Short Stuff: Chinatowns

think it's cool. I think it's something that people might naturally do. But in the case of Chinatowns, it's not only something that can help immigrants as they come into the country and did from the very beginning. But sadly, the dark side is they were a necessity because of racial exclusion and and to protect themselves sin seek refuge among their own because for many, many years in this country there was, and some might say there's anti Asian bias that continues today in the wake of covid Um.

And by some might say, I mean it's fairly obvious because what's going on very sadly, but for many many years in this country there was a very much anti Chinese immigrant feeling going on. Um. A lot of it had to do with, you know, good old fashioned Americans thought that Chinese immigrants were taking their jobs. And Chinese immigrants did come to this country on mass starting in the eighteen hundreds of Chinese immigrants came in the eighteen

fifties alone. Yeah, that's quite a bit. UM. And they were drawn to the United States pretty understandably because all of a sudden America was this land of opportunity, UM, and the westward expansion was producing a lot of railroad jobs. There was a gold rush in California at the time. Apparently the um lumber mills and the lumber industy stream the Pacific Northwest was really getting going. UM. And so

it attracted a tremendous amount of Chinese people. And at first I get the impression I think from this is this a how stuff works article? You got? Um. It basically makes the point that you know, at first, UM, the influx of Chinese immigrants in the mid nineteenth century where was tolerated, if not just you know, if not welcome, they were it was fine. And then UM, as they started to show up in greater and greater numbers, faster

and faster than the xenophobia really kicked in. And like you said, um, they were they were basically like you go over here and and you stay together. And this is a really great example of um Chinese immigrants making lemon chicken out of lemons um and creating these really vibrant, really interesting communities that almost as like, well, can we come, can we come eat over? And your and your little enclave that we forced you guys to make um And

that's where those China towns came from. It's a pretty cool example of of of of something good coming out of something bad. You know. Yeah, the first formally recognized Chinatown was in San Francisco, and this was in the eighteen fifties, and it was called Little Canton at the time because most of the immigrants in that area at the time were from what was known as Canton in southeastern China. Today it's known as I would say Guangso,

but I'm sure that's wrong. What is it guang joe? Really? Yes,

a new day and stuff you should know history pronunciation. Uh. In the eighteen fifty three, I think is where when they first actually said the word Chinatown in the newspaper, and it was about a twelve block area, twenty two thousand Chinese immigrants, so many people by the end of the eighteen eighties, and at the time, because of the Page Law from eighteen seventy five that prevented Chinese men from bringing their wives and kids, it was there was

a ratio of twenty men to every woman in Chinatown because either single men only were coming over or men left their families behind to come over. Right, So, I mean twenty one in twenty two thousand people living in uh in in I guess San Francisco's Chinatown in the eighteen eighties and a twelve black district, and um, only hundred of them were women. That's nuts, dude, but them as I guess, America started to ease its immigration laws,

especially against the Chinese immigrants after World War Two. It took quite a while, and so finally women, um, wives, daughters, moms started coming over. And I get the impression that the character and the complexion of um chinatowns or in the United States started to change. They became a little more family oriented. Yeah, And if you've ever been to a chinatown, you uh have probably seen what's known as a a pi fang, which is, you know those beautiful

decorated gateway arches that sort of lead you into the district. UM. The business districts are usually defined by a few different uh A few. I mean, well, there's there's tons of Chinese owned businesses. Obviously, they very early on were involved in shoemaking, laundry service, cigar production, and they serve Chinese people,

they serve white people. And in those days, the organizations that serve the actual immigrants in Chinatown were broken down into social organizations uh, district and family organizations, which were further broken down into like what region basically you came from, and then what's known as tongs uh. These are brotherhoods that they would provide housing and jobs or legal services for people just arriving into the community. Yeah, because, I mean that was one of the greatest functions and first

functions of Chinatown. UM in the United States was too too. It was a place where if you were a Chinese immigrant, that's where you went and the community would help take care of you. UM, which is a it's a that's a pretty great thing to have when you're newly arrived in a new country. You know, I think so too. Should we take a break, I think, go to the dark side. Yeah, exactly, let's do that. We'll be right

back alright. So, like I was saying, chuck. At first, Um, the American sentiment towards newly arriving Chinese immigrants was at least tolerant, and then um, it quickly turned to xenophobia. And one of the problems with having a lot of people, um, of the same ethnics of the all living in one places, it's an easy target for outraged, um, xenophobic white mobs to attack and burn down and beat people up in there.

