They toiled and endured, seeking riches alongside others and turning their hand to other enterprises as well.
But the lot of Chinese miners in Central Otago's goldfields was a mixed one, sometimes resulting in fortune and other times not, Chinese historian Dr James Ng said in a tribute to the Chinese of more than a century ago.
By the late 1890s, about a quarter of the miners in Alexandra were Chinese, and initially they were treated well, Dr Ng said.
Then as gold got harder to find and people began to resent the Chinese sending all their money home, things turned. Chinese miners were often ostracised and assaulted physically.
Now five restored or new Chinese headstones have been unveiled in the culmination of a project that sought to amend some of society's failings.
The project was led by Alexandra historian Jeff Sawers and supported by Chinese goldfields historian Leslie Wong, of Dunedin.
One of the Chinese headstones was restored and marks the grave of a Chinese elder whose body was exhumed and returned to China, as happened with many of the Chinese during the goldfields era.
Another four new headstones have been made from stone shipped from China, and mark previously unmarked graves in an area at the Alexandra cemetery thought possibly to contain another 18 Chinese graves.
Ground-penetrating radar could never fully identify the remains, and so the exact location and nature of the other gravesites would probably remain unknown, Mr Sawers said.
But the area where the Chinese were buried was sacred and the new headstones would remind people of the existence of the graves, and hopefully bring new knowledge and respect, he said.
Mr Sawers, who has always been interested in Central Otago's history and its goldfields, is also the chairman of the Ida Valley Cemetery Trust.
Several years ago he led a restoration project there which included the restoration of a cluster of Chinese headstones, and it was while doing that he became more interested in Alexandra's Chinese graves, Mr Sawers said.
``They [the Chinese] were a big part of the goldfields and there was no sign of them [at the Alexandra cemetery] apart from one broken headstone. I thought that is not good for the town or for people or for history.''
He was already familiar with Mr Wong and Dr Ng's work and he and Mr Wong decided to research the Alexandra Chinese graves.
The two-man team spent almost two years researching the Chinese graves and Mr Wong translated the wording for the new headstones.
The work was difficult, as the correct names and Chinese characters had not been recorded on the original graves, Mr Wong said. Many of them were instead buried under nicknames.
Last Sunday a dedication ceremony was held for each of the headstones at a gathering at the Alexandra cemetery attended by more than 50 people.
Chinese liked to be buried facing in one of two directions, and the placement of the Chinese headstones at the Alexandra cemetery corresponded with their beliefs, Mr Wong said.
``The Chinese like to face the east so their spirit can meet the morning sunrise and be free to roam the heavens all day. But equally, they like to face water, because of its spiritual cleansing.''
The new Chinese Alexandra headstones either face east, towards the sunrise, or west, towards the Clutha River.
Other early European headstones in the Alexandra cemetery were also facing both ways, and were thought to have been placed like that to face walkways through the cemetery, Mr Wong said.
The Chinese headstone project was funded by a $4200 grant from the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust, and additional personal funds from Mr Wong and his wife, Maisie Wong.
