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12 Pigtails in Politics (1884–86) After the passage of the Exclusion Act in 1882, it was abundantly clear that America’s Chinese had few friends in the political firmament . Planks supporting exclusion in the platforms of both major parties in the 1880 presidential election had signaled a broad national consensus against Chinese immigration and citizenship. And the act itself had passed Congress by comfortable margins: two to one in the Senate, which was controlled by the Democrats, and five to two in the Republican-controlled House. It had been signed into law by a Republican president. Disgusted with the treatment the Chinese had received at the hands of both parties, Wong called a meeting on July 29, 1884 of all naturalized Chinese in the New York area, with the aim of forming a political association. About 50 attended what was pointedly a gathering not merely of Chinese in New York but of Chinese voters, or at least potential voters, who were the only ones with any political power to wield. It was the first such assembly of citizens of Chinese origin in American history. The New York group, which convened at 32 Pell Street, selected as its temporary chairman Li Quong, president of the Chinese Cigarmakers’ Union, wealthy restaurateur, and boarding -house owner, and as its secretary Wong Chin Foo. The Syracuse Standard rudely proclaimed the advent of “pigtails in politics.”1 The decision to assemble only naturalized Chinese was an important one. It was about more than simply mobilizing the few who were enfranchised to wield what little political power they possessed. It was the first serious indication that Wong had begun to see them in a different light from their compatriots, as people with a different future. Those who had filed naturalization papers had made a commitment: they had declared their intention to live their lives in America. These men were surely more acculturated than others 120 The First Chinese American whose aim continued to be to amass some wealth and return to China to live out the remainder of their lives in comfort. The naturalized Chinese had, for the most part, learned to speak English; they had shaved, or would shave, their pigtails and eschew their robes; they were Chinese Americans. From this point on, the others began to matter less and less to Wong, even though he would continue to fight for their right to remain in America if they chose. Wong had organized the gathering in direct defiance of an exhortation to stay out of politics delivered just over a week earlier by China’s minister to the United States, Zheng Zaoru. Zheng, who had arrived in America at the end of 1881 to replace Chen Lanbin (who, with Yung Wing, had been summoned home to Beijing), was a portly nobleman who had served as superintendent of the Royal Arsenal in Shanghai and as collector of customs in Tianjin. Like his predecessor , he had been named minister to Spain, Peru, and the United States simultaneously, though he maintained his principal residence in Washington.2 On the eve of the passage of the Exclusion Act by the House, Zheng had maintained stoic silence, declining to venture an opinion on the bill to a Washington Post reporter, though he admitted to following its progress closely.3 Even after it became law, he wished the Chinese in America to follow his lead and stay out of America’s internal affairs, arranging an appearance in New York to tell them so. On July 19, in a room at 16 Mott Street appropriately decorated with the yellow imperial banner, Zheng made a grand entrance in a dark blue silk jacket and black silk robe, both embroidered with golden dragons to signify his lofty rank. The outfit was completed by black silk trousers, satin boots, and a silk cap festooned with peacock feathers, also a symbol of high station.4 After appropriate introductions, he delivered a ten-minute speech to the assembled Chinese, who included Tom Lee and most of the wealthiest Chinese in New York. Wong, persona non grata in the Chinese Empire but safely beyond the reach of Chinese justice on American soil, was also present. Zheng praised New York’s Chinese, pointing out that only eight of them had been convicted of crimes during the previous decade, and that not one had been guilty of intoxication, disorderly conduct, burglary, or highway robbery. He acknowledged prejudice against the Chinese in America, but wrote it off as the province...

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