Qiaopi: Remittances from Gold Mountain to Guangdong

Starting around the middle of the 19th century, a Chinese diaspora grew as tens of thousands emigrated from Guangdong villages to many places around the world. They saved some of their earnings to send back to their parents and if married, to their wives and any children back in China.

Qiaopi is one of several names given to the “silver letters” Chinese emigrants sent home. These remittances of money were typically accompanied by brief letters that described how the funds were to be distributed as well as personal expressions to family. Letters sent back to the emigrants were called huipi.

Access to these correspondences accompanying the remittances could provide valuable insights about relationships between the emigrants and their families. A detailed examination of a collection of these letters, which have not been studied in depth previously, estimated to number over 160,000 in private collections, has been analyzed in a 2018 book by Gregor Benton and Haiming Liu in Dear China: Emigrant Letters and Remittances, 1820 -1980. 

Using archival data collated from different parts of the world, the authors analyze the institutions for receiving and delivering the remittances and letters as well as delivering the huipi to the emigrant emitters. Since many families of emigrants were illiterate, they had to rely on the couriers (pijiao) to prepare the huipi or letters to send to the remitter to not only acknowledge receipt of funds but ask for more money, beg the emigrant to return, or seek guidance to help them emigrate to join them in America, among many other topics of family matters.

Unlike in today's world of instantaneously delivered communications with secured access, it must be recognized that in the not too distant past, the process was much slower and possibly subject to fraud. (As a child, I wondered how swiftly and safely were my father's remittances to a small village in Hoiping.)

The qiaopi trade involved several major components ranging from the couriers (shuike),  remittance shops or "clearing houses (piju), and the Chinese banking system. There were differences in the details of the operation in different regions as well as in other Asian countries but to succeed they all involved a deeply embedded trust between the piju, the remitter, and the recipient.  Modifications to the process occurred over time in response to factors as varied as political and social class changes in Chinese society, changing literacy rates, and resistance to nationalization.

The benefits of the remittances went far beyond the individual recipients, according to Benton and Lui, who argue that qiaopi not only connected Chinese emigrants with their families back home but significantly contributed to China’s substantial economic and transnational development.

Due to the rapid growth of Chinese immigration and their remittances, the qiaopi trade quickly grew from one-man operations to the formation of larger piju, a sustainable industry that connected China's modern banks and post office with national, transnational, and international trade networks.

For many years the qiaopi trade was obscure but in the 1990s with the finding of archives of thousands of qiaopi a new research area has been created that looks at emigrants, their descendants, and dependents to describe routines of their daily lives.

Qiaopi had a profound impact on developing China's national economy especially in the coastal regions of Guangdong and Fujian. Chinese migrants throughout the world utilized networks that were uninterrupted for long periods of time linking Chinese throughout the world with their hometown villages.

Some examples of the correspondences in qiaopi and huipi.

Chinese Attempts to Weaken Exclusion Law Opposed by Workingmen's Union

When the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882, Chinese leaders in 1900 countered by easing their restrictions affecting immigration of merchants. However, the Workingman labor unions voiced strong opposition to any relaxation of restrictions fearing that opening the door a little would lead to a large influx of Chinese merchants or Chinese claiming to be merchants.

“The workingman remembers the days when all a Chinaman had to do as to swear that he owned an interest, no matter how small, in a Chinatown store and his right land was established.  They call attention to the fact that under those circumstances the carrying capacity of the steerages of the Pacific Mail steamers was taxed to the utmost to provide accommodations for the “merchants” who were flocking into California. Business houses were established in Chinatown for the express purpose of standing sponsor for the “merchants,” and it is a matter of record that some firms had as many as 200 members. Attention is called to the fact that agencies were established in China where “merchants” were schooled in the answers they must give touching their qualifications to enter the United States. The federal courts were clogged with habeas corpus cases of alleged Chinese merchants and the two court commissioners were kept busy taking evidence.”

