Chinatowns
originated as safe havens for Chinese immigrants from the late 19th
century until the middle of the 20th 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.
|
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?
|
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.
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.
