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Sunday, February 26, 2006

15. Old Chinatown - "Tangrenbu"

Those who have visited San Francisco's Chinatown are familiar with the neighborhood's unique urban environment including its dense interplay of housing, commerce, and varied social institutions. However, much of what constitutes today's Chinatown was rebuilt in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire. Thus, when Dong Hin arrived in Chinatown in 1881, he would have entered a neighborhood that in many ways would be very unfamiliar to us today.1a) Ross Alley viewed from Jackson Street; (1b) "Pigtail parade" (Arnold Genthe, 1895-1906).

Upon arriving at "Dabu," the Cantonese name for San Francisco meaning "big city " or the "first city," Chinese immigrants made their way to the City's Chinese quarter known as "Tangrenbu" (Tong Yen Fau, "port of the people of Tang [i.e. Chinese]"). There had been a Chinese presence in Yerba Buena as early as 1838. As the village grew into the City of San Francisco, the Chinese presence grew concomitantly as waves of Chinese immigrants arrived, first in response to the gold rush and later as labor for the building of the transcontinantal railroad.

Chinatown first sprang up as a collection of Chinese stores on Sacramento Street (as known as "Tangrenjie" or Tong Yen Gaai, "the street of the Chinese People") between Kearny and Dupont (now Grant Avenue). The neighborhood rapidly expanded to a ten block area bordered by Broadway to the north, Kearny Street to the east, California Street to the south, and Stockton Street to the west (figure 2). As anti-Chinese sentiment grew in the mid to late 19th century, the life of Chinese immigrants would largely become restricted to the confines of the growing ghetto.
2) Map of Old Chinatown commisioned by the San Francisco Board of Supervisor's Special Committee on Chinatown. The color coding indicated the locations of "Chinese occupancy, Chinese gambling houses, Chinese prostitution, Chinese opium resorts, Chinese joss houses, and White prostitution" (circa 1885, Library of Congress).

There are few surviving documents that capture life in Tangrenbu during the late 19th century. Fortunately, what does remain are the photographs of Arnold Genthe (figure 1), a German tutor who came to San Francisco in 1895. Fascinated by Chinatown, Genthe taught himself the then-fledgling art of photography and spent the next decade photographing daily life in Tangrenbu. To get a glimse of old Chinatown, I cannot recommend enough the book "Genthe's Photographs of San Francisco's Old Chinatown" with historical context provided by John Kuo Wei Tchen.

As one can gather from the map in figure 2, old Chinatown was a complex neighborhood, very much male-dominated and defined in many ways by the forces of anti-Chinese attitudes. Thus it is no surprise that Chinatown developed a certain reputation for lawlessness and vice. One of the most fascinating descriptions of old Chinatown I have come across is by former San Francisco Chief of Police Jesse B. Cook. He began as a beat officer with the SFPD, and later served as a sergeant with the “Chinatown Squad," a special unit formed in the 1880's to combat "vice" in Chinatown. In a June 1931 article in the San Francisco Police and Peace Officers’ Journal, Chief Cook described the conditions in San Francisco’s Chinatown before 1906 from his perspective as a member of the “Chinatown Squad.” Here are some selected exerpts from Cook's article, some of which focus on some of the shadier aspects of life in old Chinatown:

On Chinese names for the area:

"The State of California was at one time called “Gow Kum Shain,” or Old Gold Mill. Sacramento was known as the “second city,” or Yee Fow, and San Francisco had the Chinese name of Tie Fow, or “the big city.” America, that is the United States of America, was known as May Yee Kwock, or Ah May Yee Kah, also Fah Kay Kwock, meaning the flower flag country. Americans were known as Fah Kay Yen, or flower flagmen.

The Chinese had their own names for the alleys in Chinatown. The main streets, outside of Sacramento Street, were always known to the Chinese by their English names, the other streets, however, were all known by Chinese names.

