Chapter 12 Chapter 4 Early Overseas Chinese Occupations, Chinatown, and Organization

Indentured Chinese laborers and "on-credit workers" accounted for the vast majority of early Chinese immigrants to the United States.In terms of occupation, most of them are engaged in agricultural production, and some of them are engaged in mining precious metals, building railways and digging canals to meet the special needs of the region and country where they are located.After they gained a certain degree of freedom, some remained in farms or plantations and continued to engage in agricultural production; some gradually moved into cities to seek various occupations.Together with the overseas Chinese who later entered the country of residence as free, they created material wealth for the country of residence.

Most of the early overseas Chinese who flowed into the city entered the service industry in the city, such as laundry industry, restaurant industry, domestic helpers and so on.A small number are engaged in industrial and commercial activities. Laundry is a profession that the Chinese have been engaged in for a long time.As early as 1851, Li Hua, an American overseas Chinese, opened the first large-scale Chinese hand laundry at the corner of Washington Street and Grant Street (called Dupont Street at the time) in San Francisco, USA.After Lihua Laundry was opened, it was welcomed by Americans. Since then, the Chinese laundry industry in the United States has developed.Especially after the United States implemented the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, Chinese in other industries were excluded, and the laundry industry became the most important economic lifeline of overseas Chinese in the United States. The 1920 census showed that there were 45,614 overseas Chinese employed in the United States at that time, of which laundry workers accounted for about 30%. In 1949, there were 10,000 laundries opened by Chinese Americans. In 1931, Chinese in the laundry industry accounted for 40%, 54%, 40% and 30% of the total Chinese employment in Maritime, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, Canada.At the same time, overseas Chinese also opened laundromats in vast areas of Latin America. The business was also booming and customers were abundant, and they were very popular among the local people.

The reason why the laundry industry became the main occupation of overseas Chinese in the Americas was because the early overseas Chinese lacked capital and technology, and most of them did not understand English. For them, it was more appropriate to open a laundry shop.A laundry shop usually only needs some washboards, a few pieces of soap, an iron and an ironing rack, and is operated by the owner or a few relatives. It does not need to have strong funds and superb skills, and it is enough to be able to speak a few words of English.The prosperity of the laundry industry was inseparable from the actual needs of the American countries at that time.In the past, the dirty clothes of American dandies were often sent to Hawaii or Hong Kong for washing, which took a long time and was expensive.Compared with this, the overseas Chinese laundry not only takes less time to do laundry, but also has a low price.After the first overseas Chinese laundry opened in San Francisco, the price of washing clothes dropped from $8 per dozen of shirts to $5, and soon to $2, which caused a sensation in the local area.

Overseas Chinese laundries in Chinatown in the United States usually hang red-bottomed or red-lettered signboards, written in Chinese or English pinyin, to identify the shop number, so when you see such signs in Chinatowns in the eastern United States, you can identify them as operated by overseas Chinese. laundry.Overseas Chinese laundries are all operated by hand, and they work more than ten hours a day, but their income is very meager.An overseas Chinese who has been engaged in the laundry industry for decades once wrote a short poem titled "The Life of Eight Pounds", describing the bitter life of the majority of Chinese laundry workers:

. White people are unwilling to do the very hard work of laundry, so the laundry industry has become a long-term occupation for overseas Chinese in America.But after the Second World War, washing machines were widely used, and many whites opened large-scale automatic washing machine shops. Chinese hand laundries faced fierce competition and began to decline day by day.Only those Chinese laundries that use automatic washing machines can continue to survive, but they are not what they used to be. The restaurant industry is the second largest industry engaged by Chinese in the Americas.As early as July 1849, the Chinese opened a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, USA. In 1858, Chinese Zhong Neng opened his first small restaurant on Sanja Street in Havana.The dishes in Chinese restaurants are excellent in color, aroma, and taste, and the cooking techniques are kept improving. The dishes are various, and they are cheap and good, and they are very popular among the American people.Gold miner William Shaw asserted in "Golden Dreams and Waking Reality" (1851): "The best restaurants in San Francisco are those owned and cooked by Chinese. The dishes are mainly curry Food, chowder, and diced meat in sauce, all served in small plates. Since they taste so good, I have no curiosity to inquire about the ingredients." Chinese restaurants developed rapidly after they opened in the Americas. On February 21, 1852, the "Upper California Daily" wrote: "For a period of time, almost all restaurants in this city (San Francisco) were run by Chinese." There were 45,614, while restaurant workers rose to 11,438. In 1931, in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Maritimes of Canada, restaurant employees accounted for 60%, 70%, 50%, 54% and 52% of the total Chinese employment respectively.Among the early overseas Chinese in Cuba, Peru and Mexico, those engaged in the restaurant industry also accounted for an important proportion.

With the passage of time, Chinese restaurants have gradually established their own supply base: Chinese farmers send fresh vegetables to restaurants in time according to the needs of chefs; fishermen in the Gulf also often send shrimp, seaweed, abalone, Squid and a wide variety of fresh fish enable most Chinese hotels and restaurants to cook authentic Chinese dishes.The Chinese restaurant industry is still thriving in the Americas and has strong vitality. In the United States, Chinese restaurants are marked by a triangular yellow silk flag, which is clear at a glance and distinguishes them from French, Italian, Spanish and British and American restaurants.Early Chinese restaurants were usually husband-and-wife stores or small restaurants in partnership with several people.These restaurants are increasingly diversified with different local flavors. In the past, they were mainly Cantonese restaurants, and gradually increased Sichuan restaurants, Hunan restaurants, and Shanghai restaurants.These restaurants with different local Chinese flavors are all very popular with people in the Americas.

