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Arranged marriages were common in Chinese society with women having no say in who they would marry, however, divorce rates were extremely low. Low divorce rates were not a result of adherence to religious convictions, but rather a result of fear of the disgrace a divorce would cast on individuals and families concerned. In the 19th Century Chinese society, religion was dominated by both Buddhism and Taoism in addition to special religious folk gods for all occasions. All of these aspects of Chinese society unified to form the Chinese way of life that Kin had grown so accustomed to after 14 years of living in China.Kin arrived in San Francisco 2 months and 22 days after he had left his small village in China. He overcame sickness and hunger in order to endure the long journey to America. Once in San Francisco, Kin took a host of odd jobs in order to make money. These jobs included working as a farm hand in Oakland, a vegetable seller in a mining camp, a cook in a lumber camp, and a label maker in a salmon cannery. Although the jobs seemed menial, the pay was high by Chinese standards (Hoobler, 1994, pp. 11).
Of all the jobs that Kin held, he, like many of his fellow Chinese immigrants, was most successful as a farm laborer. Many believed that the Chinese’s success in the farming industry stemmed from fact that they learned quickly and were “accurate, painstaking, and trustworthy (Chen, 1980, pp. 84).