5. Sam Yup & Shunde
So far, we've spent a lot of time discussing Chinese history and geography. For the Cantonese immigrants of the late 1800's and early 1900's, where you came from in Guangdong played a significant role in determing what trade you ended up upon your arrival in America. In figure 1a you can see a map of the Pearl River districts as they were organized at the turn of the 20th century. Note that there is a grouping (tan) of three ("Sam") districts ("Yup") around Guangzhou and a grouping (pink) of four ("Sze") districts west of the delta. These two regions are known collectively as the Sam Yup and Sze Yup and many of the early Chinese immigrants to San Francisco were from one of these seven districts.
(1a) The administraive districts of the Pearl River Delta around 1900 (adapted from the Chinese Historical Society of America); (1b) the districts that strongly influenced the early San Francisco Chinese communty either came from the Sam Yup or Sze Yup regions.
The early immigrants established a certain occupational hierarchy based on one's district of
origin. For example, the Sze Yup region was highly agrarian, and many immigrants from Sze Yup took up work in America as laborers and domestics. People from Sze Yup went on to control the laundry, small retail shop, and restaurant businesses of San Francisco.
On the other hand, Sam Yup was one of the wealthiest areas in Guangdong, and many of the early wealthy Chinese merchants were from Sam Yup. Sam Yup was made up of the: 1) Nanhai (Namhoi); 2) Panyu (Punyu); and Shunde (Shuntak) districts. In the City, the Namhoi came to monopolize the Chinese tailoring trade as well as running many of the butcher shops. Overall and workers' clothes factories were nearly exclusively owned by immigrants from Shunde.
Our family hails from the Sam Yup district of Shunde (順德) which is located 20 kilometers south of Guangzhou. The district of Shunde (also variously transliterated as Shun-te, Shuntak) was first settled way back in the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period (722-481 BCE). More than two millenia later, life in Shunde was still rather modest. In Yong Chen’s “Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943,” the author cites a Shunde gazetteer’s description of the district from 1853:
“Every locality in Shunde is full of water and can be reached by boat. Rivers flow in different directions. [There are] profitable mulberry-tree fields and fish ponds. Natural silk is produced annually. Men and women live by their own exertion. The poor lease their land from the rich, who collect rent… Others specialize in different kinds of crafts and occupations that are found throughout the townships, [ranging from weaving to making various utensils].”
(2a) The Sam Yup districts of Nanhai, Panyu, and Shunde (adapted from the Chinese Historical Society of America); (2b) present day Shunde near Lecong City (Judy Dong, 2005).
More recently, in March 1992 the Chinese government created Shunde "City" designating the region a special economic zone. The result was the overnight transformation of the area’s rural economy into one based on manufacturing and trade. In a somewhat semantically confusing reorganization in the beginning of 2003, Shunde City was rechristened as the district of Shunde. Hence, no actual city of Shunde now appears on maps.
According to the People's Government of Shunde, here are some statistics to give you a flavor for how much the area has grown: Shunde now comprises 10 towns, 109 administrative villages, a population in excess of 1.1 million people, with a GDP of nearly ¥51 billion RMB ("Renminbi" or "People's currency"), and a worker's annual salary of almost ¥17,000. (For those with a calculator handy, the current exchange rate is approximately $1:¥8). In less than a decade, Shunde is now amongst the most prosperous and rapidly developing areas in all of China, including our family's ancestral village of Loo Jow.
(*Fun fact* Martial arts legend Bruce Lee hails from Shang Village, Jun'an, Shunde!)
Links
People's Government of Shunde
A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus, Thomas Chin (ed)
Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943 by Yong Chen
(1a) The administraive districts of the Pearl River Delta around 1900 (adapted from the Chinese Historical Society of America); (1b) the districts that strongly influenced the early San Francisco Chinese communty either came from the Sam Yup or Sze Yup regions.The early immigrants established a certain occupational hierarchy based on one's district of
origin. For example, the Sze Yup region was highly agrarian, and many immigrants from Sze Yup took up work in America as laborers and domestics. People from Sze Yup went on to control the laundry, small retail shop, and restaurant businesses of San Francisco.On the other hand, Sam Yup was one of the wealthiest areas in Guangdong, and many of the early wealthy Chinese merchants were from Sam Yup. Sam Yup was made up of the: 1) Nanhai (Namhoi); 2) Panyu (Punyu); and Shunde (Shuntak) districts. In the City, the Namhoi came to monopolize the Chinese tailoring trade as well as running many of the butcher shops. Overall and workers' clothes factories were nearly exclusively owned by immigrants from Shunde.
Our family hails from the Sam Yup district of Shunde (順德) which is located 20 kilometers south of Guangzhou. The district of Shunde (also variously transliterated as Shun-te, Shuntak) was first settled way back in the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period (722-481 BCE). More than two millenia later, life in Shunde was still rather modest. In Yong Chen’s “Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943,” the author cites a Shunde gazetteer’s description of the district from 1853:
“Every locality in Shunde is full of water and can be reached by boat. Rivers flow in different directions. [There are] profitable mulberry-tree fields and fish ponds. Natural silk is produced annually. Men and women live by their own exertion. The poor lease their land from the rich, who collect rent… Others specialize in different kinds of crafts and occupations that are found throughout the townships, [ranging from weaving to making various utensils].”
(2a) The Sam Yup districts of Nanhai, Panyu, and Shunde (adapted from the Chinese Historical Society of America); (2b) present day Shunde near Lecong City (Judy Dong, 2005).More recently, in March 1992 the Chinese government created Shunde "City" designating the region a special economic zone. The result was the overnight transformation of the area’s rural economy into one based on manufacturing and trade. In a somewhat semantically confusing reorganization in the beginning of 2003, Shunde City was rechristened as the district of Shunde. Hence, no actual city of Shunde now appears on maps.
According to the People's Government of Shunde, here are some statistics to give you a flavor for how much the area has grown: Shunde now comprises 10 towns, 109 administrative villages, a population in excess of 1.1 million people, with a GDP of nearly ¥51 billion RMB ("Renminbi" or "People's currency"), and a worker's annual salary of almost ¥17,000. (For those with a calculator handy, the current exchange rate is approximately $1:¥8). In less than a decade, Shunde is now amongst the most prosperous and rapidly developing areas in all of China, including our family's ancestral village of Loo Jow.
(*Fun fact* Martial arts legend Bruce Lee hails from Shang Village, Jun'an, Shunde!)
Links
People's Government of Shunde
A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus, Thomas Chin (ed)
Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943 by Yong Chen
posted by steve at 11:34 PM
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