Chapter 14 Section 3 Early Overseas Chinese Organizations

The American Overseas Chinese Organization came into being very early, almost at the same time as the overseas Chinese entered the Americas.One city organized a group of overseas Chinese, and other cities followed suit. It soon spread throughout North America, and later developed to the entire America.There are many types of American missions.There are overseas Chinese associations based on surname relations, overseas Chinese associations based on regions of origin, political parties and factions based on political principles, and various clubs organized on the basis of occupations.There are so many of them that it is difficult to count them. So far, we have not seen any complete and reliable data about the American Overseas Chinese Organization.

There are both historical and practical reasons why the American Overseas Chinese Organization came into being so early and developed so fast.Historically, China is a feudal society with strong clan and regional concepts. For a long time, there have been guild halls and associations reflecting regional concepts, and clan associations reflecting clan concepts. At the same time, there have also been various anti-Qing organizations. Secret society; From a practical point of view, farmers and handicraftsmen far away from the motherland face discrimination and persecution by white racists, and the corrupt Qing government is unwilling or unable to protect overseas Chinese, forcing them to organize, unite and help each other, and oppose persecution , in order to obtain the right to live.

In terms of the establishment of overseas Chinese groups in the Americas, the United States was the first, Canada was second, and Latin America was the last.As early as 1849, overseas Chinese originally from Taishan, Xinhui, Kaiping, and Enping counties in Guangdong established the "Siyi Guild Hall" in San Francisco, the United States. This is the first overseas Chinese organization in the United States and America. Once the "Siyi Guild Hall" was established, other guild halls also came into being, and soon developed into the Chinese settlements in the northern and eastern parts of the United States.By 1863, Canadian overseas Chinese established the Hongmen organization "Hong Shun Tang" in Barkerville, which was the first overseas Chinese group in Canada.Since then, other overseas Chinese organizations in Canada have also emerged.Overseas Chinese organizations appeared the latest in Latin America, and the earliest overseas Chinese organization was the "Jieyi Church" established in Havana by Cuban Chinese Zhong Xi and others in 1867.By 1893, almost all major Chinese towns in Latin America had established guild halls and halls.

Overseas Chinese organizations throughout the Americas, whether in the United States, Canada, or Latin America, because these overseas Chinese all came from China, especially the southeast coastal areas of China, the organizational principles, functions and even names of these overseas Chinese organizations are almost the same.In this way, we have provided favorable conditions for us to study the various American overseas Chinese organizations in the Americas. American overseas Chinese organizations can be roughly divided into the following types: One is the clan association organized by the surname.Overseas Chinese in the Americas who are deeply influenced by the Chinese clan concept, although not of the same clan, as long as they have the same surname, they will be recognized and become close.These Chinese from the same hometown and clan get together on weekends, take refuge in each other, help each other in poverty and sickness, and pass news to each other.Over time, groups with the same surname formed, such as "Jiangxia Hall" with the surname Huang, "Longxi Hall" with the surname Li, "Fengcai Hall" with the surname Yu, and so on.On this basis, overseas Chinese with the same surname and a large number of people established a considerable scale of single-surname government offices, such as "Yunshan Office" with the surname Huang, "Li Dunzong Office" with the surname Li, "Wuxi Office" with the surname Yu, etc. .At the same time, those overseas Chinese with the same surname and a small number of people united to establish a joint surname system "Tanghao" or "Gongsuo", such as "Zhidetang" by Chen, Hu, and Yuan, which was later changed to "Zhikaoduqingongsuo" ; Cai, Hu, and Zhou's "Zhikaotang" was later changed to "Zhide Sande Gongsuo".These clan societies organized on the basis of surnames are actually relatively primitive grassroots overseas Chinese organizations among overseas Chinese in America.

The other is the regional overseas Chinese organization in the nature of the fellow countrymen's association.In the early days, most of the overseas Chinese in Canada were from the "Siyi" of Guangdong. People from one village and one township often met to work together and helped each other in work and life, thus forming a regional grassroots organization - Fangkou (composed of three or five people voluntarily).Overseas Chinese in Canada later formed shantangs based on counties, and combined several counties into "companies" or "guild halls".For example, the "Sanyi Guild Hall" composed of Nanhai, Panyu, and Shunde in Guangdong, the "Siyi Guild Hall" composed of Taishan, Xinhui, Kaiping, and Enping in Guangdong, and so on.From 1849 to 1876, San Francisco, the birthplace of the American Overseas Chinese Organization, successively established seven halls.These guild halls once absorbed all overseas Chinese in the United States and became general and regional overseas Chinese organizations in Canada and Latin America.The purpose of organizing the guild hall is to help overseas Chinese find jobs, resist the invasion of hostile forces, solve problems for the overseas Chinese under them, provide charitable and welfare facilities, and resolve various disputes among overseas Chinese.On the basis of many guild halls, American countries have established nationally unified overseas Chinese organizations, which are generally called "Chinese guild halls".Represent overseas Chinese across the country in handling foreign affairs and major national affairs concerning overseas Chinese.However, the time for the establishment of Chinese guild halls in various countries in the Americas is not consistent.As early as 1853, when the four guild halls of Siyi, Yanghe, Sanyi, and Renhe were established in the United States, they jointly formed the Chinese Guild in San Francisco as an official organization representing overseas Chinese in the United States.In Mexico, it was not until 1918 that the Chinese Guild was established in Mexicali.In addition to the use of the name "Zhonghua Guild" in Latin American countries, it is called "China Tonghui General Administration" in Peru, "Minhui General Administration" in Venezuela, and so on.The names are different, but the essence is the same.

In America, there are overseas Chinese political parties organized with different political views.In terms of time, Zhigongtang (Triad Society or Chinese Freemasonry) is the oldest and most political church name among all church names, and it is actually a political organization.Zhigongtang was originally an anti-Qing and Fuming mass organization called "Tiandihui" (or Triad Society) in the southeast coast of my country in the late Qing Dynasty. It once echoed the Taiping Army going north to attack the Qing army.After the defeat of the Taiping Army, Tiandihui was suppressed, so some of them moved to the United States and Canada. In 1907, there were 72,819 overseas Chinese under Zhigongtang in the United States, with its headquarters in San Francisco and branches in various places. In 1946, the representative meeting of Hongmen organizations at home and abroad was held in Shanghai, and it was decided to establish a party. From then on, Zhigongtang in the Americas was renamed Zhigongdang.The party has set up general branches in many countries in Latin America and branches in several regions of a country.In addition to the Zhi Gong Dang, after the Revolution of 1911, the Kuomintang also began to establish general branches or branches in Cuba, Peru and other American countries, and there were several branches under it.

In addition, there are overseas Chinese organizations based on occupational categories in the Americas, such as the Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce and various trade associations in the United States; Chinese organizations with Chinese-American organizations, such as the Tongyuan Association; and Chinese organizations organized by gender, such as the Women’s Association etc. With the passage of time, the general trend of the development of these overseas Chinese clubs is that the overseas Chinese clubs organized according to their surnames and hometowns tend to decline day by day, and some such as "Longgang Gongsuo" have ceased their activities.And those national unified overseas Chinese organizations are developing day by day.In addition, some other overseas Chinese organizations are constantly emerging and developing according to different needs, such as associations or fraternities.