Using A Facebook Group To Find Chinese Historical Gold

       Chinatowns originated as safe havens for Chinese immigrants from the late 19^th century until the middle of the 20^th century because anti-Chinese laws, prejudices, and hostility restricted where they could live.  Chinatowns provided “safety in numbers” for the early Chinese for if they ventured across the borders of Chinatowns, they risked being insulted, robbed, and physically harmed, if not even killed.

        Usually located in the worst parts of town, Chinatowns were avoided by non-Chinese they were dangerous and sinful places plagued by tong war violence, opium dens, prostitution, and gambling halls.  But by the 1900s Chinatowns were "discovered" and promoted as tourist attractions. They were rebuilt to resemble Oriental "Theme Parks," decorated with exotic pagodas and other symbols of Chinese culture.  Chop suey became the gastronomic and economic engine that triggered a fascination among younger whites with Chinatowns.

         As more of the children of Chinese immigrants acquired higher education and the social climate became more tolerant of Chinese after mid-century, the younger generations enjoyed the freedom to move from crowded and dilapidated living spaces in Chinatowns to the suburbs, returning to Chinatowns only to shop in Chinese stores and eat in Chinese restaurants.

        Important questions of historical value concern the nature of and consequences of living in ethnic enclaves such as Chinatowns.  What impact was there, negative as well as positive, of having little choice but to live in an all-Chinese neighborhood?  Archival documents and records that were produced a generation ago can provide some insight, but other answers might be found using retrospective accounts from contemporary interviews and memoirs. Each of these sources of information has strengths and weaknesses but both merit attention.  However, a major problem with the collection of new accounts is difficult because of problems and costs of identifying, locating, and persuading respondents to be interviewed.
             One modern method that technology offers at virtually no cost is social media such as Facebook (FB), an electronic "bulletin board" where individuals post information about themselves or on topics of interest to them, and presumably to their FB "friends." Most FB posts on pages of individuals do not generate many comments even when viewers click the LIKE button for specific posts.

      However, unlike FB accounts of individuals, FB Group accounts consist of ‘members’ who share some common background, interests, or goals. They can generate lively responses among members on many topics. These informal discussions sometimes include views that might not be expressed in person or at least not in the presence of a large audience.   Posts on FB, Group or  Individual pages are not made face to face, a condition which may encourage a higher level of responding and less self-censored opinions than might be expected in face to face discussion.

     One example of this potential of a FB Group is We Grew Up In San Francisco Chinatown (WGUISFCT).  The brainchild of San Francisco Chinatown artist, photographer, and community activist, Leland Wong, WGUISFCT provides a unique and rich source of personal reflections from Chinese who grew up in San Francisco’s Chinatown (CT), most from the 1940s to 1980s, about how their lives in this close knit ethnic enclave shaped their ethnic identity and personality.  

The purpose of the We Grew Up In San Francisco Chinatown Group is to provide a forum for people who grew up in San Francisco Chinatown, for people whom San Francisco Chinatown played a part in their lives to discuss and contribute to conversations related to growing up in Chinatown.

This group is very active and is rapidly attracting new members because of the friendly and helpful environment its participants have created. Help maintain and promote this valuable resource by fostering a welcome atmosphere, thoughtful conversation and a free exchange of ideas, information and experiences about growing up in San Francisco Chinatown.

Thank you for joining us! Our motto "m soi pa chiu"

WGUISFCT creates a lively virtual community meeting with a dedicated following of Chinese (mostly).  Even though some members no longer live in or nearby CT, FB allows them to maintain their ties across many miles. The content on WGUISFCT varies widely from nostalgic reminiscences about what life was like growing up in CT, family life, generational conflicts, feelings about China, experiences of racial prejudice, school life, political commentary, social observations, and, of course, some idle and innocuous social chatter.                 

       Although WGUISFCT currently lists over 1,000 members, probably fewer than100 post regularly. There seems to be at least 50 who contribute frequently. The majority of members never join any discussions. No one knows how many of them are 'lurkers' who tune in regularly but rarely post and how many of them are completely inactive as no unsubscribe option exists.

       WGUISFCT provides a sense of virtual community that seems to enrich the experiences of the active participants, and probably has similar benefits for many of the passive members.  Moreover, WGUISFCT provides a rich and growing body of information about the perceived self-reported influence of growing up in a close-knit community of Chinese (mostly ABC) whose parents and/or grandparents were immigrants. 

      Although this growing archive of posts is not ideal for scholars and social scientists because of potential biases in samples, accuracy and bias in self-reports, it can supplement data obtained from more rigorously collected academic surveys and interviews.  WGUISFCT offers a veritable mountain of social data that contains potential nuggets for exploration, analysis, and hypothesis generation that could further our understanding of personal development under the constricted circumstances of living in enclaves like Chinatowns.

