America

Many were aspired to come to the "land of honey where all the streets were paved with gold". Fueled by the news of the California Gold Rush, they arrived in America looking to strike it rich with hopes of being able to send money back to their poor rural homes, or of returning to their country in a few years with newly acquired wealth. One of the largest groups ever to immigrate to the United States was the Chinese. In 1842 the British Empire defeated China in the first Opium War. China was forced to pay indemnities of 21 million silver dollars and open five ports to foreign commerce. As a result, peasant farmers were heavily taxed. A series of floods and crop failures in Southern China lead to poverty and famine among peasant farmers. The British were given the power to preside over the immigration of the Chinese people. Eventually 12 treaty ports were opened to Westerners and Western missionaries begin to arrive in China, paving the way for Chinese youth to receive western training abroad. 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 search of economic success. Unfortunately, this wealth was never realized for most of the newcomers in this stage of Chinese immigration. While some worked as panhandlers searching for the elusive "Gold Mountain" of California, most moved to fill the low paid labor created by America's rapidly expanding industries. Wool mills, as well as shoe, and garment manufacturers were among the most employers of Chinese immigrants, especially in the West. By 1880, 25% of California's workforce was of Chinese descent. Others moved to support the growing need for labor in areas such as mining, land development, and irrigation. A crucial American accomplishment that was achieved primarily with the help of Chinese immigrants, was the Transcontinental Railroad.