ARE THE CHINESE
-?•- The University of Texas
Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio
STORIES FOR YOUNG READERS
This is the first in a series published to enhance the
understanding of the rich and varied heritage of .
Texas and her people.
~
Copyright 1979
The University of Texas
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
At San Antonio
801 South Bowie Street
San Antonio, Texas 78205
Jack R. Maguire, Executive Director
Pat Maguire, Director of Publications
Barbara Shimkus, Design
Thorn Ricks, Illustrator
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 78-57796
Hard Binding International Standard Book Number 0-933164-46-7
Paperbound International Standard Book Number 0-933164-36-X
This publication was made possible by grants
from The Brown Foundation, The Levi Strauss
Foundation and The Houston Endowment,
Incorporated.
'. ---~ __ ~ __ ' __ -
WHO ARE mE~NESE TEXANS
STORIES FOR YOUNG READERS
..
MARIAN L. MARTINELLO
Associate Professor, Division of Education
College of Multidisciplinary Studie~
University of Texas at San Antonio
WILLIAM T. FIELD JR.
University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures
at San Antonio
NOIl~naOU1NI
ho are the Chinese Texans? Where did they
come from? How did they get here? What did they do?
What do they do? How did they live? How do they live?
And, why in Texas? One good way to learn about people is
to talk with them, to interview them by asking questions
about their lives and the lives of people they knew. We call
this oral history because the record of each person's life is
his or her history. We can learn about it by talking with
people about themselves and others.
To find out about the Chinese Texans, we can interview
people who are part of their group. A present day Chinese
Texan might answer our questions this way:
How are Chinese Texans different from
other Texans?
We have the physical characteristics of our
ancestors from China. We are oriental by
race. Some of us speak Chinese, but all of
us speak American English. Today, most of
us are native-born Americans, though there
are some Chinese Texans who were born in
China. Even though we look different from
other Texans, we are not as different as
some people think. We live and work in
Texas, mostly in the cities. Our friends and
neighbors are from different backgrounds
because Chinese Texans do not live in
Chinatowns like those in San Francisco and
other big cities. We have become American.
Most of our young people think of
7
themselves as Americans first before
considering themselves Chinese.
What do you think the term "Chinese
Texan" means to most people?
If people don't know us very well, they
probably think of railroads, laundries and
Chinese food.
Why?
Well, most of the first Chinese who came to
live in Texas came here as railroad
construction workers. Later, many of those
people started laundries and restaurants.
Those restaurants served meat and potatoes
type dishes in the early days because that's
what other Americans liked. Today, the
special flavors of Chinese foods like sweet
and sour pork and chicken, dried fish and
rice are enjoyed by many Americans. That's
interesting because young Chinese Texans,
8
especially, eat typical American foods more
often than Chinese foods .
Is there a type of Chinese food which is
particularly well known to Americans?
Chop suey! But that is not really Chinese
food. It is a Chinese-American dish. It was
"invented" in this country. Chop suey is
almost unknown to Chinese people who live
in China.
9
Hung Fong
Restaurant,
San Antonio .
Do Chinese Texans have any
special traditions?
Yes, we still enjoy the traditions our
Chinese ancestors brought to Texas. You
can tell an invitation to a Chinese party or
special event by gold engraving on red
paper. Red is a special color to Chinese.
Leung wedding in
~;::::=:::.:==:...::.....:.._~_:...:....:----=-~_----=-~..:....:.:..:~=::;:~ San Antonio .
During weddings, the bride is dressed in
the typical white gown which most
American brides wear. She is also given
jade and gold family heirlooms. A Chinese
Texan bride and groom usually have a tea
ceremony which honors the parents of the
groom during the wedding reception. The
two families exchange moon cakes and
Chinese pastries.
10
Once in awhile, we have a "red egg"
party. This is held when a baby is one
month old. The baby's head is rubbed with
a red colored egg, and red eggs are given to
guests as party favors.
We also have "long life" parties for our
parents. Chinese Texans still believe, as
their ancestors did, that parents and older
people should be respected. A special
birthday celebration is held for a parent's
60th, 70th or 80th birthday. Guests receive
chopsticks and a rice bowl inscribed with
the Chinese character "long life."
Why is the color red so important to
Chinese Texans?
Red means good luck and happiness to all
Chinese. If you ever attend a Chinese New
Year celebration, you'll see the color red on
many things and in many places.
I Chinese red
L-~-----------------------------------------------------------r~1 egg ceremony.
11
The gilded
"King Lung. "
What's the Chinese New Year
celebration like?
You really have to see one to enjoy it. The
Chinese Lunar New Year is held each year.
It is a time to feast and have fun.
In big cities like San Francisco and New
York, there is a parade to celebrate the New
Year. Big papier mache dragons and lions
are traditional parts of the parade. The King
Lung is a huge dragon which is paraded
through the streets. It has always been a
traditional part of Chinese holidays and
special events-even funerals. The King
Lung means both joy and sorrow so it
becomes part of both our happy and our
sad times.
Chinese New Year is a time to start again
just as January 1 is for the Western world.
We Chinese Americans have two New Years
-the one most Americans celebrate on
January 1 and our own which is usually
held near the end of January or in early
February. The Lunar New Year is a time to
payoff debts and start the new year with a
12
,
~
.
~
clean slate. On New Year's Eve. many
Chinese families have a special dinner and
stay up until midnight to wish one another
a happy new year. Parents often give their
children gifts of small amounts of money in
red envelopes. We also explode firecrackers.
Many Americans don't know that the
firecrackers exploded on the Fourth of July
were introduced by the Chinese in San
Francisco when they celebrated the
admission of California to the United States
in 1850.
..
* BX: (IlL
it;
~
What do Chinese Texans wear?
The clothing we wear is like the clothing
other Americans wear. On special
occasions, women still sometimes put on the
chipao, a pretty and very comfortable type
of dress which is still worn in China.
Many years ago, the Chinese who worked
on the railroads wore the traditional
Chinese clothing of white cotton blouses
and full pants. The men grew their hair long
enough to make it into a braid which hung
down their backs. They also wore large
straw hats to protect their heads from the
hot Texas sun. They really stood out from
the other railroad workers. But things have
changed since then. If you tried to pick out
Chinese Texans from other Texans by the
clothing 'they wear, you'd never find them.