         Below are several examples of topics that I have posted on WGUISFCT. In the first example, I wanted to examine the prevalence of “paper sons” or the use of false identity papers among family members to immigrate to the U. S. I also wanted to see what type of impact this condition had on the descendents of immigrants who had paper son status. I created a brief simplistic survey posted on  the web with  Survey Monkey that people could answer anonymously.  Despite that safeguard, I failed to get many (less than 15) respondents completing the survey. The low response rate is consistent with my belief that paper son status is a taboo topic even years after these individuals have died.

John Jung

If your parents were Chinese immigrants before 1950, would you complete a short anonymous survey? The survey is about the "taboo topic" of "Paper Sons" but I hope you will participate. Thanks in advance A second post that I created  was an informal poll asking group members about their experiences in Chinatown elementary schools back in the period from around the 1940s to 1960s.  It was aimed at determining how many, and in what years, had a Chinese teacher during that period, or if all of their teachers were of “Caucasian” ethnicities?

John Jung

Glancing through old Jean Parker (School) and Spring Valley (School) class pix posted on this site from the late 50s and 60s, it seems the classes were 99.9% Asian (Chinese?), AND all the teachers were young white women. Just out of curiosity DID anyone from that era ever have a CHINESE, female or male, teacher? If not, was it because Chinese teachers were very few and/or they sought or were given assignments beyond Chinatown?

This question generated much greater participation, and generally confirmed the evidence from class photos that people posted on the site that showed most elementary classes contained 99+ percent Chinese children and a white female teacher.

A third post I made dealt with relations and experiences that WGUINSFCT Group members [most of whom were American Born Chinese (ABCs) with immigrant parents from Guangdong] had with new immigrants not born in the U. S. or  “fresh on the boat” (FOBs) during the period when they were  growing up.

John Jung

Judging from the name of this group, most members are ABCs or maybe "1.5"s. Growing up, did you get along well with FOBs? Or was there a type of social separation generally between ABCs and FOBs (With jet travel, FOB is more accurately FOP, but that has other interpretations that may offend)

This question generated over 100 postings, with some respondents making more than one response.  A wide range of experiences were described ranging from complete dissociation to negative encounters to positive interactions.  Moreover, even though the question referred to their experiences when they were growing up, which would have been back around the 1950s to 1970s, many posts dealt with contemporary relationships and tensions among newer subgroups such as immigrants from Taiwan, People’s Republic of China, and even those from the original source of Chinese in America, Guangdong. 

One fascinating point raised was that whereas many ABCs admitted they looked down on FOBs back in the 1950s,  they felt the tables had been turned today.  That is, ABCs felt that the Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Taiwan and People’s Republic of China today, many of whom are highly educated and affluent, disdain contact with the ABCs with Toishan-wa speaking immigrant parents.  In addition, unlike Chinese who came over almost a century ago from Guangdong, some of the more recent immigrants from the same region came with higher education and financial resources than the pioneering Chinese did.  Some older ABCs felt that these newer Guangdong immigrants look down on them.

Not all of the gems on WGUISFCT involve controversy. A totally different type of posting on WGUISFCT is the sharing of Chinese recipes. Organizers plan to collect recipes to create a WGUISFCT Cookbook.  Some (many?) of these recipes are family recipes that involve home cooking of the dishes that Guangdong immigrant families enjoyed at home rather than dishes served at banquet restaurants. Collecting these recipes that may ohterwise become lost is of historical interest.

•  Let's preserve the ABC home cooking. Submit your recipes......... COMFORT FOOD!!!!!!!! Let's get to 100 recipes and then PRINT and Bound it!!!!!!! half of the Way. Also, as some of you try these recipes, take pictures and post, I will collect the pictures and incorporate them, but you will need to help the book by posting.

As societal attitudes in the U.S. and Canada have become more accepting of Chinese than in the past, and as the Chinese have become more affluent, many Chinese no longer must live in traditional Chinatowns. In southern California, for example, the suburban San Gabriel Valley “Chinatown” which sprawls for mile after mile does not resemble the old compact inner city Chinatown that occupied only a few space of several blocks.  Thus, future generations of Chinese in America will not have the same experiences, for better or worse, that the generations that grew up in substandard living spaces in congested Chinatowns encountered.  WGUISFCT offers one source of valuable information about the experience and consequences of growing up under the conditions in traditional Chinatowns.  The next few years may be the last chance to obtain new evidence about this aspect of the history of Chinese in America.

Will History Speak of "Linspiration" or "Linsanity"?

