Searching for Gold Mountain
By Ricky, Daniel, and Austin
Who? When did they come to the
United States?
• The Chinese.
• The Chinese started immigrating to the United
States in 1849.
From where? What are the push
factors?
• The Chinese immigrants came from China.
(isn’t that weird?)
• They were fleeing the turmoil caused by
constant peasant rebellions. The Taiping
Rebellion is a well known example, also a less
known rebellion is the fight between the Punti
(Local people) and the Hakkas ( Guest people)
over the fertile delta land.
Pull factors Continued
• Economic hardships in China cause many
immigrants to come to America. They had all
heard of the “Gold Mountain”. They all
wanted to come to America to strike it rich.
Where in the United States did they
settle?
• The Chinese mainly settled on the west coast
of the United States, predominantly California.
They came to California mostly because of the
California Gold Rush in 1849. The Chinese
came to the United States because they
wanted to escape the turmoil in China.
Another pull factor was the promise of
freedom from oppression, and the fact that
Californians welcomed the Chinese with open
arms.
How did they come to the United
States?
• Most of the Chinese immigrants came to the
United states by boat, across the Pacific
ocean.
What type of work did they do?
• The Chinese immigrants came over to America
because they had heard rumors of gold. Most
came across to become 49ers and once they
realized that gold was not as abundant as
previously thought, they became hard working
Railroad builders. The Chinese were praised
for adapting to the working conditions quickly
and for a while, without fuss.
How were they treated?
• When they first arrived in California, they were welcomed and
treated like any other citizen. Over time, the American views of
them changed and laws began to be passed, like the second foreign
miners tax. Taxed them for being foreign miners who were not able
to become citizens. There was generally an idea of whites being the
superior race. Viewed as a designated working class. Chinese
became scapegoats for white laborers who lost their jobs, similar to
Mexicans today. Magazine cartoon in California depicted Chinese
as blood sucking vampires. Not allowed to have relationships with
white people. Case of People vs. Hall, murderer of two Chinese
men was spared execution because Chinese men testified against
him. Andrew Kan remembered whites bullying, slandering, and
assaulting Chinese people . Ah So Wong, along with many other
Chinese women, was forcibly brought here as a prostitute.
Assimilation.
• There was not a full assimilation of the
Chinese people, but they did began to accept
some of the culture of America. Chinese
children went to American schools and
learned about American culture. But, they
also kept much of their tradition. Chinatowns
are in every major city and they are like being
in china. Chinese New Year is celebrated by
Chinese Americans. Chinese food is easily
attained. They are a part of American culture.
Unique experiences, circumstances,
facts about your group.
• This group of immigrants is very typical:
Mostly men, racial tension, and segregation.
One of the things that does stick out is how
lacking the female population actually was. At
one point, only 1/20th of the immigrants were
female. Also the fact that so many women
were brought over forcibly as prostitutes.
And, the San Francisco earthquake helped
many Chinese people to immigrate by
destroying the monetary records of the area.