Would you be able to find
Chinese Texans by the places they live or
where they go to church?
When they first settled in Texas cities,
Chinese Texans tended to live in the same
neighborhoods. But the only city that had a
Chinatown was El Paso, and that did not
last to this day. There are no longer special
neighborhoods in Texas cities where Chinese
live together.
Most Chinese Texans are Christians.
When the railroad construction workers
settled in Texas, Protestant and Catholic
churches helped them. A Baptist Chinese
mission in El Paso was helping the new
settlers in 1896. In San Antonio, too , the
Chinese Baptist Church was started. It still
has services in English and Chinese. The
same is true in Houston where the Chinese
Baptist Church and Grace Chapel offer
Chinese Texans places to worship in the
Chinese language.
14
How can we find out more about the
history of the Chinese in Texas?
Talk with them. Read the letters they wrote,
the newspapers of their time, their wills,
contracts, diaries and even their tombstones!
Read what other people who knew them or
studied their lives have written about them.
Get to know the personal histories of some
Chinese Texans who lived at different times
and you should be able to figure out what
they thought and felt, wanted and needed,
tried to do and did do-what their lives
were like.
15
Chinese Baptist
Church in Houston .
That's what we do in this book. Many of the Chinese
Texans the book tells about and some who speak to us in
the book's pages are no longer alive, but we know enough
about them to be able to make pretty good guesses about
how they would answer our questions. Some of the answers
by living Chinese to our questions are based on newspaper
articles and books.
If we walk back in time, we can follow the timeline of
events and people which makes the history of the Chinese
Texans. As we travel the timeline, the story of each event
and each person interviewed will give more answers to:
Who are the Chinese Texans?
16
Chinese organizations a~on:ned:
The first Chinese school is
Theodore Wu, one of
teachers, tells about the '~"=:.: .,
David
Talks with people:
Ting and
Harry Gee
Gene Lee.
& EVENts TEXANS i
Chinese Texans arrive to
Houston and Texas Central
The Southern Pacific Railroad brings
another group of Chinese to
Texas-Sam Mardock's story.
1889,
El Paso is described as "The Chinese
Mecca of the Southwest."
~rsh~!l\ Chinese arrive,. talks
Page and
..
~;.:r~'nn"-ch;n ••• ~munitv grows.
1869
T!~~~'!~T~J~S
--CENTRALRAILROAD--
The Civil War ended in 1865. There were no longer Black
slaves to be used as cheap labor to do things like build the
railroad lines. That's one reason why the first group of
Chinese came to Texas. They were brought as cheap labor
to build the Houston and Texas Central Railroad.
" ' . ' :.>Ji'mlJi: ' '';·~';·''' ''F·" ;~~l.,;,.. ~' :::~;o ,~"
4.). < ~ ..•. :.~:-~} .... ·~.;;.w~n .: .:•. . ~ ...••.>..; :...6 · . •••<. ..: .•.•.. ••• ~ .. 0."· .';.· -..'. ' ::!iiS.' .:.:~,.~· ... .m - n!Jll~!~)!8i~~f.:l ':..... '~.'. . '. J' ~\""i'OliD"n 'Iil"\~' " 'L"'."~' ". Y'\~" .~;{ ~ ; ~atJ.!; ,- ' ~:. W ,.~,:/' ~.:':<;';;···;;"Y " . '~~ " -.,,!"
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/ /? . .....:. . ./ . _ /~/. ~;:. .r .M
Hou~ton and Texas Central Railroad letterhead,
John G. Walker was an agent of the Houston and Texas
Central Railroad Company. He wanted Chinese
construction workers to prepare the right of way for the
railroad from Calvert to Corsicana and Dallas. Walker
made a contract with a labor contractor from San Francisco
for 300 Chinese workers.
About 250 Chinese arrived in Houston to work for the
Houston and Texas Central Railroad. Ah Yung was one of
them. If he were alive today and we asked him these
questions, he might tell his story this way:
Why did you come to Texas?
When I was in China, I heard about the
gold rush in California. I borrowed money
19
to come to California in 1850 to strike gold.
I wasn't lucky and so I went to live in San
Francisco with other Chinese who had come
to this country. I needed work to make
enough money to payoff the debt I had
made to travel across the Pacific and to
return to my family in China. I wanted to
go back home rich.
When Chew Ah Keang advertised for
railroad construction workers, I joined a
group of other young Chinese men. We
were promised $20 in silver a month, food,
and tents and huts to live in while working
on the railroad in return for working 26
days a month for the company.
What was life like as a railroad worker?
We worked long and hard. We Chinese
stayed pretty much to ourselves in our own
camps. We lived as we were used to living
and ate the foods we knew-rice, pork,
dried fish, vegetables and tea. We must
have looked funny to other people. Our
clothing was the type we had worn in
China-white cotton blouses and loose
pants. Our long black hair was made into
~-- braids which hung down our backs. We
wore large straw hats to protect our heads
from the hot sun.
What did you do for fun?
Well, we didn't have much time for play,
22
r
but we did celebrate our traditional holidays
like the Lunar New Year's Eve celebration
which we held at Bremond, Texas, on
January 30 .. 1870. We put on our colorful
Chinese costumes and paraded in the streets.
Everybody in town enjoyed that.
Did other people in the town accept you
and the other Chinese workers?
We really didn't try to become part of the
community. We didn't plan to stay. We
were only working to pay our way back
to China.
How long did you stay?
We were supposed to work for three years
on railroad construction. We only worked
for six months. Something happened to
change the attitudes of the people toward
us. At first, they thought we were
hardworking men. We didn't really know
why our contract was ended. Maybe
because some of the other workers objected
to working alongside people who looked
23
and dressed differently and spoke a different
language. Or maybe the railroad
construction was not going as fast as the
company expected. When the company
broke our contract . we stopped working
and filed suit against the company because
our contract was broken.
What happened?
The railroad was built without us. Since we
were in Texas and did not have the money
to get back to San Francisco. we stayed near
Calvert. I became a farmer.
