Erhu, two stringed-musical instrument
Courtesy of Leslee Leong

Journey To Gold Mountain
Chinese immigrants have come to America seeking a good life for their families for over 150 years. Chinese Americans have created a lasting legacy in the United States. Many Chinese first came during the California Gold Rush. San Francisco was known as Gum Saan - "Gold Mountain" - a place of freedom and prosperity. "Gold Mountain Travelers" were part of an exodus from Southeast China. Before 1900, economic problems at home and job opportunities abroad caused about 2.5 million people to leave China. More than 322,000 Chinese came to the United States between 1850 and 1882.

The China Trade
European trade with China began in 1557 when Portugal established a settlement at Macao. Chinese first came to Mexico, and later California, as part of Spain's Manila Galleon trade between 1565-1815. The first American vessel to depart for Guangdong (Canton) was the Empress of China in 1784. Americans traded silver dollars, ginseng, furs and sealskins, for teas, silks, ivory, porcelain and other goods. An expanding maritime commerce brought the first Chinese immigrants to the United States. For more than six decades after the American Revolution, however, only a few seamen, students, merchants and servants immigrated.
Portrait of a Peasant Family from Southern China, circa mid-1800s.

Courtesy of Kelton Foundation.

Immigrants Leaving China for California.
In the mid-1800s, Chinese immigration to the States was part of a greater exodus from Southeast China in search of better economic opportunities overseas. About two and a half million Chinese emigrated overseas between 1840-1900.

Courtesy of California Historical Society, FN-01002.


American Missionaries
American missionaries in China sent small numbers of Chinese boys to the United States for schooling. From 1818 to 1825, five students stayed at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. In 1854 Yung Wing became the first Chinese graduate from an American college, Yale University. These students were the forerunners of thousands who now come each year to the United States.
Sunday Service on Board a Pacific Mail Steamship.
Harper's Weekly, Oct. 13, 1888, P776-777.

Courtesy of California Historical Society, 


People Left China to Escape War and Hard Times
Many people left to escape the autocratic rule of the Manchu during the Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty. Opium addiction, promoted by England and other Western nations, also caused problems. In 1839 the Imperial Commissioner ordered seizure and destruction of opium shipments in Guangdong. England declared war and badly defeated the Chinese in the First Opium War (1839-1842). Defeat exposed the military vulnerability of the Chinese empire. Beginning in 1850 the Taiping Rebellion ravaged Southeast China for more than a decade, killing millions of people and leaving even more people destitute.

Early Immigrants Came from South China
About 322,000 Chinese came to the United States between 1850 and 1882. Most nineteenth-century Chinese sojourners came from the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian in South China. Many Chinese Americans today trace their roots to the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province. This region consists of eight districts, each roughly the size of an American county. Early immigrants to the continental United States were predominantly from the Sze Yup District, while Hawaii attracted people from Zhongshan.
Chinese Immigration to America. Illustrated London News,
April 29, 1876, P8.

Courtesy of California Historical Society, FN-32010

Chinese Immigrants Traveled by Sea
With a long maritime tradition, the Cantonese people had a history of immigration abroad as merchants or political refugees. After 1850, however, most immigrants were peasants, many of whom could not raise the necessary passage funds. The "Coolie Trade" involved immigrants being kidnapped or coerced into signing term contracts for service in foreign lands. In California the difficulty of enforcement, coupled with strong abolitionist sentiments in the United States, soon forced a halt to this practice. The Credit Ticket system involved Chinese brokers advancing passage money to immigrants, who then repaid their debts through hard labor after arrival in the new land.

Sojourners Journeyed to Gum Saan (Gold Mountain)
Most Chinese immigrants coming to America during the California Gold Rush arrived in San Francisco, which they called Gum Saan - Gold Mountain - a place of freedom and prosperity. Gold Mountain Travelers were part of an overwhelmingly male exodus from Southeast China. One of the many sojourners to Gold Mountain was Fong Dun Shung from the village of Dimtao in Guangdong Province. Like most immigrants, he fled poverty. He traveled with his second and third sons, leaving behind in China his wife, an eldest son addicted to opium, a young son and a daughter. A typical immigrant, Fong Dun Shung carried with him simple belongings, but unlike many immigrants, he had a special skill. Fong Dun Shung was a practitioner of traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

The Coming Man at Sea.

Courtesy of Robert Schwendinger
from his book: Ocean of Bitter Dreams:
Maritime Relations Between China and
The United States, 1850-1915.

Two men eating on ship

Chinese on S.S. China, circa 1901.
Courtesy of Hawaii State Archives

Chinese Immigrants on Ship.

Courtesy of Gim Fong.