If you asked a Chinaman where an alley was and gave the American name, he would be unable to tell you, for he would not know. But if you gave him the Chinese name, he would know immediately. For instance, Sacramento Street was known as China Street—in Chinese as Tong Yen Guy. The Spanish originally settled Ross Alley, but when the Chinese came they crowded the Spaniards out. This alley was, therefore, given the name of Gow Louie Sun Hong, or Old Spanish Alley. Spofford Alley was another alley from which the Spaniards were crowded out; this was called Sun Louie Sun Hong, or new Spanish Alley.

Alongside the old First Baptist Church, on Washington below Stockton was an alley, at the end of which was a stable for horses. The Chinese named this Mah Fong Hong, “stable alley.” A small alley off of Ross Alley was known as On New Hong, in other words, “urinating alley,” as the Chinese made it a regular urinating place.

Duncan [Duncombe] Alley is off Jackson Street, below Stockton, and is known as Fay Chie Hong, or “Fat Boy Alley.” This was named after a young boy living on the street who, at fifteen years, weighed about 240 pounds. A little way below, on the opposite side of the street, was St. Louis Alley. In the early days of Chinatown there was a large fire in the alley, which burned up quite a number of houses. The Chinese, therefore, called it “fire alley,” or “Fo Sue Hong.”

Opposite Fire Alley was Sullivan Alley, running halfway through from Jackson to Pacific Street. As there was a restaurant in this alley, the Chinese called it “Cum Cook Yen,” the same name as the restaurant.

Another alley was named “Min Pow Hong,” or bread alley, because there was a bakery on it. Brenham Place, running from Washington Street to Clay Street, back of the square, was called “Fah Yeun Guy,” or Flower Street, because of the park. Bartlett Alley, running from Jackson to Pacific Street, just below Grant Avenue, or Dupont Street, was called “Buck Wa John Guy,” or the grocery man who speaks Chinese. Opposite this was Washington Alley, known to the whites as “Fish Alley.” The Chinese, however, called it “Tuck Wo Guy,” after a store on it.

Waverly Place, originally known as Pike Street, ran from Washington Street to Sacramento Street, above Dupont, and was called “Ten How Mue Guy,” after a Chinese Temple in that street."

On Chinese boys and school:

"The boys were sent to school; that is, to the Chinese school; they were not allowed to go to the European school. At that time there was one public school of about four rooms, on Clay Street, between Stockton and Powell Streets, those in attendance being mostly Japanese and other races. The Chinese boys went to their own school, from 8 o’clock in the morning until 10:30 at night, with time off for lunch and dinner. In Chinese, each character represents a word, and the only way they had of studying was to memorize these characters, which were placed on a blackboard or hung upon the wall. These were repeated over and over continually all day long until thoroughly imbedded in the minds of the boys. The teachers generally carried a long rattan and were very strict. If a boy made a mistake in reading from a chart, the teacher would hit him over the head with the rattan."

On the vices of Chinatown:

"People, generally, have the idea that Chinese are natural gamblers. This is not true. The old-time Chinese visited gambling houses so much because there were so few places of entertainment. In the first place, very few of them were married men. They could not speak English and, therefore, could not enjoy American dramas, dances or games. The only things left for them to do were either to visit houses of prostitution, gambling houses, lottery houses or the Chinese Theatre."

On fan tan gambling houses:

"In regard to the gambling games in Chinatown—my first trip to Chinatown was in 1889 as a patrolman in a squad. At that time there were about 62 lottery agents, 50 fan tan games and eight lottery drawings in Chinatown. In the 50 fan tan gambling houses the tables numbered from one to 24, according to the size of the room.

The game was played around a table about 10 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide. On this table was a mat covering the whole top. In the center of the mat was a diagram of a 12-inch square, each corner being numbered in Chinese characters, 1, 2, 3 and 4.

At the head of the table sat a lookout or gamekeeper. At the side was the dealer. This man had a Chinese bowl and a long bamboo stick with a curve at the end, like a hook. In front of him, fastened to the table, was a bag containing black and white buttons. He would scoop down into the sack with his bowl and raise it, turning it upside down on the table. The betting would then start.