24
1870-1880's
IHINESE BECOME FARMER
'-AND SHARECROPPERS IN TEXAS-In
September, 1870, the more than 250 Chinese who had
come to Texas to work on the Houston and Texas Central
were out of work. They had no money to return to San
Francisco or China. So they looked around for other types
of work. By November of that year, some began working
on James Scott Hanna's cotton farm in the Brazos River
valley outside of Calvert. John See was one of them .
::lI· •• il4~a •
"..B"".i.:i' ,
How did you get started working
on a farm?
..
James Hanna was a farmer who needed
helpers to grow and harvest 30 acres of
cotton and corn. Sin Y ong and I made a
contract with Hanna to become
sharecroppers on his farm. We agreed to
cultivate the 30 acres of land and to crib the
corn and pick, gin and pack the cotton .
Hanna agreed to give us the tools we needed
to do this and a team of mules with enough
corn to feed the team. When the crops were
harvested, the corn and cotton was divided
so that half of the harvest went to Hanna
and the other half went to us.
Were other Chinese employed as farmers ?
During the time Sin Y ong and I were
25
Railroad map of
Texas, 1880.
working in Hanna's fields, another group of
about 17 Chinese was hired as field hands
and cotton pickers on other farms. Doing
that they earned $15-18 a month with room
and board.
How did this work out for the Chinese?
We didn't get rich, but we did make enough
money to move to other places. The farmers
must have liked our work because as some
of the Chinese moved away, they brought
in other Chinese laborers from China and
Cuba. After all, we are hard workers and
worked long hours for very little. Most
farmers felt that they could make a good
profi t by hiring us.
By 1880, most of the Chinese Texans were living in
Robertson County and most of them were farmers or farm
workers. A few Chinese were living in some of the cities in
Texas where they operated laundries. All except one person
were men. They had come from China while still young
and had left their families behind. They planned to return
after they had saved the money they thought they could
earn here. Those who decided to stay in Rohertson County
married Afro-American or Anglo women. Their children
were thought of not as Chinese, but as "mulatto" or
"white." Because of this, as the children of these Chinese
settlers grew up and started their own families, it seemed as
if there were no Chinese left in the area.
1873
AAA_ AAAA
3~OO CHINESEOOME TO TEnS -WITH THE TEXAS & PACIFIC RAILROAD-I
I
When the Texas and Pacific Railroad was chartered by the
United States Congress, cheap labor was needed to work
the route. Chinese workers were hired to work on the
tracks extending from Texarkana deep into west Texas. The
railroad passed through Toyah, in Reeves County, which
was then a town on the Texas frontier . One settler who
watched the Chinese railroad workers remembered a lot
about them .
..
What do you remember about the Chinese
railroad workers?
They worked hard, like a swarm of bees
doing their jobs. They were very clean
looking in loose white shirts. They wore big
stiff straw hats to shield their heads from
the sun. Most wore their long braids down
their backs; some wound them on top of
their heads.
The sight I remember best was of a
Chinaman on one of the black handcars
going down the track so fast that he seem
to be flying. As he rapidly worked
handbar the wind puffed out his sleeves like
two huge white balloons and blew his black
queue almost straight out behind.
How did the white settlers feel
about the Chinese?
In Toyah, the people thought that the
Chinese were very friendly. I remember that
during New Year celebrations, we could
hear Chinese music played throughout the
town. When we visited our Chinese
neighbors, they'd give us porcelain dishes.
Some families kept those dishes as
remembrances of our Chinese neighbors.
29
1881
TIHi E SOUTHERN PACIFIC BRINGS ANOTHER GROUP OF CHINESE TO TEXAS-A
third railroad, the Southern Pacific, was built from Los
Angeles and reached EI Paso in 1881. A group of 2,600
Chinese laborers built the railroad east from El Paso to the
Pecos River where they met the tracks of the Galveston,
Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad which Irish workers
were building westward. Railroad building was always hard
work, but building the Southern Pacific was especially
dangerous. Sam Mardock, who came to Texas with the
railroad and was one of the first Chinese to settle in east
Texas, might tell us some real hair-raising stories if we
could ask him.
What were the hardest times you had
.. building the Southern Pacific?
We had to build through the Trans-Pecos
area. That was hard country to live and
work in. Most of the land is harsh. It's
covered with cactus and scrub trees. The
stream valleys were lined with larger trees,
but there aren't many stream beds. The
climate is like a desert. Have you ever tried
to work with a pick and shovel in freezing
cold or hot midday? We finished in January.
30
Trans-Pecos Texas.
Judge Roy Bean.
In the winter, the "northers" blew in and
would drop the temperature 40 degrees. But
the worst thing about the job was not the
hard work.
We had a boss who treated us like slaves .
He worked us too hard and treated us like
animals. Then there was the time when a
group of us was beaten up by some of the
other railroad workers. One Chinese worker
was murdered and when the trial was held,
Judge Roy Bean ruled that there was no law
in Texas against "killing a Chinaman." As if
that wasn't enough, one group of Chinese
sent to survey the area for the railroad at
Eagle Pass was attacked and killed by a
band of roving Apache Indians. We didn't
lead dull lives!
~----------------------------------~
After the railroad was built,
where did you gO?
I was lucky. I survived those years on the
Southern Pacific. Because I had learned
English when I was a ranch hand in
California, I was able to work as an
interpreter in El Paso and Galveston after I
left the railroad. Then, in 1890, I opened a
restaurant in Tyler, Texas. Soon, I owned
six restaurants in different Texas towns.
32
Why did you become a restaurant owner?
In my time, most Chinese started laundry or
restaurant businesses because other
Americans didn't mind. These were
considered women's work. So our laundries
and restaurants weren't in competition with
their businesses. Besides, you didn't have to
be an American citizen to own a laundry or
run a restaurant.
Did you serve Chinese food?
No. the food we served was American.
There weren't enough Chinese living in one
place in Texas to make it possible to sell
Chinese food and do a good business. Most
of the Americans at that time didn't know
about Chinese food. So, we served the food
the customers liked. We even gave
American names to our restaurants. The one
I had in Tyler was called the Cotton Belt
Restaurant. I built it next to the railroad
depot and served lots of people who worked
and rode the railroads.
Where else were there Chinese businesses?
Lots of Chinese came to Texas from the
West Coast because they faced
34
discrimination. Many settled in EI Paso
because they could get there on the railroads
other Chinese had built-the Southern
Pacific and the Texas and Pacific. The
laundries they started in other towns like
Galveston, Corsicana, Denison, Cleburne ..
