Gold Mountain & Beyond: A History of Chinatowns in the United States
Explore the history of Chinatowns in the United States and learn how they foster belonging and connections today.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
by Karen Yee and Di Gao - Adapted from Preserving Chinatowns in the United States by Karen Yee
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is working to support the preservation of America's Chinatowns. Sign our petition today to commit to the cultural preservation of America’s Chinatowns for future generations
Dope Story (1958-05) by Joe ScherschelLIFE Photo Collection
There is no single story for Chinatowns across the United States. Some were established in the 1860s, while others formed in the 1970s and even later. Chinatowns could be found in rural towns or large cities.
Snapshot Of A Los Angeles Street (1925) by Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum, City of Industry, CaliforniaNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Early historic Chinatowns were located in the same places where Chinese laborers worked & were filled with grocers, restaurants, laundries & other small businesses. These early Chinatowns served as a vital social & economic support network while also serving as a secondary home.
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The Gold Rush
The history of Chinatowns across the United States began in 1848 when James W. Marshall found gold in Northern California.
Overseas, in the southern region of China where people were reeling from the economic and class instability resulting from the Taiping Revolution (1850-1864) and the Opium War (1839-1842), the news of a Gold Mountain (Gum Saam) in the United States prompted many Chinese to leave their homes in hopes of bettering their economic situations.
Golden Spike National Historic Site (1980/2006) by Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Carol M. Highsmith [LC-DIG-highsm-13376]National Trust for Historic Preservation
The Transcontinental Railroad
Almost a decade later the building of the Transcontinental Railroad served as another major employment opportunity for Chinese laborers.
Within the workplace, fellow non-Chinese colleagues treated Chinese laborers poorly. Railroad foremen would assign Chinese laborers the most dangerous jobs such as detonating dynamite, which resulted in the death of thousands of Chinese laborers.
Chinese laborers were viewed as unwanted foreign competition. Besides discriminating against the Chinese laborers in the workplace, the local communities saw them as strange for their difference in appearance, culture, and language.
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Community organizations and Chinatowns
Chinese immigration to the United States continued to increase and, according to the U.S. census, by 1870 there were over 63,000 Chinese in the United States.
Chinese laborers found employment in domestic services, fishing, agriculture, and other industries. Many Chinese also began to travel eastward in the United States to settle in urban centers considered more friendly toward foreigners due to their more diverse populations.
Community organizing was important for early Chinese immigrants who had to rely on each other.
Huiguan
Family associations called huiguan were based on clan or regional districts and served as an important social network for Chinese laborers to stay connected in the United States and China.
Hip Sing Tong House (1933) by Wiliam C. Greene/Library of CongressNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Tongs
Tongs were based on brotherhood and group loyalty, but many also partook in illegal activities such as prostitution, gambling, and drug dealing in order to fund their activities. They also provided social, economic, and political support for their members.
While community organizations kept Chinatowns together, angry mobs comprised of non-Chinese laborers and armed with political support burned them down. Many historic Chinatowns were often rebuilt in different parts of town or cities, or they moved altogether to larger, well-established Chinatowns. Chinatowns that rebuilt themselves experienced frequent police raids and slander in the media, while residents found difficulties in obtaining both housing and business permits.
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-05-06) by National Archives (5752153)National Trust for Historic Preservation
Chinatowns and the Law
A lot of laws in the United States had an impact on the formation of Chinatowns.
For a full timeline of events see Timeline of the History of Chinatowns in the United States.
Alien Land Laws
Various states and local municipalities like California, Texas, and Wyoming enacted Alien Land Laws which prevented Chinese immigrants and other minorities from purchasing or leasing long-term properties.
Racial covenants
Long-established racial covenants that prevented Black Americans from possessing land, also resulted in Chinese immigrants having to use third parties to purchase or obtain leases for properties, furthering the instability of Chinatowns.
Alien Land Laws would not be ruled as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court until 1952. Even so, not all states removed these laws immediately after the ruling; for instance, Florida—the last to do so—did not remove its Alien Land Law from its state constitution until 2018.
Page Act of 1875
Prohibited the entry of Chinese women. Although early Chinese laborers had been primarily young men who had intended to stay temporarily in the United States, the 1875 act further skewed gender ratios in Chinatowns, populating them with predominantly single men.
Anti-miscegenation laws also prevented Chinese men from establishing families. Some Chinese women were able to find alternative methods of entering the United States, which included traveling to Canada and then entering the United States. Others entered as students, wives of Chinese merchants, or daughters of U.S. citizens.
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
The first legislation to bar an ethnic group from entering the United States. It stated that only Chinese merchants, diplomats, and scholars were permitted entry into the U.S. It would later extend the ban of Chinese laborers indefinitely in 1902.
In 1906, following the devastating earthquake in San Francisco and subsequent fire, many public birth documents and vital records were destroyed. As a result, many of the Chinese men who lived in the United States could claim they were born in the United States, creating new opportunities to bring wives, children, and other Chinese immigrants into the country.
This video from the New York Historical Society shares one "paper family's" story.
From 1910-1940 many of those who migrated though the West Coast were held at Angel Island Immigration Station.
After China became an ally to the United States during WWII, the U.S. repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943 and allowed Chinese immigrants to be naturalized as citizens.
Civil Rights March on Washington (1963-08-28) by National Archives (542003)National Trust for Historic Preservation
Civil Rights era laws
Legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 paved a path for Chinese Americans and immigrants to break free from discriminatory legislation that bound them to Chinatowns.
Immigration and Nationality Act Signing (1965-10-03) by LBJ Library and Yoichi OkamotoNational Trust for Historic Preservation
Nationality Act of 1965
Lifted the racial quota and gave preferences based on educational status, certain skills or professions, and family reunification. The combination of the repeal of discriminatory legislation and influx of immigration impacted the growth and decline of Chinatowns.
Today, historic Chinatowns are communities of resilience, and while they do not look the same across the country, they reveal different sides of the formation of the United States as a nation. These places foster belonging and connections for those who have felt excluded elsewhere. For those who feel at home in Chinatowns, protection of these places is vital.
Further Reading
Learn more about the National Trust for Historic Preservation's America's Chinatowns initiative.
5 Chinatowns and the Communities Working to Preserve Them (Google Arts & Culture)
Gold Mountain and Beyond: A History of Chinatowns in the United States
How Chinatowns Nationwide Are Finding Ways to Thrive Into the Future (Preservation magazine)
Karen Yee graduated from the University of Maryland’s Historic Preservation and Urban Planning master’s programs in 2022.
Di Gao is the senior director of research & development at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the director of the America's Chinatowns initiative.
This timeline is adapted from Preserving Chinatowns in the United States by Karen Yee and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Gold Mountain and Beyond: A History of Chinatowns in the United States by Karen Yee and Di Gao. Both pieces were published in 2021.
Citation: Linda Trinh Vo, “Essay 15: Asian Immigrants and Refugees: Demographic Transformations in the United States from WWII to the Present” Essay. In Finding a Path Forward: Asian American/Pacific Islander National Historic Landmarks Theme Study. National Park Service, 2017.
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