The Wasp — March 12, 1880 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# The Illustrated Wasp, March 20, 1880 The masthead shows *The Wasp's* logo—a wasp attacking what appears to be a Chinese figure's face. This reflects the magazine's satirical stance on Chinese immigration, a volatile political issue in 1880s California. The main article, "The Opium Plague," attacks Chinese laborers and opium use, but does so in a way that exposes anti-Chinese hysteria. The text sarcastically references arguments used against Chinese immigrants—that they were diseased, immoral, and economically destructive—while also questioning their validity. The piece appears designed to critique both actual social problems AND the xenophobic scapegoating of Chinese workers during this period of intense labor competition and nativist sentiment in California.