      The current saga of Jeremy Lin is truly an instance of "truth being stranger than fiction." If Hollywood produced a film based on his meteoric, albeit still young, career as an professional basketball star, it would surely receive an F rating for "Fantasy."

                 

"Linsanity,"  the most popular pun used to refer to the phenomenon is misguided as it focuses on reactions of the media and general public over Lin's unexpected outstanding performance.  Historians of Chinese, and Asian, America will see the true significance of this classic rags-to-riches story of an underdog defying stereotypes and prejudices as a positive influence in the way Chinese and other Asian Americans are viewed both by themselves and by other Americans. "Linspiration" hopefully will continue long after "Linsanity" fades away.

Chinatown, My Chinatown?

           I have been fortunate to have presented talks on Chinese American history in the most important "Chinatowns" in the United States, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Chinatowns have changed substantially over the past century and a half.  They have become major tourist attractions where delicious, and often inexpensive Chinese food can be found along with often cheesy souvenirs as well as authentic Chinese clothing, art, jewelry, and furniture.  Chambers of Commerce proudly promotes their Chinatowns as a civic prize.  
            But the Chinese who actually live in and near Chinatowns also have a legitimate claim that it is their Chinatowns, and that they are not just places where sightseers, armed with arsenals of cameras, come to gawk and take pictures of "Orientals," pagodas, and chicken feet to take home to show folks back in mid-America.  For interspersed among the stores catering to tourists are markets and shops that serve the daily needs of residents of Chinatown who live in the crowded spaces of substandard living quarters above, and beside, the restaurants and curio shops.
            Chinatown inhabitants had their quarters stolen from them as far back as the early 1900s. Today, it is forgotten that Chinatowns, often relegated to the worst parts of town, were not attractive then to non Chinese.  They were to be avoided as dangerous and sinful places plagued by tong wars, opium dens, prostitutes, and gambling halls.  Racial intolerance of Chinese did not allow them to live outside of Chinatowns; Chinese felt safer from physical harm by staying in the enclave.  If they crossed the boundaries into other territory, they would be beaten, if not killed.
          Then, by the 1900s Chinatowns were discovered and reinvented as tourist attractions, and they were rebuilt to be Oriental "Theme Parks," with exotic pagodas and other decorations emblematic of Chinese culture.  Chop suey became the gastronomic and economic engine that triggered the new fascination with Chinatown, as reflected by the popular 1910 classic ode to Chinatown.

Chinatown, my Chinatown,

Where the lights are low,

Hearts that know no other land,

Drifting to and fro,

Dreamy, dreamy Chinatown,

Almond eyes of brown,

Hearts seems light and life seems bright

In dreamy Chinatown


The songwriters, William Jerome and Jean Schwartz, clearly took the perspective of outsiders, as their song concludes that, "Hearts seem light and life seem bright in dreamy Chinatown," which is hardly a true reflection of the condition of most of the  Chinese.  Perhaps, the songwriters were making a veiled reference to the soporific effects of opium on Chinese as in the lyric: 
            
            Drifting to and fro, Dreamy, dreamy Chinatown.


This suspicion is supported by the two rarely sung opening stanzas of the song. 


WHEN THE TOWN IS FAST A-SLEEP, AND IT'S MID-NIGHT IN THE SKY, THAT'S THE TIME THE FES-TIVE CHINK STARTS TO WINK HIS OTH-ER EYE, STARTS TO WINK HIS DREAM-Y EYE, LA-ZI-LY YOU'LL HEAR HIM SIGH. STRANG-ERS TA-KING IN THE SIGHTS, PIG-TAILS FLY-ING HERE AND THERE. SEE THAT BROK-EN WALL STREET SPORT, STILL THINKS HE'S A MIL-LION-AIRE. STILL THINKS HE'S A MIL-LION-AIRE, PIPE DREAMS BAN-ISH EV-'RY CARE.

A Return Visit to Speak at Delta State University

On Sept. 20, I made a visit to Cleveland, Ms., where I had previously talked in 2008 at Delta State University about the history of Chinese in the South. We decided to depart from a more standard lecture presentation with powerpoint slides and use a more informal format in which I would be interviewed in a conversational style. Dr. Albert Nylander, my host, served as the interviewer and asked questions directed toward understanding what led me to write my books on Chinese American history in the South, what the process entailed, how the books were received, and what I felt was the significance of my findings.

My Visit to the University of Memphis, Confucius Institute

I had an opportunity on Sept. 13, 2011 to give three presentations about the history of Chinese in the Deep South that were sponsored by the Confucius Institute at the University of Memphis.  This program funded by the Chinese government focuses on providing native speakers of Mandarin to public schools for language instruction. Many other universities in the U. S. and other countries have similar programs.

