Introduction the Hawai‘I Chinese: Their Experience and Identity Over Two Centuries David Y

Introduction The Hawai‘i Chinese: Their Experience and Identity over Two Centuries David Y. H. Wu and Harry J. Lamley David Y. H. Wu and Harry J. Lamley, “Introduction – The The themes of experience and identity have led us to Hawai‘i Chinese: Their Experience and Identity over Two Cen visualize the Chinese in Hawai‘i from broader perspectives turies,” Chinese America: History & Perspectives – The Jour- as well. The island Chinese have been affected by affairs in nal of the Chinese Historical Society of America (San Fran China and North America and by transpacific contacts. They cisco: Chinese Historical Society of America with UCLA Asian have also been influenced at times by regional and national American Studies Center, 2010), pages 1–11. issues. Concerns relating to the Chinese in Southeast Asia in recent decades, for example, have had a bearing on the ow have people of Chinese descent fared in the island Chinese, particularly those island Chinese who immi- Hawaiian Islands over the past two hundred years? grated from Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia. Moreover, the cur- HWhat has become of them? And who exactly are rent issue of what “being Chinese” basically means, both in the Hawai‘i Chinese today? Questions of this sort were China and elsewhere, involves global matters of significance raised at our 1988 conference on the Chinese in Hawai‘i and has renewed scholarly interest in the present state of the and voiced on occasion during the Chinese Bicentennial Chinese diaspora around the world. We also attempt briefly celebrated throughout the state in 1989. Such basic ques- to relate the recent experience and changing identity of the tions are appropriate at this juncture. The Chinese were the Hawai‘i Chinese to this far-ranging issue. first Asians to reach Hawai‘i, and interest in their long and In this short introduction we are not able to develop continuous presence in the Islands has invariably resulted these dual themes fully in their many dimensions. Our dis- in inquiries about the background and makeup of their cussion of the Hawai‘i Chinese experience over such a long group. In recent years, however, these matters have taken time span is necessarily limited to historical or diachronic on greater relevance for the Hawai‘i Chinese as they have summaries, along with references to specific episodes and become more keenly aware of their roots. As a result mem- events. We likewise treat the broad theme of cultural identity bers of their community are evidencing renewed interest in in a selective manner, for the cultural and ethnic variables their own cultural background and ancestral ties with China are complex. The island Chinese, in fact, have never formed and more concern as to what it has meant to be sojourners, a homogeneous community, and over time their group has settlers, and citizens in a multicultural society overseas. become more diverse and acquired multiple identities. In this introductory essay we attempt to address these A number of factors account for this diversity. To begin interests and concerns by focusing on the experience and with, intrinsic subcultural differences, stemming primarily identity of the Hawai‘i Chinese over two centuries. These from distinctions in dialect and local Guangdong prove- themes of experience and identity are the focuses of this nance, have always tended to set portions of the group apart volume. The theme of historical experience enables us to from one another. In recent decades the influx of new arriv- depict the events and situations that the island Chinese als from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and provinces have taken part in or witnessed, and to trace the chang- of China other than Guangdong has made the community ing conditions they have encountered and the adjustments more heterogeneous. Meanwhile, intermarriage between they have accordingly made. The theme of cultural iden- the Chinese and other ethnic groups has long taken place in tity, on the other hand, allows us to conceptualize from Hawai‘i. This intermarriage has produced ethnically mixed historical and empirical data. This helps us to analyze offspring and created dual identities. In addition, continu- changes in the makeup of the group and gain insights as ous and pervasive change induced by Hawaiian and West- to how the island Chinese have distinguished themselves ern influences, a variety of modernization processes, and and been perceived by others over time. By means of these policies and trends emanating mainly from the United States dual themes we endeavor not only to present a historical and China has also brought about alterations in outlook and overview of the Hawai‘i Chinese, but also to ascertain the identity among members of the community. identity of the group at different periods and under vari- Local Chinese identities were further affected by the new ous conditions. immigrant groups that began to