INTRODUCTION
This volume attempts to furnish to the reader of Chinese history in America. Where the original a history of the Chinese in California. It was writ• 49'er pioneer and his generation came as a so• ten to accommodate the many requests received journer, leaving behind, family, hearth and home, from educators assigned to present minority group the present newcomers come more as a family unit, culture and history in California public schools. as individuals determined to set their roots here. Although it is entitled A History of the Chinese Thus the disparity between sexes which once in California, the scope of its material embraces reached 27 males for each female, is also rapidly other areas as well. In a nineteenth century mobile becoming a page of the past. force mainly unencumbered by family, it was to The increased number of new immigrants is be expected that men would be continually on the causing much revision in the social, economic and move seeking to better their economic condition. political life of the Chinese in America. A new Thus, to illustrate, in pursuing the subject of the chapter of that history will unfold as newcomers fishing industry, it would be illogical to confine attempt to make the adjustments necessary to enter the material to California while ignoring their the mainstream of community life. Naturally their activities in Alaska. A good portion of that labor old-world customs, habits and outlooks will cling force consisted of California residents who an• to them until they adjust to the new environment. nually shipped out to Alaska to work in the can• Until then, such organizations as the Chinese fam• neries during the canning period. ily, district and tong associations, and other social The rapidly disappearing restrictions once groups, will feel the increased tempo of activity. And there will b.egreater reason than ever before placed upon the Chinese also meant the gradual for the existence of Chinatowns. disappearance of many local customs that were once adopted or modified in order to survive. Historically speaking, the nineteenth-century Chinese type of pioneer has passed on. The mold Once highly restrictive immigration, separating families and causing wide disparity in the male• from which he was cast, and all that he represented female ratio, is a thing of the past. and all that he endured in his day, is no more. It would be hard to visualize the present immigrant Older persons of the first generation, who ar• rived here from China and never learned to read faced with the trials and tribulations of his prede• cessors of a century-or even of a half-century, or write English, was also a group thought to ago. be fast disappearing. Succeeding generations of Thus, this syllabus attempts to put on record American-born who have never known any other some of the Society's findings into one volume for homeland, gradually rose numerically. Rose Hum several reasons: first, to assist the educator seeking Lee wrote in the introduction to her book, The material to formulate ethnic group history for Chinese in the United States of America, that: "By school use; secondly, to provide material and 1970 people in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth source references to writers, historians and others generations of settlement will outnumber those of seeking such information; and, finally, to call at• the first and second generations, so that the influ• ence of China-oriented members will diminish. To tention to the fact that a new chapter - one dwell• ing on the history of the Chinese in California• the American-born Chinese, China is as much a is long overdue. There is a wealth of untranslated foreign country as it is to other Americans ... " material in the Chinese language and a quantity By a strange quirk of fate, this may not come of untapped information in the form of letters, true for many, many decades. The recent re• diaries, account books and ledgers awaiting the adjustments of immigration quotas have made it serious researcher. possible for many families and relatives to-be re• Nineteenth century periodicals at times have united here at a greatly accelerated pace; refugees 'mentioned the many menial tasks performed by and other classes of desirable skilled immigrants, the Chinese. On occasion, given the opportunity, have brought about a wholesale revision of all the Chinese were able to become assets to the com• previous prognostications. mon good of the state. Where they had an oppor- . In a manner of speaking, this will alter the course tunity to show initiative, or given responsibility, A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
they have performed admirably. A few examples: • In 1938, it was announced that the De Land • In answer to an inquiry from a Miss Jean Mus• Commercial Club of De Land, Florida, was reviv• cott of Portland, Oregon, the Oregon State Agri• ing a movement to raise a suitable memorial to the cultural College on July 26, 1937, wrote: "Reply• memory of Lue Gim Gong, the Chinese immigrant ing to your inquiry concerning the naming of the who after distinguishing himself as a pomologist, Bing Cherry, I wish to quote the following from died in poverty some twelve years before. His U. P. Hedricks 'Cherries of New York': achievements in fruit propagation and pollination "Seth Lewelling of Milwaukee, Oregon, origi• which reaped huge financial rewards to citrus nator of several of our finest cherries grew Bings growers of the nation were his gifts to the Ameri• from the seed of Republican in 1875. The variety can people. was named after a Chinese workman. In 1899 the As a boy of twelve Lue Gim Gong came to American Pomological Society placed the variety America and worked his way across country to on the approved list. Boston. There, he attracted the attention of Miss "There is a legend that Mr. Lewelling was very Fannie Amelia Burlingame, a cousin to United fond of this Chinaman. Bing was supposed to have States Ambassador to China Anson Burlingame. been a cook, and general handyman around the She attended to Lue's education and gave him nursery. In fact, he stated that Bing could be de• the opportunity to practice his inherited instincts pended upon for performing his work and doing of delving into plants and fruit growth. After the very creditable work, better than any white man death of his benefactor, Lue moved to De Land, that Mr. Lewelling could hire. Naturally that hoping in this climate to recover his health, which made Bing a great favorite and caused Lewelling had become shattered through lung infection. to name this fine cherry after him." "At De Land he created through pollenization • "Shortly after the gold rush in California had some marvelous things in the fruit world, although passed its peak, many Chinese drifted away to in the North he had perfected an apple which find work in more distant parts of the country. ripened earlier than other varieties, a cherry cur• A handful of them worked on a railroad being rant, a fruit as large as a cherry, and a peach to be built through a Mississippi town. Upon comple• tion, some remained and settled in the area. Even• grown in greenhouses. "The greatest achievement of Lue Gim Gong tually, most of them again migrated. Following employment opportunities, except for one old was his propagation of the orange that bears his man. name, and which was first produced as a separate and distinct variety in 1888. It is the result of a "He was well liked by the townspeople, made pollenization of the Hart's Late and Mediterranean many friends and lived the rest of his days there. As he was the only Chinese in town, his burial was Sweet oranges. This orange is well-known to the citrus growers of both Florida and California as taken care of by his white neighbors. one of the finest commercial varieties. It can be "He had often expressed a wish to be buried in the land of his ancestors, in Canton, China - to be marketed over a greater period in prime condition laid at rest near his family and friends in the vil• than any other variety, and the trees bear uni• lage whence he came. formly large crops of high quality fruit. "However, upon his demise, his white friends "The United States Department of Agriculture were at a loss as to arrangements for sending his awarded Lue the WIlder medal, the first and only remains to China, since no pertinent details were time this award has been made for a new variety of available as to names and addresses of his kinfolk. orange. Co!. G. v: Brackett, Pomologist of the de• "So they did something else to try and fulfill this partment, said: 'I have inspected the Lue Gim Chinese neighbor's last wish. They renamed the Gong orange, and upon the merits of same I rec• town Canton. And he was buried there. The town ommend the award of the WIlder medal'." of Canton, Mississippi, with a population of several It would be interesting to estimate the value of thousand souls, is still a thriving little town, said Lue's new orange to California and Florida's citrUs Mr. Guey Joe, of Pine Bluff, Ark., who related industry over the past 75 years. Certainly it is ob• this story forty years ago." vious by whatever name we now give to oranges, A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
the impetus provided to citrus growing since 1888 the Skin (1943), wrote: "It would be impossible points to the Lue orange as a key factor. to trace the history of the Chinese in this country • In the May 15, 1936 issue of the Chinese Digest, without at the same time, writing the history of the late William Hoy wrote a story about Moy Jin California from 1850 to 1900." In outlining the Mun, a prominent pioneer. In it, he writes that: material for this syllabus, it is interesting to note "Moy Jin Mun ... when IS, was sent for from the scarcity of modern works containing the con• Sacramento by his brother, a cook for Leland Stan• tributions of the Chinese to California. It may, ford, during the Civil War. Jin was made garden therefore, be especially appropriate to note the boy for 3 years. While there, he won the affection formation of a San Francisco Chinese Community of Mrs. Stanford, who wanted to adopt him. But Citizens' Survey and Fact-Finding Committee by Jin's brother objected on grounds of not only Major Joseph Alioto in 1968. Its purpose: "... to racial but social differences. The brother sent Jin determine the broad fields for a study of the indi• away, but before he departed, Mrs. Stanford gave vidual and inter-related problems of the Chinese him a gold ring, engraved on the inside, as a token community in San Francisco ... " This report, due of remembrance. Jin kept the ring until he died, shortly for presentation to the Mayor, is expected on May I, 1936." to cover every aspect of the local Chinese com• • There is also the story in the September 23, 1909 munity. As such, it will also contain much of the issue of the San Francisco Call, headlined: "First historical background leading to the community Aviator on the Pacific Coast." The story read: as it exists today. I~should be pointed out that the "Oakland, Sept. 22 -For 20 minutes Fung Joe survey is the work of community members them• Guey, a young Chinese inventor and aviator, selves; that the problems and answers as they see circled through the air back of Piedmont yester• it, are the ones in which they themselves are in• day afternoon in a biplane of his own manufacture, volved. To the historian, however, it offers an in• embodying his own ideas in aeroplane construc• teresting pattern on how historical events shape tion. He was able to demonstrate their advantages the course of individuals as well as a community. and to show that he had perfected a machine that The Chinese Historical Society of America is could be kept under perfect control while irrflight. the publisher of this syllabus. The Society is a ... The bolt holding the propellor to the shaft nonprofit organization composed of persons from snapped after he had been in the air 20 minutes and all walks of life. It has no paid staff. the machine came to the ground. Fung Joe Guey In presenting the seminar, the Society becomes was bruised in the fall ... " The San Francisco the first Chinese organization to present the fruits Examiner also carried the story the same day. of its years of research in this manner. It realizes It would seem from these little anecdotes that that an inestimable amount of systematic research when people really begin to know one another, is still necessary to provide the many missing parts the curtain of ignorance fades away, and respect of the history of a very small minority group that and appreciation replaces prejudice and bigotry. played such a big part in the development of the Carey Mc'Williams, in his book Brothers Under western part of this country.
