ABSTRACT
Chinese migration into the Pacific was sparked by an historical event which occurred in England, far from the Pacific region. The American Civil War 1861–65, caused a sudden rise in the price of cotton, which began the flow of thousands of indentured plantation workers into the Pacific. These two events caused quite different patterns of Chinese migration to the Pacific. The pattern of original settlement is therefore one of courageous pioneers, often facing great difficulties and dangers, loneliness and deprivation, to establish their businesses on the remote and foreign shores of the Pacific islands. A brief look at the sociology of Chinese migration will help people to understand the differences between these original settlers and the waves that followed. Sydney was the main port for much of the southwestern Pacific trade in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and Chinese who had come to Australia during the gold rush soon became Pacific traders themselves.
