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California Cantonese

(Redirected from Chinese-Americans in the California Gold Rush)

California Cantonese people (Cantonese: Gāazāu Gwóngdūng jān, 加州 廣東人) descend from historic Cantonese settlers who came from Southern China, particularly Guangdong Province (Historically known as Canton) of Late Qing Dynasty China. This community settled in California during the 1800s and early 1900s, and they speak their own dialect of Cantonese. Today, members of this community are third, fourth, and fifth generation Americans.[1][2][3]

California Cantonese people
Gāazāu Gwóngdūng jān (加州 廣東人)
Gāmsāan jān (金山人)
Painting of Chinatown, San Francisco, 1881
Regions with significant populations
California (San Francisco, Los Angeles), Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Montana
Languages
California Cantonese, English
Religion
Confucian, Taoist, Christian, Buddhist
Related ethnic groups
Cantonese people, Chinese Americans
Areas of Cantonese settlement in California

The California Cantonese call their home state "Gold Mountain" (Cantonese: Gāmsāan, 金山), and differentiate themselves as Gāmsāan jān (金山人) "Gold Mountain people", from foreign Chinese immigrants who they refer to as "Gold Mountain guests" (Cantonese: Gāmsāan hāak, 金山客).[4][5]

Early settlement

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Growth of California

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In the mid-19th century, Chinese immigration to California surged in the years leading up to the Gold Rush. Most of these immigrants entered the country through the port of San Francisco, and by 1860, Cantonese immigrants had settled in all but five of California's counties.[6]

In total, about 70,000 gold miners from the Pearl River delta and Guangdong province (Canton) came to California during the Gold Rush period.[7]

First arrivals

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A Cantonese gold miner, 1853

The first miners in California are thought to have been a group of around 60 contracted miners who arrived in Tuolumne County in 1849. They were hired by a British company in Shanghai under a contract that gave them passage money in return for their money to be paid back via monthly wage deductions. In the preliminary two years of the gold rush contracted labor was the most common hiring method, but evidence shows contracts were not easily enforced as excerpts from sea captains show accounts of Chinese miners leaving their contractors once they arrived in America.[8]

Chinese miners were not present in California in a substantial manner at the beginning of the Gold Rush. The population of Chinese miners in California did not break 1,000 people until 1851 with 2,700 miners being counted in the census. Starting in 1852 the Cantonese miner population in the American West spiked and in 1852 came to make up 25% of all California miners, about 20,000 miners.[9] Unlike the first Chinese prospectors, the immigrants in 1852 came on their own account using methods like credit tickets to fund their trip.[8]

Mining work

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Early Cantonese settlers came from Liangguang of the Qing Empire, a greater Cantonese territory comprising Guangdong, Guangxi, Macau, and Hong Kong.

As miners arrived to California they, like most other individually contracted workers, practiced alluvial mining along stream beds. This method of mining was extremely cheap and accessible to all miners. The only material people needed for alluvial mining was a rocker box which was a cheaply made piece of equipment that sifted gold out from stream beds. Some miners would take claims along streams individually but jointly registering claims proved to be an effective method of efficiently profiting, and Chinese miners actively participated in this. From 1854-1857 44% of 61 claims made by Chinese miners accounted for parties of two or three miners. This method of joint claims proved to work as well for Chinese miners as American miners, making around 75$ per month per person on claims that were valued at $500-$600. Individual mining quickly became more organized and sophisticated, and as mining developed so did companies pertaining to mining. Many companies emerged from groups that took claims together consistently and Chinese miners were not excluded from this.[8]

Founding of Chinatowns

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As the Cantonese laborers first came to San Francisco and Sacramento, but they soon began establishing their own settlements across the region, which became known as Chinatowns. From these Chinatowns, Cantonese immigrants started working in other industries beyond mining, and setting up businesses: some dedicated themseleves to cigarmaking, shoemaking, to the wool industry, to the clothing industry, producing textiles, street vending, and built restaurants. [10]

