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The Chinese were a visible current in the tidal wave of humanity that rushed through San Francisco's Golden Gate in the mid-nineteenth century. Known to their countrymen as Gam Saan Haak (guests of Gold Mountain), Chinese immigrants sought great fortune. Most found only hostility and hard work, often braving the most dangerous and loathsome jobs. They endured violence and injustice, yet clung to this land with tenacity and patience and made it their own.
With nearly 200 historic photographs gathered from notable collections, this book explores a century of Chinese progress in California. Retracing the immigrants' steps-from the gold fields to the high Sierra railroad camps, to lettuce fields and olive groves, and to the Monterey coast?we visit Chinese enclaves throughout the state. We linger in San Francisco's old Chinatown, home to cherished children and notorious tong gangs, where new arrivals first found refuge and familiar goods, and tourists later found exotic merchandise spilling from aging storefronts. These historic images recall a time when the Chinese community in California was still a world apart.
About the author
Hannah Clayborn was born and raised in Oakland. A professional historian, writer, and editor, she has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area her entire life. Earning undergraduate degrees in anthropology and psychology and a graduate degree in history, she went on to serve as the director of four history museums in the Greater Bay Area. Her early investigations into the history of Chinese and other immigrant groups in two rural communities in Northern California led to several articles. She has published historical books and articles on the towns of Bloomfield and Healdsburg, and has edited more than 100 pictorial histories of California cities and towns. She is currently editing a new history of Walnut Creek, California, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.
Summary
The Chinese were a visible current in the tidal wave of humanity that rushed through San Francisco’s Golden Gate in the mid-nineteenth century. Known to their countrymen as Gam Saan Haak (guests of Gold Mountain), Chinese immigrants sought great fortune. Most found only hostility and hard work, often braving the most dangerous and loathsome jobs. They endured violence and injustice, yet clung to this land with tenacity and patience and made it their own.
With nearly 200 historic photographs gathered from notable collections, this book explores a century of Chinese progress in California. Retracing the immigrants’ steps—from the gold fields to the high Sierra railroad camps, to lettuce fields and olive groves, and to the Monterey coast—we visit Chinese enclaves throughout the state. We linger in San Francisco’s old Chinatown, home to cherished children and notorious tong gangs, where new arrivals first found refuge and familiar goods, and tourists later found exotic merchandise spilling from aging storefronts. These historic images recall a time when the Chinese community in California was still a world apart.
