Early Chinese Immigration
By Jonathan Wu
The Chinese played a very important role in the California Gold Rush. One example would be the Chinese population increased as word of the gold rush traveled around China . The Chinese started arriving in California in 1849, after news hit in 1848 in the Canto Province . Most the Chinese that had traveled by boat were not wealthy, so many of the Chinese people thought they would get a whole bunch of gold. It turns out that not that many people got as much gold as expected, and many didn't even get any gold. For the Chinese who worked on mining gold, they mined in order to pay off any transportation debts. Some Chinese that had been mining for gold were doctors when they were living in China . So when many of the other miners were injured or had a medical problem, the Chinese doctors would help the wounded or had an injury. This brought attention on how the Chinese were being helpful, but treated harshly. After the Gold Rush of 1848, many Chinese populated America . A series of wars, rebellions, civil disorders, floods, famines and droughts made earning a livelihood in China difficult. When China tried to cut off the British importation of opium, they suffered a devastating defeat by the British in the Opium War of 1840. When news of the discovery of gold reached China , many Chinese immigrated to California from Kwangtung Province . In 1860, there was about 35,000 Chinese people, most of which on the west coast. Although the Chinese helped contribute a lot toward the California Gold Rush, they also held many other occupations years after.
The Chinese were not only gold miners, but also worked on railroads, went fishing, and worked at laundry mats. They were working these jobs because of how well the white people thought the Chinese people had talent in. By the 1870's, the Chinese population had increased to over 100,000. As the years past and the Chinese population increased, more and more anti-Chinese sentiments had been taking place due to the high increase in Chinese population. After so many Chinese came to America in search of any remaining gold or just to get away from the hardships in the Kwangtung Province , there were more and more revolts about the “coolies”. Soon after a bunch of long discussions and agreements, they decided that the Chinese would work off a certain amount of money in order to become citizens. Though this may not sound like the Chinese contributed greatly to early America , they helped bring many different techniques that impacted an American's daily routine. They helped create transportation which includes the railroads, laundry mats which made it easy for people to do their laundry, and others ended up opening a restaurant which served Chinese cuisine. This is how the early Chinese immigrants coped with the new world, America .