Naruta and Teer 2006 Pre Quake Demographics San Franciso Chinatown

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Pre-quake DemographicsBy Anna Naruta & Jamille Teer

The City

The 1900 census named San Francisco the

ninth most populous city in the nation,with a recorded count of 342,782 residents.

A full third of San Francisco's population then hadbeen born outside the United States. Chinese and

Chinese Americans comprised at least four percentof the population, being recorded at 13,954persons. The Chinese Exclusion laws had been ineffect since 1882, and this figure represents nearly afifty percent decline from the 1890 census ofChinese San Franciscans. While for all census

category groups in California, men outnumberedwomen, discriminatory measures that severelylimited immigration of women of Chinese descent

led to a 1910 recorded population ratio amongChinese San Franciscans of ten-to-one.

Restrictions had not yet been imposed onJapanese immigration, and recorded number qf

Japanese San Franciscans increased from 590 in theprevious census to 1,781, or half a percent of thetotal city's 1900 population. African Americanswere recorded to have comprised a similarproportion of the population, at 1,654 persons,suggesting a decline of nearly 200 since the 1890census. The 1900 census enumerated only fifteenNative Americans in the city. Of immigrants inSan Francisco the largest number were Germans,who were recorded to comprise thirty percent ofthe population born outside the U.S., followed byIrish, recorded at fourteen percent.

The first census after the earthquake showedthat at 416,912, San Francisco was still California's

largest city, although its growth rate was the lowest.(Compared with a twenty-two percent increase,Oakland expanded 124 percent, and Berkeley 206percent over the same period.) Among people the1910 census classified as white, a full forty percenthad at least one parent who was an immigrant, thehighest ratio among California counties.The effects of Chinese Exclusion and related

discriminatory legislation continued to be felt in alower recorded population of San Franciscans of

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Chinese descent: 10,582 persons, or about two anda half percent of the city's population. Records ofChinese businesses and manufacturies show manyChinese San Franciscans lived and worked outside

of Chinatown, and Chinatown's commercial and

light industrial district extended along the area ofCommercial Street all the way down to the Bay.CHINATOWN with diversified population

While portions of the white population agitatedfor residential segregation in San Francisco, SanFrancisco's Chinatown itself hosted people ofmany ethnicities and national origins.Block-by-block enumeration in the 1900 censusshows how Chinatown was home to ethnicallymixed neighborhoods of Chinese, Mexican, Irish,French, Chilean, Swedish, and San Franciscans of

other backgrounds, as well couples who marriedacross "racial" boundaries and their families. .

Chinese-language newspapers publishing inChinatown in 1905, Mong Hing Yat Bo (ChineseDaily World), Tai Tung Yat Bo (Chinese FreePress), and Chung Sai Yat Po (Chinese-WesternDaily), were joined by other community-servingmedia. The offices of the Japanese American Isseinewspaper, Shin Sekai, or The New World,(1894-1942), the African American newspaper, theSan Francisco Vindicator (ca. 1884-1906), and for atime, the African American newspaper TheElevator (1865-1915), all operated fromChinatown, in the block that today is the site of theGordon J. Lau Elementary School, across ClayStreet from the Chinese Historical Society ofAmerica.

.Masthead of the Japanese"

The New World Newspaper".SF Publiclibrary

1900 Census Data from San Francisco Chinatown, showing mixedneighborhoods. Excerpt from 800 block of Pacific Avenue.

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......Masthead of the "The Vindicator Newspaper".

SF Publiclibrary

Sources:

~ma, Eiichiro, Shin Sekai, In Engdopedia of JopantSt

American Hutory, Updated Edition, An A-to-Z R£jtmlte from

1868 to the Present, Brian Nifya, Editor, Japanese AmericanNational MlISl!llm, New York: Checkmark Books.

AZ"ma, Eikhiro, The Politics of Transnational HutoryMaking: JopantSt Immigrants on the Western 'Frontier,'1927-1941, Journal ofAmerican Hutory, 89(4), Marrh 2003.

Beas~, Deliah L, The Ntgra Trail Blazm of California; a

compilation of recordsfrom the California arrhives in the Bancroft

library at the Universiry of California, in Berke~; and from the

diams, old papers, and convmation.r of old pionem in the State

of California, New York: Times Mirror Printing and BindingHouse, 1919.

Dicker, Laverne Mau. 1979. The Chinese in San

Franmco:A PidorialHistory. New York: DoverPublications,Inc.

Lai, Him Marie. 1986. A HiJIory &claimed: AnAnnotated Bibliograpf?yof ChineseLanguageMaterials on theChineseofAmerica, etis.fumeD LeongandJean Pang Yip. LosAngeles: Re.rOUrrtand Development Publication.r, ArianAmerican Studies Center,UniversiryofCalifornia.

Lorlie, Franm N., San Franmco's Black Communiry,

1870-1890: Dilemmas in the s!nlggle for equaliry,' a thtiU,

Reproduced l!} Rand E Re.rearrhAssociates, 1973.