After the bets were made, the dealer would raise the bowl and start to draw down the buttons, drawing four buttons at a time. The Chinese would make their bets at the drawing down of the buttons. The dealer would draw down until one, two, three or even four buttons would be left. Sometimes the Chinese would bet that the last four buttons would be all white, all black or that there would be a mixture of black and white buttons."

On lottery drawings (a game similar to keno):

"The Chinese have a very large room, with the doors constructed the same as in the case of a fan tan game room. The far end of the room is partitioned off with wire screens to the full width and about 8 feet deep. In back of the screen are two shelves, one of which acts as a counter for four Chinamen. Each Chinaman has a separate window in the screen. On the other shelf are placed Chinese ink pots and brushes, for the purpose of marking Chinese lottery tickets. Every Chinese lottery ticket has 80 characters on it, 40 above the line and 40 below. Each company stamps their own name at the head of the ticket. These tickets are really a Chinese poem, written by a Chinaman while in prison, and later adopted as a Chinese lottery ticket. There is not a thing on these tickets to designate their real use, although they are never used for any other purpose.

The agents around town had their offices in back of stores where they sell the tickets. Just before the drawing takes place, they present a triplicate copy of each ticket sold to the Chinaman at the window. The duplicate ticket is given to the purchaser, while the agent retains the original. As soon as all the money and tickets are in, the tickets are closed and the lottery is held.

In a little package, about 2 inches square, are 80 slips of paper. On each of these slips is a character corresponding to one of the characters on the lottery ticket. The Chinaman sets in front of him a large pan, like the old-time milk pans we used to set for milk to raise cream, and four bowls, each bearing a Chinese number—either 1, 2, 3 or 4. The small slips of paper are folded into little pellets, thrown into the pan and shaken up. The drawing then begins. The first pellet drawn is put into bowl No. 1, the next into bowl No. 2, and so on, until there are twenty pellets in each bowl.

The Chinaman then takes another small package, containing four little square pieces of paper. On each of these pieces is a figure in Chinese corresponding with the figures on the bowls. The same procedure is then followed as with the pellets. The slip picked from the pan is handed to the clerk, who in turn hands it to a man standing on the shelf in back of him. It is opened, in the presence of everybody gathered there. Of course, the bowl bearing the same number is considered the winning bowl; the other three are placed under the counter.

The pellets are then taken from the winning bowl and are pasted on a board in full view. These are winning characters. The Chinese mark the tickets by daubing the characters that agree with the ones on the board, with a brush. After this has been done, they present their tickets, and come back at the proper time to get their reward; that is, whatever they won."

On tongs and tong wars:

"We now come to the starting of the so-called “tongs,” commonly known as the “hi-binders.” The first tong was the Chee Kung Tong. Every man coming from China became a member of this tong. It was never known to have been in any trouble, for the Six Companies looked after the Chinese and saw that they were properly cared for.

In the early days, a Chinaman known as “Little Pete,” whose Chinese name was Fong Jing Tong, was interested in quite a number of slave dens, gambling places and lottery houses. The hoodlum element of Chinatown would make raids on these places and demand tribute money, or blackmail. It became so bad that Little Pete conceived the idea of forming tongs to protect his interests. The first tongs he started were the Bo Sin Sere and the Guy Sin Sere, and they guaranteed him absolute protection.

About this time there was another Chinaman, Chin Ten Sing, known as “Big Jim,” who also had large interests in a great many gambling, lottery and slave houses. He saw the protection that Little Pete was getting, and as he had to turn to his own houses for protection, decided to start some tongs also. Among them were the Suey Singsa, the Hop Sings and a number of others.

This proved very successful until the tongs started fighting among themselves over slave girls and gambling games. These wars sometimes lasted for several months.

During my first term in Chinatown in 1889, the Chinese did not use revolvers in their tong wars, believing they made too much noise. A lather’s hatchet sharpened to a razor edge was their chief weapon. With this they could chop a man all to pieces and generally, when they did leave him, would drive the hatchet into his skull and leave it there. The men using these weapons were known as Poo Tow Choy, or little hatchet men."