JULY 10, 1975 -Just over six years ago, the first The Syllabus has now reached a readership that Syllabus became available to our readers. spans the continent. It is fulfilling its purpose as Since that time, the book has gone into succeed• a valuable tool in schools and colleges as well as ing printings and on this date, copies of the 'fifth others interested in the subject. printing became available. During the course of Of great satisfaction to the editors and the Soci• these years, interest in racial minority groups and ety is the knowledge that going into this fifth their history in the United States has increased printing, no great revision has been required; at tremendously. most, a few words added, changed, or deleted The Chinese have also become increasingly in• here or there. And these were very few. Basically, volved in this upsurge, and the Chinese Historical the first printing remains as valuable and generally Society of America has kept pace with this trend. accurate as the books printed today. TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRE-COLUMBIAN CONTACTS-FACT OR MYTH?
GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND 2 LANGUAGE 4
EARLY CoNTACTS WITH THE "VEST / FIRST CHINESE IN THE NEW vV ORLD 6
CHINESE IN THE AMERICAS IN THE 18TH AND EARLY 19TH CENTURIES 7 CHINESE PIONEERS IN CALIFORNIA 8 EARLY CHINESE IN SAN FRA.""'lCISCO 9 SAN FRANCISCO'S CHINATOWN IN THE 1850'S 10 WHY THE CHINESE CAME II
EMIGRATION AND THE CHINESE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT I2
THE "CooLIE" TRADE
How THEY CAME
IMMIGRATION AND INTERNAL MIGRATION 22
SoME MAJOR ANTI-CHINESE LEGISLATIONS IMMIGRATION LAWS-IMMIGRATION
IN THE GOLD MINES
OTHER MINING AND MINERAL ACTIVITIES THE FISHING INDUSTRY
THE SHRIMP INDUSTRY
THE ABALONE INDUSTRY 40 OTHER FISHING ACTIVITIES 41 THE SALMON CANNING INDUSTRY 41 EARLY CHINESE LABORERSAND CONSTRUCTION WORKERS 43 THE RAILROADS 43 MISCELLANEOUS CONSTRUCTION 48 CIGAR INDUSTRY 49 WOOLEN INDUSTRY 50 THE SLIPPER, SHOE AND BOOT INDUSTRIES 51
THE SEWING TRADES 53 MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES 55 RECLAMATION 56 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
AGRICULTURAL LABOR 56
FARMERS, SHARECROPPERS AND TRUCK GARDENERS 59 FLOWER GROWERS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA 60
RESTAURANTS, LAUNDRIES AND DOMESTICS 61 THE CHINESE SIX CoMPANIES 64 FAMILY AND DISTRICT ASSOCIATIONS 66
HIGHBINDERS 67 CHINESE LANGUAGE SCHOOLS 68 NEWSPAPERS 70 THEATRES 71
CHINESE TEMPLES IN NORTH AMERICA 73
FESTIVALS 75 SoME OLD LOCAL CUSTOMS 77
HERBS, HERB DOCTORS 78 FROM SOJOURNER TO CITIZEN 78 BIBLIOGRAPHIES 79 TRANSLITERATION OF CHINESE WORDS 80
NOTES ON THE SYLLABUS 81
MAPS:
MAP OF KWANGTUNG PROVINCE 3 ACAPULCO, MANILA TRADE ROUTES 5
CHINESE SHRIMP CAMPS ON SAN FRANCISCOBAY, 1890-1930 39
TABLES:
TABLE I. CHINESE IN THE UNITED STATES BEFORE THE EXCLUSION ACT 18
TABLE II. CHINESE POPULATION IN UNITED STATES, 1852 TO 1900 19 TABLE III. CHINESE POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES (EXCLUDING HAWAII AND ALASKA) 20 TABLE IV. IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES 20
TABLE V. CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA BY DISTRICT OF ORIGIN 20 TABLE VI. NUMBER OF CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA BY COUNTIES 21 A mSTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA PRE-COLUMBIAN CONTACTS• with Alaska, with Canada, with California, or with FACT OR MYTH? Mexico. 1 In 1761, the French Sinologist de Guignes in a The material in the Chinese histories is much too famous paper Recherches sur les Navigations des sketchy to permit positive identification as to the Chinois du Cote de l' Amerique made the startling actual location of Fusang, and although references claim that a Chinese Buddhist priest named Hui• to Fusang have appeared in several Chinese works, shen visited the west coast of North America one all are based on the same passage from the History thousand years before Columbus made his historic of the Liang Dynasty, with only minor variations. voyage in 1492. De Guignes based his assertion on his interpretation of the following passage found POSSIBILITIESOFTRANSPACIFICCONTACTS in Volume 54 of the Liang Shu (History of the Positive proof of Hui-shen's journey is presently Liang Dynasty, written in the 7th century A.D. unavailable; however, some students of history are The Liang Dynasty ruled southern China from of the opinion that early transoceanic contacts be• 502 A.D. to 556 A.D.): tween the Orient and the Americas are a very strong possibility. An ocean current flows north• THE HUI-SHENCONTROVERSY eastward along the east coast of Japan, across the North Pacific, and then southward parallel to the "FUSANG.Inthe first year of Yung-yiian of the Pacific coast of the North American continent Ch'i dynasty (A.D. 499) a priest by name of Hui• (see map). There have been many recorded in• shen arrived at Ching-chou. He reported that Fu• stances of Japanese junks and shipwrecked sailors sang lies more than 20,000 lis (about 7,000 miles) east of Ta-han. The land is east from China. picked up along the coast of California and Mexico, with the men still alive.2 Also, there are "The name is derived from the fusang tree stories of Chinese junks crossing the Pacific to which is plentiful there. The leaves of the fusang Monterey and Mendocino 3 on the California are like those of the tung; when first produced coast. (Such stories lacked corroborating docu• they resemble bamboo shoots and are eaten by the mentation; however, voyages of this nature are inhabitants. The fruits are like pears and are red. within the capabilities of large sea-going junks). The bark is woven into cloth for clothing, and into brocades. Recently, pottery was unearthed in Ecuador which bore a remarkable resemblance to Jomon "Houses in Fusang are made from wooden type pottery made in Japan around 3000 B.C., planks. There are no walled cities. The people pointing strongly toward the possibility of trans• have a written language which is written upon the pacific contact at that early date.4 bark of the fusang. They possess neither -arms nor Covarrubias, in his Mexico South, pointed out armor, and do not make war ... that there are curious parallels between the ancient "Formerly Buddhism did not exist in that coun• Olmec culture in Mexico and the Chinese in their try; but in the second year of Ta-ming, of the treatment of jade: Sung dynasty (A.D. 458) five mendicant priests "The ancient Chinese and Mexicans saw magic from Chi-pin [in Central Asia] went there and and divine attributes in jade and regarded it as the distributed Buddhist tracts and images among the most precious of materials. Both carved it exqui• inhabitants and taught them to be monks. Their sitely, wore it as an amulet, made offerings of it, customs have in consequence been chang~d ... " 1 and buried it with their dead. While the Mexicans De Guignes declared in his paper that Fusang often placed jade beads in the mouths of corpses, lies in modern Mexico. The next two hundred . the Chinese of 2400 years ago placed a cicada of years saw many learned men of science either at• jade in the mouths of theirs .... It is hard to ex• tempting to disprove his theory or to further re• plain why both Chinese and Mexicans painted vise and refine it. Researchers have attempted to their funeral jades with a coat of bright red cin• identify Fusang variously with Sakhalin Island, nabar. Furthermore, the style of ornamentation I 2 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
of some of these jades is often strikingly similar, China Sea between Macao on the west and Hong variations of the squared spiral motif." 5 Kong on the east. Most Chinese emigrants to the Some scientists have long been puzzled by other United States came from the various districts in similarities between certain features in the Peru• or near the delta region. vian and Mexican civilizations and that of the Ori• The three districts in the vicinity of Canton are ent. Do these similarities mean inter-cultural trans• known familiarly as Sam Yup (Three Districts). missions or are they merely an independent and These are parallel development of similar traits by two dif• I. Namhoi (Nanhai), ferent cultures? This riddle is still unsolved. 2. Punyu (Panyii), 3. Shuntak (Shunte). 1See Edward P. Vining, An Inglorious Columbus (San The city of Canton lies astride the two districts of Francisco, 1886), for a collection of the papers by vari• ous scholars, including a translation of de Guignes' Namhoi and Punyu. This area is one of the wealth• paper, arguing the pros and cons of the question of iest in the province. The economy is varied, in• Fusang. The author also presented his own arguments for deGuignes' theory. cluding agriculture, sericulture, pisciculture, silk Also see Douglas S. Watson, "Did the Chinese Discover textiles, ceramics and other handicrafts, and com• America?" California Historical Society Quarterly, merce. Many of the early wealthy merchants XIV, (1935) for arguments against de Guignes' theory. among the Chinese in California are from this area. Both works include complete translations of the Chinese text on Fusang. Besides that, Namhoi people used to monopolize 2 Charles W Brooks, Japanese Wrecks Stranded and the tailoring trade and up to very recently the Picked Up Adrift in tbe Nortb Pacific Ocean (San butcher shops among the Chinese in San Francisco. Francisco, 1876; Reprinted Fairfield, 'Vashingron, 1964). 3\V.inston Elstob, Old Cannery Row (Orinda, California, On the other hand, most of the workers' clothing 1965)· factories in San Francisco before World War II Also interviews with George Hee of Mendocino by members of the Chinese Historical Society of America, were owned by people from Shuntak. 1g66-67 • To the north and northeast of the Canton area 4 Emilio Estrada, Betty J. Meggers, and Clifford Evans, are "Possible Transpacific Contact on the Coast of Ecua• 4. Fayuan (Fahsien), dor," Science (Feb. 2, 1962), pp. 371-372. 5Miguel de Covarrubias, Mexico Soutb (New York, 1946), 5. Samshui (Sanshui), PP·107-I13· . 6. Szewui (Ssiihui), 7. Tsingyuan (Ch'ingyuan). GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND Of this group only Samshui has fairly well devel• (See Map) oped handicraft industries and commerce. The Most of the Chinese emigrants are Cantonese, as remaining three are agricultural. Nearly all Chi• the inhabitants of Kwangtung Province speaking nese supermarkets in the San Joaquin Valley today the Cantonese dialect of Chinese are commonly and to some extent along Highway 101 south of called. Kwangtung is a subtropical land with its San Francisco are operated by Fayuan people. economic life centering on the Pearl (or Canton) South and southeast from Sam Yup are River Basin. (Some authorities prefer to refer to 8. Heungshan (now Chungshan) it as the Si Kiang Basin, named after the main trib• (Hsiangshan, Chungshan), utary of the Pearl River.) The Pearl River is 9· Tsengshing (Tscngch'cng), formed by the confluence of its three main tribu• 10. Poklo (Polo), taries upstream of the city of Canton. Actually, I I. Tungkun (Tungkuan), the Pearl River is a river delta. 12. Pao-on (Pao-an). The delta is a densely populated region. It meas• Chungshan is located on the southern part of the ures approximately seventy miles from north to. Pearl River Delta while the other four are situated south and fifty miles from east to west, and con• east of the Pearl River east channel. All have an sists of a maze of rivers, canals and dikes, measur• agrarian economy with some handcrafts. Fisheries ing some fifteen hundred miles altogether. The are also important for the population living ad• city of Canton, metropolis of South China, lies on jacent to the ocean and the river. the channel which forms the northern and eastern Two of the districts in this group have long con• boundaries of the delta and empties into the South tacts with the west, since Macao is situated at the 4 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA south end of Chungshan and Hong Kong on the on, which are Hakka-speaking. Because of some• south end of Pao-on. Most of the emigrants to the what different customs, and differences in dialect, United States in this region are of Chungshan the Hakkas have tended to associate with their origin, while in San Francisco's Chinatown Chung• own (see district associations). Besides the dis• shan people formed the second largest group next tricts of Chikkai and Pao-on, there are Hakkas to the Sze Yup group (see following). living in practically all of the other districts named In San Francisco's Chinatown, the Chungshan• above. In the United States are also some who ese controls the retail fish business and also, before come from the Hakka-speaking districts in north• World War II, most of the ladies' garment facto• ern and eastern Kwangrung. The Hakkas form ries. People from one area of this district domi• the fourth important grouping among Chinese in nate in the chrysanthemum and aster farms in San America. As an interesting sidelight, most of the Mateo and Santa Clara counties. barbers in Chinatown before the second world West of the Canton River Delta opposite Chung• war were Hakkas. However, most emigration shan are an important group of districts known from the Hakka-speaking areas went toward Southeast Asia rather than the United States. collectively as Sze Yup (Four Districts). These are For further reading on this subject: 13. Sunwui (Hsinhui), I. Cressey, George B., Land of the Five Hundred Million, 14. Sunning New York, 1955.