San Angelo and Amarillo were important
businesses for many years.
" CORSICANA
. BREMOND
CALVERT A.HEARNE
Did you have a family in Tyler?
Not at first. I didn't start a family until
1900, 10 years after I opened my restaurant.
I had to go back to China to get married. It
was a tradition in my native land that
marriages would be arranged by the families
of the bride and groom. My parents
arranged for me to marry Wong Shee who
lived in Canton.
Did you bring Mrs. Mardock to Tyler after
the wedding in China?
I couldn't because the United States
government passed the Chinese Exclusion
Act in 1882, a law that would not allow any
Chinese except merchants, teachers, students
and travelers into the country. So, I built a
house for Wong Shee in Canton and came
back to Tyler.
35
Towns with Chinese
residents. c. 1900.
Didn't you get lonesome for her?
Sure I did. That's why I visited her in China
every five years until I could find a way to
bring her here.
Did you ever bring her here?
Not until after the ban on Chinese
immigration was lifted, many years later. I
remember the crowd at the old Cotton Belt
depot in Tyler which came to welcome my
wife. She was dressed in traditional Chinese
clothing. Her feet were bound according to
Chinese custom. A woman's feet were
thought to be most beautiful when very
small. So the feet of little girls were bound
tightly with cloth to keep them from
growing. Chinese women of the upper class
would keep the binding clothes on
throughout their lives. When Wong Shee
got off the train at Tyler, one of the first
thing~ she did was to take off the bindings
36
on her feet. I always thought that doing that
was her first step toward becoming a
Chinese American. "What a relief," she said,
"I will never wear them again."
Sam Mardock
family at their home
in Tyler.
Sam Mardock dreamed of becoming an American citizen
throughout his life. He died in 1942, one year before the
right to become a naturalized citizen was offered to Chinese
people in America.
The Mardock children were American citizens by birth.
Like their parents, they worked hard. Lucille Mardock
became an artist and real estate manager. One of her
brothers, Sam, became a manager of property and an
import store. Another brother, Julian, studied medicine to
become a surgeon in Dallas. Sam and Julian were both Air
Corps pilots during World War II. They were the first
Captain Julian
Mardock, Lucille
Mardock and
Lieutenant
Sam Mardock.
Chinese-American pilots of the war.
38
l........
1889
EL PASO IS DESCRIBED ~S
"THE CHINESE MECCA OF THE SOUTHWEST"
When the Southern Pacific Railroad was completed, many
of the Chinese construction workers stayed in EI Paso. It
wasn't long before there were enough Chinese to form a
Chinatown-a section of the city where many of the
Chinese lived side by side and where they could keep their
own traditions. By 1889, there were 312 Chinese Texans in
EI Paso. They celebrated the Chinese New Year and other
festivals. They spoke Chinese. They even had their own
cemetery-the only Chinese cemetery in Texas. One of the
many men buried in that cemetery is Sam Hing, the father
of the first Chinese child born in Texas. If we could talk
with Mr. Hing today, he might tell us about Chinese life in
EI Paso in his day.
39
i
1/
Chinese
in El Paso .
Mr. Hing, you had a lot to do with the El
Paso settlement, didn't you?
Yes, I was a labor contractor who got many
Chinese workers for the Southern Pacific
Railroad. Most of those men settled in EI
Paso and began setting up businesses with
my help. You see, I made a good deal of
money by getting Chinese labor for railroad
construction so I was able to be a private
banker for the Chinese who lived in EI
Paso. I also organized a lodge to help these
men help one another. The laundries,
restaurants and grocery stores they started
did well. By 1889, there were 18 laundries in
EI Paso. All of them were owned and
operated by Chinese.
How did Chinese-speaking people run
businesses in a city where most people
spoke the American language?
The Chinese learned enough English to get
40
by even though they spoke and wrote
mostly in Chinese. One laundryman, Wong
Wun used to keep his records of which
laundry belonged to which person by
describing the people. In Chinese, he would
write statements like:
"Fat man with long fingernails"
I
I
I" ..
\
"Freckled gentleman with loud voice"
"Sneezing man who scratches head"
What kind of family life did the El Paso
Chinese have?
Most of the Chinese who were living in EI
Paso's Chinatown in 1889 were men. The
Chinese exclusion laws made it impossible
for most of these men to bring their wives
from China. So, the EI Paso Chinatown was
made up of a group of "bachelors." They
weren't really bachelors because they had
wives in China, but they might as well not
41
have been married. They couldn't have a
normal family life while living in Texas. I
was one of the lucky ones . I was able to
bring my wife here, and my son was born
in Texas. The other Chinese men could not
have children who were American citizens
by birth.
Were the Chinese accepted by other people
in El Paso?
When I was living in El Paso, around the
turn of the century, there was a lot of anti­Chinese
feeling. I think one reason was that
we were doing so well with the laundry and
restaurant businesses. Another reason was
that there were gambling houses and opium
dens in Chinatown. Some people thought
42
that we were helping smuggle Chinese into
the country across the Mexican border.
How did the Chinese feel about living here?
When the country you're living in has laws
that do not allow other people of your
culture to settle here and do not allow you
to become a citizen, you feel the people of
that country don't want you or don't care
about you. The Chinese in EI Paso wanted
to be Texans and Americans, but the laws
and the attitudes of other people made that
difficult when I was alive.
Today, the descendents of those few men who had
families in EI Paso are living in different parts of the city.
Some are doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers.
43
1892
CHINESE2~~~I_ZIt_rl_ONS
When people feel that they are discriminated against, they
tend to band together. The early Chinese settlers in
California formed groups to help one another out. These
groups were called "tongs." Sometimes, the tongs acted like
lawyers and police for the Chinese community. Sometimes,
they acted more like gangs. Tong wars were gang wars in
some cities. They were often bloody and made lurid
newspaper headlines.
Meeting of
Kuomintang,
San Antonio,
1942.
Other Chinese organizations were started about the same
time as th@ tongs and lasted longer. One was the Chinese
American Citizens Alliance which began in 1895 in
Califgrnia. It was started by a group of Chinese who
wanted to promote their community welfare and to
cultivate friendship with other Americans. Chinese
organizations were very important to the Chinese
communities in San Antonio and Houston.