On opium dens:

"The opium den was another thing that the Chinese resorted to because they had no other place to go. At that time nearly every store in Chinatown had an opium layout in the rear for their customers. All the Chinaman had to do was bring his opium. In those days the Chinese were allowed to smoke opium, provided they did not do so in the presence of a white man. If a white man was present it meant the arrest of all who were in the room at the time.

In the old days, at the corner of Washington Street and Spofford Alley, in a room right off the street, anyone could see Chinamen mixing old opium with new. That is, after opium is smoked the ashes drop down into the pipe in the bowl. This is scraped out with certain instruments and saved. It is then known as “Yen Shee,” and is later mixed with new opium. I have seen as many as 100 Chinamen smoking opium in a den in Chinatown. The opium smoke was sometimes so thick in those dens that the gas jets looked like small matches burning."

Links:
"Genthe's Photographs of San Francisco's Old Chinatown"
with text by John Kuo Wei Tchen
"Arnold Genthe's 'San Francisco Chinatown, 1895-1906'" (California Historical Society)
"San Francisco's Old Chinatown" (Chief Jesse Cook, 1931)
Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943 by Yong Chen

Monday, February 20, 2006

14. Hung On Tong

We know little about what Dong Hin did during his first years in San Francisco. He may have had some sort of affiliation with the Sam Yup Company, and perhaps even a family association. However, we do know that he had strong and lasting ties to the Hung On Tong Society (; Pinyin "xíng ān shàn táng").

The Hung On Tong Society was founded in 1858 as a district association for people of Shunde (Shun Tuck; ) descent. Like other associations, the Society's mission included working for the membership's common welfare, helping the old and infirmed, providing a means for Shun Tuck people to maintain contact with one another, and exhuming and returning the dead to China for permanent burial. On this last point, Yong Chen in Chinese San Francisco 1850-1943 notes that "many immigrants requested that their bodies or ashes be [returned to their homes in China] so that they could be united with their loved ones. That wish... demonstrated the immigrant's 'love for his native land, and the desire that his last resting-place shall be where the ashes of his kindred lie'." Though returning remains to China was expensive and difficult, the demand was so great that numerous specialized charity societies were founded to assist individuals and benevolent associations in this process.
(1a) Hung On Tong Society headquarters at 657 Jackson Street. The building was rebuilt in 1908 after the original building was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake; (1b) the Hung On Tong Society logo includes famous Shunde commodities such as silk and fish; (1c) detail of the Hung On Tong doorway. The middle characters are "Shunde," the bottom characters roughly translate as Hung On "travel peacefully" "charitable" Tong "hall"; (1d) detail of Hung On Tong letterhead (photos Steve, 2006).

Presumably with the aid of the Hung On Tong Society, the 14-year old Dong Hin began his lifelong involvement in the Shunde-controlled worker's garment business. Upon his arrival in San Francisco, Dong Hin became a member of the Gon Kee Company in 1881 and served with the firm until 1890. The Gon Kee Company was located at 919 Dupont Street (now Grant Avenue) and was a dealer of Chinese clothing. Unfortunately we don't know much about Dong Hin's role in Gon Kee other than that he eventually became a "merchant" with the company.
(2) Detail from a map of "Old Chinatown" from 1885. The approximate location of the Gon Kee Co. at 919 Dupont is shown. The orange colored block describes the lot as "C. [Chinese] clothing store." The pink lot behind the storefront indicates a gambling establishment (adapted from The Chinese in California, 1850-1925, Bancroft Library, U.C. Berekeley).

Prior to the 1960's, the Society was led by four administrators known as Junglei. Each Junglei assumed a six-month term administering the Society's finances. These administrators came from the four worker's garment businesses owned by the Shun-Tucknese, namely: 1) the George Brothers Co.; 2) the H. Williams Co.; 3) the Quong Lee Co.; and 4) the Ching Chong Co. As we'll learn later on Dong Hin played major roles in both the George Brothers and the H. Williams Companies. Not surprisingly, "Deng Yin," an alternative transliteration of "Dong Hin," was noted as one of the Junglei who led the Society during these years.

