Pearl of the Desert | A journey of Chinese people searching for gold and finding their roots in West America 5

Arizona Chinese Historical Association Zhang Zhaohong In Coloma, there is water from the farms of Marshall and Suter, who first discovered gold in 1848...

Arizona Chinese Historical Association Zhang Zhaohong

In Coloma, there is a waterwheel from the farm of Marshall and Suter, who were the first to discover gold in 1848. There is a Smith's Blacksmith Shop, which opened in 1848, and a stone house in the jungle are the remains of a Chinese grocery store in the 1850s. This grocery store supplied daily necessities to more than 2,000 Chinese workers at the gold mining site.

Seven months after the discovery of gold, the New York Herald first published the news; eleven months later, then US President Bowker officially informed the world: "A large amount of gold was discovered in that land in the west. It is simply unbelievable."

The place where gold was first discovered

The whole world was stirred. By the end of 1848, thousands of gold prospectors from all over were flooding into California. Chinese coastal residents also decided to leave overseas and became a main force in the gold rush.

The first "nugget gold" was discovered

The Chinese in the gold rush era

Zhang Zhaohong wrote a poem:

"Gold Rush Chinese Workers"

The Eternal Stream is very popular, and

thousands of Chinese workers are digging with their hands.

A century of gold mining history,

Starting a business with ten fingers depends on hard work!

We continue to visit the "California Railroad Museum", which is one of the largest railroad museums in the United States.

Tunnel prototypes and early trains Photography by Li Su

The railway museum is large and has many locomotives of all kinds

The train tracks and wheels of that year

The planner and organizer of this tour is Lin Xu, chairman of the US-China Cultural Association Foundation. In July this year, they have already warmed up and set foot on this historical root-seeking journey.

Lin Xu is a top student at Tsinghua University and the University of Southern California. He has many titles, but he always wears his hat as his shoes, thus leaving deep footprints on the road of serving the Chinese.

Since 1995, Lin Xu has been serving the Chinese Overseas Chinese Community in Los Angeles, USA. He has served as the president of the US-China Cultural Association. He has long organized and participated in various social activities and cultural performances, and served as the chief planner and chief producer of the American Chinese Spring Festival Gala for 16 consecutive years (2005–2020).

He also handles cultural exchanges between the United States and China, affairs of overseas Chinese in the United States, the anti-corruption operating mechanism in the United States, the management and operation of non-profit organizations, multiculturalism in American society, U.S. foreign policy and U.S.-China relations, American university education and management, emergency management, etc. He teaches at state universities and has been invited to various parts of China to give lectures and lectures.

He is also an interview guest and political commentator for American City Radio and Television, Charming China Satellite TV, American 1300AM Radio Station, American Chinese Information Network, American Chinese Network and other media.

Chairman of the US-China Cultural Association Foundation Lin Xu

In fact, the Chinese in Phoenix are no strangers to President Lin Xu. As early as 2009, he organized the "Guard of Honor of the Navy, Army and Air Force" to make a special trip to Phoenix to hold a flag-raising and military parade ceremony to celebrate the "60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China". The honor guard was heroic and the scene was shocking, which left a deep impression on the local Chinese people.