44
1917
THE ~~~~!~~~~I_NE_sE
General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing was sent to Mexico
by the United States government after the Mexican
revolutionary, Pancho Villa, and his army attacked
Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916. Pershing's
orders were to capture Villa dead or alive.
Pershing and his troops got no help from the Mexicans
when they invaded Mexico in search of Villa. But there
were many Chinese living in Mexico at the time who were
willing to help the invading army probably because the
Chinese had not been well treated in Mexico. In . two-horse
wagons and on foot, the Chinese followed Pershing's troops
I ,
Refugees with
the Pershing
Expedition, 1917.
from camp to camp in northern Mexico. They brought the
troops food and operated restaurants and laundries for
them. They even helped fight one battle with members of
Villa's guerrillas-the Villistas. It is said that Pancho Villa
swore to hang every "Chino" in northern Mexico.
General Pershing and his men returned to the United
States 11 months after they had started out for Mexico.
They did not bring Pancho Villa with them, but they did
I 45
I I
bring 2,700 refugees; 527 were Chinese. Even though the
exclusion laws of 1882 were still in effect, the Chinese who
remained in Texas were able to settle permanently. William
Tracy Page, the son of a general officer in the United States
Army, became the advisor to the Chinese refugees. He
would probably have a lot to tell us about the Pershing
Chinese if we could ask him.
General
John J. Pershing.
::;eneral Pershing's
headquarters at
Galeana, Mexico,.
in 1916.
Mr. Page, how was General Pershing able
to get the Chinese who followed him
.. into the country?
The general was really grateful to the
Chinese who helped him in his search for
Pancho Villa. He knew that they wanted to
come to the United States and that they
couldn't as long as the exclusion laws were
enforced. Pershing petitioned Congress to
make a special exception to let Chinese who
had helped him into the country. After all,
they had helped American troops carry out
orders from the government to search for
Pancho Villa.
" "Jr ~ f"~.··
.1.- ,
46
What happened?
We got special permission for the Chinese to
stay at a military base in Texas. On June 7,
1917, 427 Chinese refugees came to San
Antonio on a special train.
What happened to the others? Weren 't there
527 Chinese who followed Pershing? ..
Some went back to Mexico, some went back
to China, and a few found other places. in
the states to live and work.
How did the Chinese Texans
make their living?
Most were sent to work at Fort Sam
The Chinese refugee
train arrives in San
Antonio, 1917.
Reception for General Pershing at Ellington Field, Houston,
Yium. Another had a son he named Black
Jack Wong. I remember when Louie Sun
and some other refugees met me in
downtown San Antonio to buy a Christmas
present for Pershing. When the general died
in 1948, the largest floral piece on his grave
at Arlington National Cemetery just outside
Washington, D. C., came from his San
Antonio Chinese friends.
The Pershing Chinese are often thought of as the first
Chinese Texans in San Antonio. Actually, there was a
group of about so Chinese who had been living in the city.
They had settled in San Antonio about the time that the
Southern Pacific Railroad was finished. Most of these San
Antonians were in the laundry and restaurant businesses. A
few were truck farmers.
Don Wong had been living in San Antonio for five years
when the Pershing Chinese arrived on that special train
which took them to Fort Sam Houston. This is how he
might have answered our questions:
..
When did you come to San Antonio,
Mr. Wong?
I came to this country from China in 1908. I
lived and worked in Watsonville,
California, for four years before I came to
San Antonio. When I moved here, I brought
my wife and small daughter from China to
live with me.
Were there many Chinese in San Antonio
when you arrived?
There were about so Chinese Texans living
in the city at that time. They had been
workers on the Southern Pacific Railroad
before they settled in San Antonio.
Where were they living?
Here and there. There wasn't a Chinatown
in San Antonio the way I hear there was in
EI Paso. I met Chinese in San Antonio
50
before the Pershing Chinese came to join us.
When that group arrived, we became a
good sized Chinese community.
Most of us came from the Canton region
of China so we felt like friends even though
we had not known one another in China.
We spoke the same dialect and had the same
customs. Most of us lived on the west side
of town with Mexican-American families .
What did you do for a living?
I started a bakery in the Produce Row area
of San Antonio. My wife, Lee Shee, helped
me. So did my children as soon as they
were old enough.
Did you get help from any of your
Chinese neighbors?
Like the Chinese in EI Paso I we formed
organizations to help one another. Some
were family associations like the Wu Family
Association. All the people who belonged to
this group had the name Wu, Eng or
Ng-different spellings for the same name. I
didn't belong to that one.
Which organization did you belong to?
The On Leong Merchants Association was a
good one for merchants to join because it
.
I
~~~~ helped Chinese Texans with their business
- matters. It also helped Chinese who had no
' .-lJ-1-II.,.'-.,J families find places to live and work. This
_ organization made the Lunar New Year
!::_-f.~ - , celebration an important yearly party for
the Chinese in San Antonio. My children
looked forward to that celebration. They
enjoyed the New Year's Eve dinner and the
red envelopes they were given .
How many children did you have?
My first daughter, Mae, was born in China.
She came here with my wife. Six sons and
;Don Wong
'I' and family . .. .r--------------------------------------------------------r-----~',
one more daughter were born here. They
are native Chinese Texans!
Did all your children work in
your bakery business?
,When they were living in my house, they
'did help with my business. I gave each one
a bank account to teach them to save
money for their educations. I told them that
the best thing they could do for themselves
was to get good educations.
My children did well. A few went into the
auto parts, motel and grocery businesses.
S3
One of my children became a chemical
engineer in New York. Another is a building
contractor in Austin. One is an
anesthesiologist, and one of my daughters
raised a family in California.
Were Chinese children able to get a good
education in San Antonio?
The children went to public schools in their
neighborhood with children from Mexican­American,
Anglo and Black families . This
was good because it helped our children
learn to speak English and learn about
people who have different ways of living.
Chinese Americans think that education is
very important. Parents expect their
children to study hard to learn a lot and
make good grades. Because of this, the sons
and daughters of many Chinese Texans got
university degrees like Tom Lee, Howard
Wong and Lenora Sue Wong.
54
I I
Were you satisfied with what your children
learned in the public schools?
