Where did Chinese immigrants arrive in the United States?

Large groups of Chinese immigrants arrived between the time of the gold rush in California after 1849 and 1882, when a federal law stopped that immigration. Most of them were peasants that escaped economic difficulties and political turmoil at home. They wanted to spend some time in America, make some money and go back home. Most Chinese immigrants settled in California.

Chinese immigrants first flocked to the United States in the 1850s, eager to escape the economic chaos in China and to try their luck at the California gold rush.