Some Cantonese also became farmers, fishermen, and grape growers, and after the California Swampland Reclamation Act of 1861 they worked on levees in around the Delta wetlands near Locke, California.[10] [11][12]

By 1866, the California Secretary of Labor found that around 30,000 Cantonese laborers were working in gardening, which then accounted for 87.6% of all gardeners in the state; in areas around Sacramento, they made up 86% of all farm labor. In 1872, they made up more than 50% of all factory workers in California. A contemporary newspaper read that "Without Chinese labor, the manufactures of California can not survive for a day."[10]

Central Pacific Railroad construction

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Cantonese workers building the transcontinental railroad in Nevada

After the gold rush wound down in the 1860s, Cantonese labor became integral to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, which linked the railway network of the Eastern United States with California on the Pacific coast. Construction began in 1863 at the terminal points of Omaha, Nebraska and Sacramento, California, and the two sections were merged and ceremonially completed on May 10, 1869, at the famous "golden spike" event at Promontory Summit, Utah. It created a nationwide mechanized transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West.[10]

In 1865 a large number of Cantonese workers were recruited from the silver mines, as well as later contract workers from China. The idea for the use of Cantonese labor came from the manager of the Central Pacific Railroad, Charles Crocker, who at first had trouble persuading his business partners of the fact that the slender Cantonese workers were suitable for strong physical work.[13]

 
Musicians in Chinatown, San Francisco

The well organized Cantonese teams still turned out to be highly industrious and exceedingly efficient; at the peak of the construction work, shortly before completion of the railroad, more than 11,000 Chinese were involved with the project. As the Cantonese railroad workers lived and worked tirelessly, they also managed the finances associated with their employment, and Central Pacific officials responsible for employing the Cantonese, even those at first opposed to the hiring policy, came to appreciate the cleanliness and reliability of this group of laborers.[14]

After 1869, the Southern Pacific Railroad and Northwestern Pacific Railroad led the expansion of the railway network further into the American West, and many of the Cantonese who had built the transcontinental railroad remained active in building the railways.[15]

Federal protectionism

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Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882

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Further information: Chinese Exclusion Act
 
The Chinese Exclusion Act made exceptions for all businessmen and entrepreneurs (e.g. restauranteurs, laundromats), as well as other middle class professions.

Early on, American and Cantonese miners were rivals, as mining was a highly individualized and competitive industry. While supporters for their rival's exclusion grew to outnumber those who opposed it, the first exclusionary policy in mining was not passed until the late 1850s, because Cantonese miners contributed considerably to California state tax revenues.[16] Over time however, emphasis on exclusion changed from mining competition to protecting California's financial feasibility for native citizens. On May 6, 1882, the US Federal Government enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, prohibiting all further immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplomats.[17][18]

Gold Mountain firms

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To circumvent the Federal Exclusion Act for Chinese menial labor, Hong Kong Cantonese companies known as "Gold Mountain firms" (Cantonese: Gāmsāan jōng, 金山莊) appeared. Several of them came into existance in the 1880s, and their goal was to expedite their client's entry into the United States by any practical means: e.g. hiding stow aways on ships, arranging smugglers to bring people through the Canada or Mexico borders. They also made family immigration schemes where a family member who gave birth in China would claim immigrating family members or others as naturally born children in America. This practice was known as "paper son", which by 1930 a client would pay $100 per year that he had, e.g. 17 years old would cost $1,700.[19][20]

End of Chinese Exclusion

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The Los Angeles Chinatown

Although the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 only stipulated 10 years of exclusion, the act kept being renewed all the way until 1902. In 1904, exclusion was made to be permanent, and remained in effect for the next 40 years.[21] Although the Chinese Exclusion Act ended in 1944, the installation of a Communist Government in China in 1949 effectively closed off all communication and travel between the USA and China. This changed in 1965 when the Federal Government introduced the Immigration and Naturalization Act, allowing free travel and immigration between the countries again.[22][23] Since then, some foreign Cantonese speakers have immigrated to California, but the majority of new immigrants are Mandarin speakers, who have quickly overtaken the historic Cantonese communities in the Los Angeles Chinatown and other parts of Southern California.[1][24]

