Most Chinese immigrants viewed moving to the United States as a way to escape poverty and social disruption in China. They sought an opportunity to gain wealth during the Gold Rush in order to change the status quo during the economic and social chaos. However, their dream collapsed as “thousands of men had come to America in search of Gold Mountain. But they never returned.” (Takaki 199). Gold mining was not as easy as they thought, the high tax imposed on gold miners in California and the inability to accomplish the great wealth that they dreamed of at the beginning later resulted in poor economic condition and forced them to remain in America. When a married Chinese man wrote a letter to his wife, he wrote, “Because I can get no gold, I am detained in this secluded corner of a strange land” (Takaki 198-199). The Chinese had no choice, but to stay in America though they couldn’t find any gold. When the construction of transcontinental railroad began, the Chinese immigrants weren’t welcomed for the constructing jobs due to the prejudice that Americans have on them. To survive in the harsh situation, they still need to find a job to live.
The artifact shows the transcontinental journey at the head of the Great American CAÑON with a view of the South Fork of the American River, where gold was first discovered in 1848. The Chinese laborers were on the side of the railroad, observing and waving at the people on the train. They were looking on the railroad instead of doing their labor works. The artifact portrays an image of how they weren’t experiencing any hardships in their daily jobs, which contributes to the myth of the limited and useless Chinese’s contribution to the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Moreover, as described in Takaki’s reading, Chinese were “all in their native costume, with queues down their backs … wearing “loose pajamalike” clothes” (Takaki 195). Their traditional way of clothing portrays a completely different cultural background, which shows that they had been othered from American society since Americans felt threatened by them and didn’t accept their culture. In order to escape their oppression, the Chinese formed their own community and practiced their own beliefs.
The myth of the West during western expansion is depicted in the artifact. The artifact minimizes the contributions and sacrifices that the Chinese laborers had on the railroad. In the artifact, the Chinese laborers were observing the railroad, sitting on rocks, and waving to the people in the railroad. They seemed to be the outsiders who were not involved in the entire work on the railroad. However, in “Searching for Gold Mountain”, Takaki reveals more stories behind it, as well as the true history and the reality of the West during the period of westward expansion. The role of Chinese in western section transcontinental railroad construction was, in fact, indispensable and it was not clearly depicted in the way as the artifact shows. The Chinese workers didn’t seem to be oppressed at all, in contrast, the reality was that they were forced to build the railroad in a very harsh condition. Even though the Chinese were aware of the dangers that might have happened for the construction of the railroad, they needed the money to support their family. In a letter that a mother wrote to her son, she said, “for many months there had arrived no letter, nor money” (Takaki 198). Their poor economic situations demanded them to work because the family needed the money for living. The desire for a better life drove them to work hard every day. What’s more on the harsh condition that the Chinese face, they underwent racial oppression and discrimination throughout the railroad project. It has been described in Takaki that “in America, the Chinese found their lives circumscribed in new and different ways. As strangers from a different shore, they had been denied equality of opportunity and were separated from their homeland by the ‘tyrannical laws’ of exclusion” (Takaki 200). They were in fact ruthlessly treated by Americans but were still putting high efforts and played an important and productive role in American society. Without the effort of Chinese laborers, the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad might never be achieved. Their contribution is underappreciated, and the true history should never be misunderstood.