News of the California Gold Strike arrived in China by the end of 1848. Only a few hundred Chinese traveled to California in 1849, but this turned into a steady flood as travel arrangements were worked out by 1851 and later. The Taiping Revolution in China and the poverty and violence in China induced many Chinese to leave China searching for a way to earn a better living. Most Chinese, like most early California travelers, came to California with the goal of quickly making enough money to pay for their passage and improve their own and their family's status and lifestyle in China after they returned.