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THE CHINESE BEGAN EMIGRATING TO THE UNITED STATES IN THE 1850s.

THEY WERE DESPERATE TO IMPROVE THEIR LIVES, AND THEY CAME AT A PIVOTAL TIME IN OUR COUNTRY'S DEVELOPMENT, HELPING TO BUILD THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD AND CULTIVATE CALIFORNIA'S FARMLANDS.

YET DESPITE THEIR TALENT AND THEIR HARD WORK, CHINESE IMMIGRANTS FACED WIDESPREAD PREJUDICE IN AMERICA.

ABOUT THE ONLY PLACES THAT WELCOMED THEM WERE THE CHINATOWNS THAT BEGAN POPPING UP ON THE EAST AND WEST COASTS.

THESE COMMUNITIES BAFFLED THE AMERICANS WITH THEIR FOCUS ON ANCIENT CHINESE ARTS, CUSTOMS, AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.

BUT IT WAS THERE THAT THE IMMIGRANTS COULD RECREATE THE VITAL CHINESE CULTURE THEY HAD LEFT BEHIND.

JOIN US NOW AS THE HISTORY CHANNEL PRESENTS CHINATOWN: STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND.

[CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY PERPETUAL MOTION FILMS]

NARRATOR: CHINATOWN.

EVERYONE HAS HEARD OF IT.

MOST OF US HAVE EVEN BEEN THERE, WHETHER TO SAMPLE THE FOOD, WATCH A CHINESE NEW YEAR'S PARADE, OR JUST TO TAKE IN THE COLORFUL SIGHTS AND SOUNDS.

BUT THESE PLACES ARE MORE THAN QUAINT DISTRICTS GEARED FOR THE TOURIST TRADE.

THEY ARE COMPLEX COMMUNITIES WITH UNIQUE INSTITUTIONS AND TRADITIONS AND THE HOME AND WORKPLACE FOR MILLIONS OF CHINESE- AMERICANS, A PEOPLE WITH DEEP ROOTS IN THEIR COMMUNITY AND CULTURE.

IRWIN K. LIU: YOU'D WALK DOWN THE STREET, AND YOU COULD PROBABLY SAY HELLO TO EVERYBODY THAT YOU SAW.

IT WAS A REALLY, REALLY SMALL- TOWN FEELING IN A LARGE CITY.

NORMAN LAU KEE: WHEN I WAS 3 DAYS OLD, MY MOTHER BROUGHT ME BACK TO 11 MOTT STREET.

I'VE EITHER LIVED OR WORKED THERE EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE, AND THAT'S 72 YEARS AGO.

DEWEY FONG: THE MYSTIQUE OF CHINATOWN, WANTING TO BELONG TO SOMEONE WHO IS FROM THE SAME HERITAGE AS I HAD, LED ME TO CHINATOWN.

NARRATOR: THEIR ANCESTORS CAME FROM ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.

FROM A COUNTRY RICH IN HISTORY AND TRADITION, THEY JOURNEYED ACROSS THE WORLD TO A NEW FRONTIER RICH IN LITTLE BUT OPPORTUNITY.

EXCLUDED FROM MOST OF THOSE OPPORTUNITIES BY A DARK WALL OF PREJUDICE, THEY WERE FORCED TO SETTLE IN STIFLING TENEMENTS THAT CAME TO BE CALLED CHINATOWN.

IRWIN K. LIU: WHY DID THE CHINESE PEOPLE PICK THIS AREA?

I CAN ONLY GATHER THAT IT WAS PROBABLY THE CHEAPEST PLACE THAT THEY COULD FIND BACK THEN.

NOBODY REALLY WANTED IT.

NARRATOR: YET THEY NOT ONLY SURVIVED, BUT PROSPERED, BECOMING ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL IMMIGRANT GROUPS IN NORTH AMERICA.

THEY DID IT IN PART BY TENACIOUSLY CLINGING TO THE LEGACY OF THEIR HOMELAND, GIVING THEM THE COLLECTIVE STRENGTH TO WITHSTAND THE ASSAULTS OF A HOSTILE SOCIETY.

NORMAN LAU KEE: I DON'T DOUBT THAT EVERY AMERICAN OF CHINESE HERITAGE FEELS SOME TIES TO CHINA AND WANT TO HAVE SOME CONTACT WITH THEIR HOMELAND.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: I JUST EMBRACE IT, AND I FEEL PLEASED TO BE ABLE TO PUT THAT AS ONE OF MY CHIPS AND SAY, "THAT'S PART OF US." LANI AH TYE FARKAS: I TRY TO GET THE BEST FROM BOTH CULTURES, BOTH THE CHINESE AND THE AMERICAN.

AND THAT'S WHY I THINK THOSE OF US WHO ARE CHINESE-AMERICAN ARE A UNIQUE HYBRID.

NARRATOR: IT IS THIS SINGULAR BLEND OF INFLUENCES THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE POWERFUL ALLURE OF CHINATOWN.

