專題演講 Keynote

演講題目 

中國精英與美國排華法案：

波士頓1905年金氏家族事件中的種族歧視和階級特權

Chinese Elites and U.S. Gatekeeping: Racial Discrimination and Class Privilege in Boston's 1905 King Incident

摘要

       1905年，波士頓移民官員在海關拘留了來自英國金氏家族的四名中國留學生，拒絕他們入境美國。該事件除了導致當地工商界歐美人士的抗議行動，也引發了一場國際間的爭議，並成為上海抵制美貨運動的一股動力。面對該事件，出身於顯赫上海富裕家族的金氏兄弟立刻透過其關係，聯合美國東岸的商界代表們，向當時的羅斯福總統表達了他們的抗議，同時有效地在媒體上表達長久以來中國人對美國排華法案的不滿。該事件最後逼迫美國政府不得不面對排華法案一開始就產生的諸多種族和階級為基礎之間的解釋之矛盾，也導致了美國對排華法案行政的改革，在某個程度上可說對當時的排華運動產生了壓制的效果。 然而該事件除了對美國移民法產生關鍵性的影響，也顯示了中國的精英在面對排華法案時所處的矛盾立場 ：一方面他們受到種族歧視，另一方面卻也得到階級特權。此外，該事件也凸顯了當時的中國精英如何動員各項資源來反對種族歧視，呈現其對抗美國移民局不當對待的階級能動性。

In 1905, Boston immigration officials detained four Chinese students of the King family, inciting protest from Euro-American elites and sparking an international controversy that gave momentum to the American Boycott movement in Shanghai. A prominent family, the Kings successfully rallied business leaders to take their cause to President Theodore Roosevelt and effectively used the press to articulate Chinese grievances. Bringing to a head the tension between race-based and class-based interpretations of exclusion that troubled the legislation from its inception, the case prompted key reforms in the administration of Chinese exclusion and helped promote a pivot away from the movement for a wholesale “Chinese ban.” An examination of this incident and its role in struggles over immigration law illuminates the conflicted position of Chinese elites—disempowered by race yet empowered by class status—under exclusion. It also provides insights into the agency of Chinese elites in mobilizing resources to combat immigration abuses.