During the 19th century, there was a rise in the number of people emigrating from China to various countries around the world. It's estimated that up to 2.5 million people left China, many from the Guangdong province, fleeing both "intense conflicts," like the Opium Wars and the Red Turban Rebellion, as well as "harsh economic conditions." And as stories began to circulate of those who'd gone to America and came back with an abundance of wealth, whether through gold mining or employment, some Chinese people decided to set out across the Pacific to find their fortune.
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The discovery of gold in California led many Chinese immigrants into the gold mining industry. Some people in the Guangdong Province in China called "the faraway land" where gold nuggets could be found on the street Gum Shan, or Gold Mountain, But as the Library of Congress notes, those who made it to the United States found that Gum Shan "was an illusion. Mining was uncertain work, and the goldfields were littered with disappointed prospectors and hostile locals."
Often, this hostility quickly turned violent and dozens of Chinese gold miners lost their lives at the hands of Americans who didn't enjoy the competition, were racist against Chinese people, or both. These attitudes were present even before the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act and they only got worse after the act was passed. This is the Hells Canyon Massacre explained.