Because Cantonese and Mandarin are not mutually intelligible, California's Cantonese speakers often consider Mandarin speakers as outsiders. While local California Cantonese may work and cooperate with other Cantonese groups, they have formed rivalries with Mandarin businesses due to linguistic differences and places of origin. This has happened historically too, as earlier immigrants in California would divide themselves based on the language they spoke.[25]

California Cantonese culture

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Chinatown, San Francisco, capital of California's Cantonese culture.

Language

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The Suey Sing Chamber of Labor and Commerce Building, founded in 1867, Marysville Chintatown.

The California Cantonese speak a variety of Cantonese that has evolved to reflect California and American culture. Its vocabulary is influenced by American English and American societal concepts foreign to Cantonese speakers in Modern China, either through direct English translations such as "Alpine" (borrowed from Alpine County, California), or neologisms such as "Yellow Eagle" (Gold dollar), "Emancipated Woman" (Feminist), and "Telephone". It also maintains older Qing Dynasty Cantonese vocabulary that has fallen out of use in Cantonese spoken in Modern China. [3]

There are substantial differences between California Cantonese and Hong Kong Cantonese; as many of the original Gold Rush settlers came from around Taishan, Guangdong (historically known as Toisan, Canton), California Cantonese is highly influenced by the Taishan Cantonese dialect, as opposed to the modern standardized Cantonese spoken in China and Hong Kong. California dialect Cantonese speakers established themselves firmly in California, especially after the foundation of Chinatown, San Francisco in 1850, and it can still be found in towns settled by old California Cantonese communities in North California, such as Marysville.[2]

Speakers of California Cantonese are third, fourth or fifth generation Americans who have maintained their ancestral tongue; today however, speakers are decreasing, and funding towards Cantonese schooling in California is being reduced, as focus on Mandarin Chinese is taking resources and is increasing in popularity with students. For example in 2022, a drop of 20% had been noted for Cantonese class attendance compared to before. This noticeable drop in Cantonese popularity has been counteracted with community activism, such as in 2020 when more than 5,000 people signed the “Save Cantonese” petition after Professor Sik Lee Dennig of Stanford University's contract was canceled after 20 years of Cantonese teaching.[2]

Cuisine

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Hot handmade fortune cookies from the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, a California Cantonese company
 
A Chop Suey Cantonese restaurant in San Diego, California

San Francisco Chinatown restaurants are considered to be the birthplace of American Chinese cuisine, inventing new foods like Chop Suey, adopting fortune cookies, and popularizing Dim Sum to American tastes, as its Dim Sum tea houses are a major tourist attraction. [26]

Chop Suey restaurants in particular were extremely popular in America, and they became a major occupation of Cantonese communities. For more than six decades, Chop Suey was a frequent ethnic food found in America. For a long time, the popularity of the dish made Chop Suey restaurants synonymous with "Chinese restaurant".[26]

Cantonese restaurants in the United States began during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855), which brought many immigrants across from the Canton region. The first Chinese restaurant in America is debated. Some say it was Macau and Woosung, while others cite Canton Restaurant.[27][28] Both unphotographed establishments were founded in 1849 in San Francisco. Either way, these and other such restaurants were central features in the daily lives of immigrants. They provided a connection to home, particularly for the many bachelors who did not have the resources or knowledge to cook for themselves.[29]

When new Chinese immigrants began coming to the USA after 1965, they brought radically different cooking styles than the Cantonese cooking that had been brought earlier. The zenith of older Cantonese style cuisine was between 1896 and 1965, a time when Chop Suey restaurants were common place.[30][31]

Music and literature

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Gamsaan Po (English: Wives of Gold Mountain men)

English translation:

