Chapter 13 Section 2 Chinatown

With the emergence of the "gold rush" in the Americas or the needs of the reclamation industry, early Chinese workers and overseas Chinese went to the other side of the ocean and arrived at major ports in America.Some entered the mining area in batches and set up camp in the mining area or nearby villages and towns. These Chinese immigrant settlements are often called "China Camp" and "China Li". After the relatively free Chinese immigrants arrived in American towns, they settled in the cities. When they came down, they were either employed by their families or worked as small merchants. These Chinese often lived together, and their settlements were often called "Little China" and "Little Guangzhou".

These American Chinese workers and overseas Chinese call themselves "Tangren", call China Tangshan, and use the word "Tang" for everything related to China, such as "Tang shirt" and "Tang meal". It is commonly known as "Chinatown" (Chinatown).In the United States, the words "Chinatown", that is, Chinatown, appeared for the first time in newspaper reports in 1853. "Chinatown" is, on the one hand, a place where overseas Chinese live together, and on the other hand, it is also a contact center for overseas Chinese to survive and defend themselves.

In the early days, overseas Chinese gathered and lived in foreign countries, which was the need of their life.The early overseas Chinese who arrived in the Americas were mainly farmers. They knew little or no English, Spanish or other foreign languages, and were not used to the lifestyles of American countries. "The traditional life of living together is convenient for them to take care of and help each other, which helps them survive in the Americas. During the gold rush period, after Chinese laborers arrived in the coastal areas of San Francisco, some were organized into mining areas, and they lived together in small towns in various mining areas. These residential areas were called "Chinese camps"; some settled down directly in San Francisco. , for the needs of life and work, they all live together, and these residential areas are called "Chinatown" or "Chinatown".Overseas Chinese live, do business and gradually live in Chinatown.Of course, some Chinese workers also lived scattered in various mining areas, agricultural areas, fishery areas, and animal husbandry areas, so life was more difficult.

During the anti-Chinese period in American countries, "Chinatown" became the center for Chinese to communicate, unite and defend themselves.The early "Chinatown" was often scattered, and the Chinese in Chinatown often lived together with other ethnic groups in the area.After the American countries began to exclude Chinese, the Chinese moved together one after another in order to resist rape, persecution and defend their houses and shops. At the same time, residents of other races in this area also evacuated from the areas where the Chinese were relatively concentrated. It has almost become a single Chinese community.With the successive establishment of overseas Chinese groups, the overseas Chinese organizations in Chinatown gradually became the nerve center for directing overseas Chinese actions and foreign activities.It is these overseas Chinese organizations that protect the small-capital service industries run by uncompetitive Chinese.These economic and political needs became the basis for the formation of Chinatown in the Americas and the basis for the long-term existence of Chinatown.

In America, almost all the cities with more overseas Chinese have Chinatowns.There are five major Chinatowns in the United States: San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston; the slightly larger Chinatowns include Seattle, Portland, Oakland, Marysville, Bresno, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.There are about 80 Chinatowns in the United States.There are six Chinatowns in Canada with a large scale including Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.Larger Chinatowns in Latin America include Lima in Peru, Havana in Cuba, Panama City in Panama, Mexico City and Mexicali in Mexico, and Sao Paulo in Brazil.Following the footsteps of overseas Chinese, Chinatowns sprung up on the land of America like mushrooms after rain.

In order to understand the formation process and situation of American Chinatown in detail, the following focuses on a few typical Chinatowns: San Francisco Chinatown in the western United States, formerly known as San Francisco (San Francisco), is one of the earliest and largest Chinatowns in the United States.Few of the early Chinese knew English, so they named it "San Francisco" according to the gold produced here.The Chinese who are originally from Guangdong also call it "San Francisco", also known as "Dabu". San Francisco was originally a port on the Pacific coast of the western United States.When gold was discovered in California, people flocked to the province from far and wide, and San Francisco was the destination and stopover for people arriving in the United States.After the people arrived, some of them settled down here, ran restaurants and opened small shops, and others stayed for a while before entering the mining area. In 1848, the first batch of 525 Chinese immigrants arrived in San Francisco, and another 450 moved in the following year.These Chinese became the founders of the construction of San Francisco.After arriving in the more desolate San Francisco, the Chinese transported soil to fill the sea, built deep-water docks, and built house warehouses, contributing to the construction of San Francisco.Initially, most of the Chinese shops were opened on Sacramento Street, and later gradually developed to Duban Street and Portsmouth Square.By 1853, Chinatown stretched from Sacramento Street in the south to Jackson Street in the north, Kearney Street in the east, and Stockton Street in the west.There are 74 grocery stores, medicine shops, and restaurants opened by Chinese here, making it the largest and most concentrated Chinatown at that time. In 1877, it developed to seven blocks from south to north, and three blocks from east to west. In 1892, the number of Chinatown stores increased to 674.Since 1890, although the Chinatown has been gradually depressed, especially in the 1906 earthquake, it was almost razed to the ground, but it has begun to recover since 1908.