Rock Island Line And The Heathen Chinee

The beginning of the most popular version of "The Rock Island Line" tells the story of a train operator who smuggles pig iron through a toll gate by claiming all he had on board was livestock. The song's chorus includes:

The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

The Rock Island Line is the road to ride

The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road

If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it

Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

Interestingly, in a promotional brochure to attract riders, the Rock Island Railroad featured the 1870 Bret Harte poem, Plain Language from Truthful James, published in the Overland Monthly, a San Francisco–based literary magazine with humor, pathos, and romantic nostalgia for a lost frontier in the West that helped attract settlers from the East.  

This most widely known poem of Harte depicted a card game of euchre in which two white miners plan to cheat a Chinaman, Ah Sin, who they regard as "child-like" and easily taken advantage of. However, Ah Sin outsmarts them and wins with cards he had hidden up his sleeves.  When the miners discover the trickery of the "heathen Chinee" one exclaims, "we are ruined by cheap Chinese labor," an allusion to the nationwide fear that Chinese immigrant laborers were taking jobs from white workers, they proceed to give the hapless Chinaman a pummeling. Actually"heathen" means non-Christian and was not accurate but "heathen Chinee" caught on as a popular term of derision. A more appropriate epithet for the Chinese might have been "savage" to contrast it with whites as "civilized." Ironically, Harte had composed the poem to point out the hypocrisy of white racists, but it backfired and created greater rather than less animosity toward "heathen Chinee."

In 1872 the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad wanted to entice more travel by whites (civilized) through the wild West (savage) on its route from Chicago to California. In a promotional brochure, the imagery evoked by Harte's poem was featured with illustrations to convey a picture of the civilized conquering the uncivilized. 

Mexal, Stephan J.  Reading for Liberalism: The Overland Monthly and the Writing of the Modern American West Opens in new window.  Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013.

See also: https://chineseamericanhistorian.blogspot.com/2019/03/chinese-as-butts-of-put-down-humor.html

China Peak, A Sierra Mountain Named in Honor of A Chinese Cowboy

Arriving in central California from Alabama around 1859, J. A. Blasingame quickly became one of the area’s largest landowners by purchasing land in Fresno County. He entered the stock-raising business, which was very profitable.

His wife, Mary Jane, wanted a domestic servant and asked him to ‘‘try a China boy, as they were said to be excellent domestic workers with no marrying tendencies." Male Chinese servants were popular among well-to-do white families in California.  One writer noted that the Chinese male domestic was ‘‘ingenious about the kitchens and it mends,’’ ‘‘usually teachable,’’ ‘‘generally amiable and pleasant,’’ and ‘‘the friend of the children and seems oftentimes himself but a child of larger growth."

As luck would have it, one day while in San Francisco they saw a Chinese boy of about 13 years old crying inconsolably in front of a store because the owner was angry with him for poor work.  After obtaining permission from the boy's employer, Blasingame offered the boy, Charley Lee, an opportunity to live and work in his home near Fresno which he quickly accepted.

But young Lee preferred outdoor life and soon joined the shepherds Blasingame hired to manage his livestock. The Blasingames were sheep ranchers, but by the early 1890s this industry was under fire both locally and nationally.  The large herds living in the mountain range were seen as a significant environmental threat because sheep consume natural flora at a high rate. In 1893, President Benjamin Harrison signed an executive order creating a Sierra Forest Reserve, regulated by the federal government.

As the head cowboy, Charley Lee, who was regarded more as a family member than an employee, added "Blasingame" to his name. He was both the face and the power of their operation in the Sierra at a place that came to be called China Camp. As a Chinese during a period of growing racism, Lee was often a target for verbal abuse from Basque and Portuguese herders under his authority and who also threatened to disobey instructions of their Chinese American boss. 

In the late 1860s, John Muir, the famous naturalist, and Sierra Club founder in 1891, had begun exploring Yosemite and soon advocated conserving the natural beauty of the Sierra. In 1870, Muir was joined by University of California professor Joseph LeConte, Sr. on student expeditions to Yosemite. One of the Club’s first causes was successfully arguing for the outright ban on sheep raising. During these expeditions, both Muir and LeConte, and his son, met Charley Lee.  LeConte and Lee established a strong friendship and they met often on LeConte's expeditions. They spent long hours talking around a campfire, swapping stories about their adventures in the mountains, and LeConte made a point of bringing him a quart of whiskey during each of his visits.

Charley Lee Blasingame smoking outside his house at China Camp.