(now Toishan) (Hsinning, T'aishan), 1. Tregear, T: R.t A Geography of China, Chicago, I1}65. 15. Hoiping (K'aip'ing), LANGUAGE 16. Yanping (tnp'ing). The economy is agrarian with some fisheries for The Province of Kwangrung is separated from the population near the ocean; however, in many the Yangtze River Basin in the north by a moun• areas there is insufficient arable land. Some seven tain mass. In the past this province was relatively isolated from the rest of China and the situation out of ten Chinese in California are of Sze Yup origin with four of the seven being from Toishan. was favorable to the development of dialects dif• The bulk of the laborers and domestics are people ferent from the rest of China. Also, the poor in• ternal communication led to the development of from this region. In San Francisco and throughout numerous local dialects. California the Sze Yup people controlled the laundries, small retail shops and restaurants. There are three main dialectal groupings, rep• resenting the three waves of immigrations into Three districts north of the Sze Yup group and the province in the historical past: (I) Canton• west of the Sam Yup districts, ese, (2) Hakka, and (3) Southern Fukienese. The 17. Koyiu (Kao yao), three dialects are mutually unintelligible when 18. Koming (Kaoming),- spoken (although the written language is common 19. Hokshan (Hoshan), as for the rest of China). An analogous situation is Two districts southwest of the Sze Yup districts that existing between Italian and Spanish - they 20. Yeungchun (Yangchun), are similar but are also different. It is not true that 21. Yeungkong (Yangchiang), and one district southeast of Toishan, Kwangtung Chinese speak hundreds of unintel• ligible dialects, since in any dialect grouping, the 22. Chikkai (Ch'ihhsi) people from different locales can understand each round out the number of districts in and about the other albeit sometimes only with difficulty. The delta region whence came most of the Cantonese overwhelming majority of the Chinese in the to the United States which are represented in the' United States speaks one of three varieties of the district associations. Of these, the Sze Yup, Chung• Cantonese dialect (in order of importance): (I) shan, and Sam Yup are of major importance when the Sze Yup local dialect, (2) Standard Cantonese, considering the history of the Chinese in America. as spoken in Canton, Hong Kong and Macao, or It is worthy of note to point out that the major• ( 3) the Chungshan local dialect (most important ity of the people in the aforementioned districts in the Hawaiian Islands). The Chinese taught in are Cantonese speaking, except Chikkai and Pao- American schools is usually Mandarin which is the 6 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
official language of China, and not generally un• settled in Acapulco and Mexico City.4 It was in derstood by most of the Kwangrong Chinese here. Mexico that mention was first made of Chinese in the New World. On June 22, 1635, the municipal For further reading on this subject: I. Forrest, R. A. D., "The Southern Dialects of Chinese," council of Mexico City received a petition sub• Appendi.\: I in Victor Purcell, The Chinese in Southeast mitted by Spanish barbers in the capital protesting Asia, London, 1<)65,pp. 569-571. against the unfair competition of Chinese barbers.5 The Chinese were ordered to the suburbs. EARL Y CONTACTS WITH THE WEST / However, apparently the Chinese continued to FIRST CHINESE IN THE NEW WORLD settle in Mexico, for a Spanish writer in 1746 wrote PART I of numerous Chinese in and around Acapulco.6 CHIXA'S FIRST CONTACT WITH THE WEST IN THE l'vlODERNERA CHINESE KNOWLEDGE OF THE AMERICAS Portugal was the first western nation to reach In 1551 Father Francis Xavier landed in Shang China in the modern era when a Portuguese vessel Ch'uan Island (Sancian or St. John Island) off the appeared off the coast of China in 1514. The Por• coast of the present Toishan district in Kwangtung tuguese were not permitted to land, but they did Province, preparatory to entering China. Unable sell their goods at a great profit, thus whetting to obtain permission to set foot on the China main• their appetite for more trade. I By 1557 the Portu• land, Xavier fell sick and died, and was buried on guese, by bribery of local officials, had established the island in 1552.7 themselves on a peninsula in the southern part of After the establishment of the Portuguese base the district of Heungshan (now Chungshan), the in Macao, Jesuit priests ventured into China to site of present-day Macao,2 thus establishing a spread Christianity. In 1583, Father Matteo Ricci trading base with convenient access to Canton and was successful in establishing himself at Chaoch'• the southeast coast of China. ing, the capital of the two provinces of Kwang• tung and Kwangsi. He was asked by Chinese THE ACAPULco-MANILA TRADE scholarly friends there to prepare a map of the The Spanish empire reached the Far East when world for them. In 1584, Ricci produced the first Fernando Magellan, a Portuguese; sailing under edition of his world map which shows the contin• the flag of Spain, reached the Philippines in 1519 ents of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. in his historic voyage across the Pacific. But it was This was the first map shown to the Chinese of a to be some time before the Spaniards found them• round world showing the five continents in their selves in a position to share in the lucrative China relative positions and brought to them knowledge trade. First, the Spaniards seized a base in the Phil• of the existence of the Americas.s In a later edi• ippines, then, after some years of trials, a trade tion of his maps, ca. 160 I, California was shown route was established between the Philippines and on the North American continent.9 Following this, Mexico, in June 1565. And up to 181 I, the famous in 1623 the World Geog;raphy (Chih-fang UTai• Manila galleons plied annually along this route be• chi) written by the Jesuit Giulio Aleni in China, tween Acapulco, Mexico, and Cebu, and later Ma• described Columbus' discovery of America. It cor• nila, in the Philippines. In Manila, the Spanish rectly located lands known as California, New Al• traded their products for the silks and other goods bion and Quivira in the western part of North of the Chinese junks who came each year to the America although the descriptions were rather Philippines3 (see map). fanciful and inaccurate, since at that time there The Manila-Acapulco trade prob~bly was in• was very little knowledge about the interior of the strumental in introducing the first Chinese into the western part of the North American continent. Americas in the modern era. The name of this early The Jesuit influence in China inspired at least Chinese pioneer will probably remain anonymous one Chinese to go abroad. Fan Shou-I was a native forever. But there were some Chinese among the of Shansi Province. In the winter of 1707, he de• crews of the galleons. Also returning Spaniards parted from Macao accompanied by the Jesuit sometimes brought their servants or slaves home, priest Provanna. Sailing by way of the Malay many of whom were Chinese, who subsequently Archipelago, they crossed the Pacific and then A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA 7 rounded the tip of South America. The ship CHINESE IN EARLY AMERICA stopped for water at Baia, Brazil. PART II Fan finally went to Italy, by way of Portugal ENTRANCE OF DUTCH, EJIOGLISH, and Spain, and entered the Jesuit order. He started AMERICANS AND OrHERS his return journey to his native land in the spring The stranglehold over the Far Eastern trade held of 1719, reaching Canton by the Summer of 1720. by Spain and Portugal scarcely outlasted the six• His book, Sben-chien Lu (Record of Personal Ob• teenth century. By the early part of the seven• servations) is the first book written by a Chinese teenth century, the Dutch, and the English were traveller describing his travels in the West.10 on the scene vying for their share. Toward the end Due to the physical location of the Spanish and of the century, in 1698, the French also arrived, Portuguese trading bases, practically all of the followed by the Swedes and the Danes.1 trading activity with the Europeans was concen• The fledgling nation of the United States of trated on the southeastern coast of China, thus it is America, who had lost her trade with the other quite possible Chinese merchants in the area may English colonies, was not slow to participate in the have already possessed knowledge of the existence rich China trade. In 1784, immediately after the of the New World before the publishing of the \\Tar of Independence, the Empress of China set Jesuit maps. Certainly, many American food sail from New York with a cargo of ginseng, thus plants had already been introduced into China be• launching the highly profitable American China fore Ricci ever set foot on Chinese soil. The pea• trade 2 which 'Yas responsible for the fortunes of nut was probably introduced in the first half of many old New England families and helped sup• the sixteenth century, Indian corn before the port the budding economy of the young nation. middle of the century, and the sweet potato The increased trade was primarily responsible around the last quarter of the century. 11 for the Rococo style which swept the European continent during the eighteenth century. There was a craze for Chinese art and philosophy; how• 1G. F. Hudson, Europe and China (London, 1931), p. 203. ever, much of this was based on a romantic and 2 Fang Hao, Hirtory of Communication Between China superficial understanding of things Chinese. and the West (Cbung Hsi Chiao-tung Shih), Vol. 3 (Taipei, 1955), pp. 262-263. (Chinese language). nv,L. Schurz, Tbe Manila Galleon (N.Y., 1939), Intro- EARLY CHIJIOESE EMIGRANTS duction and Chapter I. The increased contacts were instrumental in in• 4 Anita Bradley, Trans-PacificRelations in Latin America (N.Y., 1942), p. II. ducing more Chinese to venture into the unknown 5 Homer H. Dubs and Robert S. Smith, "Chinese in Mexi• world of the West. Following are some of the co City in 1635," Far Eastern Quarterly, 1 _(1942), pp. known instances of early Chinese in the United 387-389. States and Canada: 6 H. H. Bancroft, Hirtory of California, Vol. 7 (San Fran• cisco, 1890), p. 335 note. On August 9, 1785, the ship Pallas,skippered by 7 Fang Hao, op cit., pp. 266-267. John O'Donnell, arrived in Baltimore. After un• 8 Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Vol. loading his cargo, O'Donnell set sail immediately, 3, (London, 1959), p. 583. leaving stranded in the city a crew of thirty-two 9 Carl I. Wheat, Mapping the Transmississippi Weft, Vol. East Indian lascars and three Chinese seamen 1 (San Francisco, 1957), p. 35. 