We did worry about one type of education.
Chinese Texan parents wanted their children
to be Americans and also to be Chinese. We
wanted them to know some of the Chinese
language and, especially, we wanted them
to understand Chinese history and culture
so they would be proud to be of Chinese
descent. The schools they went to didn't
teach very much about Chinese culture. We
couldn't expect the Anglo teachers to help
our children learn to read and write Chinese
or learn about Chinese traditions. So I got
together with other Chinese parents to start
a Chinese school in San Antonio.
55
Thomas J. Lee.
Howard Wong.
Lenora Sue Wong.
Chinese community
school children , San
Antonio.
S6
,
. t
1928
T!~~~~!~~!~L
The K wo Min Hock How, the Chinese school, was started
in San Antonio with money Chinese families gave to hire a
teacher and pay for a place to hold classes for their
children. Theodore H. Wu could tell us about the Kwo Min
Hock How because he was one of the school's first teachers.
Who went to the school?
~ .\
All the children from Chinese families in
San Antonio who were in regular school
carne to the Chinese school. Between 40 and
50 children attended my classes.
57
Mr. and Mrs.
'Theodore Wu
on vacation in
the 1940's.
Calligraphy
If the children were in regular school
all day, when did they go to the
Chinese school?
They came from 4:30 to 7:30 in the
afternoons, every day except Sunday. When
the children weren't in regular school or in
Chinese school, they were expected to help
out in their parent's business.
What did the children study?
I taught them to read and write Chinese.
They learned to use brush and ink stone to
make Chinese characters. Their homework
looked like this:
practice book. ~r-----""""-"""';------f'--------~
The children also studied Chinese history,
geography, philosophy and culture-the
traditions and beliefs of their ancestors.
Were there Chinese schools for Chinese
children in other parts of Texas?
Yes. Schools like the one in San Antonio
were started in other Texas cities where
Chinese families were living. They made it
60
-
possible for Chinese children from different
parts of the city to meet one another and to
feel part of the Chinese community. The
school became a central place for Chinese
children to study and do things together.
What did you do besides teach at the
Chinese school?
Lots of things. I owned a grocery store near
the San Antonio River. During World War
II, I was a Chinese translator for the United
States Immigration Office. After the war my
wife Rose and I opened the Tai Shan
Restaurant to give San Antonians and
tourists a taste of authentic Chinese food.
I was the first Chinese man to become a
Shriner in the southwest as well as the first
Chinese Rotarian in San Antonio. During
World War II, my wife Rose and I headed
several war bond drives and I was
responsible for the establishment df the San
Antonio chapter of the Chinese American
Ci tizens Alliance.
Of all the things you did, what did you
most enjoy doing?
Maybe teaching in the Chinese school-that
made it possible for me to help young
Chinese Texans feel good about being
Chinese. The school gave us a way to get
together and feel that we belonged to a
real community.
I was sad when the school closed in 1947.
By that time, Chinese Texans lived in such
different parts of the city that sending their
children to the Chinese school was hard.
The children would have to travel long
distances to get from home to school.
Besides that, as Chinese Texans became
more and more Americanized, they didn't
feel as strongly as their parents did about
teaching Chinese language and culture.
61
The Chinese school opened again in 1971 when classes were
held at Trinity University on Saturday mornings. Soon
after, the school moved into a new building purchased by
the local Chinese community. In 1978, 92 students were
enrolled in the San Antonio Chinese school. They were of
all ages and were learning not only how to read and write
Chinese but also how to speak it, since most of them spoke
only English.
A Chinese school was also established in Houston in 1971
to help Chinese as well as other Americans understand and
appre'ciate what it means to be a Chinese Texan.
62
1931
A'_AAt~.'_A'_'_
C~~~l~~~R!~hPsTA~1P~A
Americans who have relatives in other lands often try to
help them by sending them money. The Chinese Texans
who were born in China knew that some of their family
members in China did not have very much money. They
were concerned about them and other Chinese.
During these years on the timeline of the history of the
Chinese Texans, many Chinese Americans felt unwanted in
the United States. Laws kept them from being able to bring
their families here and become citizens. All people have a
need to belong. If the people they live among do not let
them belong, the excluded ones will join another group .
The Chinese Texans felt like the new child on the
playground who is not allowed to play with children who
have been there for a longer time. That's -why they felt close
ties with the people in the country they had come from.
When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Chinese
Texans were concerned about what would happen to their
family members living so far away in a country at war. The
Texans, like other Chinese Americans, worked together to
raise funds to send help to China: money to help Chinese
people who had to leave their homes because of the war.
These refugees needed food, clothing, transportation and a
place to live. Some Chinese Texans toured the United
States, talking with people about the needs of Chinese
abroad and holding picnics and other events to raise
money. One of the first to get help for the Chinese refugees
was Mary Eng of San Antonio. This is the way she might
r i I answer our questions: I r--
Mrs. Eng, why did you tour the southern
states in 1937?
When I heard about the Japanese invasion
of China, I knew the Chinese people needed
help. Although I was born in Louisiana, I
63
did live in China for awhile. My father sent
me to a small village in the province of
Canton in China when I was still in high
school to learn to read and write Chinese. I
lived there from 1932 to 1935. During that
time I made many friendships that have
lasted through the years. I understand the
Chinese people, their language, their beliefs
and their ways.
Two years after I had returned, the
Chinese war with Japan started. I thought of
the people I knew in China and others living
there who were forced out of their homes
by the invading army. The best way I could
help them was by sending money to buy the
things they needed. The Chinese people
needed much more than my neighbors and I
could afford to send, so I went on a
speaking tour of the southern states. I spoke
to civic and community groups in many
64
places and raised a good amount of money
to help the Chinese people get through the
hard times of war in their country.
Why did you come to live in San Antonio?
I married a San Antonian. Joseph Eng and I
were married in the first Chinese wedding in
Shreveport, Louisiana, the place where I
was born and raised. We moved to San
Antonio where Mr. Eng had a grocery store.
I used to help in the store. I remember
the big vats of lard that I used to dip into to
fill small containers of lard for our
customers. We worked hard-from early in
the morning to late at night. My husband
still goes to the store hours before it opens
and works there hours after it closes.
Why are you 50 well known
in the Chinese community?
