Texans' real median household income rose 1.3 percent in 2008, making the state one of only five with increases in the first calendar year of the U.S. recession. During better times, 33 states posted income gains in 2007 and only Michigan suffered a decline.

The Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and ensuing government crackdown affected Chinese nationals not only at home but around the world. The U.S. government responded to the events in China by enacting multiple measures to protect Chinese nationals present in the U.S. It first suspended all...