1411-1424 GOM BENN: (甘边村) Village founded in China by Huang Fushao, Huang Chaozuo and Huang Yingzuo
1848 GOLD RUSH: Gold discovered in California.
1850 Chinese-American population in U.S. is about 4,000 out of a population of 23.2 million.
1854 NO JUSTICE: California Supreme Court rules Chinese immigrants can’t testify in court.
1869 WORKING THE RAILROAD: The first transcontinental railroad completed, with the segment between California and Utah built primarily by Chinese immigrant laborers.
1860s INLAND EMPIRE: Chinese settle in Riverside and San Bernardino, Calif.
1870 BARRED FROM NATURALIZED CITIZENSHIP: Congress approves Naturalization Act, allowing African Americans to become naturalized citizens but bars Chinese immigrants and other Asians from obtaining U.S. citizenship.
1871 CHINATOWN MASSACRE: Mob of 500 Whites and Hispanics kills 19 Chinese in Los Angeles Chinatown, and afterward lynches 15 of the Chinese. 25 of the attackers were indicted; only 10 stood trial. Eight rioters were convicted of manslaughter, but the verdicts were overturned and the defendants never retried.
1875 CHINESE WOMEN NOT WELCOME: Congress passes Page Act, which effectively barred entry of most Chinese women into U.S.
1882 CHINESE LABORERS NOT WELCOME: Congress passes Chinese Exclusion Act, which bars entry of Chinese laborers into U.S. This is the only U.S. legislation preventing an entire ethnic or national group from immigrating into the U.S. A series of bills would extend the prohibition against Chinese laborers until 1943.
1890 Chinese-American population in U.S. is 107,488 out of a total population of 62.9 million.
1894 DYNASTY ENDS: Sun Yat Sen, founder of modern China and political activist, helps bring down the Qing dynasty.
1898 RIGHTS FOR U.S.-BORN CHINESE: U.S. Supreme Court allows Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese-American born and raised in the United States, to return to the United States. Wong was initially denied entry due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. The case rules that U.S.-born Chinese cannot be denied their citizenship.
1902 WO HING: One of the newer Gom Benn villages established.
1905 NO INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE: California’s Civil Code forbids intermarriage between Whites and “Mongolians.”
1906 PAPER SONS: Earthquake destroys immigration records in San Francisco, allowing Chinese “paper sons” to claim loss of their citizen records. As U.S. citizens, they can bring family members to U.S.
1910 Chinese-American population in U.S. is 94,414 out of a total population of 92.2 million.
1930 Chinese-American population in U.S. is 102,159 out of a total population of 123.2 million.
1932 MOVIE STAR: Anna May Wong stars with Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express.
1941 WORLD WAR II: U.S. declares war after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. China becomes ally of the U.S.
1943 CHINESE EXCLUSION LIFTED: Congress repeals all Chinese exclusion laws, grants Chinese the right to become naturalized citizens, and allows 105 Chinese to immigrate to the U.S. each year. The U.S. Army drafts over 20 percent of Chinese-American men.
1945 NUCLEAR WAR: World War II ends with atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
1947 CHINESE BRIDES WELCOME: Due to War Brides Act of 1945 permitting immigration of foreign wives, husbands, fiancés, and children of U.S. Army personnel, 6,000 Chinese women enter into the U.S. as wives of Chinese-American servicemen.
1949 COMMUNISTS WIN CIVIL WAR: Mao Zedong’s Communist Party defeats Chiang Kai-Shek’s Kuomintang Party, to found the People’s Republic of China. The Kuomintang retreats to Taiwan.
1950 Chinese American population in U.S. is 150,005 out of 151,325,798.
1956 FESSING UP: U.S.’s Chinese Confession Program encourages Chinese Americans to reveal immigration fraud in exchange for an opportunity at naturalized citizenship.
1965 EXPANDED QUOTAS: New immigration act removed European-centric immigration quota, opening the door to mass immigration from throughout the world.
1970 Chinese American population of the U.S. is 237,292 out of 179,323,175
1972 NIXON VISITS CHINA: President Nixon’s visit to China began the normalization of relations between the U.S. and China after 25 years of no formal communications.
1982 VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIANS: Chinese-American Vincent Chin murdered by two white American autoworkers who apparently thought Chin was Japanese. Chin’s killers were sentenced to probation and a fine of $3,000 plus court fees.
1990 Chinese-American population of the U.S. is 1,645,472 out of 248,709,873.
1997 CHINA TAKES BACK HONG KONG: United Kingdom transfers control of Hong Kong back to China, ending 156 years of British rule. China agrees to maintain Hong Kong’s British-influenced economic and political systems for 50 years after transfer.
2000 Chinese American population of the U.S. is 2,879,636 out of 281,421,904.
2019 COVID-19 EPIDEMIC: Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) identified in Wuhan, China, then spreads worldwide.
2020 Chinese American population of the U.S. is 4,100,000 out of 331,000,000
2021 VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIANS: President Biden signs into law the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, to address surge in anti-Asian attacks.
This timeline includes milestones and population data from a Chinese-American Historical Timeline published by Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.