Australia first became multicultural during the gold rush with a huge quantity of international immigration to Australia. The Chinese were one of the many groups that came to Australia in search to strike for gold. In 1853, the first boatload of Chinese miners arrived in Victoria. Most Chinese arrivals in Australia came by sea, from the deprived areas in Southern China, particularly in the areas around Canton.
But as the amount of Chinese immigration drastically increased, they tried to limit the number of Chinese entering. A law was forced upon the Chinese only, where they needed to pay tax for the right to mine and live in the colony. However, this did not stop the Chinese from getting into the goldfields. They had travelled a long way to
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Their mining methods were noticeably different. The Chinese would create a round mineshaft, which frequently produced greater luck. It was thought that they built round mineshafts to fight off the superstition that evil spirits lurked in corners.
In 1861, there were more than 24,000 Chinese immigrants on the Victorian goldfields of Ararat, Maryborough, Beechworth, Bendigo, Castlemaine and Ballarat. As well as over 11,000 Chinese on the New South Wales goldfields of Bathurst, Armidale, Burrangong, Tambaroora, Braidwood and Tumut. Referring to Figure 1.2, it shows the places where the Chinese landed and visited to mine and search for gold.
Conditions under which they were expected to live and work
Chinese migrants were required to live under an unfair system that required them to pay taxes that no other migrants had to pay. It was also mandatory for them to live in designated camps and their business communications and behaviours were carefully monitored. They lived away from the Europeans in the goldfields and had their own food. As their way of life, customs and their way of mining was completely different from the Europeans, they tried to stay away as it made them the centre of attention.
They lived in
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The people at the mines were suspicious of them and jealous of their methods of mining. The appearance of the Chinese, with their hair in plaits and unfamiliar clothes, with their habit of going barefoot and carrying bamboo poles across their shoulders to transport their equipment, all made them the target of racism and prejudice. They were also criticised for not investing their gold in Australia, but hiding it away to take home to China.
Many Chinese miners were beaten and severely injured. Their long pigtails were cut off and in some several cases, they were cruelly scalped. They were robbed of any gold they had found, and most of their mining equipment was stolen or destroyed. Those who tried to hide their gold in mineshafts were frequently buried alive.
The anti-Chinese laws of the late 1870s and 1880s was a statement that claimed that Chinese people were a threat to Australia. For individual Chinese people, this could mean violence, unfair arrest, eviction from the farms they had built up or being rejected to re-enter Australia. They were also ordered to pay higher license fees to mine in the goldfields. Australia’s anti-Chinese laws were based on fear of the Chinese competition as the European techniques and customs were different from the Chinese. They provided cheap labour in the gold rushes as well as in the labour
One particular ethnic group that suffered severe discrimination was the Chinese people. They first came to America for several reasons. One of them was the gold rush in California in 1849, in which they were included in a group of immigrants called the “Forty-Niners” (179). From gold mining, they switched to other jobs with resulted in the rise of anti-Chinese sentiments. People felt that Chinese people were taking the jobs away from them, because Chinese people worked for much smaller salaries that businesses preferred. This mindset gave way to the creation of The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, which prohibits more Chinese immigrants from coming to America. In addition, the act states “no State or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship”. Like the Naturalization Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to hinder Chinese people from becoming citizens so that America could remain homogenously white (186). It also aimed to stop Chinese people from establishing a bigger community in the country in hopes of eliminating the threat of competition to their white counterparts (186). Like African-Americans, Chinese people were considered racially inferior and have struggled to prove that they were worthy to be called true Americans, rather than
And so thousands of Chinese flocked from China to America, in search for work in the gold mines. After the profits from gold mining decreased because most of the easily obtainable gold had been found, an estimated 10,000 Chinese left the mines and were in search of jobs. From independent miners who had worked for themselves, many Chinese immigrants now became wage earners who worked for bosses. A growing number of Chinese were working in businesses owned by whites. But earning wages instead of prospecting did not discourage Chinese from moving to America. A paycheck of up to $30 could be made working for the railroad, which was 10 times as much than could be earned in China.
Many came for gold and job opportunities, believing that their stay would be temporary but it became permanent. The Chinese were originally welcomed to California being thought of as exclaimed by Leland Stanford, president of Central Pacific Railroad, “quiet, peaceable, industrious, economical-ready and apt to learn all the different kinds of work” (Takaki 181). It did not take long for nativism and white resentment to settle in though. The Chinese, who started as miners, were taxed heavily; and as profits declined, went to work the railroad under dangerous conditions; and then when that was done, work as farm laborers at low wages, open as laundry as it took little capital and little English, to self-employment. Something to note is that the “Chinese laundryman” was an American phenomenon as laundry work was a women’s occupation in China and one of few occupations open to the Chinese (Takaki 185). Chinese immigrants were barred from naturalized citizenship, put under a status of racial inferiority like blacks and Indians as with “Like blacks, Chinese men were viewed as threats to white racial purity” (188). Then in 1882, due to economic contraction and racism Chinese were banned from entering the U.S. through the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese were targets of racial attacks, even with the enactment of the 1870 Civil Rights Act meaning equal protection under federal law thanks to Chinese merchants lobbying Congress. Chinese tradition and culture as well as U.S. condition and laws limited the migration of women. Due to all of this, Chinese found strength in ethnic solidarity as through the Chinese Six Companies, which is considered a racial project. Thanks to the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco, the Chinese fought the discriminatory laws by claiming citizenship by birth since the fires
Immigration, transport, trade and taxes, and growing national pride were the three main reasons Australia needed to federate. Fear of coming under foreign attack, and concern over being invaded by non-white immigrants were major factors, which encouraged support to Federate. Despite the fact that several colonies already had implemented laws, which restricted immigrants from certain countries, all of the colonies were keen to strengthen their policies. In this time, there were many prejudgments against the Chinese and Pacific Islanders. The Chinese immigrated during the gold rush period, in the 1850s and from 1863; Pacific Islanders were also brought to Australia to work in the hot conditions in the sugarcane fields. People believed that foreign workers took jobs away from them.