My husband, pressed by poverty, took off
To Gold Mountain.
With a petty sum of money, he cannot make
The journey home.
The road to Gold Mountain is extremely perilous
And difficult;
At home, in grief and pain, my longing eyes
Pierce through to the horizon, waiting for
His return.[20]

 
The last remaining Peking Opera theater in California, the Great China Theater founded in 1925


San Francisco's Chinatown produced literary activity early on in California, but it increased especially after 1906, when an earthquake and fire raged through San Francisco and destroyed many buildings. Between 1906 and 1909, over a dozen literary groups started creating activities, dedicated for the most part to couplet writing for songs and poetry. Some of these groups migrated across the San Francisco Bay to the Oakland Chinatown, where it became a headquarters of literary activity.[20]

Writers gained an impetus with the growth of authors in San Francisco, such as the Cantonese scholars Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and Sun Yatzen. These authors helped create competitions that after 1909 covered Classical Chinese poetry, prose and political essays. Winners of these competitions usually won cash prizes and citations, and many of their works have been anthologized and published. Literary activity continued to flourish in the 1920s. During this time, a very influential literary society formed called Jinmen Yin She, the "Golden Gate Poetry Club". This society published a famous anthology of California Cantonese poems in San Francisco, in 1924.[20]

Some California Cantonese works were even published in Qing dynasty China, such as the "Lamentation of a Gold Mountain man at night". Popular demand in 1915 lead to publication of 832 rhymes under the title Jinshan ge erji, "Songs of Gold Mountain, vol.2". Along with volume 1, Songs of Gold Mountain was the largest collection of California Cantonese vernacular poems ever published, containing 1,640 rhymes.[20]

San Francisco's Chinatown also held a vibrant scene for Peking Opera, a Qing dynasty Opera form present in California since the 1870s, a time when San Francisco's Cantonese community began supporting theaters for the Peking Opera. In recent times, San Francisco's Peking Opera has gained increased interest, as it produced local pieces such as "Celestial Drama in the Gold Hills", (Gold Hills being an alternative name for Gold Mountain).[32]

Religion

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The historic Weaverville Chinese Temple, built in 1852
 
Interior of the Kwan Tai Miu Temple, built in 1882

The California Cantonese have practiced many different religions, but at the beginning of their ancestor's immigration to California, most were Buddhist. Over time however, more settlers converted to Christianity, some joining Catholicism, and others joining Protestant sects. There were also Taoists, who in syncretism, often compared the Chinese gods with Catholic Saints. The Taoists also held Confucian traditions and ideas, and maintaintained them with their traditions. There were also those who only followed Confucian traditions, with Christians of the region sometimes comparing Jesus with their Confucius.[33][34][35][7]

The most venerated Chinese figure among the Cantonese who came to California was Kuan Yu, who was a considered a patron of military valor and fidelity; today, especially policemen and businessmen still continue to venerate Kuan Yu. The Cantonese built the first temple dedicated to him in California in 1882, called Kwan Tai Miu.[36]

Architecture

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The California Cantonese have a style of architecture that modifies Western architectural forms with forms based on architectural practices in South China, namely Hong Kong, Macau, Canton, and other cities. Buildings of this style, called "Chinatown architecture", are covered in Chinese decorative details: the use of Gold, red, green, yellow, and other brilliant colors; animal motifs, with dragons, phoenixes, or lions. Images of plants such as pine, bamboo, plum and chrysanthemum. Cantonese inscriptions are also included, such as the word fu (happiness or blessings) and shou (longevity).[37]

The buildings made in Chinatown architecture also include hanging lanterns, circular or moon-shaped doors, windows, and archways with ornate lattice work. They also have decorative balconies with ornamented frets.[37]

Kung Fu

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The word Kung Fu comes from the Cantonese who came to California during the Gold Rush, and they popularized it in American society. In Cantonese, Kung Fu means "accomplishment through great effort", and it became the default term in America for Martial Arts and other related disciplines.[7] The California Cantonese themselves call Martial Arts wushu, and they built halls called tongs to promote fitness among community members; the earliest Kung Fu masters to teach in California were present as early as 1864.[38]

Festivals

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Lions of Buddha dancing in San Francisco, Lunar New Year
 
The Gateway Arch (Dragon Gate) on Grant Avenue in Chinatown.