When I was a girl, I wanted to be a
65
missionary because I wanted to help people,
especially Chinese people. After I got
married and settled in San Antonio and
began to raise a family, I couldn't live in
different places the way a missionary must.
So I opened my house as conference
headquarters for the Southern Chinese
Student Club. Young Chinese students and
the Chinese wives of servicemen who came
here after WW II needed places to stay and
people who could help them. They found
help ih my home.
What kinds of help did you give?
Be!;ides giving people a place to stay or
finding them homes, I taught Chinese war
brides English in my home and also helped
them get their citizenship papers. I took a
home nursing course so I could help people
who needed care. I started the Chinese
Youth Club for Chinese young people. They
would get together in my house for parties
and dances. I also helped get the Chinese
school in San Antonio started again.
Today, I still work in the community
wherever needed. Quite often I am asked to
be a translator. People know they can count
on me to help them.
66
1943
!ALL Cm~~~§E~!~!ICANS
--BECOME CITIZENS--
The exclusion laws prevented many Chinese from entering
the United States and made it very difficult for those
Chinese who were living here to bring their wives and
children to live with them. In 1943, those laws were
repealed. After many years of feeling like second-class
citizens, the Chinese in Texas and other places in the United
States were able to apply for citizenship . So, 1943 is a
special year in the history of Chinese in this country
because it was that year when they could legally consider
themselves Chinese Americans. It was not until 1968,
however, that Chinese were allowed to im~igrate to the
United States like peoples from othe.r countries .
69
1948
NEW CHINESE IMMIGRANTS ARRIVE
THE CHINESE COMMUNITY IN DALLAS AND HOUSTON GROWS
In 1948 and 1949, China became a Communist nation.
Many Chinese came to this country rather than live under
the new government. There was a quota system in effect
here which allowed only a certain number of people from
each country to enter the United States. The Chinese quota
was set very low. This prevented most Chinese from
coming. However, it was easier for Chinese people to enter
the country than it had been when the exclusion laws were I in effect. I
Flag of the
Flag of the People' 5
Republic Republic
of China. '---__________ --' ~ __________ --Iof China.
Many of the Chinese who came to Texas in the years
after 1948 were students and professionals. They moved to
Dallas and Houston where few Chinese had settled before
them. Ting and Shirley Chu became residents of Dallas.
This is what Shirley Chu might tell us:
Dr. Chu, why did you settle in Texas?
I left Peking in 1948 and began studying at
Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Ting,
my husband, was one of my professors at
70
the university. After we were married and
had three children in Pittsburgh, we moved
to Dallas to teach and do research at the
School of Engineering and Applied Science
at Southern Methodist University.
What kind of research are you doing?
We're investigating solar energy. At one
time I was the only woman in the United
States who had a United States Energy
Research and Development Administration
contract for research in solar energy. My
husband and I think that solar energy will
be an important solution to energy problems
in this country and throughout the world.
71
Dr. Shirley Chu and
Dr. Ting L. Chu
with their children,
Daniel and Dora.
I I
The Chinese who came to Houston after World War II
found very few other Chinese living there. Maybe because
those few Chinese who were living in the city had been
pretty much alone, without other Chinese to feel a sense of
community with, they worked their way up to become
recognized as important citizens of the city and state.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry
Gee Sr. with sons,
Harry Gee Jr. and
Gordon, c. 1940.
~.--------------------------------------,~
Harry Gee was a pioneer Chinese immigrant
in Houston.
When did you come to Houston, Mr. Gee?
I came to Houston in 1909 when I was 14
years old.
What did you do here?
I opened a Chinese restaurant when I was a
young man.
Did you raise a family here?
Once my business was established and doing
well, I decided it was time to marry and
raise a family. I went back to China in 1926
to find a wife. She returned to Houston
with me. My son, Harry Gee Jr., is one of
Houston's outstanding attorneys. We're very
proud of him. He even served as assistant
attorney general in the state capital.
72
I
I ~
t
I
I
I
I
t
I
I
I
I
Gene Lee came to this country as part of the Chinese
immigration after World War II. He served in the American
Armed Forces, became an American citizen, and married a
German girl. Then he settled in Houston.
L-~-----------------------------------------------------------r~'
What did you do when you first came
to Houston?
I did what many other Chinese had done in
other cities in Texas. I opened a groc..e ry .
How did you happen to start
a Chinese newspaper?
My wife and I opened a printing shop and
stationery store in Houston. That was a
different type of business for a Chinese
Texan to start, but we thought it would
be interesting.
Was it?
Very! We learned a lot about printing. We
were in Houston when other Chinese were
arriving there. We realized that there was
no Chinese newspaper in the state for the
growing Chinese community. So, because
we were in the printing business, we started
the Houston Southwest Chinese Journal in
February of 1976.
Why did you wait so long to start one?
A lot of work and planning goes into
starting and running a newspaper. Money,
too! We had to study and plan ways to set
up a Chinese newspaper because the Chinese
73
Gene Lee and his son
Sam Y. Lee in
Houston printing
shop, 1976.
language is so different from English .
What's the difference?
The Chinese language is read from right to
left, not from left to right like the English
language. The front page of a Chinese
newspaper is in the place of the last page of
an English-language newspaper. The fold is
on the right-hand side. The paper opens
IU-.-"'~ from the left. The headlines read from top
to bottom, and the articles are printed from
top to bottom, right to left.
Do all the Chinese who read the newspaper
speak the same dialect?
No, they speak different dialects. In this
country, we have Chinese people from all
parts of China. Fortunately, however, all
Chinese is written the same way. You see,
Chinese who speak different dialects can
read the same printed Chinese; they just
pronounce the characters differently.
What are Chinese characters?
The Chinese language does not have letters
74
of the alphabet like the English language. It
has characters which stand for sounds and
words. The Chinese language is made up of
more than 50,000 characters, but you can
get along with fewer. Our newspaper uses
5,600 characters to print news in Chinese;
Is the Houston Southwest Chinese Journal
read by many people?
Yes, it is one of the three Chinese/English-
1&
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language newspapers in this country.
There's one in New York, one in San
Francisco, and ours in Houston. Although
the younger generation of Chinese
Americans is not fluent in Chinese, many
people still speak and read the Chinese
language. These bilingual people like to
have a newspaper which is written in the
language they know is part of their culture.
