Early Contact and Migration
This chapter focuses on the early contact between Chinese and Americans, the lumber trade, the Chinese immigration to the American West, the recruitment of workers to North America, chain migration, and the importance of early Chinese organizations. It examines why and how the Chinese first came to the American West, what kinds of organizations they established, how they were recruited for work, and what they contributed to the building of the new frontier. It also considers how trade between the West Coast and China, and especially the latter's eastern coastal cities, developed and shows that most Chinese immigrants harbored the “American dream” and thus came voluntarily to the American West. Finally, it discusses some of the factors that worked against the Chinese's acculturation and assimilation, including, language and value differences.