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America Transformed: Many people from China and other Asian nations came to Hawaii and the West during the last half of the 19th century. Large numbers immigrated during the 1849 California Gold Rush, reaching 25,000 by 1852. During subsequent decades, they played an important role, though often exploited, as laborers for the transcontinental railroads. Prompted by racial discrimination and fears that Chinese laborers threatened American society, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act halted immigration from China. Many remaining immigrants created their own culturally distinct enclaves known as "Chinatowns." Displayed here is a map of San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest and one of the largest Chinatowns in North America.<br/><br/>America Transformed: Viewpoint: San Francisco's Chinatown is one of the oldest continuously inhabited ethnic communities in America, but this 1929 map gives no indication of that longevity nor of its central importance to American imperial history. As much as Sinophobes repeatedly tried for decades, they could not remove Chinese from the site. It was a location in continual flux; it was a permanent residence for some, but for many it was temporary, a way station between disembarkation and destinations elsewhere. So it was for thousands of railroad workers who came to help complete the first transcontinental route in the 1860s. Even building designations were incomplete and misleading: stores could house gambling dens in the back room; laundries could be living quarters; brothels could be homes for families and children. "Chinatown" is a simple name but an extraordinarily rich and complex site of human experiences. –Gordon H. Chang, Professor of History, Olive H. Palmer Professor in Humanities, and Senior Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Stanford University