Chinatown Research Paper

There are many Chinatown in this world, and the Chinatown of San Francisco has much historical significance; The Chinatown of San Francisco is the largest Chinatown in the United States, the largest community of Chinese Americans outside of China. Today I want to write about the of San Francisco base on my personal experience because there are many historic things I can illustrate. Before I started traveling this field trip, I did some researches carefully in San Francisco city guide, so I eager to travel as soon as possible. Finally I attended a free tour with San Francisco city guide, also they assigned a tour guide, Marann.

The first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived during the gold rush era. These immigrants were mostly young men that found work as “ploughmen, laundrymen, placer miners, woolen spinners and weavers, domestic servants, cigar makers, shoe makers, and railroad builders” (Lee 71). Many immigrants came during this period because the United States provided economic opportunities these immigrants were seeking. For others, coming the United States meant achieving the “Gold Mountain Dream,” which was to earn money and return back home rich (Lee 66). Chinese workers also ran their own business. The two most common were laundries, and restaurants which were considered “women’s work” because these were typically tasks done by women at home (Lee 75). However, laundry owners faced harsh realities since they worked and slept in the same place and “rarely left the premises because

The Vietnam War had a huge affect on the nature of migration to Australia. Vietnamese refugees changed the face of Australia and created today’s multiculturalism.

The Chinese immigrants also contributed to us a whole new culture of which we had not been familiar with before. They brought their religious beliefs, prompting a Chinese Temple to be built in 1863 in Oroville, which provided a place of worship for Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism (Bancroft). They also brought their traditions, like the celebrations that they’d have for certain holidays like the Lunar New Year. These celebrations entailed festivals, parades, partying and all of the Chinese community coming together in the streets. Another one of the traditions they held dear to their culture was theatre, and so they continued these performances and even built their own Chinese theatre in 1852 (Bancroft). They

There were a couple of reasons. One of the reasons was the city development and extension of the McCormick Place impacted on the planning design of the square as well as the transportation service availability. The other reason was because of environmental issue. The Chinatown Square was detected with toxins, which cost $400,000 and a long period of time to cleanup. Even though the Chinatown Square went through a lot of difficulties, the city of Chicago showed their support of the project by contributing $7.2 million and offered to build needed streets, sewers and sidewalks. (Chicago-Chinatown, 1996)1

Approximately 10 years into the gold rush, the Chinese numbered about 40,000 – 3% of the population. However, they were concentrated in the Victorian gold-rush areas that also attracted the mass of the early white diggers - Ballarat, Bendigo, and Beechworth.

The development of Chinatown first began with the many Chinese immigrants that appeared in the United States. Because of the Transcontinental Railroad, many Chinese immigrants were paid laborers working on the project and were thought of by employers as reliable laborers who would work, without complaint, even under strenuous conditions(Norton 1924, 283–296). Chinese immigrants came in waves because of the grand opportunity. These immigrants were paid significantly lower wages than white workers, then blamed Chinese laborers for lashing down pay and taking away jobs. After the railroad was completed and white laborers in other industries began to fear for their jobs, anti-Chinese attacks increased, including beatings, arson and

In 1848, the first Chinese came and of course in the nest year participated in the gold rush. Like the Chilean in “Diario de un viaje a California”, Chinese also came here for mining. After, they also established Chinese school and churches and create their own lifestyle. In “The City That Was”, Will Irwin wrote, “The Chinese lived their own lives in their own way and settled their own quarrels with the revolvers of their highbinders”(453).

“Trying to Find Chinatown” begins on a street corner in New York City. Benjamin, a blond haired, blue eyed white male, walks upon a street performer and begins a conversation with him. The street performer is an Asian-American named Ronnie. Their conversation begins with Benjamin asking where a certain address is in Chinatown. Ronnie takes this question as an insult because he’s the only Asian-American anywhere near by. Ronnie turns aggravated as Benjamin tells him he is also an Asian-American, not knowing he was adopted. He’s stunned when Benjamin informs him on his knowledge on Asian-American history because of his skin tone; which is very ironic considering he believed he was racially profiled and asked about the address in Chinatown because of his skin hue. They both give valid points in their arguments and begin to understand one another and their overview of the topic. The discussion doesn’t exactly result with either one of them winning but as a mutual understanding of each other. Although Ronnie and Benjamin don’t see eye to eye on the topic of conversation, the main idea of this play is very clear; don’t judge a book by its

The Vietnamese communities have played a significant role in broader engagements in Australian politics and society. The Vietnamese were used as the trigger for the real end of White Australia in the late 1970s.

There were several reasons, that led Chinese people migrate to Australia and those reasons are largely different from those of Afro-American slaves. Between 1839 and 1842, Britain and China had Opium War concerning disagreement of their trading. Ryan (1995, p.15) argues that after the war, Hong Kong was dominated by Britain and people,

The plans and narratives of the Kowloon Walled City have drastically changed through the years, as it has been an unrolled and unregulated enclave between the British and Chinese governments. It began as an officially planed Chinese military fort and afterwards witnessed three distinct stages of lawlessness, demolition and rebirth as an urban garden. It all officially began in the 16th century, when the Chinese built a defensive garrison town filled with soldiers, civil officers and their families (Carney, 2013). However, when Hong Kong was leased to the British in 1898, the Kowloon Walled City became a enclave in the colonized territory, where no laws of the official state applied and everything began expanding spontaneously. The first stage of the city’s unintentional self-organization began in the 1950’s. It is widely known as the time of three vices – gambling, prostitution and drug dealing. The official regulations of the British did work on Hong Kong and were reversely reflected in the Chinese enclave. As soon as something was forbidden in the city-state, people massively poured into the un-ruled territory and let the sins to flourish. This way the Kowloon Walled City became synonymous with violence, crime and disturbance. During this period, the city and people became one, the buildings were connected by piping systems and wires, the water poured through the holes and sunlight could barely reach the lower levels. Yet, in the early 1970’s the situation started changing

On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family written by Lisa See is an inspirational narrative depicting her Chinese families experiences and struggles immigrating to the west coast of America during the 19th and 20th century. The author was effective in telling her families story. There were similarities and differences between the Fong family’s experiences and the Chinese community’s immigration experiences as a whole. Immigration to America was a phenomenon for Chinese people in the late 19th century in search of “Gold Mountain”. This was a term in Chinese culture to describe economic opportunity in the state of California after gold was found. The title of the book is a very appropriate metaphor for

The Chinatown Game Lecture only touched upon the topic of the game called The Miss L.A. Chinatown Missing towards the end of the lecture, it was mostly about Chinatowns around the world in general. This particular lecture fit in well with class due to the race and gender aspects. To elaborate, when it comes to race, the lecturer pointed out the fact that Chinese individuals have been seen as in the past as subhuman compared to other races. An example that was used to show Chinese as subhuman was that they are depicted as mole like for keeping to themselves and in Chinatowns, there are passageways as well as underground stories. This depiction of Chinese individuals being labeled subhuman made me think of the “Why Mammals Are Called Mammals” reading by Londa Schienbinger. The term

Lisa See grew up in L.A’s Chinatown, with her Chinese grandparents living and working there, and she was taught the Chinese traditions throughout her life. A lot of her novels take place in China and/or deal with China. The book being a fiction and according to the author’s familial background, she might approach the topic here as a way for her to carry her family history, people and places with her forever.