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THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND ENTERING WAR II
Chinese Americans shared the economic crash that affected all Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930s – but they and their extended families faced additional trauma in China. In 1931, Japan occupied the northeastern China province of Manchuria and, in 1937, moved down the coast, brutally invading other cities. Since the late 19th century, Japan had desired an empire in East Asia, particularly in China. Following the first World War, Japan was granted control of territory in Northwestern China, and continued to expand its ambitions. In 1937, with an official declaration of war, Japan invaded China. Concerned by Japan’s increasing expansion in Asia and troubled by the horrors it committed during its occupation of China, American leaders rightly feared the conflict would draw the United States into war. 52 Although Chinese American women faced unemployment, the loss of their homes, and acute poverty, during the 1930s they continued to assist their sisters on the other side of the Pacific. Organizations formed across the United States – in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and Portland to distribute information, raise money, and work with the Red Cross in China. During the war between China and Japan in the 1930s and 1940s, Chinese American women from all walks of life entered the public arena to work on behalf of the war effort in China.
“Due to the fact that [the Chinese Women’s Association] is the only Chinese women’s organization in existence here in New York, we have often been called upon to participate in all receptions of importance. Ever since we succeeded in raising that record sum of $30,000 during the year 1932 for the relief of Chinese war and flood refugees, the importance of this Association has grown considerably, and its name is known far and wide.”
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