The sugar industry, however, did develop and there are even reports of small one-man Chinese sugar plantations in the islands.
By all accounts the major era of Chinese immigration and early settlement in Hawaii occurred between 1852 and 1898. It is reported that, in 1852, 180 men and 20 houseboys arrived from the South China province of Kwantung aboard the Thetis.
During this period approximately 50,000 Chinese arrived as field hands to work on the sugar plantations.
In these early years of Chinese immigration, most of the men who arrived from China came to earn money for their families at home, and had no intention of remaining in Hawaii beyond the term of their labor contracts. In fact, approximately one-half of the early immigrants did return to China.
During this period, a small number of the workers either returned to China to bring their wives to Hawaii or sent for them. However, many of the Chinese men married Hawaiian women and settled in Hawaii.