In 1960, with the closure of these businesses, the Society reorganized and became a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. Much of the mission of the Society has focused on preserving and promoting Shunde culture and fostering brotherhood within and without the Society through events such as visits to the Chinese cementary during the Ching Ming, Yue Lan, and Chung Yeung festivals. As of 1985, the Society continued its role to aid new immigrants from Shunde transitioning to their new lives in America, just like it helped Dong Hin in 1881.

In 1873, the Hung On Tong Society purchased a building at 657 Jackson Street to serve as its headquarters. Like almost everything else in Chinatown, the headquarters was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake (more on this later). Regrouping in temporary offices on Oakland's Webster Street, Hung On Tong's leaders organized the reconstruction of a new building at the same address two years later in 1908. For almost 100 years, the building has served as the headquarters of the Society. However, a brand new and much larger headquarters designed by Dick W. Wong and Associates was recently completed down the street at the corner of Jackson and Kearny.
(3a) The old Hung On Tong Society building at 657 Jackson Street; (3b) the recently completed new Hung On Tong Society headquarters at 601 Jackson Street (photos Steve, 2006)

As times have changed, the power and influence of many Chinatown associations has diminished. To the best of our knowledge, our own family's direct involvement with Hung On Tong has lapsed long ago. However, the construction of the new and rather large headquarters at the prominent corner location of Jackson and Kearny is clearly suggestive of the Society's wherewithal and aspirations.

A revealing 1999 article by Julie Soo in AsianWeek sheds some light into the financial world of Chinatown associations and Hung On Tong in particular. Soo writes, "Many associations are over a century old, meaning they have amassed real estaste holdings that help feed growing treasuries... [and] the associations [currently] own 30 percent of the property in Chinatown, and they own several cemeteries in San Mateo County. Conservative estimates on the worth of the associations' property holdings in the two counties run upward of $250 million, mostly paid off years ago and taxed at low Proposition 13 property tax rates. The Hung On Tong Society alone had $1.3 million in savings and cash when it confronted the first in a series of legal battles around 1989, according to tax returns. The association also has upward of $5 million in real estate holdings... [and is one of the] city's most affluent associations."

Nearly 150 years ago, the Hung On Tong society was established to help the immigrants from Shunde while maintaining a connection to the homeland. As the world of the 21st century begins to look eastward for new opportunities, it will be fascinating to see how the role of the Hung On Tong Society as a bridge between cultures evolves in the ever-changing relationship between the Shun-tucknese of China and America.

Links
"Strained Relations" by Julie Soo (AsianWeek, 1999)
"Hung on Tong Society, Reunion Banquet - Special Edition" (1985, provided by Judy)
Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943 by Yong Chen

Sunday, February 05, 2006

13. Family Associations & the Chinese Six Companies

With his arrival in San Francisco in 1881, Dong Hin would soon become part of the incredibly complex business and societal organizations that effectively ran Chinatown. The fundamental building block of Chinese society has always been the family unit, through which social order was maintained. This basic tenet was no different for the earliest Chinese immigrants to America. As family or clan members arrived, they shared unique dialects, customs, and loyalties and thus would naturally band together as they began to create a new life in America. Often the center of this activity was in a merchandise store operated by one of the clan members. Once the store began to grow, the owner would send for more relatives or others with similar family-names from China to join the company. This mechanism of overlapping social and business “recruitment” would lead to the phenomenon of particular families controlling particular industries. Examples include our own family’s involvement in the worker’s garment industry; the Dear (also transliterated as Dea, Dere, Jear, Jay, etc) family’s control of fruit and candy stalls and stores; and the ownership of better class restaurants by the Yee’s and Lee’s.