Lee’s ability to maintain the flocks of sheep he tended required skill navigating the delicate politics to ensure continued access to the reserve. This task entailed constant contact with not only other herders but also the Sierra rangers patrolling the forest.  Establishing good relationships was essential if the Blasingames were to continue receiving grazing permits and avoid harassment by the rangers. This was a world inhabited entirely by whites, and yet Lee was able to be successful in negotiating his way. The fact that LeConte named Chinese Peak in Lee’s honor, and that the name was allowed to remain despite controversies over Sierra naming conventions, reflected the reputation Lee enjoyed. 

 

On his deathbed in 1926, Lee insisted that his remains be returned to China although the Blasingame family had offered to bury him in their family plot. ‘‘Alive I’m Blasingame. Dead, I’m Chinaman. Put me in the China graveyard—already paid for when I come to Ame[r]ica,’’ he was reported as saying. Despite how the Blasingame family viewed him, Lee’s self-identification remained firmly Chinese.  Ignoring his wishes, Lee was buried in the Blasingame family plot instead. Although done without malice, this action, unfortunately, displayed a lack of cultural understanding.

"The Cowboy and the Mountain: Charley Lee Blasingame and Chinese American Interactions in the Sierra Nevada" 

Jeffery M. Der Torosian; Bradley W. Hart

Pacific Historical Review (2016) 85 (4): 506–531.

China Peak should not be confused with Sing Peak, which is also in Yosemite, and also named after a Chinese, Tie Sing, who was a revered cook for cartographers mapping the regions of Yosemite.

https://chineseamericanhistorian.blogspot.com/2012/07/yosemite-mountain-named-in-honor-of.html

Coming from China And Becoming Americanized, Texas Style

 Many, if not the majority, of newly arrived immigrants from China take a few years, if ever,  to become assimilated and adopt American culture fully. Meet two exceptions of Chinese men who came to Texas and embraced aspects of its culture wholeheartedly.

 Bruce Wang, an international student in Texas who decided to transform to fit in. He learned a Southern accent by watching Duck Dynasty and got a job on a ranch. AJ+ host Dolly Li traveled to Lubbock to understand how – and why – a Chinese city boy became a Texan. 

Donald Chen came from China to a Texas ranch where Chinese gun lovers live out firearm fantasies that are largely forbidden in China. For Chen, this is the "American Dream."

These two Chinese Texans certainly do not match the expectations people have about Chinese immigrants.

Chinese fishing in the Channel Islands in mid 19th century.

    Chinese began to develop the abalone industry in Monterey, California in 1853. As the industry developed, Chinese merchant/labor contractors using junks working out of Santa Barbara, controlled the Chinese fishery.

    As squatters on the Channel Islands, they built camps on the offshore islands where they would fish from skiffs, prying the mollusks from the rocks of shallow waters. Using a long pole with a wedge on one end, they would knock an abalone off a rock and then draw it up with a boat hook. Onshore, after removing the meat from the shell, the abalone was pounded and then boiled in a large kettle and then placed on racks in the sun to dry. When the meat was thoroughly dry, it was packed in sacks for shipment to San Francisco where it was sold both to China as well as to the large Chinese community in San Francisco. The meat was considered a great luxury and was consumed primarily by the more affluent Chinese.

 The Chinese abalone industry peaked on Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel and San Clemente islands from 1892 to 1895. In 1900, however, county ordinances were passed that made it illegal to gather abalones from less than twenty feet of water. The regulations completely halted their commercial abalone operations.  As the shallow water abalone populations were depleted, Japanese divers moved in and took over the industry. 

Seven of the eight California Channel Islands have “Chinese” places names, including Chinese Harbor, China Camp, Chinese Point, and China Canyon, names that may have originated from days when Yankee clippers landed Chinese on the islands awaiting a chance to smuggle them over to the mainland.

There was ongoing suspicion that the islands were used as stations for smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants. An immigration inspector would travel to the Channel Islands to conduct interviews with Chinese working at abalone camps. 

Below are selected notes about the Chinese fishermen

from official records.

