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The Burlingame Treaty
-- An Effort For Equal Relationships Between the U.S.A. and the Qing Dynasty
After tens of thousands of Chinese people came to the US for gold and railroad construction jobs in the 1850s, there was still a lack of official recognition and policy of immigration between the US and the Qing Dynasty. Americans then were not allowed to freely travel, live in China, or even learn Chinese. The Chinese were forbidden to immigrate to the US by the Qing Dynasty. All of these changed when a treaty, named after the Qing Dynasty Envoy Mr. Anson Burlingame, was signed in 1868 in Washington, D.C.
Some groundbreaking articles in this Treaty included measures that promised the Chinese the right to free immigration and travel within the United States, and allowed for the protection of Chinese citizens in the United States in accordance with the most-favored-nation principle. The same applied to American citizens in China. Another article gave the citizens of the two nations reciprocal access to education and schooling when living in the other country. All of these articles aimed to reinforce the principle of equality between the two nations.
The Burlingame Treaty would be considered very progressive even from today's perspective. It widely opened the doors for trade and immigration for both nations for over a decade. However, it did not last long after the initial welcome. A new treaty signed in 1880 revised the agreement, and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 abrogated its free immigration clauses altogether.
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