Why did China people go to the United States in the first place?

When the United States was founded, there were no China people. In fact, before the Opium War, the number of China people going to the United States was almost negligible. This is easy to understand. At that time, China was still dreaming of going to China. If the country is closed to the outside world, no one will go to the so-called barbarian land.

Before 1849, the number of China people in the United States was very small, and the most statistics I saw were only 325.

China people immigrated to the United States on a large scale from 1849, because gold mines were discovered in California in 1848, and a large number of miners were needed. However, due to the communication conditions at that time, the news reached China at 1849.

At that time, China, although five ports had been opened by the British, was still the activity center of foreigners in Macau and Hong Kong, as well as nearby Guangzhou. Therefore, China first immigrated to the United States from Guangdong.

Thousands of people came to the United States in 1849 after the discovery of gold mines in California. After that, more and more China people went to the United States to make a living. 1852, at least 20,000 Chinese came to the United States, mainly from Taishan, Kaiping and Enping, Guangdong. Today, all these places belong to Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province.

At that time, there were no hukou in the world. The concept of passport, as long as you can afford a boat ticket, you are free to go anywhere in the world.

1852, a miner in California, the government pays about $3 per person per month. It should be noted that most of the China people who went to California for gold at that time were poor farmers without land, and many of them were illiterate. They went to California, not to mine by themselves, but to be organized by labor service companies to work as miners for American gold miners.

At that time, miners' wages were between 1~3 dollars per day, which was a great income at that time. A month as a miner earns more money than a few years in my hometown. But a considerable part of the miners' income goes to those labor intermediary companies. After all, these companies organized them to go, and the travel expenses were also paid by these labor service companies.

However, these poor farmers who went to the United States for gold can't afford to buy tickets to the United States. After 1860, almost all the gold mines in California were mined, and the chances of making a fortune were greatly reduced. Many miners in China, California, began to go home and use the money earned in the United States to build houses and get married.

Others, thinking that gold is quick, turn to Australia or Vancouver, Canada, and continue to dig for gold. Others stayed in the local area and switched to laundries and Chinese restaurants.