Affidavit and Flyers from the Chinese Boycott Case Background Although a very small number of Chinese immigrants came to the United States prior to 1850, it wasn't until news of the gold strikes in California reached China that large numbers of Chinese men, eager to earn money, sailed for "Gum San," or the "gold mountain." Western encroachment and civil unrest had led to inflation, starvation, and loss of land in southern China. Many young men emigrated to the United States as a last hope for th