Many Chinese immigrants crossed the Pacific Ocean to the United States of America in the mid to late nineteenth century. The United States was the top destination for Chinese immigrants (Echeverria-Estrada and Batalova). American companies would lend these Chinese immigrants travel money at the ports to help fund their trip, with the knowledge that the wages that these immigrants would be making were to be used to repay the loans (Meyers). Once the immigrants made it to the United States, they were expected to be able to pay back the loans, and the interests from the loans. Most times the immigrants did not make enough money to be able to pay back the loans and be able to make a living in the new country. However, the credit-ticket system allowed tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants to make it to the United States and start a new life (Meyers).
In The Leavers, we see that Polly leaves her home in China to travel to the United States. Polly borrowed forty-seven thousand dollars from a loan shark to travel to the United States (Ko 125). Polly and several other immigrants got jobs working in the factories. They worked many long hours doing hard work. Polly traveled to the United States for an abortion, however, she was too far along and decided to keep the baby. With her working long hours and receiving little money to keep for herself, Polly could not afford a babysitter. Polly ultimately decided to take out another loan and send Deming, her baby, to China so that her father could take care of him (Ko 135).
Essentially, it was the cycle of poverty that led to Deming, Polly’s son, being adopted. The moment Polly arrived in the United States, she owed money. She could not afford to take off work, and she also couldn’t afford a babysitter to watch Deming. So her only option available was to have her father take care of him. Later on, Deming is back in New York living with his mom, but she leaves him. His mom’s boyfriend, Leon Zheng, and Leon’s sister, Vivian, could not afford to take care of him either so they put him in foster care to be adopted (Ko 42). Poverty gives people fewer options and less freedom than people who have access to resources. It is a constant battle and one that Deming had to grow up in.
Echeverria-Estrada, Carlos, and Jeanne Batalova. “Chinese Immigrants in the United States.”
Migration Policy Institute, 2 Feb. 2021, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/chinese-immigrants-united-states-2018.
Ko, Lisa. The Leavers: A Novel. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2018.
Meyers, Julia M. “Credit-Ticket System.” Immigration to the United States, 2015,
https://immigrationtounitedstates.org/450-credit-ticket-system.html
Hi! I found your context presentation extremely helpful and full of great information. It was helpful in understanding the details behind the context of the reading and pointed out important points. It was very interesting learning about the struggles that so many Chinese immigrants had to face. It is something that I was not aware of before but it truly opened my eyes to the sacrifices that were made in order to attain a better life in a different country. I had not known about the amount of crippling debt that so many took on. I thought you did a great job on the analysis of the unbreakable cycle of poverty that is seen in the reading. It is sad learning about the situation that Polly had to endure but knowing the context does allow one to gain a deeper understanding.
You did a good job with your presentation. A lot of the time immigrants come to America to live the American dream, but it either never happens for them or happens further down their ancestry line. In high school, we learned all about how immigrants were taken advantage of when they first arrived to America. Working hard labor jobs for cheap wages and not being able to move from poverty. It is clearly seen that Polly and her son deal with similar problems. It is clear that Polly came her to improve her well being and to set up more opportunities for her son and herself, but wasn’t able to because of being an immigrant. It was also sad that her son was told to stop speaking his native language and lost a lot of his native culture. I think a lot of immigrants have a hard time today with being accepted by Americans because of their accents and different culture practices.
Your presentation was very empowering, it also included many important points that not many people consider when talking about immigration. Especially the cost of moving here and the money that they receive coming in is a loan. It isn’t just money that is given to them, but money that they have to repay. When children are involved, and you have to provide for them, that makes repaying that debt that much more difficult when you cannot get a job that doesn’t pay well. This makes it rather difficult when there are “Americans” being rather negative to those immigrants when they are genuinely trying. We must remember that we all origin from other countries as well, our ancestors, most all, are not originally from North America either.
I think you did a fantastic job on your context presentation. I can tell you really researched your topic because what you outlined is exactly what my father went through. My father instead migrated from the Philippines instead of China. For the people that grew up in the U.S., we aren’t really informed of the struggles that came to the people that migrated here. They came from completely different countries and had to shift their own norms and identities so it could match with the “traditional” American. It’s very saddening to see how people can swiftly lose ties to their own culture and values in order to fit in our society.
Nice job with this research presentation. Being a first generation american i can attest to what you mention. Migrating to the United States can be a very challenging thing to do for anyone. I like what you mention about the poverty cycle and how hard it is to get out of it as an immigrant. Having to deal with all of these injustices as well as not being a native speaker can really affect families.
I appreciate how you have given ore background on Chinese immigration and the book here. I was not aware of the credit-ticket system or these types of loan sharks until reading this book and your blog post. As you point out, it is easy to get stuck in this cycle of poverty. The loan to get to America is so large and paying it off would be so hard on such low wages while encountering the struggles of life in poverty and discrimination.
Hi, I feel bad for so many people in Polly’s positions. She loved Deming but could not afford to raise him so she sent him away. I believe that effected the both of them. She could not afford for him to live with him because she had to take so many loans out in order to pay back people. I think that a lot of people take advantage on immigrants because they know haw desperate they are and the hardships they will face coming too and adjusting to a new country. Nice work