February 1857 [Hutchings Illustrated California Magazine]: “Captain C. J. W Russell notes “At the present time there are no less than twelve schooners and sloops chartered by Chinamen; besides several hundred of Chinese laborers engaged in this business, as they are an important article of consumption to Chinamen in California, in addition to the vast quantities exported by them to their native land. In flavor, these are said to be fully equal to the oyster, especially in soup, and could be introduced advantageously for our own use, and we would suggest to epicures here, to give this dish of ‘John’s’ a trial, for it may be possible that although we might not relish cooked rats, the abalone may be one of the greatest of delicacies to our own people…

June 5, 1885 [SBDI]: “The Chinese merchants are experiencing quiet times in their branches of trade. The merchants during the past year, however, have shipped hundreds of dollars worth of abalone shells, to say nothing of the dried fish that has been shipped to San Francisco and thence forwarded to the ‘flowery kingdom.’ Sing Chung and Co. have a number of men constantly employed in hunting, fishing, and gathering shells in and around the several islands that are within a few hours sail of Santa Barbara. They own their own boats, and in fact everything that pertains to the business in which they pursue. Their Chinese junks are commanded by Mongolians, who have been brought up on their own water, and can reef and furl with true American style…”

June 22, 1885 [SBDI]: “Misconceptions as to the sailing qualities of a Chinese junk. Yesterday the reporter of this paper, in company with contractor Mix and others, visited the Chinese junk, a frail-looking vessel that is moored in our harbor, having not long since arrived from the lower coast, where she has been engaged in the hunting trade. A sunburned Chinaman, wearing loose pants made out of canvas duck, hatless, unbleached cotton shirt unbuttoned down the front, greeted us upon the arrival of our boat, and in pigeon English extended our crowd a hearty welcome, and assisted us over the bulwarks of the vessel. He afterwards proved to be the captain… The boat is a veritable Chinese junk, built and manned by Chinamen, and from her mast floats the emblem of their country, which affords a striking contrast with the hull of the boat which is painted black… she smells very strong of fish. Her capacity is not great, owing to her peculiar shape, as she appears narrow and her stern runs forward in such angle that it leaves but little of the boat to rest upon the water. Her cabin is dark, dingy, and uninviting. No windows nor means of ventilation of any kind except a small aperture, just large enough to permit a man’s body to pass through, and through this hole, you have to pass in order to reach the cabin. Here we found a man at work netting seines and nets which they use in their business. The meshes were not quite an inch square and the work was systematically performed. The crew seemed pleased at our coming aboard, and in order to show their appreciation, they treated us to brandy, cigars, and fresh-made tea. They carry no nautical instruments, not even a compass, and their navigation is entirely done by landmarks, as they seldom go out of sight of land…”

August 29, 1885 [SBDP]: “A new Santa Barbara industry is the drying of abalone meat for shipment to San Francisco and export to China where it is regarded as a delicacy by the natives. Sing Chung and Sing Hop, Chinese merchants engaged in the trade, have sent for exhibition several specimens of the dried meat, as well as a number of handsomely polished abalone shells.”

August 28, 1887 [SBDI]: “Protect the fish. Considerable interest is manifested in the efforts of the State Board of Fish Commissioners to suppress the destruction of immature fish in the bays of the Northern Coast. Chinese fishermen are said to use nets of illegal size with very small meshes…

September 18, 1891 [VSFP]: “Recent developments indicate that the gang of opium smugglers, known to be strung on the Pacific Coast, has found a new field of operations along the shores of the Santa Barbara Channel, and, all things considered, the wonder is that the field was not found long ago. Possibly, indeed it was… those islands themselves, several of them deserted rocks inhabited only during a part of the year by Chinese fishermen, and honey-combed with wave-worn caves, afford a thousand hiding places for the drug. 

July 7, 1892 [CDT]: “Attempt to smuggle Chinamen. British Columbian schooner, the Eliza Edwards, is hovering off the California coast with a cargo of Chinese immigrants which it is trying to land on United States soil… The attempt to land coolies is likely to be made, it is thought, near Santa Barbara…”

December 2, 1892 [SBMP]: “The government agent for registering Chinese of this place has not been able to secure any names up to date. This registration is a formality that John Chinamen can’t exactly ‘savey.’”