10Fang Hao, op. cit., Vol. 4, pp. 187-195. named Ashing, Achun and Aceun. It is not known II Ho, Ping-ti, "The Introduction of American Food Plants whether these unfortunates ever left these shores into China," American Ambropologirt (1955), Vol. and returned to their ancestral land. This was the LVII, pp. 191-100. first recorded instance of Chinese in the United For further reading on this subject: States. 3 I. Ho, Ping-ti, "The Introduction of American Food In April 1796, Andreas Everardus Van Braam Plants Into China," American Antbropologirt, 1955, Vol. Houckgeest, a Dutchman who was formerly Can• LVII, pp. 191-100. 2. Rowbotham, Arnold H., Missionary and Mandarin, ton Agent for the Dutch East India Company, Berkeley, 1942. came to America from China bringing along a vast 3. Schurz, '\V, L., The Manila Galleon (NY., 1939). collection of Chinese furnishings, paintings, and 8 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
from Hawaii, skins and fur from North America, and other objets d'art. He also brought along five Chi• beche de mer from the South Seas. nese servants and a major domo to cater to his 3 Thomas \v. Chinn, "Backdrop for Research," Cbinese wants. Van Braam settled near Philadelphia in an Historical Society of America, Third Anniversary pub• old estate which re re-named China's Retreat. It lication (january 15, 1966), pp. 3-5. Thomas La Fargue, "Some Early Chinese Visitors to the U.S." Tien H sia was he who gave the first exhibition of Chinese art Monthly (Dec.-Jan., 194°-41). in America, in Philadelphia. He also authored the 4 Carl T. Smith, "A Register of Baptized Protestant Chi• first book on China to be published in the United nese, 1813-42," Chung Chi Bulleun,No. 49 (Dec., 1970)' 4a Carl T. Smith, "Commissioner Lin's Translators," (Chung States, in 1797-98.3 Chi Bulletin, No. 42 (june, 1967, states Ah Lum was The first Chinese to receive any education in one of the translators. American schools was a group of five, Wong Arce, 5 John Meares, Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789 from China to the Northwest Coast of America (Lon• Ah Lan, Ah Lum, Chop Ah See, and Lieaou Ah• don, 1790). See, who attended the foreign Inission school at 6 David T. H. Lee, A History of the Cbinese in Canada Cornwall, Connecticut, between 1818 and 1825. (Chinese language), 1967, pp. 34-35. The last one of the five, Lieaou Ah-See, later took For further reading on this subject: I. Danton, George H., Cultured Contacts of the U. S. and the name of his patron, \Villiam Botelho. He was China-The EarliestSino-American Contacts, 1i84-1844, the first Chinese Protestant convert in America.4 (N.\:,1931). Ah Lum later became one of the translators in 2. Greenbie, Sidney and Marjorie, Gold of Ophir, New Yurk,1925· the yamen of the famous commissioner Lin Tse• 3· Hudson, G. E, Europe and China, London, 1931. hsii ... 4a. In 1788 Captain John Meares of the British East CHINESE PIONEERS IN CALIFORNIA India Company sailed from Macao to the west United States immigration records show that the coast of Canada. Among his crew were some first Chinese entered in 1820 (as shown in a pre• seventy Chinese carpenters, helmsmen and sailors. vious section. Chinese had entered the United Captain Meares decided to settle in Canada to ex• States prior to this date; however, a continuous ploit the abundant lumber resources. He bought record of immigration to the United States was some land from the local Indians and established a started only in 1820). For almost three decades fur trading post on Nootka Sound. There his Chi• thereafter, up to 1849, the imInigration records nese carpenters built a two-story house and a show that the total number of Chinese entering forty-ton schooner, the Northwest America. Un• was only 43.1 However, these figures did not cover fortunately Captain Meares' enterprise was short• arrivals on the West Coast, which up to 1846, was lived, for he was forced to give it up to the Span• governed first by Spain, then by Mexico. ish, who at that time claimed the Northwest coast. In September 1793, a seamen, Jose Agustin de The fate of the workmen was not recorded in los Reyes, a native of Macao, was confirmed at history. Perhaps they were enslaved by Spaniards Monterey.2 It is difficult to tell whether Reyes was or they may have been absorbed into the local Chinese. However, at that time some Chinese in Indian population.5•6 This was the first mention the West did adopt Western names. There was no of Chinese on the west coast of Canada. The above doubt as to the next Chinese name mentioned in were but a few of the Chinese who dared to brave Monterey. He was "Ah Nam, a native of Chinsan, the unknown perils of the west after trade rela• some six leagues from Macao in Canton Province. tions, restricted as it may be, were established be• He became a Christian on October 27, 1815, and tween China and the West. It is to be noted that died two years later." Ah Nam was a cook with the maritime trade was concentrated along the Governor de Sohi.8 southeast coast of China and practi~ally all of The identity of the first Chinese to have landed these pioneers to America were from this region., in San Francisco is however shrouded in mystery. One source stated that in 1838 the brig Bolivar 1 G. F. Hudson, Europe and China (London, 1931), pp. 255-256. sailed into San Francisco Bay. Among her crew 2 James \v. Snyder, Jr., "Spices, Silks and Teas - Cargoes of was a Chinese cabin boy. The ship stayed at Yerba the Old China," Americana
Telegraph Hill, while the Van Wo Company was shattered for all time the "closed door" policy of in Happy Valley 4 (in the vicinity of the present the Ch'ing Empire. The Treaty of Nanking, the Sheraton-Palace Hotel.) first of the "unequal treaties," opened five ports to
1 Daily Alta Califomia, Nov. 21, 1853. trade and in addition ceded Hong Kong to Great 2 J. D. Borthwick, Tbree Years in Califomia (London, 1857, Britain. The establishment of British rule in Hong reprinted Oakland, 1948), p. 61. Kong near the mouth of the Pearl River, humiliat• 3 Tbe Orie1ltal, Feb. 1856, Chinese Directory. 4 Ibid., Jan. 25, 1855. ing as it may be to the Chinese, facilitated more contacts of the Cantonese with the West. For furrber reading on this subject: I. Dobie, Charles C., San Francisco's Chinatown, New Contemporaneous with the advent of Western York, 1936. pressure to open the door to trade, the ruling WHY THE CHINESE CAME Manchu dynasty of China was entering a long period of decay and decline. Corruption, injustice THE CLOSED DOOR POLICY OF CHINA and mis-government were common. The tendency In the nineteenth century China was ruled by of officialdom was "to gloss over, to make up, and the Ta Ch'ing dynasty. The Ch'ings were Man• to steal days of ease." In the countryside the popu• chus, a Tungusic people from what is now Man• lation increase served to intensify pressure on the churia. When the Manchus imposed their rule on land. More and more land was concentrating into the Chinese in the mid-seventeenth century, they fewer and fewer hands. Periodic famines, floods, also imposed their national dress and the queue on and droughts hastened this process. their Chinese subjects. The result of the Opium War also brought into During the eighteenth century, the Western na• play additional factors: (I) The import of large tions one by one entered the phase of development of the West known as the Industrial Revolution. quantities of opium increased the export of silver, thus causing the price of silver to rise. This infla• They actively sought markets all over the world tion worked hardships on the peasants since silver for the products of their factories. The Celestial was the standard for payment of taxes and levies. Empire, on the other hand, adhered stubbornly to ( 2) The increase in imports of Western goods a rigid closed door trade policy. ruined native handicraft industries, particularly in Trade was limited to certain designated ports, the textiles. the most important of which were Amoy and Canton. THE T'AI-P'ING REBELLION ANDTHE TRIADS Gradually Canton became the principal port for These political and economic factors added fuel China's foreign trade, and by a decree of Emperor to popular unrest. In addition, from 1846 to 1850 a Ch'ien Lung in 1757, was made the only one. Thus series of floods and droughts occurred throughout for almost a century, up to 1840, Canton was the China; famines resulted; banditry increased; many only port in China trading with the West and the peasant uprisings and rebellions took place. In 185 I Cantonese became the Chinese with the greatest the greatest insurrection of all, the T'ai-p'ing exposure to ideas, knowledge and products from Rebellion, broke out in Kwangsi Province in the Europe and the Americas. south. The T'ai-p'ings rapidly seized control of In the eighteenth century England assumed the most of southeastern China, but then fell to quar• lead in the China trade. From her base in India, reling among themselves, thus giving the tottering her ships carried goods to China; in time, opium, Manchu dynasty a breathing spell and an oppor• produced in India, constituted more than half of tunity to regroup and to counterattack with the British cargo carried to China from India. When active support of the Western powers. in the late 1830'S China sought to prohibit the The T'ai-p'ing Rebellion was finally ruthlessly import of opium due to its detrimental effects on crushed in a gigantic blood bath costing the lives the people and drain on the