The California Cantonese have maintained ancient traditions from Canton, some that have long since been abandoned in Modern China. Festivals are part of these traditions, such as the Lunar New Year and Autumn Moon festivals, which have taken place since 1850.[39]

In San Francisco's Lunar New Year, the first day, called Yuen Jih, or "Three Beginnings" celebrates the start of the year, the month, and the season. Colorful lanterns are lit everywhere, and firecrackers are lit throughout the night. Incense is burned on this day to invite good spirits. This day is also known as the birthday of Confucius, where no meat is served or consumed, and instead, at 1:00 in the morning, a meatless stew called gai gum choy is served. Oranges are stacked into pyramids for the coming day, and children receive packages of red paper with silver coins, and these are given to all unmarried children regardless of age.[39]

On the second day of San Francisco's Lunar New Year, like the first day, no meat is consumed. This day is dedicated to the worship of Ta'ai Shen, the patron of wealth. On the third day, food restrictions are lifted, and merrymaking and feasting commence again. Pastries, sweet cakes, and candies are set aside for the Kitchen God.[39]

On the seventh day, known as the Day of Human beginnings, the Lunar New Year celebrations end with the Dance of the Dragon. Although the ending celebration is called the Dance of the Dragon, the Lion of Buddha usually serves in place of the dragon, unless events worthy of it happened in the previous year. The Lion of Buddha is brought down Grant Avenue on the shoulders of between 10-50 people.[39]

