Essay On Chinese Immigrants

A. Thesis Statement

A discussion of life experiences of the Chinese immigrants during the Australian gold rushes.

B. Introduction

The gold rush period was a period of time when gold was discovered in Australia. The gold rush contributed significantly and played a critical role in the Australian economy during the period. In addition, it attracted many foreigners to come to Australia in order to join the gold rush during the nineteenth century. These foreigners came to seek gold in order to pursue their dreams and also to get a better life in Australia.

The result of this was that there were a lot of foreigners from European and Asian countries that migrated to Australia in order to seek gold. China was one of many countries with the most immigrants coming to Australia. During the gold rush and the mining boom period, there was a sudden massive influx of Chinese immigrants from China that made up a large number of migrants (Fisher 1990, p. 73).

Chinese immigrants came to Australia by themselves and left their families in their home country. Moreover, they faced many experiences that they did not expect before. For example, how they experienced living far away from their families, living with people from different countries and languages, as well as facing discrimination and racism due to their ethnicity. These difficulties and

experiences faced by the Chinese immigrants were recorded in the Australian historical data as part of the National History of Australia.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the experiences of the Chinese immigrants during Australian gold rush period. This paper argues that Chinese migrants had a lot of difficulties during their migration and settling in Australia in order to achieve their dreams of having a better life. However, most of them were able to overcome these issues and became successful. Chinese immigrants also contributed to shaping Australia into a multicultural society. This paper will be focusing on four main parts: their journey in order to be able to arrive in Australia; cultural and linguistic differences that they had; the competition with other foreigners to seek gold and job; and their experience of facing discrimination and racism during the period.
C. Structure of the body of the essay:
Key idea 1: Chinese migrants came to Australia to seek gold
1. Many Chinese immigrants had heard that gold was discovered in many parts of Australia, so they migrated to Australia.
2. They left their families and came to Australia to pursue their dreams for a better life.
3. They migrated to Australia across the sea by boat.
Key idea 2: Linguistic and cultural differences among Chinese immigrants and foreigners
1. Many Chinese immigrants were unable to speak English properly and had some problems to converse with the locals and foreigners from English-speaking background.
2. Cultural shock that they experienced as a result of different values and ideologies from their traditional core beliefs.
3. They were often unable to understand other labourers.
4. Nevertheless, they were able to overcome this problem, and contributed to shaping Australia into a multicultural society.
Key idea 3: Competition for gold and jobs with European diggers
1. The European diggers considered the Chinese immigrants as their competitor.
2. Although they were working together in order to find gold deposits, the European immigrants thought that the Chinese immigrants would overtake them.
3. Chinese immigrants experienced a lot of difficulties because of the conflicts.
4. Therefore, Chinese immigrants often feel isolated, segregated and alone. This also contributed to the feeling of homesickness as they also left their families behind.
Key idea 4: Chinese immigrants faced anti-Chinese racism
1. The experience that they had did not meet their initial expectation about living in Australia.
2. The locals and other foreigners were afraid that the Chinese immigrants would seize the opportunity to take over their gold reserves.
3. The Chinese immigrants were also victimized by the other immigrants and locals.
4. There was a law that was enacted to cast aside the Chinese immigrants, as a result of the life discrimination and racism.
D. Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper explored the experiences of Chinese migrants during Australian gold rush period.

The Chinese immigrants had many difficulties in following their decision to come to Australia. Furthermore, they were living in Australia under miserable conditions and had to suffer and sacrifice a lot. They were also discriminated by other foreigners and locals. Despite of their difficulties, they were hard working people and strive to pursue their dreams. As a result, many of them became successful and had been able to accumulate a lot of wealth. Furthermore, they also helped in shaping Australia to become a multicultural

society.