In 1875 a fleet of Chinese war junks set out to attack California. News had reached the Emperor in Peking that thousands of Chinese who had gone to California to work on the new railroads were being cruelly mistreated, and the enraged Emperor resolved to teach the United States a lesson that it would not soon forget. Eastward bound for Monterey sailed seven war vessels armed with brass cannon.

However, not realizing the size of Pacific Ocean, the Emperor had not sufficiently provisioned the fleet; before the voyage was half over the sailors faced death from thirst. Just in time a rainstorm came; quickly the sails were lowered and used to catch the rain. At last the doughty fleet reached Monterey -- fifty gunners stood by the cannon ready to blast the city to pieces if it put up a fight.

But far from resisting, the people of Monterey were so delighted with this unexpected visit of the strange and curious Chinese junks that the whole town came down to the shore to welcome the invaders. The warriors, overwhelmed by such hospitality, abandoned the planned attack. They liked California so much that they refused to go home. The older men got jobs on the railroads, and the younger ones stayed on in Monterey as fishermen.
-- as told by Richard Halliburton