McClain, Charles]. 1994. In Searrh of Equaliry: The

Chinese S !niggle Against Ducrimination in Nineteenth-Century

America. Berke~: Universiry of California Press.

Merriam, William R, Director of the Cenms Bureau,TlllelfthCt1ISIISof the United States, Taken in the Year 1900,Ct1ISIIS&ports VoINmeI, PopulationPart I, PreparedundertheS lIjJervisionof William C. Hunt, Chief Statistician forPopulation,Washington:UnitedStates Cen.rusOjJice,1901.

San Francir&oCit1 Directoms of the Nineteenth andTwentiethCentums, San Franmco Publiclibrary.

United States Bureau'of the CenSllS, ManllScript CensusEnumeration Sheets, 1900 and 1910.

United States Department of Commerre, Bureau of the

CtnSHS, Thirteenth Ct1ISIIS of the United States Taken in the

Year 1910, VoINme II, Population 1910, Prepared under the

S lIjJervision of William C. Hunt, Chief Statistician for

Population, Washington: Government Printing OjJice, 1913.

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04 I The Unshakable-Rebirth of S.F. Chinatown in 1906

PrefaceOne hundred years is quite a long time. In general, people rarely think about what

happened a hundred years ago. Last year, the Chinese Historical Society of Americacontacted Sing Tao to discuss the centennial of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.Given the historical significance of this event, Sing Tao, as a news agency, is pleased toparticipate in commemorating the event. It is not only because of this whole numberof "100" is special; it is also because the Chinatown today cannot be separated fromthe hard work and efforts of our ancestors. As the proverb says, "one generationplants the trees under whose shade another generation rests", the more we understandthe history of the earthquake, the more we will cherish taday's Chinatown. With this

. historical perspective in mind, we will have more insight when we walk downStockton Street or Grant Avenue today.

We call this special supplement "The Unshakable." People have asked: Wasn't SanFrancisco Chinatown leveled to ground by the earthquake and the big fire? How canwe say Chinatown was unshakable?

The tide refers to the determination of the Chinese to protect their rights, as well asto Chinatown itself, which was built with blood and sweat. It is often said that theChinese are people without cohesion. But the Chinese supported each other duringthe crisis and their strong opposition to relocating Chinatown after the earthquakedemonstrates the strong unity among the Chinese. The Chinese did not depend onrelief. Those who were capable made every effort to find work; and those who wereweak and could no longer work, went back to the home country. They did not want tobecome a burden to the society, or to disgrace the reputation of the Chinese. Thisexcellent Chinese tradition of self-reliance should be honored and taught. Peopleshould not always link the old Chinatown negatively with opium and indecency. .

The editors of Sing Tao have compiled this supplement from the many historicalmaterials about the Chinese during the 1906 earthquake. We have, particularly,reviewed the Chung Sai Yat Pao, the only Chinese language newspaper published atthat time. In addition, we interviewed community members and explored issues of thefuture of Chinatown and Chinese civil rights. Since this supplement covers manyaspects of a huge subject, our hope is that our readers will learn how even the biggestevents develop from small clues and that we will continue to acknowledge thecontributions of our ancestors, as well as continuing to treasure the Chinatown oftoday. We would like to dedicate this supplement to the Chinese victims of the 1906San Francisco earthquake, as well as the pioneers who helped to rebuild Chinatown.

Sing Tao Editorial Department

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Editor in Chief:Editor:Content Editor:

Copy Editor:Art Director:

Cover Design :Layout:Reporter:

llIiIS.SIll n I III L'

Joseph LeungWmg ChanJoyce ChenBen Chan

Jie SheJie SheAngie ZhangShirley Chou, Pearl Liang,Ken Hu,Jane Xiao,Alan Liu, Michael Sze

Danny Lone, Kai Lui,Brenda Huang

Content Consultant :Anna Naruta

Headquarter:5000MarinaBlvd.,3rdFloor,Brisbane,CA94005Tel:650-808-8800Fax:650-808-8801E-mail:[email protected]:http://www.singtaousa.comThe supplement is published by Sing Tao Newspapers(S.F.) Ud. No parts may be reproduced without thewritten permission of the publisher.lili'ltili1J"I'i8!imff;'m;U

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Translator:

I

ContentsA Peaceful and Energetic Chinatown 03

Preface 04

Pre-quake Demographics 05

The Furyand Firethat Shocked Chinatown 06

Survivors'Stories... 14

LewHlng:A Kinsman to the Rescue 21

Plan for Relocation of Chinatown Rejected 22

Scenes from the Quake 26

True Heroes who Stood up for Chinatown 30

Chinatown to satisfy theWestem Imagination 36

The Speedy Rebuilding ofChinatown FamilyAssociations 38

Chinese Chamber of Commerce-from Commercial Interest to Civil Rights 42

The BigOne and theDevelopment of Satellite Chinatowns 44

Chinatown -Conservation andDevelopement 46

The Long and Winding Road 50

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