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During the 1850s, the United States entered a period known as the gold rush: immigrants from all around the world came to look for gold, hoping to make a fortune. Among those peoples were the Chinese. Considering the events preceding the arrival of the first Chinese gold miners such as the First Opium war and the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), we could say that they didn’t come at a fortuitous time. The negative image of China had already built itself in Western culture, and the success of printed media such as newspapers, newsletters, and magazines spread out these negative stereotypes.Surprisingly, the first few years following the arrival of the Chinese, newspapers were enthusiastic and welcoming towards them: “the China boys will yet vote at the same polls, study at the same schools and bow at the same altar as our own countrymen”, wrote the Daily Alta California in 1852. This enthusiasm could be explained by the fact that the Taiping Rebellion – which aimed at overthrowing the established government and Confucianism through the praising of Christianity – had just started, and the feeling that China could change and pick up the model of Western religion was lingering. However, from their arrival until the 1870s onwards, China was at the center of attention in newspapers because of the Taiping Rebellion, but also the Tientsin Massacre later in 1870. On the one hand, there were a few newspapers which tried to renew the image people had of the Chinese, but on the other hand, there were those who were still skeptical and criticized the way China handled her issues. What was problematic was that the testimonies the media used were from reporters, but also from people who had been to China during the beginning of trading in the early 17th century, which includes missionaries, traders and diplomats. These people weren’t sharing positive views on China and often used racist terminology. In a way, the preconceived ideas about the Chinese not being “civilized” was still present at the time: “[The Chinese] are incapable of civilization,” wrote the New York Times on October 8th, 1872. The notion that “uncivilized” immigrants were coming to America was considered to be outrageous because America was supposed to be a land of progress and innovations: there was no place for backwardness. One of the main fears which came out of these negative stereotypes was that the Chinese, who were more and more numerous to come, were going to slow down, not to say disrupt the progress of the nation. Furthermore, since the Chinese weren’t thought of as people capable of change, there was also the fear that they might never assimilate to Western culture, that they might never be Americanized, which was one of the primary goals when it came to immigration. This backwardness was seen as a threat to what America stood for.&#160;Bibliograhy:Miller, Creighton Stuart. The Unwelcome Immigrant. Berkeley: University Press of California, 1974.Takaki, Ronald. Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. rev. ed. New York: Back Bay paperback edition, 1998.