Becoming American: the Chinese experience. Pt. 1, Gold mountain dreams.

Absorbing documentary looking at the first Chinese people to emmigrate to America. The steady trickle of Chinese immigrants arriving on the west coast of the United States in the 1830s and 1840s saw a large increase as more Chinese left their villages, stricken by civil war, floods and famine, in order to make money in the Gold Rush to take back home. They later took jobs in the agriculture, fishing and catering industries, and as domestic help. In the 1860s thousands more Chinese were drawn to America, as cheap labour on the construction of the western leg of the Transcontinental Railroad. The programme examines the changing attitude towards Chinese immigrants, which was at its worst in the 1870s, with the 'yellow threat' being used as a tool to bully unions all over the country resulting in a flare-up of public and political anger. It also In 1882, the Democratic Chinese Exclusion Bill meant that Chinese were not allowed to enter the United States; this was the first time that people had been denied entry on grounds of race or nationality.