My most challenging audience was a class of 5th graders at the Campus School. At first, I was reluctant to make this presentation because of the young age, but realizing that it was important for young people to be introduced to the history of how Chinese immigrants were mistreated in the U. S., I welcomed the opportunity.  I was pleased with the attentiveness and curiosity that these youngsters showed during my talk.  One child was particularly interested in the example I showed of one of the poems that an immigrant had carved on the wall while interned at the Angel Island Immigration Station.  He wanted to know where he could read some of the other poems that were discovered when the barracks were about to be demolished after the station was closed.

A second talk in the afternoon attracted a general audience of students and faculty and generated considerable interest in the topic of how Chinese came to settle in Mississippi and Georgia, how they earned their living, and how they were treated in the segregated South.

The audience for the final talk in the evening consisted of students in the Honors Program. I spoke about my memoir, Southern Fried Rice, which described what it was like to be a member of the only Chinese family in our city, Macon, Georgia, during the 1920s-1950s.

Talk on Chinese in the South at Ole Miss, Sept, 2011

    The Sociology/Anthropology Department at the University of Mississippi in Oxford sponsored my presentation, On Being Chinese Where Everyone Else is Either Black or White, about some of the experiences of Chinese living in the Deep South during the era of Jim Crow laws.
      After the talk, I enjoyed Southern hospitality with delightful company at the well-known Ajax Restaurant on the town square, which features delicious Southern food.  I also had the opportunity the next day to be interviewed on Mississippi Public Radio about the lives of Chinese grocers in the Mississippi Delta during that period.

Return to the Deep South for Book Talks This Fall

Free newsletter design personalized with Smilebox

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to My Retirement Home, Chateau Cupertino, June 11, 2011

A variant of a talk about my adventures after retiring from college teaching in writing and speaking about Chinese American history that I first presented in April at California State University, Long Beach.  My audience consisted primarily of college students, and some former colleagues not yet retired, in the Department of Psychology. It played well, and served to tell students that they don't have a corner on the life of the mind, and not to dismiss us retirees as 'over the hill' intellectually.

Speaking at Chateau Cupertino (just down the street from a well-known computer company), I faced an audience at the opposite end of the age span, some even older than I, and all in some stage of retirement. I gave essentially the same talk, but the implicit message was different. For some of them, the message was "it's never too late!"  That is, using your life experiences and wisdom, you might have some meaningful things to write about that you could share with others.  

Sweet & Sour @ Culinary Historians of Northern Calif, Omnivore Bookstore, S. F. June 9

It was a special treat, and challenge, to discuss the history of Chinese restaurants with a 'foodie' audience at a wonderful 'foodie' bookstore rather than a predominantly Chinese audience. A friendly crowd packed the confines of a charming bookstore which allowed eye to eye contact with each person, which was essential since I could not display any slides or graphics to illustrate important points.  One surprise was the unannounced appearance of my good friends, Joe and Liz Chan, each of whom has contributed valuable narratives to my books, with Joe writing about his life growing up in his parents' Oriental Restaurant in Ft. Wayne, Indiana for the "Sweet and Sour" book and Liz sharing memories of her life growing up in her parents' laundry in Louisville, Kentucky, for the "Chinese Laundries" book.  Joe gave me a precious gift that I was honored to receive, a stainless steel serving dish, complete with cover, used in the Oriental Restaurant probably over 50 years ago!
    A highlight of the evening was Nellie Wong's recital of 3 of her poems about working in her parents' family restaurant in Oakland, 2 of which she generously gave permission for use in "Sweet and Sour."

Sweet and Sour, Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, June 1, 2011

 

The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California holds its meetings in the historic Castellar Elementary School in Los Angeles' Chinatown amidst many restaurants that feature traditional Cantonese based cuisine, a great setting to talk about the history of Chinese family restaurants. As a member of this vital organization, and well-acquainted with many of its members, I was pleased to share my findings with them. 

I had made 2 previous presentations about my other books on Chinese American history; in fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment that I was directed toward researching Chinese grocers in the Mississippi Delta.  

I had just finished talking about my memoir of growing up in a Chinese laundry in Macon, Georgia, where our family were the only Chinese in town.  A former resident of the Delta, Roland Chow, thanked me for my talk, and urged me to consider writing a history of Mississippi Delta Chinese, a topic that I had never considered writing about simply because I did not feel I knew enough about it.  However, with the encouragement of Roland leading me to do some research for several months, I became engrossed with the topic and recognized the urgency for someone to try to write on the subject which had been ignored since the 1970s work of James Loewen, Mississippi Chinese, and Robert Quan Seto, Lotus Among the Magnolias.  Thus,  the idea for "Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton," published in 2008, was born at Castellar School.