settle in the Hawaiian Islands 1 2 David Y. H. Wu and Harry J. Lamley late in the nineteenth century. Then, during the twentieth early arrivals initially came on board sailing ships captained century, the island Chinese were subjected to strong Ameri- by Westerners who continued to explore that North Pacific canization pressures under U.S. governance. As a result, volcanic chain. One such expedition may have enabled the Chinese old-timers and newcomers alike have faced identity first Chinese to set foot on Hawaiian soil, for it is recorded problems bearing on their ethnicity and on whether they are that a Chinese carpenter was sent ashore to fix a swivel gun still Chinese culturally or have accommodated enough to on a Hawaiian double canoe in March 1789. Possibly one American ways to be labeled “Chinese Americans.” or several of the crew were left behind by the two British The eleven papers selected for this collection relate to vessels, the Iphigenia and the North West America, engaged the dual themes of experience and identity in various ways. in the Hawaiian leg of that transpacific expedition. At any In the course of our discussion we cite evidence or draw rate, a small number of Chinese and Westerners of differ- comparisons from their rich contents and in this manner ent nationalities soon began to frequent the Islands as other endeavor to introduce each study. These papers are devoted ships carrying mixed crews made their way there. to a wide range of topics, however, and represent to some The first few Chinese to reach the Hawaiian Islands were degree the many interests of the town-and-gown mix at our thus seafarers. Their arrival was conditioned to a consider- conference. They yield fresh insights and new information— able extent by Western exploration and the desire to develop much more than we have been able to include in this intro- maritime routes linking China with the North Pacific and the duction. Thus each deserves careful reading as an individual North American continent. Another important factor was contribution to research on the Chinese in Hawai‘i. the decision by certain British sea captains to sign on Chi- nese sailors to complement their European crews. The Iphi genia and a slightly larger vessel, the Felice, were perhaps the THE CHINESE ExPErIENCE IN Hawai‘I first Western ships to take on a sizable number of Chinese crewmen—carpenters, smiths, and sailors—“as an experi- In this section we deal historically with the Hawai‘i Chinese ment” for the transpacific expedition referred to above. Such and trace changes in the general makeup of their group and Chinese seafarers seem to have been accepted when they in the identities they have shared. We depict such changes sojourned in the Islands during the early monarchy. Like the mainly in the context of Hawai‘i’s multicultural, or pluralis- ship’s carpenter who was sent ashore in 1789, they possessed tic, society, which has also altered considerably over time. skills that were needed by Kamehameha I and the rival chiefs. We refer specifically to political change as well, for dramatic More Chinese were gradually attracted to the Islands shifts of rule have occurred during the past two hundred when Hawai‘i developed into a commercial center for the years in the Hawaiian Islands, as they have in the home Pacific fur and sandalwood trade conducted with Canton country of China. (Guangzhou) and the United States. In 1828, at the height A brief political chronology suggests the far-reaching of the sandalwood trade, around thirty to forty Chinese (of change that the Chinese have witnessed in Hawai‘i. The an estimated total of four hundred foreign residents) were first Chinese arrived near the end of the eighteenth century, living in Honolulu, by then the chief port of the Islands. The when Kamehameha I was consolidating his control over the whaling industry, which extended to the North Pacific in major islands in the Hawaiian chain. Thereafter, the Hawai- the 1820s and reached its peak there during the 1840s and ian monarchy prevailed for almost one hundred years. Dur- 1850s, also began to offer opportunities to enterprising Chi- ing much of this period Americans and Europeans gained nese located in major ports on Maui and Hawai‘i as well as increasing dominance in the government. The monarchy was in Honolulu. In these towns they catered to the needs of the overthrown by pro-American interests in 1893 and replaced seasonal whaling population as local merchants and opera- by a short-lived republic the following year. Subsequently, tors of hotels and “victualling houses.” Meanwhile, early on August 12, 1898, the Hawaiian Islands were formally attempts to produce sugar commercially in the Hawaiian annexed to the United States. Almost two years later, Con- Islands involved skilled Chinese sugar masters and experi- gress passed Hawai‘i’s Organic Act, and territorial government enced laborers hailing from cane-growing areas in the vicin- was installed in 1900.

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