Criteria for “Status as a Merchant” in the Chinese Exclusion Act:
“A merchant is a person engaged in buying and selling merchandise, at a fixed place of business, which business is conducted in his name, and who during the time he claims to be engaged as a merchant, does not engage in the performance of any manual labor, except such as is necessary in the conduct of his business as such merchant.”

“He shall establish by the testimony of two credible witnesses other than Chinese the fact that he conducted such business as herein before defined for at least one year before his departure from the United States, and that during such year he was not engaged in the performance of any manual labor, except such as was necessary in the conduct of his business as such merchant.”¹

1. §4324, Title 29, “Immigration, Exclusion of Chinese, ‘Laborer’ and ‘merchant’ defined ,” United States Compiled Statues, Annotated, 1916 (St. Paul: West Publishing, 1916), 5189, 5190; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com : accessed 6 Mar 2017).