Sobriquet

The question that I hear the most - aside from "have you been wearing the same clothes for 3 days straight now?" - is this one: "Why did you pick the name Gold Mountain?" Hmmmm....

THE PREMISE:

Chinese emigration (also known as the Chinese Diaspora) first occurred thousands of years ago, but the mass emigration that occurred from the 19th century to 1949 was mainly caused by wars and starvation in mainland China as well as political corruption. Most immigrants were illiterate or poorly educated peasants and coolies (Chinese: 苦力, translated: Hard Labour), who were sent to countries such as the Americas, Australia, South Africa, Southeast Asia, Malaya and other places.

Which lead to...

Gold Mountain ( Chinese 金山 pinyin: jin shan) is the name given by the Chinese to California, USA. After gold was first discovered in the state of California in 1848, thousands of Chinese from Toisan in Guangdong (台山 pinyin: tai shan), began to travel to California in search of gold and riches during the California Gold Rush.  

THE POINT:

The term Gold Mountain is the symbolic representation of the collective hopes of many a Chinese person; the movement towards an unsure yet optimistic future resonates in this name. 

For me, getting into this wonderful thing called Hip Hop and making it my life is verily within the same vien - I didn't have a clue what I was doing when I started and I still don't as of now, but all I know is that I got my hopes on my own personal Gold Mountain - Hip Hop  - and all I can do is just keep on digging to see if I ever strike the motherload.

So there you have it - straight from the source. Thanks for reading.

PEACE.

Picture from "Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World" by Paul Yee

http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Gold-Mountain-Stories-Groundwood/dp/0888990987