The Chinese Exclusion Acts Lead To Some Pretty Interesting Disguises

During 1907 when Chinese Exclusion from entering the US was in full swing some of ingenious smugglers took to some unorthodox tactics of smuggling Chinese through the Mexican borders. For example Chinese-Mexican smuggler Jose Chang did the following: >Chang's operation involved disguising the newly arrived Chinese immigrants as Mexican residents. The Chinese cut their queues and exchanged their blue jeans and felt slippers for Mexican dress [...] The Mexican disguise was apparently quite successful in 1907 immigrant inspector traveled undercover to Mexico to investigate [...] Braun expressed amazement that it was "exceedingly difficult to distinguish these Chinamen from Mexicans" Another case which was much more audacious was the practice of "blacking" Chinese immigrants >One government report on the illicit entry of immigrants via Cuba described the strategy of "painting the Chinese black" to disguise them as part of the steamship's crew. Journal of American History: June 2002: Chinese Exclusion at the Borders of Canada and Mexico