When the Dragon is brought, who since 1850 has been adopted as the protector of San Francisco by the community, homes are decorated with green vegetables and red packages so that he can turn his attention to them, and so that he can make his dance to give prosperity for the rest of the year. As the Dragon comes by, coins wrapped in lettuce leaves or red papers are placed in its jaw.[39]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b A Handbook for Teaching Cantonese-speaking Students. California Office of Bilingual Bicultural Education. 1984. p. 2.
  2. ^ a b c Anh Do (17 April 2022). "The quest to save Cantonese in a world dominated by Mandarin". www.latimes.com/. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Chinese Historical Society (1988). Chinese America: History and Perspectives 1988. United States of America: Chinese Historical Society. p. 115.
  4. ^ Huping Ling (1998). Surviving on the Gold Mountain A History of Chinese American Women and Their Lives. United States of America: University of California Press. pp. 17, 18.
  5. ^ 国外文学 (Foreign Language) Issues 49-56. 北京大学出版社 (Beijing University Press). 1993. p. 46.
  6. ^ "A History of Chinese Americans in California". nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c Kenneth N. Owens (2002). Riches for All: The California Gold Rush and the World. United States of America: University of Nebraska Press. p. 152.
  8. ^ a b c Ngai, Mae (2015). Chinese Gold Miners and the "Chinese Question" in Nineteenth-Century California and Victoria. Journal of American History, Vol. 101, No. 4. pp. 1082-1105. https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jav112
  9. ^ Chan, Sucheng (2000). "A People of Exceptional Character: Ethnic Diversity, Nativism, and Racism in the California Gold Rush"
  10. ^ a b c d Huang Annian (2006). The Silent Spikes Chinese Laborers and the Construction of North American Railroads. United States of America: China Intercontinental Press. pp. 12, 13.
  11. ^ Dedicatory plaque on the first building, Locke, California, Sacramento County Historical Society, August 2, 1970.
  12. ^ "A History of Chinese Americans in California: Historic Sites, Locke" in Five Views: An Ethnic Historic Site Survey for California (California Office of Historical Preservation, December 1988).
  13. ^ Takaki, Ronald (1998). Strangers From A Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans. New York: Back Bay Books.
  14. ^ Kraus, George. "Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific." Utah Historical Quarterly 1969 37(1): 41–57. ISSN 0042-143X.
  15. ^ The Chinese and the Transcontinental Railroad Brownstone, p.65–68; McCunn, p.32 Archived August 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Kanazawa, Mark (Sep 2005). "Exclusion, and Taxation: Anti-Chinese Legislation in Gold Rush California". Cambridge University Press. 65 (3)
  17. ^ "Chinese Exclusion Act". Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 July 2023.
  18. ^ Ow, Jeffrey A. (October 2009). "Immigration at the Golden Gate: Passenger Ships, Exclusion, and Angel Island". Journal of American Ethnic History. 29 (1): 72–73. doi:10.2307/40543565. JSTOR 40543565. S2CID 254489490.
  19. ^ H. Mark Lai (2004). Becoming Chinese American A History of Communities and Institutions. United States of America: University of California AltaMira Press. pp. 23, 24, 25, 26.
  20. ^ a b c d e Marlon K. Hom (1992). Songs of Gold Mountain Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown. United States of America: University of California Press. pp. 14, 35, 36, 37, 52, 54, 56.
  21. ^ Philip P. Choy (2012). San Francisco Chinatown A Guide to Its History and Architecture. United States of America: City Lights Publishers. p. 115.
  22. ^ "The Chinese Revolution of 1949". history.state.gov. United States Office of the Historian. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  23. ^ "U.S. Immigration Since 1965". www.history.com. History. 7 June 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  24. ^ Claire Hitchins Chik (2021). Multilingual La La Land Language Use in Sixteen Greater Los Angeles Communities. United States of America: Taylor & Francis. p. 51.
  25. ^ Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao; Terence Gomez (2004). Chinese Enterprise, Transnationalism and Identity. United States of America: Taylor & Francis. p. 219.
  26. ^ a b Haiming Liu; Jenny Banh (2019). American Chinese Restaurants Society, Culture and Consumption. United States of America: Taylor & Francis. pp. 210, 211, 212.
  27. ^ Smith, Peter. "Was Chop Suey the Greatest Culinary Joke Ever Played?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  28. ^ Liu, Haiming (2015). From Canton Restaurant to Panda Express: A History of Chinese Food in the United States (First ed.). New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-8135-7477-6. JSTOR j.ctt16nzfbd. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  29. ^ Chen, Yong (2017). "The Rise of Chinese Food in the United States". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. Oxford Research Encyclopedia. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.273. ISBN 978-0-19-932917-5. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  30. ^ Bruce Makoto Arnold; Tanfer Emin Tunç; Raymond Douglas Chong (2002). Chop Suey and Sushi from Sea to Shining Sea: Chinese and Japanese Restaurants in the United States. United States of America: University of Nebraska Press. p. 129.
  31. ^ Grace Young (2002). Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories. United States of America: Simon and Schuster. p. 237.
  32. ^ Wing Chung Ng (1992). The Rise of Cantonese Opera. United States of America: University of Illinois Press. pp. 137, 228.
  33. ^ Joshua Paddison (2012). American Heathens. United States of America: University of California Press. pp. 53, 54, 55, 56, 86.
  34. ^ The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge, Volume 4. United States of America: Appleton. 1870. p. 249.
  35. ^ American Missionary Association (1891). The American Missionary, Volume 45. United States of America: American Missionary Association. p. 24.
  36. ^ Erik Davis (2006). The Visionary State: A Journey Through California's Spiritual Landscape. United States of America: Chronicle Books. pp. 70, 71.
  37. ^ a b Paul Groth; Paul Erling Groth; Todd W. Bressi (1997). Understanding Ordinary Landscapes. United States of America: Yale University Press. pp. 81, 82, 83, 84.
  38. ^ Steven A. Riess (2015). Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia: An Encyclopedia. United States of America: Routledge. p. 762.
  39. ^ a b c d e Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration of Northern California (2011). San Francisco in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the City by the Bay. United States of America: University of California Press. pp. 222, 223.
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