China restaurant in the United States

After coming to the United States, almost every weekend, when the whole family goes out by car, they will have a meal outside, mostly in Chinese restaurants. Chinese restaurants have several obvious signs: First, the store owner must be from China, and everyone can communicate with you fluently in Chinese (and fluent in English, of course). I asked a few, mostly from Fujian, Guangdong. Second, all the dishes on the menu are China flavor, marked in Chinese. Here are some report cards: onion mixed with tofu, sugar mixed with tomatoes, bumper harvest, sauce elbow, shredded red oil, hot and sour soup, assorted tofu soup, West Lake beef soup, garlic broccoli, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, braised tofu, shredded hot and sour potatoes, kung pao chicken, Xinjiang saute spicy chicken, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised pork with plum vegetables, beef tenderloin with black pepper, shredded fish-flavored pork, ants on the tree and beef tenderloin. Third, wherever you go, Chinese restaurants are not difficult to find, almost everywhere. Fourthly, not all the people who come to Chinese restaurants are from China. The diners I see are white, African-American, Hispanic and so on. , often add up to more than China people, they skillfully use chopsticks (some left-handed) to eat with relish.

In the United States, Chinese restaurants are the first pillar industry for the survival of Chinese. According to statistics, there were 35,779 Chinese restaurants in the United States in 2000, and 4 1350 in 2005. According to the latest statistics, there were more than 50,000 Chinese restaurants with annual sales of 2,654.38 billion US dollars. Among American restaurants, the number of restaurants in China is twice that of Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian restaurants. There are 19500 McDonald's chain stores in the United States, and the number of Chinese restaurants is more than twice that of McDonald's.

After nearly 200 years of integration and evolution, American Chinese food has long been integrated into the mainstream society of the United States and has formed an indissoluble bond with the American stomach. Some people have made special statistics: among Americans today, 93% of adults have eaten Chinese food, more than 36% of Americans eat Chinese food at least once a month, and 39% of children aged 10- 13 like Chinese food. Chinese restaurants in the United States can be roughly divided into three consumption levels: per capita 10, 20-30 and 100. China people take the mid-range, while other Americans take the low-end and high-end. Three adults and one child in our family go to a Chinese restaurant to eat, whether it's cooking or little sheep hot pot, they spend about $ 70-90 each time. Go to Little Sheep Hotpot Restaurant and the center of Washington, D.C. several times, and wait in line for a while whether you eat hot pot or stir-fry.

Why do so many China people open restaurants in the United States? To answer this question, we have to trace the history of the development of Chinese Americans.

According to the exact written records, China first set foot on American soil in 1785. At that time, four China sailors arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, USA on an American merchant ship, and their whereabouts were unknown.

The first wave of Chinese immigrants to the United States in history occurred in A.D. 1850, and this period is generally regarded as the historical starting point of Chinese immigrants to the United States in the history of Chinese immigrants in the United States. In this way, it has been a century and a half since China immigrated to the United States. In A.D. 1850, the Opium War broke out in China, followed by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement. Social unrest and people's poverty. At this time, the west coast of North America was rapidly developed in California's gold rush. In order to make a living, the male laborers in Guangdong first got the advance payment, signed a long-term contract, crossed the ocean and went to the United States to repair the railway. In order to support their families, they sent their children overseas without hesitation, and did not intend to come back alive and send all their hard-earned money to their families. According to records, in 1850, there were 40 18 Chinese Americans.

? 1877 The American economy turned into a downturn and there was a wave of Chinese exclusion. 1882 passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited immigrants from China. However, according to the law, some people can enter the United States as businessmen. As a result, the number of Chinese restaurants in the United States has soared. By the time the 1943 Chinese Exclusion Act was banned, Chinese food had been accepted by the mainstream American society. By 1950, there were 1 17629 Chinese Americans.

With 1950 and 1980 as two obvious time nodes, Chinese immigrants from Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province Province of China and Chinese mainland of China gradually broke out in the United States.

There is a saying: On the earth, where the sun rises, there are China people. According to incomplete statistics, there are currently 50 million overseas Chinese in the world, distributed in 198 countries and regions. However, the United States is not the country where overseas Chinese live the most. The living standards of overseas Chinese in three countries are ahead of those in the United States: Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

After 1950s, China's immigration to the United States showed an accelerated trend. 1943, American Chinese Exclusion Act. Since 1950, many China people have gone to the United States to study, live and work in Taiwan Province Province. By 1980, the number of China people living in the United States had increased from 1950 to 806,040.

Since 1980s, Chinese mainland has carried out the policy of reform and opening up, opened to the outside world and strengthened exchanges with foreign countries. China immigrants from Chinese mainland are in a wave, as can be seen from the following data:

1980: 806040 China people living in the United States.

1990: 1645472 people,

2000: 2,432,585

2010: 3,347,229 people

20 16: 4888040 people

The above data show that from 1980 to 20 16, Chinese Americans increased from 806040 to 4888040, an increase of 4 million in 36 years. At present, 70.6% of Chinese Americans were born outside the United States, that is, they are new immigrants from China outside the United States. Of these 70% new immigrants, 59.5% came from Chinese mainland, 25.5% from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and the rest 15% came from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and other places, belonging to secondary immigrants. The main ways for new immigrants from Chinese mainland are studying in the United States, family reunion and individual illegal immigration.

On the one hand, Chinese in the United States are regarded as "model minorities", on the other hand, they feel discriminated against. The reason is complicated.