national wealth, the of millions. It lasted 13 years and large parts of British seized upon this as a pretext for war. southeastern China, the most properous in the nation, were devastated by war, pestilence and THE OPIUM WAR AND ITs AFTERMATH famine. The defeat of China in the Opium War of 1840 The T'ai-p'ing armies did not operate in Kwang- 12 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA tung Province to any great extent. However, be• EMIGRATION AND THE CHINESE ginning in 1854. the Triad Societies2 instigated a IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT series of uprisings 5 in the Pearl River Delta region. PROHIBITION OF EMIGRATION These rebels were known popularly as the Red When the Manchus overcame the Ming dynasty Heads or Red Turbans. This turmoil lasted for on mainland China and imposed their rule over nearly a decade. the country, many Ming adherents fled to Taiwan or out of the country. In order to prevent other THE PUNTI-HAKKA FEUDS sympathizers from following, the Ch'ing dynasty In 1856, smouldering enmity between the Can• imposed severe laws forbidding emigration of her tonese (sometimes Cantonese referred to them• subjects abroad. Section 2Z 5 of the Ta-Ch'ing Lu-li selves as Punti -"Local People) and the Hakkas (Fundamental Laws of the Ch'ing Dynasty) ex• ("Guest People") living in the Sze Yup districts pressly provided that "all officers of the govern• flared up into open warfare and soon spilled over ment, soldiers and private citizens who clandes• into the neighboring Yeungkong and Heungshan tinely proceed to sea to trade ... shall be punished districts. The fighting lasted some twelve years according to the law against communications with and devastated the area, especially the Sunning· rebels and enemies, and consequently suffer death district. by being beheaded ... " I This provision was not This domestic turmoil caused great economic removed from the books until 1910, when the new dislocations and distress and was one of the impor• Fundamental Laws was approved by the throne.2 tant factors forcing so many Chinese to decide to The law forbidding emigration proved to be migrate from the Pearl River Delta region. Since difficult to enforce, although it did tend to restrict the Cantonese had long had maritime contacts, it emigration and provided local officials with an was only natural that, when the news came of the opportunity to exact payments from emigrating discovery of gold in California and good wages to and returning Chinese, as well as their families in be had, some would consider emigration to Amer• China.3 ica as a solution to their economic difficulties. During the early days of the Ch'ing dynasty, Thus many took passage to California; others most Chinese emigration was directed toward went to Southeast Asia, Australia, South America various points in Southeast Asia and the Philip• and the West Indies. pines. This stream never really stopped in spite I The leader and founder of the movement was Hung of the imperiallaw.3 Hsiu-ch'iian, an unsuccessful Cantonese scholar who came into contact with Protestant missionaries in Can• ton and borrowed certain fonns of the Christian doc• INDIFFERENCE OF THE CH'ING GoVERNMENT trines. Hung, who styled himself the Heavenly King During the 1850'S when many Chinese were and claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ, preached the brotherhood of man, economic equality emigrating to California they were still without for all the people, and called for the creation of a king• protection from the Chinese government. During dom of social Justice. the course of the negotiations preceding the sign• 2 The Triad Society (San-ho Hui, San-tien Hui), a secret 1858, society probably first fonned in the late 17th century ing of the Tientsin Treaties in Captain Du• to fight against the ruling Manchus and restore the Ming pont, one of the United States representatives Dynasty. It was also known as the Heaven and Earth suggested to Viceroy and Commissioner T'an Society (Tien-ti Hui). In time the Triads spread to America where the Chih Kung Tang (at times errone• T'ing-hsiang of Chihli Province, that China ought ously tenned the Chinese Free Masons), from which all to send consuls to look after her people in the American tongs claimed descent, was formed. The Chih United States. The following conversation ensued: Kung Tang took an active part in overthrowing the Manchus in the Revolution of 1911 in Chi~a. Vic.eroy: It is not our custom to send officials beyond our own borders. For further reading on this subject: Dupont: But your people on the farther I. Li, Chien-nung, The Political History of China, 1840• 1928, translated by Ssu-Yu Teng and Jeremy Ingalls, shore of the Pacific are very numerous, number• New York, 1956. ing several tens of thousands. 2. Pelissier, Roger, The Awakening of China, N.Y., 1967. 3. Wakeman, Frederic, Jr., Strangers at tbe Gate, Berke• Viceroy: When the emperor rules over so ley, 1¢6. many millions, what does he care for the few A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA 13 waifs that have drifted away to a foreign land? reason was that a group of young Chinese students Dupont: These people are, many of them rich, had been sent to the United States to study and it having gathered gold in our mines. They might was felt that it would be advantageous to have be worth looking after on that account. diplomatic representation here. The subject of Viceroy: The emperor's wealth is beyond com• protection of Chinese laborers in the United States putation, why should he care for those of his sub• was not a consideration at that time.8 jects who have left their homes or for the sands Ch'en arrived at his post in Washington in 1878, they have scraped together? 4 after crossing the Pacific and passing through San Francisco.9 As a result of what he heard and saw CHANGE IN CHINESE POLICY in the City by the Golden Gate, Ch'en requested However, the Chinese government soon was to that the Ch'ing government appoint a consul to be change its mind. In 1859the provincial authorities stationed in San Francisco for the protection of of Kwangtung gave permission for foreigners to Chinese subjects in California. to This was the be• recruit Chinese labor to serve abroad. In 1860this ginning of consular representation in the United action was sanctioned by the central government States. Before the establishment of governmental in the Treaty of Peking signed with England and diplomatic representatives it was the Chinese Com• France. These actions in effect abrogated the law panies (District Associations) in San Francisco forbidding emigration. (In reality, the coolie trade which dealt collectively with matters of concern on the Southeast China coast had been flourishing to the Chinese communities in California (see sec• since the 1840's.)5 tion on Chinese Six Companies). The Burlingame Treaty of 1868 completed the t Harley F. MacNair, The Chinese Abroad (Shanghai, reversal of the non-permissive emigration policy 1925), p. H2, quoted a translation of Section 225 of the when it recognized the "inherent and inalien• Ta Tsing Leu Lee (Ta-Ch'ing-Lii-li). 2 Li, Ting-i, "Tsao-ch'i Hua-jen I Mei chih 'An-chi-li' able right of man to change his home and allegi• Tiao-yiieh chih Ch'ien-ting" (Early Chinese Emigra• ance ... " 5 By this time the Chinese government tion to the United States - the Signing of the 'Angell was beginning to be cognizant of the many abuses Treaties") Lien-ho Shu-yuan Hsiies- pao (Journal of the Hong Kong Chinese University) (No.3, 19154),p. in the coolie trade and began to change her atti• 13; Chao Erh-suan, et aI, "Monograph on Criminal Law, tude toward the overseas Chinese. Thqs during Part I," Ch'ing Shih Kao (Draft History of the Cb'ing negotiations with Peru over a trade treaty in 1873, Dynasty), (Kwan-wai edition, 1928, reprinted Hong Kong), Vol. 53. Chinese official Li Hung-chang declared that the 3 Victor Purcell, The Chinese in Southeast Asia, 2nd ed. Chinese government had always been concerned (London, 1965), p. 27. with the welfare of her subjects and that she should ~4w: A. P. Martin, A Cycle of Cathay, 3rd ed. (N.Y., 18915), p.I60. send an envoy to Peru to investigate alleged mis• 5 H. MacNair, op. cit., pp. 16-17. treatment of Chinese laborers.6 6 Li, T., op. cit., p. 20, quoted T'ung-chih Ch'ou Pan /-wu Sbih Mo" (Foreign Affairs of the Tung-chih period), EsTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS Vol. 92, p. 9. 7 H. MacNair, op. dt., p. 23. Soon, the more liberal forces in and out of gov• 8 Li, T., op. cit .• p. 20, quoted from Ch'ing-chi JVai-chiao ernment were advocating the establishment of Sbih-liao (Historical Data on the Foreign Relations of the Ch'ing Period), Vol. 4, pp. 17-18. legations and consulates abroad to look after the 9Li, T., op. cit., p. 21. welfare of Chinese subjects. to/bid, p. 23, quoted from Historical Data on the Foreign The first permanent legation was established in Relations of the Ch'ing Period, Vol. 14, p. 32. London in 1877.7 The first minister to the United For further reading on this subject: I. MacNair, Harley F., The Chinese Abroad (Shanghai, States was Ch'en Lan-pin, who was assisted by 1925). Jung Hung (Yung "Wing). Ch'en was also min• ister to Peru and Cuba. The primary reason for THE "COOLIE" TRADE this appointment was because this country was THE REASON conveniently situated for ready access to Peru and \Vith the abolition of the slave trade in the 19th Cuba. At that time protection of the Chinese century, a demand arose for another form of laborers in these latter countries was uppermost cheap labor to take its place on the plantations in the mind of the Chinese government. The other and in the mines. Thus the indentured or contract A HISTORY OF THE CHINE"SE IN CALIFORNIA labor system, commonly called the "coolie" sys• human cargo was found. However, the mistreat• tem, was born. This type of labor was mainly of ment of coolies bound for other destinations dif• Chinese or Indian origin. fered only in matter of degree. When they arrived The first shipment of Chinese laborers under at the port, the coolies' contracts were auctioned contract to foreigners was in 1845, from Amoy, to the highest bidders or they were allotted to China, to the Isle of Bourbon.t In 1847, a Spanish various employers. II company shipped 800 to Cuba; t Peru received her first batch in 1849.2 Contract labor was introduced EFFORTS TO CONTROL successively to the Hawaiian Islands ( 1852) 3 Trin• The centers for this trade were Amoy, Canton, idad and British Guiana (1853),4 Sumatra (1853),5 Hong Kong and Macao, particularly the last two Jamaica (1854).6 Contract labor was also imported ports named. Ships of all nationalities were in• to some extent in California during the early years volved, and American vessels participated to such of the Gold Rush, but the difficulty of enforcing an extent that in 1862 the United States Congress contracts and the prevailing anti-slavery senti• passed a law forbidding American vessels to carry ments in the state put a stop to the fUrther devel• coolie labor. 