Our Family Tree (Jiapu 家譜/家谱)

The bloodiest civil war in history with upwards to 70 million killed, between the Qing empire and a theocratic Christian based society. The Qing had to seek help from France and the United Kingdom. This weakened the central Qing government and saw the rise of warlords.

This conflict represented failure of the Qing dynasty's military modernization versus Imperial Japan Meiji Restoration's military advancement. The result was ceding of Taiwan and Korea to Japan.

An anti-foreigner rebellion of Chinese peasants and eventually the Qing empire against a consortium of western and Japanese troops.

Public birth records were destroyed in the subsequent fire, which allowed a new opportunity for Chinese to claim American citizenship.

2nd foreign dynasty to rule China—Unlike the Mongols however, the Manchu adopted Chinese dress and customs. However, they did force men to wear the queue. Neo-Confucianism was made the official doctrine, demanding loyalty to the emperor, but Chinese culture was preserved and Chinese were excluded only from the very senior court positions. Increasing European trade causedforeign powers divide China into spheres of influence. The Boxer uprising caused the downfall of this last dynasty. source

These started as conflicts between clans and sensationalized by American media as gang and turf urban warfare.

Imperial Japan starts to subjugate Manchuria for natural resources and living space. Japan wanted a Great Britan like empire calling it the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japan's defeat to the Soviet during the Battles of Khalkhin Gol set the stage for the Japan's Pearl Harbor attack and war with the United States.

An official act legalizing discrimination against Chinese in the United States. Poster: 'Chinese Must Go'.

Some historians consider this the true start of World War Two. Japan's attempt to conquer China, after subjugating Manchukuo.

An example of memes and slogans during this time was 'better dead than red' and the Domino theory

The wanton distruction of Chinese clan genealogy documents along with cultural relics by the Red Guards made tracing Chinese Americans family heritage even harder. This represented Mao Zedong' s attempt to regain local control of China.

A program of the Immigration and Naturalization Service allowing reconciliation of the illegal entry status of paper sons. This caused much fear and distrust among the Chinese American population. The number of participants were less than initially predicted.