Walking The Grade

In the heat of California gold rush, Chinese from Southern China piled in "Gold Mountain", a place for Americans, to escape their impoverished motherland.

They were repelled by locals and punished with a foreigner’s miner tax, which led them to work beyond gold mining and earn their living with their raw labors.

President Abraham Lincoln singed law of Trans Continental Railroad's construction in 1863. However, the western link of rail road, Central Pacific Rail Road, couldn’t exist without the help of vast Chinese labors. Originally thought to be too small to complete such a momentous task, Charles Crocker of CPRR pointed out, "The Chinese made the Great Wall, didn't they?"

Since Chinese left numerous marks CPRR, it has been more than a century.

I married photography with history and started to trace the Chinese footsteps on the Gold Mounta in 2005.

After finishing the 690 miles route by making nine trips in 3 years, these photos are now on display in the show.

Shen-Chih Cheng 2009