12 opment of this traffic there. Thus most of the This nefarious trade was carried on for more poorer class of immigrants who arrived in this than two decades. Finally, continual efforts on the country came instead by means of the credit• part of the Chinese and humanitarians in the West ticket system. By this system the immigrant was forced the Hong Kong government to prohibit directly indebted to a broker, repaying him in reg• contract emigration to places outside the British ular installments after arrival for the passage cost Empire in 1873. In 1874> Macao was also closed to previously advanced to him.7 the traffic.13 Although the contract labor system was still used for some time afterward, some of THE "PIG" BUSINESS the abuses were rectified and conditions some• In the contract labor system, recruiters called what improved. crimps were paid some seven to te~ dollars per I Persia C. Campbell, Cbinese Coolie Emigration to Cotm• head, delivered to the coolie depots, or barra• tries Within the British Empire (London, 1923), p. 94. 2 Watt Stewart, Chinese Bondage in Peru (Durham, N. c., coons. Here the coolie "signed" a "contract" for 195I),p·17· a period of service. The supply of coolies came 3 Harley F. MacNair, Chinese Abroad (Shanghai, 1925), chiefly from several sources: p.218. 4 Ibid., p. 21 I. I. Prisoners taken in clan fights, (e.g., in the Pun• 5 Victor Purcell, Tbe Chinese in Southeast Asia (London, ti-Hakka feuds in the Sze Yup districts in the" 19(,5,2nd ed.), p. 427. 1860's); 6 H. F. MacNair, op. cit., p. 212. 2. Kidnapingsj 7 P. C. Campbell, op. cit., p. 29. Chinese migrating to the Straits Settlements also went there by means of a credit• 3. People tricked into losing at gambling and then ticket system. However, in this case, the services of the surrendering their persons in payment. 8 Chinese laborer was sold to an employer upon arrival at port; he then became indebted to the employer and re• This system was commonly designated as the paid his debt to him. The emigrant had no say as to "buying and selling of pigs."9 And once the "pigs" choice of employers. This transaction transferring the were in the "pig pens," or barraccoons, they were immigrant from the broker to the employer is known as "pig business" (Ibid., ch. I). It is important to dis• shipment.tO detained under restraint until their tinguish between the two types of credit-ticket systems, Conditions in many of the ships in the coolie one as practised in California and the other as practised trade were as bad as any African slaver. They in British Malaysia. It is obvious that the latter is open to many of the same abuses as the contract labor system were overcrowded, and mortality on the vessels and in practice is virtually indistinguishable from the was very heavy. The shortage of food and water contract labor trade. and harsh treatment frequently given the coolies 8 H. F. MacNair, op. cit., pp. 210-2I I. 9 P. C. Campbell, op. cit., p. 95. by the captain and crew of the ship occasioned 10 Ibid., p. 97. For example, for the years 1860-1863 the an• frequent riots, murders and other acts of despera• nual mortality rate of coolies being shipped to Peru tion.tO were 29.6, 22.6, 4 1.6 and 29.I %; totaling 2400 deaths out It was in the traffic to Peru and Cuba that the of 7,884 coolies shipped and an average mortality rate of 304%, Even in 187°-1874 when presumably conditions most flagrant excesses and brutal treatment of were improved, this mortality rate was 6.5% out of A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA 15 41,H)O coolies shipped (see Stewart, op. cit., pp. 62, 66). by which Chinese laborers could sell their services 11"W:Stewart, op cit., pp. 79-82. 12 Russell H. Conwell, Why and. How (Boston, 1871), pp. to employers for periods of ten years or less at 102-105. fixed wages. However, this bill aroused such con• 13 Sir John Charles Walton, "Coolie," Encyclopaedia Bri• demnation from the public that it was defeated tannica (Chicago, 1957), Yol. 6, p. 387. after bitter debate.4 For further reading on this subject: The following year, members of the Chinese I. Campbell, Persia C., Chinese Coolie Emigration (Lon• don, 1923). Companies admitted that they had imported 2. MacNair, Harley E, The Chinese Abroad (Shanghai, workers in the early years of the Gold Rush, but 1925). finding it unprofitable and contracts difficult to 3· Stewart, \Yatt, Chinese Bondage in Peru (Durham, N. enforce, discontinued the practice.' G, 195J). 4· Walton, Sir John Charles, "Coolie," Encyclopaedia Bri• ta1l1zica, Yol. 6, (Chicago, 1957), pp. 385-387. CREDIT-TICKET SYSTEM HOW THEY CAME After the early years, however, it was the All during the last half of the 19th century, the opinion of those who knew the Chinese best word "coolie" was used in the United States to through long association that the Chinese immi• designate a Chinese laborer. In its proper usage, grants came here voluntarily and not under duress the term "coolie" designates some sort of contract or servile contracts. lVlany emigrants paid their laborer, often in connection with servitude, slav• own passage or were aided by relatives and friends ery, or peonage. To use this term to describe already there, to leave for California. It is well Chinese labor in this country is both misleading established that the majority of Chinese immi• and erroneous. Early writers, not knowing the grants came to California during the 19th century difference, were prone to use the word. by means of the credit-ticket system. By this sys• tem, passage was advanced to the emigrant in a CONTRACT LABOR Chinese port. After reaching his destination, the During the pre-Civil War period it was the in• debtor was expected to repay this debt out of his future earnings. This was different from the con• tention of some interested parties to introduce tract labor system whereby the laborer was ex• contract laborers into this country. C. 'V, Gilles• pie in a letter to Thomas Larkin, on March 6, pected to serve a specified period of time.6 1848,said: The exact origin of the credit-ticket system is not known.' However, merchant brokers were set "One of my favorite subjects or projects is to introduce Chinese emigrants into this country, ... up in HongKong to advance the passage money Any number of mechanics, agriculturists and serv• (approximately forty dollars).8 Connecting firms in the United States were responsible for collect• ants can be obtained. They would be willing to sell their services for a certain period to pay their ing the debts, and also for finding employment for passage across the Pacific .... " I the new immigrant.9 Contract labor was imported to this country in IMMIGRATION AFTER THE ExCLUSION ACT the late 1840'S and in the decade of the 1850's.2 However, labor contracts proved to be difficult The passage of the Exclusion Act put an end to to enforce in the United States, as one Englishman the credit-ticket system as there was no longer a discovered in the following episode. raison d'etre. Since the law permitted entrance "... The fifteen coolies I brought from China, of United States citizens and offsprings of United and who were under a bond for two years with States citizens, efforts were made to enter this the party who engaged them, were no sooner country by these means.lO ashore than they resisted their contract, and each . In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and fire turned his separate way. Nor would the authori• destroyed local public records. Dating from the ties interfere .... "3 fire, many Chinese claimed that they were born In 1852 Senator George B. Tingley introduced in San Francisco. \Vith this citizenship the father in the California State legislature a bill to legalize then claimed citizenship for his offspring born in and make possible the enforcement of contracts, China. In subsequent trips to the Orient, the father 16 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA would report the birth of an offspring or two upon bound for San Francisco objected to the captain's his return, usually a son.10 order to cut off their queues as a hygienic meas• Sometimes, the father would report the birth of ure. They rebelled, killed the captain and cap• a son when in reality there was no such event. tured the ship.15 Health conditions on the bark This was what was termed a "slot" and would Libertad was so bad that when she sailed into San then be available for sale to boys who had no Francisco harbor in 1854, one hundred out of her family relationships in the United States in order five hundred Chinese passengers and the captain to enable them to enter this country. Merchant• had died during the voyage from Hong Kong.16 brokers often acted as middlemen to handle the On the other hand the passengers of the Bal• sale of slots. Sons whe entered the country in this 1110ml presented her captain with a gold ring and fashion were known as "paper sons." 11 a silk flag when she reached San Francisco in The fact that such deception was practised was 1852.17 entirely due to the exclusion law. All the "paper Later, the introduction of regular steamship sons" wanted was to emigrate to America in search service in the 1860'S cut down on the time re• of a better life. quired for the transoceanic voyage.