May 22, 1894 [SBDI]: “The Abalone Trade. Anyone who has ever tasted abalone soup when it was fixed ‘just right,’ has never forgotten how good it was, and often longs for another chance. But the abalone consumed by the local trade is insignificant compared to the vast quantity shipped annually to San Francisco and the Chinese, and they prepare it in various ways, making it almost as edible as the rat when properly cooked. Unlike the rat, however, abalone can be eaten raw, and anyone stranded on an isle of the Santa Barbara group need not suffer for lack of food. There the abalone abounds, and its favorite lurking place is around the edges where the water comes up and cools them off. There is no time that parties of Chinamen are not on some places on the islands, gathering these shellfish from the rocks, and schooner load after sloop load are landed at the wharf every year. The shell forms a valuable commodity, also, being used extensively for mother-of-pearl inlaid work, and also for buttons. The price of shells is low at present, owing to dull times and the decreasing demand for buttons. But abalone itself is always in demand, so much so that there is a fear of the race becoming extinct. The legislature should include the abalone in the fish and game laws, and pass an amendment that only the old tough ones should be picked for a few years, until a generation or two can gain a foothold.”

1892-1895 U.S. Commission of Fish & Fisheries Report: “The Chinese have a monopoly in the abalone fishery, and in preparing, eating, and marketing of the dried abalones. The meat and shells are handled by a Chinese merchant at Santa Barbara and by him forwarded to other Chinese at San Francisco, where, having supplied any local demand for dried abalone from the islands of Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Miguel and San Clemente.”

May 31, 1898 [LAT/SD]: “Will Gerrull, well-known as a skipper of vessels of the guano fleet, was arrested this evening on a charge of smuggling Chinese into the United States. Francisco Reyes, who is accused of a like offense, was also taken into custody at the same time. Chinese Inspector Putnam of Los Angeles has been anxious to obtain the arrests of these men for the past two months.”

May 31, 1898 [LAT/SD]: “Will Gerrull, well-known as a skipper of vessels of the guano fleet, was arrested this evening on a charge of smuggling Chinese into the United States. Francisco Reyes, who is accused of a like offense, was also taken into custody at the same time. Chinese Inspector Putnam of Los Angeles has been anxious to obtain the arrests of these men for the past two months.”

February 26, 1899 [LAT]: “Abalones. The big shellfish known as the abalone is valuable not only for the shell, but also for the meat, which is highly prized by the Chinese, although Americans are apt to find it rather tough and indigestible. A good many people make their living on this coast by gathering abalones…The Chinese are the purchasers of the abalone meat, and the shells are shipped to Europe where they are fashioned into buttons and various novelties. The raw shells are said to be worth about $40 per ton delivered at European ports, while the Mongolians pay 3 or 4 cents per pound for the meat.”

April 15, 1899 [SBMP]: “The Chinamen who own the abalone shells which have been stored on the wharf for several weeks, are shipping them out of the country before the ordinance prohibiting the shipment of abalones out of the country goes into effect.”

December 8, 1901 [LAT/SB]: “Judge Day of the Superior Court rendered a decision in the habeas corpus proceedings of Ah Jim, convicted of taking abalones under size prescribed by law. The decision sustained the lower court. The question involved was the validity of the Penal Code referring to the protection of fish. The petitioners held that abalones are not fish, and cited Section 26 of Article IV as the basis of their contention. Judge Day denied the writ and remanded the prisoner to custody. The ruling on abalones affects crawfish as well.”

 

April 26, 1902 [LAT]: “…Chinese are systematically smuggled in over the Canadian and Mexican borders, and from the Santa Barbara islands in the guise of fishermen, through the collusion of bribed officials…”

 

April 5, 1903 [LAT]: “A big howl is going up because of the order just issued by the Treasury Department at Washington, declaring Santa Barbara no longer a subport of entry, which it has been for several years. The order, which just went into effect, includes the retirement of Arthur C. Greenwell, who has held the position of collector for the past four years… it would be no difficult task for vessels from British Columbia or Mexican ports to land upon one of the Channel Islands Chinese, who could easily make their way to the mainland unobserved, unless official vigilance were exercised.”

