Clash of Cultures & the Discovery of Gold      123456

The Chinese in California

China was a nation in chaos in the first half of the 19th century. Between the 1850s and 1864, civil war  killed millions, and millions more were forced from their homes. When news of the discovery of gold in California reached the embattled country, many Chinese made the long journey east to try their luck in the place they called Gum Saan, Cantonese for Gold Mountain. Like many foreign miners before them, the Chinese faced hostility and discrimination when they arrived.

While some Chinese miners were successful, easy to access gold was nearly gone by the 1850s. Many Chinese workers became part of an immigrant labor force that signed on to the dangerous work of building the first transcontinental railroad. By 1861, two-thirds of all Chinese living outside of China lived in California.