Chinese Immigrants in California In the 1850’s, the Gold Rush in California lead the Chinese to immigrate to California. They were welcomed with harsh treatments and little payment for jobs. Still, they stayed because of the many job opportunities that could provide them with money for their families back in China. On January 24, 1848, the gold rush began. News of the gold found in California spread across the country. In the spring and summertime of that year, trading vessels carried the news further to a British colony in Hong Kong. Soon, many Chinese began immigrating to California. By 1851, about 25,000 Chinese had already left their homes, most of them coming from the Guangdong or Canton region. They were all trying to escape war, famine, …show more content…
Others, who were not as successful, packed whatever earnings they saved up and left to go back to their country. Those who had gold disguised the gold by melting it into utensils and then leaving the country with it.
Later, when the gold began to run out, the Chinese were faced with much racial discrimination. This was because they were viewed as competition in the gold mines. Some accused of the Chinese immigrants of stealing jobs and lowering wages. They were eventually forced to live in the inner city ghettos. This was how “Chinatown” was founded. During this time, many Anti-Chinese riots occurred in Chinese areas. According to an issue of the Alta California, 200 hundred Chinese miners were robbed and four were murdered in an area of California called Rich Gulch.
There are many interesting facts about the Chinese immigrants in California. Many immigrants arriving in the 19th century were mostly males. The population of Chinese Americans decreased after the Chinese Exclusion Act until 1920. Only the privileged merchant class was allowed to bring their families to the United States from China. More than 100,000 Chinese immigrants immigrated to California to find better jobs from 1849 to 1882. The Chinese were the first Asians to arrive in a large
When they arrived in America most of the Chinese immigrants moved west. Most of the Chinese immigrants moved west because they wanted to get jobs in rural areas and build homes for their families. A lot of Chinese immigrants got jobs working on building railroads. The Chinese immigrants were very good at this job, because they got paid very low wages, and that affected the pay rates of white Americans, European immigrants, and Russian immigrants. In the 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act stated that Chinese laborers could not enter the country, because chinese immigrants accepted low wages, and also affected the pay rates of others. However Immigrants from Italy and Russia did not have to go through this. They also had an easier time getting jobs because of
After the first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States in the early 1840s during the California Gold Rush, many Chinese people continued to travel across the Pacific, escaping poor conditions in China with hopes and ambitions for a better life in America. Many more Chinese immigrants began arriving into the 1860s on the Pacific coast for work in other areas such as the railroad industry. The immigrants noticed an increasing demand for their labor because of their readiness to work for low wages. Many of those who arrived did not plan to stay long, and therefore there was no push for their naturalization. The immigrants left a country with thousands of years of a “decaying feudal system,” corruption, a growing
The first and numerous Chinese immigration to North America began with the California Gold Rush that was around 1848-1855
In the late 1840s and 50s, about 25 thousand Chinese people came to seek fortune in the California Gold Rush. From 1880 to 1910, the new immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe. They were not Protestant. Instead, most were Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Jewish. The Jews left Russia to escape persecution.
According to the article Chinese in America by Jonathan Lee, he describes the experiences of Chinese in America and how they immigrated,
In 1848, California struck gold at Sutter's Mill, California. Chinese immigrants now had yet another incentive to go west in search of their fortune. For the most part, these immigrants were young male peasants who came in
In the 1850’s, Chinese immigrants began entering California in search of gold and the California dream. They had heard that California was the new frontier, a frontier that would provide them with the opportunity for economic riches. Young and ambitious, many of these Chinese immigrants quickly married in their homeland and set out for the gold rush, promising to return (with wealth). Likewise, in the 1880s, when the state of California was undergoing rapid economic transformation, Japanese immigrants — just as young and ambitious as their Chinese counterparts — set out for America where they had heard the streets were “paved with gold.” But little did these Chinese and Japanese immigrants know that what they would discover in California
Before World-War II, the Chinese immigrants to the U.S had many characteristics. First, the Chinese immigrants mainly came from mainland China, such as the Guangdong province. The Chinese immigrants mainly came from the Guangdong province of China because of the location of Guangdong province. The Guangdong province was close to coastal areas where Guangong people could take the boasts and migrate to America. Also, Guangdong people was far away from the Chinese government's control. Therefore, Chinese immigrants could easily migrated from the Guangdong province of China to America. Second, most of the Chinese immigrants were poor and came from rural areas in China. They migrated to America because they suffered from poor harvests and
Gibbs, William. "California Gold Rush (1848–1858)." Open Collections Program: Immigration to the US, California Gold Rush, 1848-1858. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2013.
After civil war had settled down, many immigrants came to America to live from many countries such as Germany, Ireland, and England. There are as many as 12 million immigrants at this time. Regarding Chinese immigration, they immigrated to the United States from 1849 to 1882. Between this period, America had California Gold Rush, which is one of the reasons Chinese people immigrated. Because the Chinese Exclusion Act was taken into practice, no more Chinese people could immigrate to the United States after 1882. Chinese immigration is the divergent point for Chinese’ lives who lived in America.
The first few bits of gold were found around January of 1848 near the region of Coloma. As a result the west had a sudden surge of migrants moving to California in the hopes of excavating gold and getting rich off of the gold. This event in American history became known as the California gold rush and it would have a great impact not only on the nation but on the world, however this job came with many great risks and challenges.
The Chinese immigrant is one of the largest group in the United States. Looking back the history of U.S., most people believe that the first Chinese immigrants came to California during the Gold Rush period. Also, the Chinese community is one of the largest and oldest ethnic group of Asian Americans. Some researchers consider the history of ethnic Chinese in Southern California relates to three periods. In my opinion, I would like to say that there are four major waves which the first wave begins in the 19th century, the second wave occurs in the 1940s to 1980s, the third wave happens during the 1980s, and the last wave arises in a recent decade year.
In the late 1800’s, a lot of change was being brought upon the United States, especially on the west of America. New things were established and found in west states, such as Nevada and California. Many of these new establishments helped freed slaves find living as the gold mines were a huge ideal to foreigners traveling from the south and midwest. The Gold Rush was found in Sierra Nevada during 1848, when gold was found in a mine. This completely changed the popularity and population of California. Although, for many people who wanted to travel to mine for gold during the Gold Rush, it was a tough journey as there was no true railroad nor steamboats yet to be taken to the west. With the rise of exposure for the Chinese population in San Francisco,
The California Gold Rush was a very tough time for many cultures. The gold searching included many people like, Native Americans, gangs, and Foreigners. Native Americans were the first victims, Foreigners were treated to contempt, and many gangs stole until they were caught and forcibly stopped. There were many challenges individuals faced such as harsh punishments for claiming a miner’s gold, there wasn’t any police or guards to protect the gold, and many individuals who dug for gold struggled from Xenophobia.
This lithograph depicts a common camp scene at the mines in California. The Gold Rush drew thousands of Chinese workers to America. Besides fleeing from poverty and bad political situations in their home country, the one common goal was to reach economic wealth. But as much as they were searching for a better life, most of the Chinese immigrants did not intend to stay in the country permanently (Daniels 11).