Stewart Culin

“ A knowledge of our sciences will give China a new place in history, and we cannot fail to look with interest upon these first representatives of its capable and extraordinary people among us, who may some day play no small part in the awakening of their country to a knowledge of the resources of the Western World. ”

“ The store is the centre around which life in a Chinese colony revolves. As soon as several men have collected in a town or city, one of them will send to the nearest place of supply and purchase such Chinese groceries and other wares as may be needed by the colony. These he will sell to his comrades, without at first discontinuing his usual avocation. If the colony increases in numbers he may rent a small store and with the assistance of some of his friends form a store company. Several men are usually associated in such enterprises, one of whom will be placed in charge as manager. ”

“ As the colony increases in numbers, a kind of society reorganizes, and though at first it may have been composed of laborers engaged as laundrymen or cigar-makers, many of them in time find other employments tributary to the mass, and take up their former occupations or new ones most congenial to them. The modifications and divergences of this society from that of the Chinese at home, due to the absence of native women and the influence of the different and aggressive civilization around it, present an interesting field for study. ”

“ Thus many interests besides those of the dealer in clothes and provisions grow up under the roof of the little shop. Often a doctor, some poor and broken-down student, dispenses medicines from a supply of drugs ranged along one side of the store; the itinerant barber, an indispensable personage, makes it a place of call; letters for the colony are directed in care of the store; public notices are written on tablets of red paper and pasted beside the door; Chinese newspapers, both of San Francisco and the native ports, are received ”

“ Time will not permit me to dwell upon even the characteristic features of the social life of the Chinese in our cities, but there are certain questions connected with their mental characteristics and religious belief which a somewhat prolonged contact with those people enables me, more or less imperfectly, to answer.
Much misconception exists as to character of the Chinese who emigrate to America. They are generally described as the dregs of their people, given up to gambling and opium smoking and distinguished only by their vices. ”

“ A Chinese storekeeper in Philadelphia has furnished me with the following list of the names and numbers of each clan among some four hundred and fifty of his acquaintances in that city. It will be observed that the Lí clan outnumbers any other. In New York city, [6] the Chiús predominate, numbering some five hundred souls.
The members of a clan unite when necessary for mutual defense or to redress a wrong done to one of their number; the ties and obligations of the clan, however, are much stronger among the Sinning people than those of the northern districts. ”

“ The ties of kindred, preserved with so much care in China, are recognized here, and many of the immigrants claim relationship. People of the same village naturally drift together, and as all the inhabitants of a Chinese village frequently belong to the same clan and bear the same name, it happens that many members of the same family are often found associated here, the numbers of any particular family varying much, however, in different localities. Some thirty or forty of these clans only are represented among the Chinese in our Eastern cities. ”

“ Other opportunities for making money will not be lost sight of. The cellar will be fitted up with bunks for opium smoking, and tables covered with matting for the convenience of those who desire to play dominoes; and the profit on the opium consumed and the portion of the winnings set aside for the use of the tables soon constitute a more important source of revenue than the store itself. ”

“ The Chinese New Year is the season for a holiday lasting for nearly a week, and at this time, as upon the occasion of several other principal Chinese festivals, employers are expected to provide a special dinner for their laborers.
The occupation of the laundrymen, both as owner and employee, is a profitable one, but their incessant [10] toil, with their aptitude for combination and freedom from many of the expenses which the family relation entails upon all other classes, may be regarded as the secrets of this success. ”

“ The immigrants are much influenced by local traditions and those from different sections keep much to themselves. They establish separate shops when their numbers warrant it, as well as assembly-rooms and guild-halls. The Six Companies in San Francisco, under which nearly all of the Chinese in the United States are enrolled, are the guilds formed in this manner by the emigrants from different parts of the province. ”

“ They quickly discovered, upon their arrival, the field presented by the neighboring cities for their work, and the news spread rapidly to California and even to China itself. 3 Thousands of Chinese came to the East, until at present there is scarcely a town throughout the whole extent of country where one or more may not be found, while in the large cities colonies have been formed, in which much of their primitive [9] life has been re-established, and an opportunity presented for the observation and study of these interesting people at our very doors. ”

“ In time the shop-keeper, knowing the advantage of increasing the attractions of his place, may procure a tolerably skillful cook and open a restaurant in an upper story of his building; but at first this will only be kept open on Sundays and holidays. ”

“ Among those from Hohshan and the country adjacent to the city of Canton are found many of considerable attainments; not men who would be considered scholars at home, or who have even obtained the degree [14] of siu-tsai that constitutes the first step to advancement, but clerks who are able to read and understand much of the abstruse classical literature of their country, and whose sympathies and traditions are allied with those of the great literary aristocracy by which their nation is dominated. ”

“ The immigrants are nearly all agriculturists, with a small sprinkling of artisans and shopkeepers, some of whom have served an apprenticeship in Canton or Hong Kong after leaving their native villages. They are nearly all single men, who left their homes at an early age before the usual time among them for contracting marriages. 2 Some have wives and children in China, and many of the more successful go home to marry and then return again to America ”

“ Little capital is required to start a laundry, one hundred dollars being usually sufficient, and several men frequently associate themselves together and share the profits between them. The owners should each clear from twenty-five to seventy dollars per month, while the hired laborers are paid from twenty-five to thirty dollars per month, with their board and lodging. ”

“ Their religion is not a system which we can define as that of Tao, Buddha, or Confucius, although all these have contributed to give form to ceremonies and observances; the worship of the spirits of the dead, with a kind of fetichism even more primitive, constitutes the principal element of their belief. ”

“ Very slight disagreements between individuals among them are frequently taken up by their respective families and made the subjects of long and bitter quarrels—meetings are held, large sums of money subscribed, and feuds perpetuated that may have been carried on for ages at home. ”

“ They rise at daybreak and work until their task is finished, often until far into the night. Two meals a day are provided for them, one at about nine in the morning and another between four and five in the afternoon. These consist of rice, fish and pork, and certain vegetables, and are abundant and palatable. One of the men in the laundry acts as cook, an avocation for which all the immigrants seem to show much aptitude. ”

“ Such ceremonies as are observed by the Chinese here have for their object the propitiation and expulsion of these phantoms; prayers and offerings are made to higher powers, but their aid is invoked for protection against the spirits of the dead and those malignant forces in nature with which they are believed to be often associated. ”