Bayard-Zhang Treaty

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The Bayard-Zhang Treaty ( German Bayard-Zhang Agreement ) was an international treaty between the United States and China , which was signed in March 1888 and stipulated that no Chinese were allowed to immigrate to the United States; Even Chinese who lived as migrants in the USA were not allowed to return there after leaving the USA. The treaty was named after US Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard and Zhang Yinhuan , the Chinese ambassador to the United States.

Background and story

As an agreement that regulated Sino-American migration, the Bayard-Zhang Treaty was the successor to the Burlingame Treaty , concluded in 1868 , which explicitly provided for Chinese immigration to the United States, but was revised in 1880 . After a series of anti-Chinese riots broke out in the United States in the years that followed, with the American government apparently unable to protect Chinese citizens, the Chinese government concluded that China itself must limit migration. In August 1886, the Chinese State Department proposed that the US State Department draw up a new Sino-US agreement. Negotiations began in January 1887 - at a time when American politicians were preparing to campaign for the presidential election of 1888 . After difficult negotiations, an agreement was finally reached in March 1888. The agreement stipulated that Chinese migrants would not be allowed to enter the US for 20 years; This was true for new migrants as well as for Chinese workers (English: laborers ) who had immigrated to the USA before 1888 but visited China afterwards. The exception was Chinese who had immediate family members or property or claims worth at least US $ 1,000 in the United States . The American government agreed to protect Chinese citizens and their property in America.

In China - especially in Guangdong Province , from which many of the Sino-American migrants came - the agreement provoked massive protests, whereupon the Chinese government delayed ratification until the Americans wanted to shorten the duration of the agreement and provide more exemptions for the regulation of the agreement Re-entry of old migrants agreed.

In view of the uncertainty of the outcome of the international negotiations, the US Congress began preparations for a federal law that would allow the American positions to be implemented unilaterally , ie without taking the interests of the Chinese negotiating partner into account. This law was finally signed as the Scott Act on October 1, 1888.

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