After the reconstruction of San Francisco, it has a new look.In the article "San Francisco Chinatown Photo" published by the American Christian Science Magazine at that time, it described the general appearance of Chinatown at that time: "The appearance of New Chinatown is not very elegant. There are all shops along the street, and there are one or two restaurants or coffee shops; the streets are narrow and narrow, crowded with pedestrians, and children play under the dirty stairs...But the most pleasing to the eye in Chinatown, Juewei antiques, Gu embroidery, porcelain, tea sets, suitcases, and finely carved ivory and bronze utensils are quite interesting to tourists.

In Chinatown, those who hang straw ropes in front of grocery stores, or ginger or fruit, or herbs, or preserved duck and salted fish.In the dark part of the store, there are butchers, who either cut meat or prepare dishes.Among its partners, at most one person can speak English, and the rest are not, just like new customers.Some people changed to suits, but most of them still wore cloth shoes and black caps.Although the Chinese have lived in the United States for a long time, they are still different, just like those living in Guangzhou.Those generations adapted to foreign lands from far away, and they have inherited their inherent cultural customs and are unwilling to give up. Therefore, even though they are in a foreign country, they have formed their own customs.The Chinese have lived in this environment for twenty to forty years.On both sides of the street, on the upper floor of the shop, is the residence of the family members. Several members of a family live in one room, or they live in several rooms. In some residential areas, there are some who reveal the poorest state.All in all, the state of life in Chinatown is the result of the chaos of the old and the new. "

The above article describes the cityscape, shops, cultural customs, and the disparity between the rich and the poor in San Francisco's Chinatown at that time in a concise manner, reflecting the true appearance of San Francisco's Chinatown at that time. After the First World War, Chinatown in San Francisco developed even more, with clubhouses prepared by Chinese groups and magnificent buildings with ethnic styles sprang up.By 1940, the total number of overseas Chinese and Chinese in San Francisco had increased to more than 20,000.In addition to various shops and restaurants, there are theaters, cinemas, antique craft shops, hospitals, post offices, offices of banks, steamship companies and railway companies, as well as bookstores, newspaper offices, printing offices, etc., and a complete living system has been built.

Lima, Peru in Latin America is also a relatively large Chinatown. In the second half of the 19th century, after the expiry of the contracts of Peruvian indentured Chinese laborers and their freedom, some Chinese gradually flowed into the cities, either as hired labor or as small merchants.Among them, many Chinese entered Lima, and gradually formed the largest Chinatown in Peru, Lima Chinatown, in the vicinity of the Peruvian Ministry of Finance and Italian Park in Lima, along Gabon Street, Aiyu Street and Barulu Street.The Chinese opened shops, restaurants and hotels in Chinatown in Lima, Peru, and engaged in various business activities.Later, the China General Administration of Tonghui and the Eighth Assembly Hall, the leading organizations of the overseas Chinese groups in Peru, were also located here.Most of the people living in this Chinatown are Cantonese, so Cantonese is commonly used in Chinatown.From the architectural form of the Chinatown to the habits of the residents, they all have Chinese national characteristics.Tourists feel as if they are in China when they are in Lima Chinatown.

The earliest Chinatown in Canada was Victoria Chinatown.Victoria is a port on the west coast of Canada.After the "gold rush" in Canada, Victoria became the first place for Chinese to go to Canada's gold-producing area, and became the first city in Canada to have a Chinatown.Initially, Chinese businessmen from the United States set up shops on Johnson Street and Collen Street, and gradually expanded to Herold Street, Government Street and Douglas Street.During the construction of the Pacific Railway, there were 1,000-3,000 people in Chinatown, accounting for 1/3 of the city's population.At the southern end of Feisgard Street in this port, there are Chinese Association Hall and Overseas Chinese Public School.In the 19th century, Victoria Chinatown was the center of the Chinese community in British Columbia. Various Chinese groups were first established here, and it once became the headquarters of overseas Chinese groups.After entering the 20th century, the scale of Victoria's Chinatown was slightly smaller than that of Toronto, but it still occupied an important position in Canada's Chinatown.

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