THE VOYAGE TO CALIFORNIA THE ARRIVAL Hong Kong was the general rendezvous for When the ship dropped anchor at the dock in departure to California. The emigrants usually San Francisco, the emigrants finally set foot on stayed at dormitories provided by the passage the soil of the New World. The debarkation was brokers or at friends' and relatives' homes until described by a journalist in 1869as follows: the day of embarkation. I1 "... a living stream of the blue coated men of The earliest ships between China and California Asia, bearing long bamboo poles across their were sailing vessels, some of which were owned shoulders, from which depend packages of bed• by Chinese. The ship Hamilton, o.wned by Tom ding, matting, clothing, and things of which we Key and arriving in San Francisco on June I, 1853, know neither the names nor the uses, pours down was the first ship flying the dragon banner to enter the plank. ... They appear to be of an average age port. In the mid-1850'S, several other ships owned of twenty-five years ... and though somewhat less or chartered by Chinese also sailed between Cali• in stature than Caucasians, healthy, active and fornia and Hong Kong.12 However, most of the able-bodied to a man. As they come down upon ships in the early days bringing Chinese immi• the wharf, they separate into messes or gangs of grants were American or British owned. At the ten, twenty, or thirty each, being recognized time the shipping of Chinese to California was a through some to us incomprehensible free-ma• very profitable business. sonry system of signs by the agents of the Six In 1866, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company Companies as they come, are assigned places on entered the cargo and passenger trade to and from the long broad shedded wharf [to await inspec• the Orient. Later the Occidental and Oriental tion by the customs officers]." The ship described Steamship Company entered as a competitor.13 by the writer discharged 1,272 Chinese.18 [Steamship lines were to carry most of the Chi• The writer continued to describe what hap• nese passenger traffic until after the Second World pened as each group passed through customs; War when jet air liners gradually took away most "... They are turned out of the gates and hurried of the clientele.] away toward the Chinese quarters of the city by The voyage in sailing vessels across the Pacific the agents of the Six Companies. Some go in would vary from forty-five days to more than wagons, more on foot, and the streets leading up three months. For the Chinese passengers, most that way are lined with them, running in 'Indian of the voyage was spent below deck in the over• file' and carrying their luggage suspended from crowded steerage.14 the ends of the bamboo poles slung across their Conditions aboard the ships varied with the ship shoulders .... " 18 and shipmaster. In March 1852,four hundred fifty At other times, the arrival was not so peaceful, Chinese in the· American ship Robert Browne for hoodlum elements would sometimes throw A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA 17 stones, potatoes and mud at the new immigrants.19 Chinese Immigration (44th Cong., 2nd Session, 1876• After the arrival in Chinatown, the newcomers 1877), p. II I. T. H. King, formerly connected with the consul's office in Hong Kong, claimed that the original were temporarily billeted in the dormitories of principals in the passenger trade to California were Wo the Chinese district associations.2o Hang and Hing Wa, portrait painters at Hong Kong in 1850 and 1851. 1 Thomas O. Larkin, The Larkin Papers, ed. by George P. 8 Senate Report 689, p. 15. Hammond (Berkeley, 19(4), p. 167. 9 P. Campbell, op. cit., pp. 28-29. 2 Am, a cook, Awve, a tailor, and Ahine, a "coolie," signed 10 Betty Lee Sung, Mountain of Gold (N.Y., Ig(7) , pp. gS• three-year contracts in 1849 to work for Jacob Leese. 104. The Articles of Agreement are in the collection of the 11 Russell H. Conwell, My and How (Boston, 1871), p. California Historical Society. 212. The 'Veils Fargo Bank History Room has a contract 12 Daily Alta California, June 3, Sept. 18, 19, Oct. 30, 1853; dated 1849 entered into between Chinese laborers and June 27, 29, July I, 1854; San Francisco Herald, Sept. an English merchant where the Hsiang-sheng Hang 17, 1853, Oct. 18, 1855. chartered an American vessel to ship Chinese laborers 13E. C. Sandmeyer, op. cit., p. 15. 14John H. Kemble, "Andrew \Vilson's Jottings on Civil tocontract, San Francisco. was expected The English to seek work merchant, for the aslaborers. part of his War California," California Historical Society Quar• The San Mateo County Historical collection has the terly (1953), Vol. 32, pp. 2°9-224. text of a contract whi~h brought Chinese laborers to 15 Gunter Barth, Bitter Strengtb (Cambridge, Mass., 19(4), San Francisco in 1852 to build the Parrott Building. P·7I. 3 Edward Lucatt, Rovings in the Pacific from 1837 to 1849 16 Hsia-erh Kuan-Chen, May, June, Nov., 1854; Dorothy (London, 1851). Vol. 2, p. 363. H. Huggins, Continuation of the Annals of San Fran• 4 Paul S. Taylor "Foundations of California Rural Soci• cisco, Pt. I (San Francisco, 1939), pp. 6, 8,9, passim. ety," California Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 24 17 Daily Alta Calif.ornia, June 12, 1852. (1945), pp. 192-228. 18 "From the Orient Direct," Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 24 5 Elmer C. Sandmeyer, The Anti-Chinese Movement in (I86g), pp. 542-548. California (Urbana, Ill., 1939), p. 39. 19Rev. Otis Gibson, The Chinese in America (Cincinnati, 6 George E Seward, Chinese Immigration, Its Social and 1877), pp. 50-5 I. Economic Aspects (N.Y., 1881), Part III, Chapter I, pp. 20 Rev. Augustus \V, Loomis, "The Chinese Six Com• 136-158, presents excerpts from Senate Report 689 re• panies," Overland Monthly, os. v. I (1868), pp. %11-1<17. garding how the Chinese came to this country. For further reading on the subject: Persia C. Campbell, Coolie Immigration (London, I. Seward, George E, Chinese Immigration, Its Social and 1923), pp. 28-29. Economic Aspects (N.Y., 1881). 7 Report of the Joint Special Committee to .Investigate 2. Sung, Betty Lee, Mountain of Gold (N.Y., 19(7). 18 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA
TABLE I
CHINESE IN THE UNITED STATES BEFORE THE EXCLUSION ACT (1820-18821)
.. .. o :i '" ~.. ...• E..• ..: .. ~ on .. •..•. ...• = ... '"'ii on ~...... •. c ..• '" I ....~.. o j: .~ ..... E; "0 .J.. "" .:< co", "' ...•
1820-30 3 1830-40 8 1848 3 54 1849 325 791 1850 450 4,018 1851 2,716 7,370 10,000 7,520 1852 20,026 1,768 18,258 25,116 25,000 1853 4,270 4,421 - 151 24,466 19,210 1854 16,084 2,339 13,745 37,447 1855 3,329 3,473 - 144 36,557 1856 4,807 3,028 1,779 37,569 1857 4,524 5,924 1,932 3,992 40,730 45,000 1858 7,183 5,427 2,542 2,885 42,743 1859 3,215 3,175 2,450 725 42,599 1860 6,117 7,343 2,088 5,255 46,897 34,933 1861 6,094 8,434 3,594 4,840 50,703 1862 4,174 8,188 2,795 5,393 54,975 50,000 1863 5,280 6,435 2,947 3,488 57,294 1864 5,240 2,696 3,91t -1,215 54,958 1865 3,702 3,097 2,298 799 54,642 1866 1,872 2,242 3,113 - 871 52,696 U.S. 58,300 1867 3,519 4,794 4,999 - 205 51,432 50,000 1868 6,707 11,085 4,209 6,876 57,142 U.S. 90,837 1869 12,874 14,994 4,896 10,098 65,896 Cal. 41,000 1870 15,740 10,869 4,232 6,637 71,083 63,199 1871 7,135 5,542 3,264 2,278 71 ,894 1872 7,788 9,773 4,887 4,886 75,245 1873 20,291 17,075 6,805 • 10,270 83,805 62,500 1874 13,776 16,085 7,710 8,375 90,337 1875 16,437 18,021 6,305 11,716 100,003 1876 22,781 8,525 14,256 lll,971 60,000 1877 10,594 8,161 2,433 112,116 65,000 1878 8,992 8,186 806 110,664 1879 9,604 9,220 384 108,827 1880 5,802 7,496 -1,694 104,991 83,600 105,465 1881 11,890 8,926 2,964 105,796 1882 39,579 10,366 29,213 132,300
lFrom Mary R. Coolidge "Chinese Immigration" (N.Y., 1909), p.498. 61,70714,69345,75375,13272,4721,98296,84467,7293,668 Percent2.4.16.1.67.71.51.l.90.75.99.78.5. 1,6308136123,1863,2603,6292,3571,4471,3981,6281,79136134166910,397 102,102105,46574234,933249,2772,5321,739914 NamberPerceatPercent9,5401860188018901900107,4882,0071,4672,8335,4161,7651,17097.465Percelt3,3798481,35250180657262,8311,41946189.86334,933599 63,199 Namber Namber1870125,000A HISTORYNamber OF THE CHINESE4,2742,3303,1521,9494452342ll137143201197 IN CALIFORNIA57 19 NorthSouthSouth Central AtlanticNevadaColoradoNewArizonaWashingtonWyomingOregonIdahoUtah Mexico 'The(Continental) figures for 1860 and 1870 are probably too small. Compare with Table 1. United States' TABLE II By decades and geographical divisions, from U. S. Census WesternMontanaTRoughNorth census AtlanticDivisionsCalifornia of the Chinese 1 taken in 1852. See Appendix Senate Jo. Dec. 14. 1853. CHINESE POPULATION1852 IN UNITED STATES -1852-1900
TABLE III 25.%18.6.717.14.10.9%%4.4.44.627.80.90.1871-80%.331.31.93. Year No. Year No. 1850 4,825 1910 71,5~1 1860 34,933 1920 61,639 1870 63,199 1930 74,954 1880 105,465 1940 77,504 1890 107,488 1950 117,629 1900 89 ,863 1960 198,958 Note: 1850 figure based on H. H. Bancroft, "History of California" VII (San Francisco, 1887). Remaining figures based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. District Grouping 1. Sze Yup and associated districts1 2. Heungshan (Chungshan) associated districts1 3. Sam YUp1 4. Hakkas1 1. Sze Yup and associated districts 2. Heungshan (Chungshan) and associated districts 3. Sam Yup 4. Hakkas NOTES: 1. The following simplifying assumptions are made: Sze Yup = = People belonging to the Ning Yeung, Hop Wo, Kong Chow and Shiu Hing Association. Heungshan (Chungshan) = = People belonging to the Young Wo Association. Sam Yup = = People belonging to the Sam Yup Association. Hakkas = = People belonging to the Van Wo Association. It is recognized that this gives too high a figure for the Sze Yup and Heungshan IChungshanl population; however, since the great preponderance in num• bers in the associations named came from the Sze Yup and Heungshan districts, the error will not be too great. 2. "Oriental," January 25, 1855. 3. San Francisco "Oaily Alta California:' July 7, 1866. 4. Rev. A. W. loomis ''The Chinese Six Companies" Overland Monthly, O.S.VI1868, pp. 221-227. 5. Rev. Otis Gibson "The Chinese in America" (Cincinnati, 1877), p. 21. 6. William Hoy, ''The Chinese Six Companies" ISan Francisco, 1942). p. 17. No source was given for these figures but Hoy did state that these figures were used as the basis for determining the number of delegates sent from each district association to the Chinese Six Companies. The Constitution of the Six Companies stated that the basis for determining the number of delegates shall be the number of registrants in each district association in the period of 1926-19281Ch'en K'uang-min, ''The Chinese il} the Americas" (N.Y., 1950)), p. 78. 7. Ch'en K'uang-min, op. cited, p. 76. 