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.

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