And um, that's what happened a lot in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in chinatowns around the United States. Anytime there was a problem and it was blamed on Chinese people, there was probably a violent attack on chinatowns. It just seemed to be par for the course. Yeah. There was one in eighteen seventy one in Los Angeles

where a white mob lynched seventeen Chinese men and boys. Uh, And the governor at the time, John Bigler said, you know, we that we need more restrictions on these Chinese immigrants. Coming in, so uh, it was you know, the local government wasn't doing them any favors at all. I think in eighteen eighty two is when the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. It was called the Chinese Exclusion Act for God's sake, chuck. Yeah, and this was one of America's

very first um immigration like restrictive immigration laws. Yeah. And it it basically said, if you are already here as a Chinese immigrant, you're not going to be able to become a naturalized citizen. You were not going to kick you out, but don't count on becoming an American. And if you're not here already, stay out. We're not letting any more Chinese people into the country. That was the

Chinese Exclusion Act of eighteen eighty two. And like I was saying, it wasn't until World War Two that they started to um relax those restrictions. So restrictions against Chinese immigration were pretty tight for about sixty years at least. Yeah, and there was a lot of you know, anti Chinese journalism going on. I think they started to try and purposely spread the word and say that you know Chinatown, you don't want to go to Chinatown if you're a

white person and do business with them. It's there's a lot of crime there. It's dirty and disease there. I think during the Bubonic Plague pan to make of the earlier twentieth century, they actually um, I think the chinatown in Honolulua was actually destroyed and the one in San Francisco was totally cordoned off. Yeah, and I mean as as much of a target as chinatowns were, um, it was even worse for people who lived outside of chinatowns. Um Like they were even um I guess easier to

get at. There was no safety in numbers or anything

like that. So over time, UM, I think like the violence, the anti Asian violence of the early twentieth century subsided and there was um a kind of like enforced threatened peace that kind of broke out, and chinatowns kind of went to being like, uh, they went back to being like this exotic place, but a place where you could, you know, as a white person or a non Asian American could travel to and and go, you know, eat and the restaurants or used the business as that kind

of thing. By mid to century, Yeah, there are roughly fifty chinatowns in the United States today, most major cities have a chinatown. Atlanta doesn't have a Chinatown. Chinatown, but there we have an area in Atlanta called Buford Highway and it's just this it's a street and this road has uh is well known for just having a bunch of um groups of ethnicities sorted together. So there'll be

an area where there's a lot of Chinese business. There's a Chinese mall um So I just actually went over the other day to the North China eatery and got like a hundred dumplings to go to freeze because you can go home. They actually sell them. They sell buns and dumplings frozen, like not wholesale but just bulk, so you know it's delicious stuff. And uh, but all kinds of ethnicities. There's a there's you know, Filipino area, there's

Mexican area. Not Vietnamese food. Man, just do your favor. Yeah, if you ever go to Atlanta, just sort of ask where Buford Highway is and go eat and shot down. Yeah, it's really like you're not going to go wrong. But not a true true Chinatown like you would think of, unfortunately in Atlanta. But you know, Portland's d c Honolulu, Seattle, Chicago, Philly, Houston, New York. Obviously Houston, Texas as a chinatown. UH. And now because of UM gentrifications, a lot of these chinatowns

are threatened. Obviously in cities like San Francisco where everything is becoming gentrified. UH, chinatowns are starting to shift to the suburbs a little more. And the Monterey Park, California, was dubbed the first suburban chinatown and became majority Asian American in the nineteen nineties. Yeah, which is you know, I mean in for those residents who are staying UM, A lot of the second generation are like, I don't really want to live in the middle of the city

any longer. I want to go have a bigger house or whatever. Like you said, they're moving to the suburbs. But for the ones who are staying, like, the cost of living in the city is sky hike compared to the suburbs. I don't care what city you're in. UM. So that's a big problem. Gentrification. UM is forcing out

the ones who do want to stay. And so there's a push among UM, second and third and more generation Chinese Americans to say, hey, we need to make sure that these places are are protected culturally, you know, not we need to keep the white people out or anything like that, but we need to make sure that they just don't get overdeveloped or anything like that, that they maintain their original character to a large degree. Right at

the very least, No tech Bros. No none. Which is ironic that San Francisco's Chinatown is still the most vibrant and flourishing chinatown in the United States. It's the o G and it's still going strong. Yeah. I think DC's Chinatown only has three hundred Chinese people living there now. Yeah, well actually that was so unless that's risen it maybe even less. Yeah, it's like a ten of what it was in Yeah, so visit a chinatown everyone. I go to Chinatown in New York City, and uh, bring cash.

A lot of these places dim sum places will only take cash. That's my little travel tip for you. And eat some dim sum and some soup dumplings. Very nice. Are you got anything else? I got nothing else? Well, we're gonna go eat some dim sums. So short stuff is apt. Stuff you should know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.