Ribbons

Covering almost 24 square blocks, San Francisco’s Chinatown is a vibrant, bustling community, attracting more visitors each year than the Golden Gate Bridge. Today, Chinatown ranks as one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia, and its history reflects the continuity of both tradition and cultural values. 

In the mid-1840s, China’s defeat in the Opium War led to widespread famine and social unrest, encouraging thousands to immigrate to America. Most immigrants hailed from Guangdong, a coastal province along China’s southern edge (Chinn, Thomas W. Bridging the Pacific: San Francisco Chinatown and its People. Chinese Historical Society of America, 1998). Some sought fortune in the California Gold Rush, while others worked as farm hands in California valleys, or labored to expand the transcontinental railroad. As immigration increased, and as racist discrimination encouraged opportunists away from mining towns, these new Chinese Americans settled around Portsmouth Square, a one-block plaza not far from San Francisco’s bustling wharfs. Soon, Chinese-owned laundries, fruit stands, florists, theaters, and boarding houses brought life to the expanding neighborhood. In 1853, the local press aptly dubbed this vibrant community “Chinatown” (“The Story of Chinatown.” PBS).

Reaction to Chinese settlement was mixed among white Americans; some, like San Francisco mayor John W. Geary, commended the Chinese American work ethic, while others feared that newly arrived laborers might swamp a limited job market. In 1868, the Burlingame Treaty worked to normalize relations between the US and China, protecting free immigration. However, in 1882, responding to domestic tensions, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, suspending immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. In 1910, to administer this new exclusion better, the government opened an intake and processing station on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Travelers from China often endured harsh conditions and long-term detainment and were compelled to formally identify their employment status. A blight on American history, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first to critically limit the immigration of a specific ethnic group (“History of San Francisco’s Chinatown.” History, 21 Aug. 2018).

Amid tensions over immigration policy, disaster struck: In 1906, a devastating earthquake destroyed over 80% of San Francisco and claimed more than 3,000 lives. Chinatown was leveled; businesses, residences, and community centers were either lost amongst the rubble, or ruined by the resulting fires. However, many immigration records, filed at City Hall, were similarly destroyed. Exploiting an unusual loophole, many Chinese immigrants claimed American citizenship and encouraged their children, still in mainland China, to follow them west. In 1943, with Chinese American soldiers enlisting in the American war effort, President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act (“History of San Francisco’s Chinatown”). In the 1950s, after the Act’s repeal, Chinese Americans expanded to San Francisco’s Richmond district, largely replacing the other ethnic groups that had once dominated the neighborhood. This is where Robin and her family live in Ribbons.

With Chinatown almost entirely razed, government officials hoped to focus rebuilding efforts on the city’s southern edge, away from its business district. However, Chinese American advocates, joined by merchants wary of risking Asian trade, successfully lobbied to rebuild Chinatown on its original location. California-born Chinese merchant Look Tin Eli financed architectural designs with a more Eastern style, hoping to better reflect Western perceptions of Asia and thereby encourage tourism. It worked, and by 1947, Chinatown was again an active community, thriving on tourism revenues. (Rast, Raymond W. “The Cultural Politics of Tourism in San Francisco’s Chinatown, 1882-1917.” Pacific Historical Review, vol. 76, no. 1, 2007, pp. 29-60).

Today, Chinatown reflects its long history of cultural resilience amid discrimination; its streets still teem with Chinese American vendors, and its facades boast a distinctly Eastern aesthetic. Chinese cultural phenomena—from funeral processions to the Autumn Moon Festival—attract locals and tourists alike, marrying the varied traditions of both China and the United States.