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After
the Opium War (1840-1842), Britain kept China under control. Many Chinese
suffered extreme poverty and had no jobs. When an official port entry
was established in Olympia in 1851, a lot of Chinese immigrants came
to find jobs. All of the ships from overseas arrived in Olympia first
for customs inspection from 1851 to 1854 when the Customs House moved
to Port Townsend. This made Olympia the earliest landfall for Chinese
immigrants arriving in the Puget Sound region. Olympia’s Chinese
population was greater than Seattle’s at the time. Most of them
drove for California, which was called Gold Mountain during the gold
rush, to earn money and send it to their families who were waiting for
it in China. The
Chinese immigrants often employed themselves in work considered as ‘women’s work” by white communities such as running
restaurants or laundries. Also, many worked with low wages, hard job
will work for example. Working as mill workers, as gardeners, opening
restaurants or laundries made them avoid job competition in the communities.
However, in the 1880s, the lean economic climate made the white community
view Chinese immigrants as easy scapegoats as a way of venting white’s
frustrations.
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