What was the general breakdown among the Chinese immigrant community?
The first real wave of Chinese immigrants came to California beginning in 1848 in response to the discovery of gold. They were merchants who sold their stock to the settlers and miners and then went in search for gold themselves. They wrote home to share their experiences and by 1851 there were almost 25,000 Chinese, called “Celestials” for the Celestial Empire of China, on the West Coast. These immigrants were almost all from the province of Kwangtung in southern China, traveling through the harbors of Canton and Hong Kong. In rural China of the time, the purpose of life was the well-being of the family group. Many families sold possessions and/or borrowed in order to send one young man to America to make a fortune, not for himself, but to send back home to his family. The idea was to get as rich as possible as quickly as possible and then to return home. Other miners resented their lack of interest in becoming naturalized and by 1852 they were being driven from the mines. Still seeki
