Chinese first came to what is now British Columbia in 1788 to assist building a ship for John Meares at Friendly Cove. However, 70 years passed until the next major influx of Chinese for the  Fraser River Gold Rush. In 1858 most Chinese arrived from California where they had been attracted by gold, but eventually Chinese began to travel directly from China and Hong Kong to Victoria. Gold was the lure and Chinese called North America "Gold Mountain" (Gum Shan).

Typically Chinese followed other miners who panned the easy to find gold before pushing onwards to richer deposits. Chinese miners often stayed for years panning, screening and sluicing to extract evey ounce of gold from the gravels of the Fraser River and its many tributaries. Most communites such as New Westminster, Hope, Yale, Lillooet, Quesnel Forks and Barkerville had Chinatowns where Chinese miners lived and where Chinese merchants and other entrepreneurs established businesses to supply their every need.

Chinese pursued many other forms of employment and soon were working in salmon canneries, sawmills, lumber camps and coal mines. In BC's cities and towns they established laundries, restaurants, market gardens and greenhouses. In the major cities they frequently were hired as cooks and domestic servants.  

In the early 1880s, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was just starting, a lack of labourers brought thousands of Chinese to Canada for work on this project. As many as 17,000 Chinese may have been recruited for this purpose. The recession that followed the completion of the railway marked the first instances of mob violence directed against Asians who were willing to work longer hours for less pay than the Europeans. In 1885 a Head Tax of $50 was imposed on Chinese entering Canada as a means of discouraging immigration. Eventually this rose to $100, then to $500. In 1923 Canada enacted the Chinese Immigration Act  which virtually stopped Chinese immigration until the act was repealed in 1947.

During the nineteenth century most Chinese who came to BC were men who intended to stay only long enough to earn extra money and then return to their families in China. Gradually the pattern changed. More women began to arrive and Chinese families put down roots. One of the turning points in public attitude to Chinese was the willingness of many young Chinese men to serve in the armed forces during World War II. After 1947 Chinese could become Canadian citizens with full rights. Immigration restrictions were relaxed and, especially after the Communist Party came to power in China in 1949, many more Chinese families began to come to Canada.