Chinese Workers

Answer Key

AFTER READING

Use the Questions to Consider in the book as a way to involve students in the selection and expand their understanding of it. The questions and possible answers appear below.

1. According to Dodge's account, why did the Chinese railroad workers resort to violence to stop the Irish from injuring them with their blasting?

Apparently there was great animosity between the Irish and the Chinese railroad laborers who worked above them. The Irish would set off dynamite blasts and not warn the Chinese and some of their men were injured. After a complaint to the company failed to stop the dangerous practice, the Chinese retaliated by blasting their own dynamite and burying some Irish workers. The incident stopped the dangerous events and established a measure of respect between the two parties.

2. What kinds of problems does An English-Chinese Phrase Book indicate were being experienced by Chinese in the United States in the late 1800s?

Answers will vary. It is clear that the Chinese were used to defending themselves against bad treatment. The phrase book arms them with mostly defensive statements like "I don't cheat, even a boy," "I cannot trust you," and "He claimed my mine." The book also gives them phrases that express why they might have struck someone or suffered some form of punishment. It is clear that the Chinese faced many difficult problems and had to bear the further frustration of only being able to express themselves in terribly limited ways.

3. How did the Chinese Exclusion Act justify barring Chinese laborers from coming to the United States?

The Chinese Exclusion Act simply states that "in the opinion of the Government of the United States the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof." The Chinese were deemed a threat to "good order" and therefore excluded from entering the United States.