"Pu Anchen Treaty" And China-US Negotiations On Chinese Labor Affairs

After the Opium War,Britain forced China to open up to the world,Western powers started to loot Chinese resources one after another.America also joined later,seizing laborers being one of its objectives.At first,the Chinese who went to America were mainly attracted by “Gold Rush” in California of America.Thereafter,with the launch Movement of American Western and building of Pacific Railroad,the demand for Chinese laborers in America increased.A lot of Chinese people went to America for working and making money without legal guarantees.Nevertheless,the Qing government always had policies to prohibit Chinese to go abroad.Facing more and more outbound workers,local government officials became the main force to negotiate Chinese-laborer affairs with foreigners firstly,but they had inconsistent attitude toward Chinese laborers.Some were always reluctant to face up to this problem;some began to formulate regulations to manage them just in order to avoid disputes between China and other countries.While,for the central government,they were more willing to hand over the affair of negotiating with foreigners to local governments and let them implement certain restriction and protection about outbound workers.In 1868,American government in order to obtain laborores legally in China and signed the <Burlingame Treaty> with the delegation led by Anson Burlingame when they visited America.Seen from its influence on Chinese laborers,as a formal legal document permitting Chinese to go to America freely,the <Burlingame Treaty> not only opened the convenient door for America to obtain enough laborers,but also established the obligations of America to protect Chinese laborers.Nevertheless,with the break of American economic crisis in 1870 s,the intensifying of party competition,the instigation of racists and the influence of other factors,the Chinese Exclusion Movement expanded from local phenomenon to national level,which spearhead was aimed at Chinese laborers.Thus,the Qing government and China's envoy in America carried out diplomatic negotiations and mediation with American government,which was an unneglectable important process in Chinese modern society.Taking the period from the signing of the <Burlingame Treaty> in 1868 to the introduction of <Chinese Exclusion Act> in 1882 as the main researching line,this thesis conducted integrated discussion about the <Burlingame Treaty> and the problem of Sino-US Chinese-worker diplomatic negotiations.Through the analysis about specific cases concerning Chinese and American governments' diplomatic negotiations around the <Burlingame Treaty>,this thesis clarified the influence on the problem of Sino-US diplomatic negotiations about Chinese-laborer affairs exerted by the rights and loopholes stipulated in the the <Burlingame Treaty>,this thesis cleared the change process of Chinese and American governments' attitude toward Chinese laborers before and after signing the the <Burlingame Treaty>,this thesis studied the main factors that affecting Sino-US diplomatic negotiations about Chinese-laborer affairs and further analyzed the Sino-US relationship during this period.