Chinese businessmen are the pioneers of Chinese immigration.The early overseas Chinese in business were different from those in other industries. The overseas Chinese in business were all relatively wealthy and experienced in business, and most of them were concentrated in the United States.It wasn't until the expiration of the contract of American contract laborers and "single credit workers" or the repayment of debts that there were more and more small shops with various names such as mom-and-pop shops, father-and-son shops, and brother shops all over the Americas.Where there were many overseas Chinese in the early days, small overseas Chinese shops appeared, and where there were many small shops, small Chinatowns gradually formed, that is, areas where overseas Chinese lived together.

By 1882, there were 511 Chinese shops in San Francisco Chinatown alone, and 156 Chinese shops outside the city’s Chinatown, totaling 667.From the second half of the 19th century, Cuban indentured Chinese laborers gradually got rid of the shackles of the contract and moved to Havana, Pinadrio, San Julian, De Gwynedes, Guanajay and other cities to settle down. The number of businessmen reached More than 17% of the total number of overseas Chinese.Among them, Hu Meng, Jose Malfia Wang and Xu Man gradually made their fortunes and became well-known local businessmen. The stores operated by early Chinese merchants were mainly grocery stores, rice stores, laundry shops, fish shops, Chinese medicine stores, and barber shops, among which grocery stores were the most common.In addition to serving the overseas Chinese in this city and its surrounding areas, these grocery stores also handle the wholesale of Chinese goods and resell the goods needed by stores in various Chinatowns.It mainly deals in all kinds of native products shipped from China, and some also sell rice, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits and so on.In addition, there are some shops selling jewelry, antiques and high-value art treasures, which serve the tourism industry.

The canned asparagus produced by the Yaluweisi Cannery founded by Zhao Yu [xie] Yuan and his son who are doing business in the United States is not only sold well in the United States, but also sold to Europe, known as the "King of Canned Asparagus".Zhou Song, an overseas Chinese who runs a department store, founded Zhongxing Company in 1928 with a capital of 1 million US dollars and opened 40 branches in major and medium-sized cities in the United States.In addition, some Chinese businessmen in the United States also set up steamship companies, China Cruise Lines, banks, and so on.These commercial enterprises, with the changes in the US and the international situation, have flourished or declined, but they have played a certain role in US commercial activities and in promoting Sino-US exchanges.

Some of the indentured Chinese laborers and “on-credit workers” who went to America in the early days were freed after their contracts expired or their debts were paid off, but they still stayed in farms and plantations to engage in agricultural production.In the United States, the early overseas Chinese farmed most in the west, especially in California, followed by Oregon, Washington and Nevada.According to the 1910 census, there were 17,200 farmers in the United States, accounting for about 24% of the total Chinese population. In 1931, there were 4,196 Chinese engaged in agriculture in Canada, ranking second in the total number of Chinese employed.On the whole, the early overseas Chinese engaged in agricultural production still accounted for an important proportion of Chinese Americans.

In agricultural production, some overseas Chinese leased the land of farmers and became sharecroppers; some Chinese formed partnerships to purchase farmland, farmhouses and production tools to produce various crops.A small number of Chinese became rich day by day due to their good management and became farmers.For example, in 1899 there were 42 Chinese farmers in Cuba. In the middle of the 19th century, Chen Fang of Zhongshan County, Guangdong succeeded in producing sugarcane in Hawaii, and his plantation covered several thousand acres.In the early American overseas Chinese, in addition to farmers planting sugar cane, sweet potatoes and other crops, most Chinese planted vegetables and fruits near towns to meet the needs of urban residents. In the agricultural production in America, early overseas Chinese made important contributions.We are here to introduce the significant contribution of 19th century American Chinese horticulturist Liu Jinnong to American fruit production. Liu Jinnong (1860-1925 AD), originally from Taishan County, Guangdong Province. In 1872, he traveled from Hong Kong to the United States.Liu Jinnong used the pollen of the Mediterranean sweet orange tree to infuse the local Hart Late Orange, and produced a fine new variety, which was named "Liu Jinnong Orange".Liu oranges are sweet in taste, juicy, small in core, resistant to frost and humidity. Due to their long ripening time, they can be marketed later and sold at high prices, so they are sold well all over the world.In this regard, Liu Boji made a vivid description in the sequel of "History of Overseas Chinese in the United States": "Gai Liucheng has the characteristics of hanging on the tree for four years after ripening without falling off, and at the same time it blooms and bears fruit. Stay in After two years of living on the tree, the juice is still fully edible. At that time, the orange tree was called the magic tree, and Liu was called a magician or a genius horticulturist." In 1911, the fruit tree cultivator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Balaki A special commendation was given to Liu Jinnong, who was awarded the Wilder Silver Medal.This is the first and only award awarded by the United States to an improved new variety of orange.In addition, Liu Jinnong has also successfully bred new varieties such as extra-large seedless grapes, late-ripening peaches, sweet apples and red bayberries. In addition to the above-mentioned occupations, the early overseas Chinese also engaged in various other industries in America. However, the number of Chinese in these industries was not only small, but also their role was relatively small, so I won’t go into details here.

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