Based on your viewing of "Gold Mountain Dreams," Becoming American: The Chinese Experience, what were the major factors that caused men to leave their villages in China and come to California and other parts of the United States? The major factors that caused Chinese men to leave their villages was because of a great flood that destroyed their villages in China and also at the time there was a civil war was going on that kilt 30 million people in there home land. These were the two main factors that drove young men leave head to the seaports to leave China. The men knew they had an obligation to their villages and families to provide and leaving China to go to America provided them the opportunity to take care of their families. There was
Farmers lost basically everything and looked elsewhere for employment. In 1860 the earned pay for a Chinese laborer in China was around $3-$5 a month. However, if a Chinese worked on the railroad system in the U.S. the potential earning could range anywhere from $25-$30 a month. With the conditions imposed in their homeland $25 to $30 a month was like gold. Therefore, Chinese immigrants (mostly men) took refuge in the United States in hopes of working in the west temporarily. Some worked in mining and other areas while the majority were attracted to the railroad system.
Gold Rush 1849 was the reason for such a frenzy. It caused people to migrate to California from near and far too dig for gold from the river. According to the film, The Chinese Exclusion Act Explained: US History Review, “This attracted Chinese entrepreneurs to try to make it rich”. The Chinese was one of the cultures that was one of the cultures that left their home to find a better life for their families. However, after being greeted in the United States, they were discriminated against them since they were feared by the Europeans. Racism towards the Chinese immigrant caused a lot of hardship on them in the Western civilization, enabling them to enter or exit without returning to the States.
American objections to Chinese immigration took many forms, and generally stemmed from economic and cultural tensions, as well as ethnic discrimination. Most Chinese laborers who came to the United States did so in order to send money back to China to support their families there. At the same time, they also had to repay loans to the Chinese merchants who paid their passage to America. These financial pressures left them little choice but to work for whatever wages they could.
The Chinese never owned major land or property but, were lessees, subleases or tenants. Laws were in place preventing them from becoming citizens and in turn property owners. The Chinese settled mostly on land owned by Juan Apablasa and controlled by his widow. This inability to own land would latter come back to haunt them.
As gold discoveries slowed down and the Civil War gradually came to an end, the First Transcontinental Railroad was finally completed between Omaha and Sacramento. Over time, unemployment began rising across the country, especially in California, where a vast majority of Chinese immigrants resided in. The welcoming of Chinese immigrants slowly began to wear off as the white working class perceived a threat to their livelihood that these immigrants could potentially cause, leading to an increase in racial tensions. These growing tensions culminated in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and eventually closed U.S. borders to all Chinese laborers, with the exception of ethnic Chinese individuals. This paper highlights the significant impact of large-scale Chinese immigration to California during the Gold Rush, the lasting contributions made by the Chinese towards Western ...
in large groups on the West Coast between 1850s and 1860s to work in the gold mines and railroads. They encountered a very strong opposition violent as riots and physical attacks forced them out of the gold mines (citation needed). The Central Pacific railroad hired thousands.But after the line was finished in 1869 they were hounded out of many railroad towns in states such as Wyoming and Nevada. “Most wound up in Chinatowns or areas of large cities which the police largely ignored. The Chinese were further alleged to be "coolies" and were said to be not suitable for becoming independent thoughtful voters because of their control by tongs. “The same negative reception hit the Asians who migrated to Mexico and Canada”.
Chinese exclusion act of 1882). This act was made to undermine the Chinese people and to force an end to immigration from China. The act would later set a precedent for future laws to exclude “Mongolian races” which would include the Japanese people. It was during this time that white workers would frequently take violent actions against the Chinese immigrants to secure white supremacy in “white jobs”. This act was justified by white, nativist, worker-unions of this time that felt the “Yellow Peril” was stealing their jobs in railroad construction.
The image above portrays a Chinese head with octopus’ tentacles portraying each sin the Asian race has committed. In a way the Asians were used as a scape goat for all the colonies problems. In many ways, the Australian people’s malice toward Asians generated the first sense of unification Since the convicts. The anti-Asian feeling ran highest during the 1890. They ran high because It was the great depression had a strong grip on Australia and it was believed that the Asians cheap labour were replacing the more expensive Australians.
The Chinese immigrants started flooding in through the West coast to California around the time of the Gold Rush, looking for economic opportunity. With the Chinese immigrants came a whole new cultural group and a whole lot of laborers that were eager to work. The Chinese quickly became involved in all kinds of labor from gold mining and building railroads to agriculture and fishing skills. The new Asian population just kept growing and growing as immigrants spread word of their good fortune in California and swayed more and more of their family to come over to the states. With their growing population they created their own large communities and the first ever Chinatown ...
After the 1848 discovery of gold, word quickly got out to China. Pamphlets were used by opportunistic ship owners to spread the word in order to fill their passenger vessels to America. The summer of 1848 marked the beginning of Chinese Immigration. By 1851 2,716 had immigrated to California.