Gold, Hollywood and a Hidden Story | How a California Postcard Reminded Me of... Bau, Sarawak?

Hello, my dear readers!

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon (November 14, 2025), and as usual, I was checking my mailbox, hoping for something more exciting than utility bills. And guess what? The mailbox were smiling!

Tucked inside was this gorgeous postcard. It wasn't just any postcard; it was a map. And not just any map... it was California's 175th Birthday Party printed on a piece of cardboard!

This colorful piece of mail came all the way from San Francisco, California, USA, sent by a lovely lady named Susan.

Now, let's do what we do best here at Canon Rider. Let's grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and deep dive into the stories hidden in this 6x4 inch piece of paper.

The Sender | A Penpal Adventure!

Before we even look at the front, let's appreciate the back. This is the human connection, the heart of Postcrossing.

Susan’s handwriting is so cheerful! She wrote:

"Mawar, Greetings from San Francisco, California! Did you have a nice summer? One of my highlights was a same day trip to Seattle, Washington to meet penpals in PERSON! Susan"

First, "Did you have a nice summer?" Ahahaha! Susan, my friend, Malaysia does not do "summer." We have two seasons: "Hot" and "Hotter and Raining." Right now, it's November, and I am still sweating!

But the second part... wow! A same-day trip from San Francisco (California) to Seattle (Washington)?! My brain immediately went to Google Maps. That is a 2-hour flight! That is like me flying from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu (in Borneo)... just for lunch! OMG

And she did it all to meet her penpals in person! That is such a beautiful goal. It’s the ultimate dream for many of us in the Postcrossing and Slowly community, isn't it? To finally put a real face to the handwriting we’ve come to know so well. What a wonderful adventure, Susan!

The Map | A Tourist's Dream (175 Years of Icons)

Okay, now for the main event. The front of the card. It's an explosion of information, celebrating 175 years (1850-2025) of "The Golden State."

This map is basically a "Greatest Hits" album for California. It shows:

• The Golden Gate Bridge: The big, beautiful, (and very red) icon of San Francisco.

• Hollywood: The dream factory. The land of movie stars.

• Sequoias & Redwoods: The "tallest trees in the world." (Makes me wonder how they compare to our giants in Borneo!)

• Yosemite National Park: A world-famous park known for its giant cliffs.

• Wine Country: Fancy!

• Surf City USA: The Beach Boys, surfing... the vibe.

• Death Valley: The "hottest location in USA." (No thank you, I’ll stay in Malaysia, hahhaha!)

• Comic-Con: Home of geek culture in San Diego!

• The California Poppy (flower) and the California Quail (bird).

It’s a perfect postcard. It shows you the dream of California.... a place of movies, nature, beaches and wine.

But... my eyes kept going back to that date. 1850. Why 1850? What was so special about that year?

The "Why" | The 1849 Gold Rush (How California Became California)

This is where the storyteller in me gets excited. This postcard isn't just a map; it's a history lesson.

California became the 31st state of the USA in 1850. But why did it become a state so fast?

Before 1848, California was... well, kind of empty. It was a huge, sleepy piece of land that had just been won by the USA from Mexico. And then... everything changed.

In January 1848, a man named James W. Marshall was building a sawmill (a wood-cutting mill) for his boss, John Sutter. While checking the water channel, he saw something shiny. It was GOLD.

At first, they tried to keep it a secret. Ahahaha! How cute. You cannot keep a secret like that. A merchant held up a bottle of gold dust in a San Francisco street, shouting, "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!" And the world stopped.

The news spread like fire. By 1849 (this is the famous date), the "Gold Rush" was on. These people were called the "Forty-Niners."

• People from the East Coast of the USA left their farms, their jobs, their families. They crossed deserts and mountains to get there.

• People got on boats and sailed for months from China, from Australia, from Europe.

• San Francisco, which was just a tiny village of about 200 people, exploded. Within a year, it had over 36,000 residents!

This one event, the Gold Rush... is the impact. It created modern California. It populated the state overnight. It forced the U.S. government to officially make it a state in 1850 (as part of a big political deal called the "Compromise of 1850"). 

The "California Dream"... the idea that you can go West and strike it rich, was born from this moment. It funded America's future and changed the country forever.

The Connection | California's Gold Rush... and Borneo's?

This is why I love postcards. As I was reading about California's "Forty-Niners," my brain immediately jumped... ...all the way back home. To Malaysia. To Borneo.

Did you know... we had our own Gold Rush? Around the exact same time?

While the "Forty-Niners" were digging in California, thousands of Chinese Hakka miners were already digging for gold in Bau, Sarawak (in Borneo).

It's true! By the 1840s and 1850s, the Chinese miners in Bau were so successful and organized that they basically ran their own town. They had their own government, called a Kongsi (like a co-operative). This was their "Golden State."

But then, a new player came to Borneo; James Brooke, the "White Rajah" of Sarawak. He wanted control of that gold. The miners, obviously, didn't want to be controlled or taxed.

This led to the "1857 Chinese Rebellion" (or the "Bau Rebellion"). The angry gold miners attacked Kuching! They sailed down the Sarawak River and tried to overthrow the White Rajah. They even burned down his house! (He escaped by swimming across the river... what a movie!). 

In the end, the Rajah's forces (with help from the local Malay and Bidayuh people) won, and the Kongsi was broken.

It's fascinating, isn't it? Both California and Sarawak had a "Gold Rush" in the mid-1800s. Both were powered by massive Chinese immigration. Both created boom towns (San Francisco and Bau).

But the impact was different. California's Gold Rush created a new American state. Sarawak's Gold Rush led to a rebellion that cemented the power of the White Rajahs.

A simple postcard from Susan in San Francisco just sent me down a rabbit hole into the history of my own country.

The Stamps!

As a self-proclaimed "free stamp collector" (AHAHA, I just collect them from the mail!), I have to look at the stamps!

Susan used four!

1. 1c Apples (2016): A simple, pretty fruit stamp.

2. 13c Interphil '76 (1976!): A vintage stamp! This is from the 1976 International Philatelic (Stamp) Exhibition in Philadelphia. This is so cool! She must know I like stamps!

3. "Forever" Deer (2023): A very modern, graphic-style deer.

4. "Forever" Owl (2023): Same cool, modern style!

What a great mix of old and new stamps.

The World in a Mailbox

Thank you so much, Susan, for this amazing postcard! It wasn't just a "hello." It was a story of your own adventures (flying to Seattle!) and a 175-year-old story of your state. And the best part? It made me see a connection between the gold miners of California and the gold miners of Borneo.

This... this is why I love Postcrossing.