Hometown Chinatown: A History of Oakland's Chinese Community, 1852-1995 by L. Eve Armentrout

Author:L. Eve Armentrout [Armentrout, L. Eve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781138862791
Google: x_jTrQEACAAJ
Goodreads: 26724272
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Between 1906 and the Depression, then, Chinese in Oakland like Chinese elsewhere in the United States were forced to develop a fairly complete Chinatown social and economic system. Most Chinese—and Chinese Americans—lived and worked either in Chinatown or very near to it. Most Chinatowners (the young people excepted) spoke mainly Chinese, followed many customs brought over from China, preferred Chinese food. They joined Chinese political parties and if they read the newspaper, often preferred the Chinese language papers to the Oakland Tribune or the San Francisco Chronicle or Examiner.

Not only had Chinatown turned in on itself, but it had grown larger (as had most Chinatowns in the United States), partly due to the effects of the San Francisco earthquake. The greater size increased the magnitude of its economic problems, but also, since it brought in more individuals with more ideas, allowed for different attempts at a solution. One solution was the development of big businesses such as canneries, dry goods chains, and banks—businesses that dealt in or produced an impersonal product which could then be marketed to the white as well as the Chinese community. Since the owners were Chinese, these new big businesses offered jobs to Chinese in spite of anti-foreign and anti-Chinese sentiment in the larger community, and also brought in money from beyond Chinatown.

But in spite of all the evidence of separateness, in many ways the Chinese community was part of the larger American community. The business growth epitomized by Lew Hing and Joe Shoong is reflective of a business growth that occurred throughout the United States in the first quarter of the 20th century. Furthermore, the Chinese community reflected the larger American community in the education preferences and careers of the native-born Chinese Americans. Even with respect to unsavory matters such as the spread of organized gambling in Chinatown has its parallel in the larger community. After all, the 1920s were a period in which organized crime and organized gambling grew significantly throughout the United States.

Chinatown also produced many individuals who were very aware of and very much a part of what was going on around them in the larger community, individuals such as the aviator Fong Joe Guey and the preacher, publicist and political activist Rev. Ng Poon Chew. So while on the surface, Chinatown appeared to be almost a world apart, in other ways it was very much a part of the larger American society in which it found itself. This aspect of Chinatown became especially significant in the years following the Depression when barriers against Chinese weakened and finally, broke down almost entirely.

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