As the immigrant population grew, a need arose for organizations to maintain social order. Unfortunately, because of the growing prejudice and hostility of Americans, the Chinese could not turn to the “American courts for settlement.” Instead, a complex set of social institutions evolved in Chinatown, designed to maintain order in the fledgling community.

Family Associations were created with membership based on the same surname. With the rising wave of immigration, family associations grew and eventually purchased buildings as headquarters for the group. The elders of the family associations were responsible for maintaining order within the association by settling disputes, helping the needy, and disciplining the unruly.

Further maintaining ties to their homeland, the Chinese of San Francisco established district associations based on one’s place of origin. In Chinese these associations were called or "huìgǔan," roughly translated as "organization/meeting" and "public building." Of the approximately 90 districts of Guangdung of the time, about twenty-four were heavily represented in Chinatown. Like the family associations, these district associations played a major role in keeping order in Chinatown. However, instead of focusing on individual disputes within clans, the district associations dealt with problems between businesses and groups or issues “between” districts.
(1) The evolution of the Sam Yup Benevolent Association and its relationship to the "Chinese Six Companies" which would become the CCBA (adapted from the Chinese Historical Society of America).

By about 1862, there were six major district associations: 1) our own Sam Yup (Canton Co.); 2) Kong Chow; 3) Ning Yeung; 4) Yeong Wo; 5) Hop Wo; and 6) Yan Wo. Seeing the need and realizing the advantage of combining power, these district associations joined together to form the “Chinese Six Companies.” This organization would remain the unchallenged supreme authority in Chinatown for more than 50 years. In 1901, the Six Companies was incorporated and officially became known as the “Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association” or “CCBA.”
(2a) The Sam Yup Benevolent Association building at 835 Grant Avenue; (2b) the doorway to the Sam Yup Association (photos, Steve, 2006).

It’s difficult to overstate the power of the “Chinese Six Companies.” At its peak, the “Six Companies” was empowered to speak on behalf of all Californian Chinese, was the “official board of arbitration for disputes between the various district groups,” and “before the establishment of any Chinese consular… agency in America, the Chinese Six Companies acted as spokesman for the Imperial Manchu government in its relations with the Chinese in America.”

If you’re confused by all these groups, you’re not alone. Probably the handiest way of picturing this is to think of the way the American legal system is organized: 1) family associations are like municipal courts; 2) district associations serve the role of the state supreme court; and 3) the “Chinese Six Companies” was the final arbiter of all issues as is the federal supreme court.
(3) Legal and administrative hierarchy of various organizations with Chinatown. As a district association, the Sam Yup Co. dealt with matters internal to the district, but also had a major voice as a member of the Chinese Six Companies.

Some of the “Chinese Six Companies” noteworthy accomplishments include maintaining a Chinese census, starting Chinese language schools, establishing the Chinese Hospital (particularly important since the Chinese could not be admitted to the San Francisco County Hospital during the 1860’s and 1870’s), and fighting all anti-Chinese legislation enacted by the City, state, and federal governments. However, there was a dark side to the power amassed by the “Six Companies.” The organization was effectively a nonvoluntary "voluntary association" – businessmen had to pay membership dues if they wished to stay in business. Additionally the Six Companies controlled movement back to China through the issuance of “exit permits.” The CCBA convinced steamship companies like the Pacific Mail Steamship Company not to sell tickets to Chinese who wished to return to China without an “exit permit.” Of course, a fee was associated with these permits, and the fee became an important "tax power” that would remain in place until the 1949 Communist takeover of China.
(4a) The CCBA building at 843 Stockton Street; (4b) CCBA letterhead; (4c) the door way to the CCBA; notice the last two characters to the left over the doorway: or "huìgǔan (photos, Steve, 2006).

The CCBA still exists today, its headquarters located at 843 Stockton Street at Clay (by the post office). Though still somewhat a secretive institution, its aspirations and history are readily apparent in the wording on its letterhead:

“The Official Representative Association of Chinese in America”

Links

A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus, Thomas Chin (ed)
"Chinatown Introduction: a Tale of Four Cities," Randolph Delehanty