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Maine History Online

Maine History Online

A Maine Historical Society Website

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Chinese in Maine

Chinese man, Augusta, ca. 1890

Chinese man, Augusta, ca. 1890

Item 10365 info
Maine Historical Society

The lure of the "Gold Mountain," as America was called, prompted many Chinese to try to evade the Exclusion Acts by entering the U.S. through Canada.

Men who already were in the U.S. could stay, but were prohibited from bringing wives and families to America to join them.

Most of Maine's early Chinese residents, therefore, were men who lived in a bachelor society, even though many had wives and families in China.