with resentment. The reasons were simply economic: Americans felt financially threatened by these new immigrants, who were willing to work for less money. Later in the 20th century, our government did not like the aggressive nature of Imperial Japan. We supported the Nationalist government of China in their war with the Japanese.
However, after the attack at Pearl Harbor, fear informed national policy. Within hours after the Pearl Harbor attacks, the US government began to round up almost 1300 Issei, first generation Japanese, for questioning. In February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which allowed the federal government to ban citizens from living in certain areas and to authorize the Secretary of War to establish centers where these citizens could be taken. So much for civil liberties and due process of the law!
Also in February 1942, the Idaho Governor Chase Clark testified before Congress that the Japanese living on the West Coast would be welcome in Idaho, only if they were placed in camps with armed guards. This essentially set the stage for the internment of Japanese Americans. In March 1942, the President signed Executive Order 9102 which established the War Relocation Authority. This became the governmental agency charged with “relocating” Japanese Americans. Later, in March, the first group of Japanese Americans arrived at a relocation facility in Manzanar, CA.
In total there were ten internment camps, located in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado and Arkansas. The Japanese were given little notice of their relocation orders; they were forced to sell their belongings and “relocate” to these over-crowded facilities. It was not until the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 that the United States Government offered a national apology and reparations to Japanese Americans interned during WWII. This is seen as a black mark in American History.
Discrimination in the US during the 1940’s
As the United States entered WWII, it is safe to say that segregation within American society was common and impacted a broad spectrum of racial and ethnic minorities, including Asians, African American, Latinos and Native Americans, and Jews. Jim Crow laws, first enacted in the late 19th century to keep society segregated and maintain white dominance, were still in effect in the 1930’s-1940’s. The Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” statute prevailed, particularly in the South. Cities with large Asian immigrant populations, such as San Francisco, had laws requiring separate schools for Japanese and Chinese students. Quotas on the admission of Jews in American colleges and universities were also prevalent. It is easy to see how, in this climate of racial intolerance, a democratic society motivated by irrational fear, was able to take away the rights of its own citizens, without cause or due process of the law. American citizens were not treated equally; many were disenfranchised based on ethnicity and race, excluding them from the right to vote. How can circumstances change for the better when those most affected by discrimination are denied the right to be heard by their government?