Zhang Kangren's most legendary experience was that he fought against the American legal system alone in order to obtain a lawyer's license. Although he ultimately failed, he worked hard for it.

Zhang Kangren graduated from Yale University in 1883 and later entered Columbia University Law School to pursue a law degree, and graduated in 1886.

However, he was not allowed to take the New York State Bar Association qualification exam.

According to the US common system, you must become a member of the state bar association before you can obtain a lawyer's license to open.

According to the provisions of the New York State Civil Procedure Law at that time, only American citizens could become licensed lawyers in New York State, but the Chinese Exclusion Act had already prohibited Chinese people from naturalization.

The U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act is one of the most severe restrictions on immigration in U.S. history.

One of the clauses is that “No state or federal court shall grant Chinese American citizenship from the date of the effective date of this bill.”

In order to obtain a lawyer's license, he embarked on a difficult road.

As alumni of two famous universities, Yale and Columbia, Zhang Kangren's friends have a huge network of relationships in the political and legal circles in the New England region of the United States.

On May 2, 1887, the New York State Legislature passed a special bill.

The Supreme Court of New York City was allowed to exempt Zhang Kangren from foreign nationality and directly allow him to join the state bar association on the condition that Zhang Kangren must satisfactorily pass the normal bar exam.

Zhang Kangren then took the exam in 1887 and received high scores from the three examiner judges.

The three judges unanimously suggested that Zhang Kang be accepted as a formal lawyer.

However, when Zhang Kangren formally submitted an application to the New York Supreme Court, he was rejected. What stood in front of him was his foreign nationality issue.

He went to the New York District Court to try his luck again.

On November 11, 1887, Zhang Kangren obtained the first document of naturalization from Judge George Husen of the Intermediate Civil and Criminal Court in New York City.

With the certificate of naturalization, Zhang Kangren plans to apply for lawyer qualification again in the second year.

He even pleaded that if he was rejected again, he would take the lawsuit to the Court of Appeal until the Supreme Court of the United States.

This time, he had no trouble.

On May 17, 1888, he was accepted into the New York State Bar Association and obtained a lawyer's license, and he was able to appear as a lawyer in New York State courts.

He finally became the first official lawyer in Chinese in the United States.

However, Zhang Kangren's naturalization has caused criticism and protests in the United States, believing that his naturalization documents are invalid.

In 1890, Zhang Kangren arrived in California and applied to join the California Bar Association.

But his citizenship was suspected and his application was denied.

Justice Fox, the California Supreme Court, ruled that Zhang Kangren's naturalization certificate was issued illegally and therefore invalid.

Since California law also stipulates that lawyers must have American citizenship when opening business, and Zhang Kangren is not an American citizen, he is not qualified to become a California lawyer.

After that, Zhang Kangren lost his lawyer qualification.

Zhang Kangren's second half of his life traveled between China and the United States.

He has achieved great success in the banking industry. He taught banking and international law at universities in Nanjing and served in the Chinese government. He was granted the status of "Jinshi of Law" by the Qing court and also served as a Chinese diplomat in Washington...

But he is no longer a lawyer in California or New York.

He could live a wealthy life in the United States and attend a wedding held by US President Wilson for his daughter at the White House, but he was unable to break through a country's legal discrimination against ethnic groups.

He can become a top talent in the industry through his own efforts, but he is hard to avoid his life destiny being repeatedly tampered with political forces.

This is what a Chinese encounter in America in this era, and this is a struggle between a person and the entire Chinese Exclusion Act.

On March 16, 2015, the California Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling number s2736, issuing a late lawyer license.

The owner of the license is Zhang Kangren, who is the first Chinese in American history to obtain a lawyer qualification, but was rejected in California in 1890.

The only reason for banning the lawyer from opening is that he comes from China.

Lin Zixuan didn't know about Zhang Kangren in advance, so Zhang Kangren took the initiative to come to see him.

The old man, who was over 60 years old, was not in good health, but was very energetic. Perhaps because he was also an alumnus of Columbia University, he chose to meet Lin Zixuan.

This incident has caused a significant impact in the Chinese circle in the United States, and Zhang Kangren is particularly concerned.

Since the signing of the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act, many Chinese have been working hard to abolish this bill.

Since 1876, the Qing government has continuously protested against the United States' persecution of overseas Chinese, but because of its weak national strength, it has not received any attention from the United States.

On April 27, 1904, the US Congress passed a bill to extend all Chinese Exclusion Acts indefinitely, arousing great indignation from the Chinese people.

In 1905, a boycott of US goods broke out, forcing the US government to order the relaxation of entry restrictions for teachers, students, businessmen and tourists, but Chinese people still strictly prohibit them from being the same.

According to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese people cannot be naturalized as citizens in the United States, cannot own real estate, cannot intermarry with white people, cannot go to court or have the right to vote.

In short, the bill "excludes Chinese from the democratic process and the American commitment to freedom in the form of law."

In other words, Lin Zixuan cannot testify in court for this lawsuit, so he can only entrust an American lawyer to defend him in court, and everything is in the hands of the lawyer.

This is just one aspect of the unfair treatment of Chinese people in the United States.

Mark Twain once wrote a novel called "Golsmith's Friends Go Overseas Again".

In the novel, Chinese worker Ai Songxi believed that in the "paragraph on earth" of the United States, "everyone is equal and does not know sorrow", so he traveled across the ocean and came to the United States to find happiness.

But as soon as he arrived at the port, he was beaten by the police, and then suffered a series of inequality and was even sent to prison, all of which was just because he was a Chinese.

Zhang Kangren is proficient in American laws and he thinks this is a good opportunity.

Since "The Old Man and the Sea" has caused a huge response in American society, Lin Zixuan, as the party involved, should use this influence to make a request to testify in court.

Once successful, it may be just an exception, but it sets a precedent for Chinese people to appear in US courts.

This will be an extremely important step to abolishing the Chinese Exclusion Act, and it is worth a try, whether successful or not.

Although Zhang Kangren's purpose was not to win the lawsuit for Lin Zixuan, but to fight for rights and interests for Chinese living in the United States, Lin Zixuan had no reason to refuse.
Chapter completed!