Reflections of Seattle's Chinese Americans

By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

To outsiders, Chinatown has long evoked images of intrigue -- inscrutablemen and dark alleys, opium dens and the click of mah-jongg gambling tiles,exotic food and eerie music.

These are stereotypes, the result of decades of isolation brought on bydiscrimination in immigration, housing and jobs.

But the real stories of Seattle's early Chinese Americans are little knowneven among the descendants of the Gim San hok, guests of "Gold Mountain" asthe Chinese pioneers called themselves. Elders kept their past to themselvesout of old-world humility and deeply held fear of immigration authorities.

To capture the memories of a dying generation, the Wing Luke Asian Museumturned to younger members of the Chinese American community to interview andphotograph their elders.

"It was the only way it would get done," said Ron Chew, museum director."We couldn't wait for someone from the outside to rescue our history from thedustbin."

The result of the four-year effort is a 152-page oral history,"Reflections of Seattle's Chinese Americans: The First 100 Years." (WingLuke Asian Museum and University of Washington Press, $18).

Seventy-one pioneers of Seattle's Chinese American community tell in theirown words about their early life in Chinese villages, their passage across theocean, and the weeks-long interrogations they encountered at the immigrationstation. The recollections, edited by Chew, are supplemented by a historicalessay by Doug Chin. Their stories at times sound like tales by Charles Dickensas they describe the long hours and tough conditions working in laundries,restaurants and canneries.

Other stories are more like the playful films of Francois Truffaut, aselders recall moments of childhood innocence: hanging out on fire escapes,watching cowboy movies at the Atlas Theater, scavenging tidbits from Chineserestaurants, and other adventures of their youth.

They also talked about extreme loneliness, the isolation not only oflanguage and culture but immigration laws that separated the young men fromtheir wives and families. Without women to complete the social fabric, manyChinatown bachelors sought companionship from gambling halls and familyassociations.

"It's not the veil of secrecy, the inscrutable mind" thatkept Chinese Americans separate, Chew said. "You could not participate in thelarger society. It wasn't a choice."

Many of the stories were told for the first time.

In some families, elders either did not consider their past worth sharing,or their children never bothered to ask. And immigrants who came under falsepaper identities during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act hid their past."Tucked away from their children was why their name was Woo when in fact itwas Chinn," he said. "Our presence here is built on the backs of illegalimmigration. It makes it hard to talk about."

Working six and seven days a week, many Chinese American immigrantsachieved a level of prosperity inconceivable in the land they left behind,Chew said. The United States offered their children mobility and opportunity,but the younger generations have little interest in taking over therestaurants, benevolent societies and other family enterprises.

"Who wants to spend their whole life working? They've discovered theAmerican concept of recreation and leisure," said Chew. "It's a universalexperience -- the tug of war between old world and new world, the challenge ofthe individual. These are struggles that people deal with at all levels."

Read what some of the elders had to say, in excerpts from the book:

• Toy Kay
• Bill L. Chin
• Hing W. Chinn
• Harriett Wu
• Guay Lee
• Walter Chinn
• William Eng
• Henry Chin
• Jimmy Mar
• Ben Woo