 

October 7, 1902 [LAT/SB]: “The Board of Supervisors this afternoon passed an ordinance imposing a license tax of $400 a year on all abalone fishermen engaged on the islands in the Santa Barbara Channel. The tax will practically prohibit further operations. Within the past few months, hordes of Chinese and Japanese have been gathering abalones, drying the meat for export to Oriental countries, where it is a popular article of food, and disposing of the shells to button and curio factories. The business has been carried on so extensively that it is now necessary for the fishermen to work among the rocks beneath the surface of the water, clothed in diving suits, and abalones, which formerly were very plentiful, have been nearly exterminated.”

 

February 15, 1904 [LAT/SA]: “Chinese fishermen from San Pedro have been taking more than a ton a day of abalones from the rocks on the Laguna Beach. They are all shipped to San Pedro for export.”

 

February 19, 1904 [LAT/SA]: “The Supervisors have passed an ordinance making it a misdemeanor for any person to catch in one day more than twenty-five pounds of abalones or to have more in his possession—either abalones or shells. The ordinance is to go into effect March 3. The passage of the measure is rendered necessary by the depredations of Chinese fishermen at Laguna, where they have caught and carried off abalones by the ton, taking them both for the meat and shells, and threatening to exterminate than in that locality.”

 

July 29, 1904 [VFP]: “During the past week government officers have been in Ventura secretly at work in an attempt to capture parties who are suspected of smuggling Chinese into the country. Reports are persistent that Chinese are being landed on the Channel Islands, and then landed from small boats on the mainland between Ventura and Santa Barbara. The reports were the cause of the cruise of the Revenue Cutter Manning in the Channel Islands recently.”

November 11, 1911 [LAT]: “San Pedro, Nov. 10—Conclusive proof that contraband Chinese are being smuggled into Los Angeles county, along the sheer and rocky coast between San Pedro and Redondo Beach was unearthed today by George H. Sweet, United States Immigration Inspector. Several days ago, Ed Lindskow, a lobster fisherman, found a discarded Chinese suit of clothing on the beach near Point Vicente, about twelve miles up the coast from Point Firmin, and turned it over to the inspector. Inspector Sweet drove to Point Vicente, but made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the beach, the bluff being too precipitous. Today he chartered a launch and made the trip up the coast to the rendezvous of the Chinese smugglers. In a cave near Point Vicente, which he was able to reach only by a skiff or row boat, under a towering cliff, the inspector located a cave in a wild tangle of underbrush and wild holly, which had been apparently used for a considerable time as a cache for concealing the wily orientals. The cave was not visible either from the land side or by passing steamers. In the cave, four complete Chinese suits were found, which had apparently been changed for American clothing. Scattered around were wrappings from packages bearing Chinese writing, covers from packages of Mexican cigarettes, a blanket and various articles which had been used for cooking. The retreat had been used for a considerable time as a regular camp, as numerous fires had been built, the charred embers still being in evidence. Inspector Sweet's theory is that the contraband Chinese are brought up from Mexico and taken to some cave on one of the Channel Islands until a favorable opportunity arrives to transport them to the mainland in small launches. The cave at Point Vicente afforded the smugglers a safe retreat until such time as the Chinese could be conducted inland. Early last July a strange launch, having high speed appeared on a foggy night off Point Vicente and gave mysterious signals to another launch bound from Redondo Beach to San Pedro. Evidently the wrong launch was signaled, for the occurrence was reported to the immigration authorities. An investigation was made at the time but the Coast rendezvous of the smugglers remained a mystery until unearthed by Inspector Sweet this morning.”

Chinese Heritage Sites in Pacific Coast States

 One can learn much about Chinese American history by visiting actual sites where history was made. Thomas A. McDannold, a retired geography professor, created a comprehensive guidebook for California entitled California's Chinese Heritage: A Legacy of Places, published in 2000 by Heritage West Books. Now out of print, fortunately you can see an abridged version online, courtesy of Dr. McDannold.

A similar website exists online for historic sites for Chinese history in Oregon and in Washington.  I assume they were created by Dr. McDonnald too, but I do not believe they were ever published as books. These are invaluable resources deserving recognition.  However, over time, some of these sites are disappearing or destroyed despite efforts to preserve them.