I know why he left China. But, having arrived in America, why does he become a drifter? Why does he walk the Earth? Most Chinese immigrants just settled down somewhere and got a job. Caine might be a wanted outlaw in China, but nobody’s going to drive him out of any Chinatown. It might make some kinda sense if he were being chased by somebody, or if he were on a quest to find something, but he ain’t. He just hits the road again at the end of each episode for no apparent reason. Is it a Buddhist thing?
Because it would take too long to crawl.
Because he can’t afford a car?
Wasn’t he looking for a half-brother?
Grumble, grumble. Now I’ll have to look it up.
Because he is a wanted man. Everywhere he goes someone recognizes him from the posters, so he has to move on. Also, it makes a better TV show.
ETA: And as Yllaria notes, he is looking for his half brother Danny, who he finds in the end.
He was 1) looking for his half-brother and 2) trying to dodge the various agents the Chinese gov’t sent to find him, as well as various Americans trying to collect the bounty on his head.
The two previous posters are BOTH right.
Caine isn’t “walking the Earth” as some kind of spiritual quest. His concerns are more practical:
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Since he killed a member of the Chinese royal family, there’s a prince on his head.
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He’s hoping to find a long-lost brother.
Yup, per wiki:
“Kung Fu follows the adventures of a Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine [虔官昌 Qián Guānchāng] . . . who travels through the American Old West armed only with his spiritual training and his skill in martial arts, as he seeks his half-brother, Danny Caine.”
Also:
“During four episodes of the third and final season . . . Caine finds his brother Danny, nephew Zeke and two cousins, Joseph and Ezekial.”
For those who need closure.
The Legend Continued…
I guess it was beyond 19th-Century surgery to remove one of those safely.
Damn, that’s a heavy burden to carry through the Old West.
Although I think it is also partly spiritual since he neither wants nor needs possessions and he lives off the land at one with nature so he doesn’t need a job.
He got in trouble for having a prince on the head of his spear. That’s not a metaphor, he’s not English.
“I am…Caine. I will…help you.” 
Because his gung fu is too weak to let him walk the seas…
-XT
We call it Prince, it’s really just a squiggle.
From a writer’s standpoint, it’s because it makes for a much more interesting show.
Also, did you not think of him as Cain, who slew Abel?
Gen. 4, 10-12. Emphasis mine.
Yes, the victim was a prince, not his brother, but it makes for a nice tie-in.
He searched for a man named Jim Sonnett…
No, wait…
It’s a heavy burden to carry anywhere – even if only on your back.
But it wasn’t so much a prince but the nephew of the emperor – and, actually, the bounty for said nephew’s death. The brat was pretty young during the incident, so it’s not clear whether he held or would ever gain a title or position. Still, since he was a relative of the emperor, the death was a pretty newsworthy matter and the emperor wouldn’t be willing to lose face for doing nothing about it.
I guess by staying in the West he’d meet fewer people (and sustain a genre TV show) but that also kinda meant he stuck out like a sore thumb. If he’d jumped off at the Cooke Islands or the Phillipines, he could have blended in a lot easier. :rolleyes:
—G!
There’s a price on your head
well that’s the price of fame
and that’ll never change
. --Jon BonJovi (solo)
. Billy Get Your Guns
. Young Guns II Soundtrack
There was several assassins sent to kill Cain. He always defeated them, but sometimes got injured. He had to keep traveling to stay alive.