As of , The San Francisco Area is 7. San Francisco's Chinese community has ancestry mainly from Guangdong province , China and Hong Kong , although there is a sizable population of ethnic Chinese with ancestry from other parts of mainland China and Taiwan as well.
The Chinese arriving in San Francisco, primarily from the Taishan and Zhongshan regions as well as Guangdong province of mainland China, did so at the height of the California Gold Rush, and many worked in the mines scattered throughout the northern part of the state.
The majority of these Chinese shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and hired workers in San Francisco Chinatown were predominantly Hoisanese and male [ citation needed ]. Many Chinese found jobs working for large companies, most famously as part of the Central Pacific [ 4 ] on the Transcontinental Railroad. Other early immigrants worked as mine workers or independent prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the California gold rush.
Although many of the earlier waves of Chinese immigration were predominantly men searching for jobs, Chinese women also began making the journey towards the United States.
The first known Chinese woman to immigrate was Marie Seise who arrived in and worked in the household of Charles V. Among this group were Chinese, primarily from the Guangdong Province, most of whom were seafarers who had already established Western contacts. Although the oceanic voyage to the United States offered new and exciting opportunities, dangers also loomed for women while traveling and many were discouraged from making the trip due to the harsh living conditions.
