The first ever Chinese immigrants came during 1858 to what is present day British Columbia. These Chinese immigrants all came from one small area near the southern part of Guangzhou, in China's Guangdong province (shown on the left). That small area had eight districts but only four of those districts had rich soil. Not only does this area has little farmland, but it is also very populated, to the extent that by 1858, the population was already reaching 28 million people. (Collections Canada 1) With the major population growth, farmland became even more scarce and by then, there wasn't enough land to feed everyone. Furthermore, from time to time, natural disasters such as floods and droughts would come, further damaging what little land is available. Because of this, these people had to move out to find better a place to feed themselves and their families.
Another push factor for these Chinese immigrants was that during this time, China was under a lot of political turmoil. Throughout the area, many people were under poor living conditions. Because of this, many of the people that were living in those conditions, like farmers and peasants, revolted against the government in 1851. This rebellion eventually became violent and the Taiping Rebellion, which ended in 1864, took over 20 million lives across the country. (Collection Canada 1) During these unstable years, many farmers, who didn't revolt, were forced to be in the army, crops were destroyed and bandits would raid villages. In other words, the Chinese government couldn't sustain law and order during these violent times. Many people had to leave to find a safer place to live.
The last push factor that was a key part in Chinese immigrants moving in to Canada was that the local traders couldn't compete with the much bigger European trade partners. During this time, China was a huge trade partner with Europe. However, after losing the Opium Wars to the British in 1842 and 1860, they were forced to open more port cities to trade with Europe. With these new ports, less trading would occur in the ports of Guanzhou but rather in the more newer ports that were installed after the wars. This resulted in many people, including porters, warehouse workers and boat crews, to lose their jobs. Furthermore, as a condition for China's surrender in the Opium Wars, they had to pay Great Britain one-third of the annual intake of China's treasury. This large payment caused ordinary Chinese citizens to pay higher taxes.
Intervening obstacles
The early Chinese immigrants had to face a lot of physical, political, economical and social segregation. Some examples include that Chinese people aren't allowed to sit at the lower floor of the Victoria Opera House but rather in the top gallery, and even not being able to go to stores at some times of the day because some store managers doesn't allow Chinese people around in their stores from 7- 10 p.m. You even need a permit from the sheriff to be married with a Chinese person! They were so reviled amongst the Caucasian Canadians that they were forced to live in their own specific area at the outskirts of the town or city. This place was called "Chinatown", and this was how many Chinatown's around the world today got started. However, despite being forced to live in their own separate section of the town, they don't mind it because they actually like living closely together and in Chinatown, they were able to practice their customs and traditions without being abused and/or bigoted.
During these times, a lot of Chinese immigrants were living under poor living conditions. The most gruesome being with the Chinese workers during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. These workers only get paid one dollar a day, and from this dollar, the workers still had pay for their food and their camping and cooking gear. While for the Caucasian workers, they didn't have to, even though they were payed more than the Chinese workers. As well as being underpaid, the Chinese workers were forced to do the "dirty jobs", jobs no one wanted to do, like clearing and grading the railway's roadbed and blasting tunnels through rock. (Collections Canada 1) Furthermore, many of the men suffered from scurvy, a painful disease caused by a diet without vitamin C, because they couldn't afford fresh fruits and vegetables with such a low salary. Because of these conditions, hundreds of Chinese railway workers died due to accidents, the winter cold, illness and/or malnutrition.