天使岛的历史

西部的埃利斯岛

在一个周末的夏日, as the morning fog lifts over the San Francisco Bay, 天使岛州立公园(Angel Island State Park)东北岸的中国湾(China Cove)沐浴在阳光下——除了在一小片沙滩上玩耍的孩子们的笑声和200至300名游客的说话声之外，这里一片宁静.

对于大多数第一次来的游客, 海湾是另一个风景如画的地方，你可以在这里野餐，观看油轮和游艇驶过. To others who know about the island’s history, the cove is a curiosity. 但对于那些亲戚经过海湾北坡的旧移民营房的人来说, 小, 通风良好的, wooden building–bare and sparse–represents the "Ellis Island of the West."

Angel Island is often overshadowed by its more famous sister island, 阿尔卡特拉斯岛. 岛上提供的活动和景点包括野餐地点和令人叹为观止的景色, fishing and sunbathing at coves and beaches, hiking trails through wooded terrain, biking on the five-mile Perimeter Road, 野营, historic military sites and buildings and an educational tram tour. The most popular attraction, however, is the old Immigration Station at China Cove.

当这些新移民到达美国时，他们发现的是歧视和一系列限制性的反亚洲法律, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. 虽然所有的亚洲人都受到影响，但通过天使岛处理的移民中有97%是中国人.

After the earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed records that verified citizenship, 加州的许多中国居民能够为自己和几十个“纸孩子”申请公民身份."

Citizenship papers were then sold to prospective immigrants. 整个村庄经常会为一个代表购买文件，希望他能从“甘萨安”回来,或“金山”,并分享他期望的财富. 移民官员对这种欺骗的回应是拘留所有工薪阶层的中国移民进行审讯.

Typical questions asked in these interviews included:

• How many stairs lead up to your house?
• 你有多少只鸡?
• 背诵你的家族史.

Those whose answers did not match those of their "paper parents" were deported.

According to Immigration Station docents, almost 10% of the detainees were deported. Rather than face the humiliation of being sent back to their villages, which had pooled meager resources to buy citizenship papers, many deportees took their own lives.

Chinese immigrants were held on Angel Island for weeks, 个月, or even years while awaiting hearings or appeals on their applications. 与此形成鲜明对比的是, 通过美国东海岸埃利斯岛的移民——通常是欧洲人——在几小时或几天内就得到了处理，只需通过体检即可.

在现在稀疏通风的房间里, 人们只能想象每个被拘留者被迫忍受的隔离和缺乏隐私. Crowded into bunks three tiers high, 被囚禁在狭窄的“宿舍”里的男男女女一直生活在彼此的不信任中.

女厕所, 这里发生了许多自杀事件, looks bright and almost cheerful with its new coat of paint. 然而, 游客们被建筑的透风吹得寒心，或者是想到了被困在这个神仙岛上的不幸的鬼魂?

尽管经常有人投诉拘留中心的工作条件不理想和虐待——第一次投诉是在拘留站开放几天后提出的——但官员们对这些指控的处理速度很慢，直到8月11日发生火灾才放弃拘留中心. 12, 1940 destroyed the administration building.

三个月后，11月11日. 5, 一群中国移民——125名男性和19名女性——被装上渡轮，转移到贝博体彩app南部的临时住所.

On this seemingly ordinary day came the end of a sad and bitter era. 西部的埃利斯岛 had finally closed its doors.

为了成千上万经过天使岛移民站的中国移民, 这是一个最好被遗忘的时代. 总的来说, former detainees have been reluctant to talk about their experiences, preferring to leave this chapter of history closed.

More than 50 years after the closing of the immigration station, there is finally a sense of conclusion. / 2,000名前被拘留者已经能够返回他们的岛屿监狱，与过去和平相处.

"We finally made it to Gold Mountain,周星驰说, 天使岛移民站历史谘询委员会前主席. “我们会留在这里. We are part of the United States, just as much as the Europeans are," he said of the Chinese Americans. “我们已经把痛苦抛在脑后. Now we are free to open a new chapter in Asian-American history."