I can still recall the smells of food and gutter as I walked around San Francisco’s Chinatown in my youth. I held my grandma’s hand, following her through the produce stalls. As a five-year-old, Chinatown was just the place where I got to see fish swim in tanks, where I had to squeeze through four bodies to move three feet forward. While this part of the city seemed to never change, the blood, sweat, and tears it took for foreigners to be this integrated into the United States is often forgotten and swept under the rug.
After the original influx of Chinese migrants to the Golden State, the foreign men were put to work. They worked grueling hours paving the way for the Transcontinental Railroad. In the government’s eyes, the Chinese men were people willing to sacrifice their time and bodies for minimal pay—until the Chinese became competition. When the American economy weakened, the Chinese Exclusion Act isolated the Chinese people. They were forced out of their jobs, barred from intermarrying, holding jobs, held in Angel Island for long periods of time, and even subjected to brutal acts of violence by their American colleagues. This series of injustices was further exacerbated by the earthquake in 1906. Many businesses and homes owned by Chinese immigrants burned down, and many lives were lost to the rubble and ash. For almost four more decades, the Chinese population in San Francisco faced racism and poverty until the Exclusion Act was overturned in 1943.
After 1943, the Chinese rebuilt Chinatown, experiencing population growth from many different regions of China. Whether these immigrants were escaping oppression in their home country or were looking for a better life, America appealed to them because of the opportunity the country presented. My own grandpa moved his family here to give his children a chance at a brighter future. Chinatown has become a symbol of tradition and progression for the new generations of Chinese Americans. I am forever grateful for the perseverance and grit of the Chinese immigrants who carved out a space in the world for themselves.