8. Rose Hum lee, ''The Chinese in the United States of America" (Hong Kong, 1960). p. 145. No source given for percentages. (Note radical differences. I A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORXIA 2 I Table VI NUMBER OF CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA BY COUNTIES I 3162428 1860 I1 129162-1742- iI1 ------Total57421822286 019006 3615421431293911.8675,5511a.OR719.27068566716.9629.636430363417ChineseTotal1.441TotalChineseTotalChineseTotalChinese 17539-2.33746969787124134675321020897026335734212.1331023076825<313091811021461209115199203959.899608109156909192 5509 505184185763254185359408346D.618712 47315313670414 ' 3242741870188014830933853339919313910437111724560 - 1 -I - --5]3027142721718611982173,9673,2143,3903,543I5,5217.1694,638I4,95122916.871.99311.77260412.6844.0444,173 6,0174,3637.6295.073--45120,4654,3779,30189217,3187.84825314,36716,48038,4805.05113.66816,44610,8512,14611.2849744,7204,0179,8716,36460.2162.7233727329057025752275235964481833867468,08512315'89090445918.9348979048991532495437087530612.0946978561421,512810195 18902,147518226 9.91641551519290348851221413906 5.886 2,6271,0841,560230234160906206-291,9566723,4694,l164,9444,3244,73911,33327,1042,2741,1415,3283,33411,9121,78'2I1I-421-10:0404,399I4,77234,9872,9283,54425,92616.07213,5893,3404,9865,0761,3274,2392,6946,14013,07224,5746,41225,49715,51211,30210,32012:52513,11811,28116,41113,23512,80017,61219,81912,8022;40S 15,3091,169.I3,7879:4358,9471,93924,2372,002 8,4617,5457,7848,74311,2002,9692,2453064,3604,4895,1596,9036,1656,6358,6697,16324,1432,9255,6016,6335,5844,6056,3369,4789,2329,1422,0224342,5845,6562,80716,63727,9294,51119,6964,93311.1668,6186,0829,8765,6191,2527,78635,0906,5967,1018,7514,33918,0461,6867,4996,1801,9931,80319,38018,37517,78916,45117,89717,1179,5131,485,05315,702-28,62933,381"4,424101,45418,47521,05026,24635,03932,026379,99424,34917,93910,3091,48426,83024,1423,59556,80212,022149,473298,99711,38716,229130,197_62,9763,31193,8642,21111,32410,9301,62719,13420,82317,369170,29822914,2321,42915,10112,1062,08220,56213,27011,3572,19016,2991,4418,8951,03710,68334,3904,37140,339I 11,4033,79318,721-2275,1504,6579',550-1,1162,16712,1637,364 8,9869,2154,5726,8489,5823,2131,9516,2431,3275,1251,0994,999554--3~if9-9,8089,0942.736-I1,3349.4921,11511,3841,1241,6293,003560,2474,8922,6954,38621,745233,95925,83375,132864,6942,4101,66718,6371,5251,52249,2771,05015,7861,9973,25445,915l,524--8~r5072.4721.7381,6761,87535,4521,05313,954342,7~3267198,620-294--3,58710,07153,209-924593881549916.3,988 37~I 34,933266 1.208,1303,6572,1774,7622,3922,7192,2081,6381,9622,5681,8431,7311,781 20,9467746,6236,4998,~82729--10,996-45,753 14,6404,533805- 627599236 4.383- Alameda - Lake -...----r,568--8]10L!.n5~-lJ4548,0051,5303277 __-336 . 11;5T55,46932.7212,592,1,151 AmadorContraButteMonoSiskiyouSutterHumboldtKernKlamathMarinFresnoLassenMendocinoModocRiversideCalaverasSanSantaSierraTuolumneVenturaYoloColusaNevadaPlacerShastaSolanoSonomaStanislausYubaMercedMadera MateoDiegoLuisFrancisco Costa BarbaraClaraCruz ObispoTehamaTulare Chinese CountiesI EIMontereySanLosMariposaSacramentoDelKingsSanNapaOrangePlumasGlennInyoAlpine DoradoTotalsSan Angeles Bernardino Norte Benito JoaquinTrinity 15.754 I Note: Above derived from: 10th U.S. census (1880), p. 382; 12th U.S. census (1900), p. 11; Report of the California State Bureau of labor Statistics (1904), p. 73. 22 A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA IMMIGRATION AND INTERNAL in 1854 to 3,329 the following year, and annual MIGRATION arrivals hovered between approximately 2,000 and 8,500 for more than a decade thereafter. During THE NUMBER OF IMMIGRANTS the 1860'S the Chinese population of California American authorities estimated that there were was more or less stabilized at approximately 54 Chinese in the United States in February 1849. 50,000.2 This number was increased more than ten-fold to The Burlingame Treaty of 1868 facilitated the 789 by January 1850, and rapidly grew to 4->025 entrance of Chinese laborers to this country. At in 1850.1 that time, the economy of California was being As news of the discovery of gold, and the high developed at a rapid rate. The late 1860's saw the wages earned by laborers, spread among the peas• building of the transcontinental railroad. Later, antry about the Canton River Delta in China, the railroad network was developed in California many were tempted to try to improve their lot in and other parts of the West. Large areas of tule the Golden Hills, as California was referred to swamps were recovered by reclamation; great among the Cantonese. (Later this became the "Old strides were being made to develop agriculture Golden Hills" to distinguish it from the New and industries in the Golden State. Recruiting sta• Golden Hills-the gold fields discovered in Aus• tions were set up in the Far East to induce needed tralia in the 1850'S). labor to come to California to build railroads or Internal turmoil and economic instability in work in agriculture} China provided the added impetus for many to At this time, there was no improvement in the emigrate. Thus the immigration into California in internal political and economic situation in China. 185I was six times that in 1850, but it was in 1852 Thus, beginning with 1868 there was another up• that the great influx occurred, with 20,026, 7.3 surge in immigration from China which, despite times the figures for the previous year, disembark• the anti-Chinese agitation and riots in the 1870's, ing at San Francisco.2 averaged more than 12,000 per year up to, but not This led the Picayune of San Francisco to re• including, 1882, the year of the first Chinese Ex• mark in its issue of April 17, 1852: clusion Act.4 "In China, the California fever seems to have In 1882 the Chinese population in the United reached an unprecedented height, and the States and California had reached approximately long tailed and curious denizens of that 132,000 and 110,000respectively.4 strange world evinced as great eagerness to reach our magic land as ever -exhibited by DISTRIBUTION ... our own countrymen ... from the East• In the 1850'Sand 1860's the Chinese population ern States. They are flocking in upon us by in the United States was concentrated almost en• the hundreds, every ship arriving from tirely in California with approximately 80 per cent thence, bringing from one hundred and fifty of these in the mining areas. upwards. Six ships have arrived since the In 1860, the Chinese population of San Fran• 25th of March, and have brought an acces• cisco County was only third in the state (7.8 per sion to our Chinese population of eleven cent of the total Chinese population), ranking be• hundred and twenty-six souls ... " hind EI Dorado and Calaveras counties (13.7 per However, the expulsion of Chinese from the, cent and 10.5 per cent) and rivaled by that of mines, the imposition of the Foreign Miner's Tax Amador County (7.4 per cent). 5 At that time the and the realization that perhaps striking it rich Chinese were approximately I° per cent of the was not so easy after all soon had a dampening population in California.6 effect on immigration. At the time, the California It was not until the 1870 census that San Fran• economy was not developed sufficiently to permit cisco took the lead with 24.4 per cent of the Chi• many Chinese to venture into various other fields. nese in California. Construction of the railroads These factors undoubtedly played an important also led to an increase in the Chinese population role in decreasing the number of immigrants. The in the counties along which the Central Pacific number of arrivals abruptly dropped from 16,084 passed-Sacramento, Placer and Nevada among A HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA 23 others. However, other mining areas show a de• 7 M. R. Coolidge, op. cit., p. 503. crease in the number of Chinese inhabitants.5 The albid., p. 501. 9 Ch'en Ju-chou, HflTldbook of Chinese in America (N.Y., year 1870also saw the beginning of the migration 1946), p. 343 (ChineseIanguage). of many Chinese into the agricultural communi• 10 Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945 ties of the state. This trend continued through the (\Vashington, 1949), p. 27. 11 B. L. Sung, op. cit., p. 114, next two decades, after which the number gradu• For further reading on this subject: ally decreased as the Chinese moved into urban I. Coolidge, Mary R., Chinese Immigration, N.Y., 19<>9. areas.7 2. Sung, Betty Lee, Mountain of Gold, N.Y., 1967. Southern California did not have many Chinese until the railroad brought them in as construction SOME MAJOR ANTI-CHINESE workers during the 1870's. From then on the Ori• LEGISLATIONS ental population in Los Angeles County steadily The arrival of the Chinese was looked upon increased.7 favorably by Californians at first. They were con• In 1860 there were few Chinese living outside sidered to be clean, industrious, and desirable, and California. By 1870, however, because of gold in the days when workman were scarce, they mining activities and railroad construction, Chi• filled the need for laborers, cooks, and domestic nese were found dispersed all over the western servants. 1 They were invited to participate in states. A few hundred also found their way to important state celebrations, their picturesque and the Midwest and the East.s The anti-Chinese agi• colorful costumes gaining them popularity.2 Gov• tation and riots in California in the decade of the ernor John McDougal in 1852 recommended a 1870'Sspurred greater migration to the East in an system of land grants to induce further immigra• effort to seek a friendlier climate.9 This movement tion and settlement by the Chinese, whom he continued through the next few decades, and siz• praised as "one of the most worthy of our newly able Chinatowns were built up in cities such as adopted citizens." 3 Senator George B. Tingley in Chicago and New York. March 1852 introduced the "Coolie Bill" to auth• orize the state to contract and supervise Chinese POPULATION AND URBANIZATION labor on a ten-year basis to fill the gap created by From the high of approximately 132,000 Chi• the labor shortage.4 The Daily AlIa California of nese at the time of the Exclusion Act in 1882, the May 12, 1852, predicted: Chinese population in the United States decreased "Quite a large number of the celestials have year by year as death and departures took its toll. arrived among us of late, enticed thither by The low point of 61,639 was reached in 1920,after the golden romance that has filled the world. which there was a slow but steady increase.10 Scarcely a ship arrives that does not bring Each succeeding decade saw increasing urbani• an increase to this worthy integer of our zation of the Chinese population as they left the population. The China Boys wiII yet vote at small towns and rural areas for the big cities. the same polls, study at the same schools and bow at the same altar as our own country• According to the 1960 census, the Chinese popu• men. " lation in this country was 237,292, of which 73 per cent reside in metropolitan areas. 11 [This fig• American and European immigrants coming ure includes the Hawaiian Islands.] from the East to California had never before seen a Chinese. Having no prior experience and being 1H. H. Bancroft, History of California (San Francisco, ignorant of Chinese civilization, they paralleled IRSo), Vol. 7, p. 336 .. , the Chinese with the Indians and Negroes. 2 Marv R. Coolidge, Chinese Immigration (N.Y., 19<>9), P·49S. "It was the habit of congressmen and editors 3 The B:mcroft Library at the University of California, to draw most alarming deductions from Berkeley, has a copy of the March I, IS67 California these comparisons, although the Negro and China Mail &- Flyinf{ Dragon, containing a Chinese lang-ual!e advertisement for laborers to come to the U. S. the Indians belonged to primitive and com• to work on railroad construction and in agriculture. paratively undeveloped races as contrasted 4 M. R. Coolidge, op. cit., p. 498. 5/hid .. p. 50~. with the Chinese who had attained a high• 6 Betty Lee Sung, Mountain of Gold, (N.Y., 1967), p. 42. if wholly different-civilization before the