75
19605-705
._ • __ ._ ."."." .'i~
INESE TEXAN
---ARE REOOGNIZED---
There have been leaders among the Chinese
Texans from the beginning of their history
in Texas. But it has only been in recent
years that Chinese Texans have been
recognized by others for their contributions
to the state and nation.
Rose Wong, the daughter-in-law of Don
Wong who spoke to us about the early days
of Chinese settlement in San Antonio, is a
successful artist. She is best known for her
landscapes, portraits and stilllifes which she
signs "R.C. Wong." She lives in Austin with
her husband, Don Wong's second son.
Thomas J. Lee is the son of Fook Sune
Lee who moved to San Antonio in 1915,
opened a restaurant and returned to China
to marry Lui Shee Lee. They brought their
son back to Texas where he went to school
and became a lawyer. Tom Lee was the first
Texan of Chinese descent to be elected to
the Texas Legislature.
Howard Wong's father was also an early
settler in San Antonio. He is an architect
who designed the First Christian Church in
76
Denton, Texas, and the Intercontinental
Motors Building on Broadway in San
Antonio. For these buildings, he won the
Texas Society of Architects Honor Award
for Excellence in Design. He also designed
the Southwest Research Institute and St.
Andrew's Presbyterian Church which are in
San Antonio.
Howard Wong's daughter, Lenora Sue
Wong, was the first San Antonio woman to
be accepted to the United States Air Force
Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado.
in 1976.
Hsiao-Hsia Tsai was born, raised and
educated in China. She continued her study
of art at the University of Oklahoma and at
Del Mar College in Corpus Christi where
she lives with her husband today'. Her
paintings have been shown in the United
States, China, India, Canada and almost all
of the countries of Europe.
David Yee is an art expert who lives in
Houston. He came to this country when he
was only 14 and brought with him a strong
interst in art. He can tell us some things
about Chinese art which he collects.
Mr. Yee, how is Chinese art different from
other types of art?
Chinese artists work in bronze, jade and
porcelain and do a great deal with
calligraphy as an art form. A simple way to
describe calligraphy is to call it beautiful
handwriting. The Chinese characters,
many of which originated as pictures, are
77
hand painted with brush and ink.
If you have a European-language name
written in Chinese, you could see how the
writer uses Chinese characters to either
translate the meaning of the name or to
duplicate the sounds of the name.
mID
I --- 1' _ •.
'(
t
~
g
(0
'tE
Chinese painting also conveys images.
The artist uses water colors and a brush to
capture the wholeness of things. A major
characteristic of Chinese painting is its free
flowing appearance. Details are present but
they are only important to the artist qS part
of the whole idea he is communicating.
Chinese art-paintings and sculpture-is
delicate. It does not try to capture the
object, person or landscape as it really
exists. It depicts the ideal form the things.
You might say that the Chinese artist is
concerned with perfection.
Do you have a large collection of
Chinese art?
I have been collecting Chinese art work
since I was a young boy. My collection
includes Chinese currency, stamps, books
and antiques, as well as the other forms of
art which you find in museums. My
collection is priceless and unique. I am
going to make it into a permanent museum
collection for the enjoyment of all peGple.
That is my way of giving my state and
country something especially Chinese in
return for my American citizenship.
79
Painting from the
collection of David '
Houston .
AUN IQUE CULTURAL HERITAGE
I I
Chinese Texans have worked hard to become recognized
citizens of the United States and the state of Texas. They
have not had an easy time. For many years, especially
during the early part of their history here, Chinese people
were not accepted by others. But their respect for one
another, for family tradition, and for the communities they
joined caused them to be law-abiding, respectable citizens.
The Chinese brought to Texas a way of life, customs and
traditions which have blended with those of other groups of
people who live in the state. Chinese Texans are much more
than Chinese people who happen to live in Texas. Their
history is a part of Texas history. Their culture is part of
Texas culture.
We have met a few Chinese Texans in this book. There
are many others who can tell us about their lives and those
of Chinese they have known or know about. Their personal
histories can help us understand what it means to be a
Chinese Texan.
80
, I
Photography Credits
front cover Harry Gee Jr., Houston.
p.10 Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio.
p.ll Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio.
p .l2 Calleros Estate, El Paso.
p .18 Harper's Weekly , 1877.
p.19 Texas State Archives, Austin .
p .20-21 Harper's Weekly, 1869.
p .2S Texas, the Best Land for the Emigrant. Houston
and Texas Central Railway Co.
p.30 Ellen Quillan Collection, Institute of Texan
Cultures, San Antonio .
p .32 Hunter Collection, Photography Collection,
The University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Julian Mar Dock, Dallas.
Damon Garber, El Paso.
p.44 Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio.
p.4S Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
p.46 top Photography Collection, Humanities Research
Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
p.46 bottom Jackson, D.J. "Pershing's Expedition into Mexico,"
Thesis, University of Texas, 1940.
p.47
p.49
p.S3
p.SS left
p.SS middle
p .SS right
p .S6
p.S7
p .S8-S9
p.60
p.67
p.n
p.72
p.73
p.7S
p .76 left
p .76 right
p.77
p.78
p.79
p.81
San Antonio Express , 1917.
Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio.
Mrs. Joseph Eng, San Antonio.
Express-News Corp. , San Antonio .
Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio.
Express-News Corp., San Antonio.
Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio.
Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio.
Photography Collection, Humanities Research
Center, The Uniersity of Texas at Austin.
Mrs. Lilly Bailey, San Antonio.
Mrs. Joseph Eng, San Antonio.
Dallas Morning News , Reference
Department, Dallas.
Harry Gee Jr., Houston.
Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio.
Southwest Chinese Journal , Houston.
Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio.
Express-News Corp. , San Antonio.
(Wong) Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio.
(Tsai) Hsiao-Hsai Tsai, Corpus Christi.
(Wong) Express-News Corp., San Antonio .
(Yee) Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio.
Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio .
Ms. Virginia Wong, San Antonio .
Rose Wu, San Antonio.
This is the first in a series of books for
young"readers published by The University
of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San
Antonio to enhance the understanding of
the rich and varied heritage of Texas and
her' people.
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS Onstituto
1JJ(J!)}
AT SAN ANTONIO '