China Camp History

After visiting China camp state park I learned that the Chinese battled through nativism and the Chinese exclusion act to try and set a up a sustainable village for themselves. China camp was founded in the 1870 by 60 men, ages 12-65. They came for the gold but had to find other work when the gold was nowhere to be found. Many chinese were farm labourers of The Mcnear brothers who owned all the coastal land. They supplemented their work by setting up these shrimp fisheries. The Chinese saw the untapped potential of the San Pablo bay so they set up with their traditional shrimp fishing tactics. There were over 2 dozen on the coastal shores at the peak of the fisheries existence. China camp emerged as the largest fishery in california and the sixth largest on in the country. Within ten years the immigration boom hit and China camp was filled with over 500 people. The community included a school, grocery stores, a barber shop, and many residential houses.

The economic recession of 1877 created a sense of fear that sent nativist looking for people to blame. They began to look right at the

For the first time in the country 's history they had put regulation on immigrants into the United States. Soon followed was regulation by the fish and game administration that was directed at shutting down fisheries like China camp. They outlawed the exportation of fish was cut of a large market for the shrimp fisheries. A main market for China camp was sending the shrimp home for sale. This cut off the villages income making hard to stay afloat. Next came the ban on using big fishing nets shrimping, Regulators said it was catching to many other fish and hurting the ecosystem. This killed the traditional fishing tactics and diminished the drive of the Chinese. Because of these regulations. As a result of these laws, the population of China Camp Village declined until almost all residents were