The reason that Chinese came to the United States- Mountains of Gold

In 1848, gold was discovered near Coloma, California, the spread all over the world. First, Americans from the East Coast poured into California. Then the Hawaiians arrived, followed by South Americans. In 1849, Europeans heard the news and joined the rush to California.

The Americans miners did not want to share the gold with foreigner. As early as 1850, they asked the California State Legislature to pass a Foreign Miners' Tax. This bill forced all the foreign miners to pay a very high price for a mining license, so after a short period foreign miners from Europe, Mexico and South America gave up and left the mining fields.

By 1852, the exciting new about the "Mountains of Gold" reached China and soon2,000 Chinese arrived in San Francisco with the dream of finding gold. Most of these Chinese immigrants were young males from Guangdong (also called Canton.) Americans who did not want to share the gold fields were upset at the Chinese newcomers, although they liked the services they provided such as boarding houses, general stores, restaurants and laundries.