19th-century Chinese immigration to America

Chinese immigration to America in the 19th century is often referred to as the first wave of Chinese Americans. These immigrants were primarily Cantonese and Taishanese speakers.

In the 1980s, about half or more of the ethnic Chinese population in the United States had roots in Taishan, a city in southern China near Guangzhou. Before the 1990s, a large portion of the Chinese population in the U.S. consisted of Cantonese or Taishanese-speaking people, predominantly from Guangdong province in southern China.

This contrasts with post-1980s Chinese Americans, among whom more Mandarin-speaking immigrants arrived from northern China and Taiwan. Much of the Chinese population throughout the 1800s and early 1900s was concentrated in the Western United States, particularly California and Nevada, as well as New York City. Chinese immigrants and their descendants generally settled in Chinatowns (especially in San Francisco and New York) or in Chinese-populated districts within major city downtowns.