In 1882, after the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, thousands of Chinese laborers poured into Mexico from California. They worked in the cotton fields, in the hemp fields, in the copper mines, and in coal refineries performing backbreaking menial labor. When they weren't coming down with miasma they were suffering from the cruelty of their employers and death and illness were all-pervasive.
一八八二年美國通過「排華法案」後，從美國加州南部轉移過來的華工更是數以千計，他們在棉田、麻園、銅礦坑、煤油廠等地方做著艱苦卑屈的工作，還不時遭受瘴疫襲擊和業主凌虐，死傷相當的慘重。