IT IS A WORLD THAT IS RARELY SEEN AND EVEN MORE RARELY UNDERSTOOD.

THIS IS CHINATOWN.

IN CHATHAM SQUARE, IN THE HEART OF NEW YORK CITY'S CHINATOWN, ARE 2 STATUES THAT QUIETLY SPEAK VOLUMES ABOUT THE TRADITIONS, VALUES, AND ASPIRATIONS OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE.

ONE IS OF K'UNG FU-TZU, BETTER KNOWN TO WESTERNERS AS CONFUCIUS, THE GREAT CHINESE TEACHER AND PHILOSOPHER WHOSE BELIEF IN SELF-CULTIVATION IS ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION.

CONFUCIUS HAD A DEEP AND ABIDING FAITH THAT PEOPLE COULD BE IMPROVED THROUGH EDUCATION.

THAT ORDINARY HUMAN BEINGS COULD RISE ABOVE THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WITH HARD WORK AND PATIENCE, SHAPE THEIR OWN DESTINIES.

THE OTHER STATUE IS OF A MAN WHO, UNLIKE CONFUCIUS, IS ALMOST COMPLETELY UNKNOWN IN THE WEST.

YET HE HAS A SINGULAR PLACE IN CHINESE HISTORY.

HE TRIED TO CHANGE THE TRAGIC FATE OF MILLIONS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN BY FIGHTING A WAR AGAINST ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST CYNICAL DRUG-DEALING OPERATIONS IN HISTORY.

AND BY SO DOING, UNKNOWINGLY HELPED TO SHAPE THE DESTINIES OF MILLIONS OTHERS WHO ULTIMATELY CAME TO NORTH AMERICA.

HIS NAME WAS LIN XEXU.

NORMAN LAU KEE: HE IS THE PERSON WHO DEFIED THE BRITISH AND SAID, "NO MORE OPIUM.

AND IF YOU BRING ANYMORE, I WILL BURN IT." AND HE DID THAT.

HE BURNED IT AND CAUSED THE OPIUM WAR, WHICH CHINA LOST.

HOWEVER, HE'S A GREAT HERO, NOT ONLY TO THE CHINESE PEOPLE, BUT TO THE FUKIEN.

THEY TAKE VERY GREAT PRIDE IN WHAT HE DID.

NARRATOR: DESPERATE TO BREAK INTO THE LUCRATIVE CHINESE IMPORT MARKET IN THE 1830's, BRITISH--AND LATER, AMERICAN-- MERCHANTS RUTHLESSLY IMPORTED LARGE QUANTITIES OF OPIUM INTO COASTAL CHINESE CITIES.

THOUGH OPIUM HAD BEEN USED FOR CENTURIES IN CHINA FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES, THIS NEW INFLUX OF THE DRUG ADDICTED MANY OF ITS RESIDENTS.

AND THE BRITISH FORCED CHINESE AUTHORITIES--VIRTUALLY AT GUNPOINT--TO PERMIT THE ILLICIT DRUG TRADE.

JAMES P. DELGADO: THIS MEANT THAT THE CHINESE COULDN'T ENFORCE THEIR OWN LAWS, WHICH CALLED FOR DEATH FOR PEOPLE THAT WERE ENGAGING IN THE DRUG TRADE.

IT MEANT THAT IF THE CHINESE ROSE UP AND DECIDED TO STOP IT, IT WOULD BE AN ACT OF WAR.

NARRATOR: COMPLETELY OVERPOWERED BY WESTERN MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, THE CHINESE LOST THE OPIUM WAR.

THE OPIUM TRADE CONTINUED, FURTHER ACCELERATING A PROCESS OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DECLINE THAT WAS PARTICULARLY ACUTE IN THE COASTAL AREAS OF SOUTHERN CHINA.

JAMES P. DELGADO: THERE WERE FLOODS WHICH HAD RAVAGED THE COUNTRYSIDE.

THERE WASN'T ENOUGH FOOD FOR PEOPLE TO EAT.

THERE WERE ALSO VERY DIFFICULT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS FOLLOWING THE OPIUM WARS, WHERE A NUMBER OF PORT CITIES HAD BEEN DEVASTATED, WHERE TRADE HAD BEEN DISRUPTED, AND WHERE THE GOVERNMENT'S POWER TO EFFECTIVELY RULE THAT PORTION OF THE CHINESE COAST HAD BEEN COMPLETELY CIRCUMSCRIBED BY THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE FOREIGNERS.

SO WHAT YOU HAVE ARE ALL THESE INCENTIVES TO HAVE LARGE NUMBERS OF CHINESE LEAVE.

NARRATOR: THEN, 10,000 MILES AWAY, ACROSS THE PACIFIC, SOMETHING HAPPENED THAT WOULD PROVIDE A BEACON OF HOPE.

IN 1848, GOLD WAS DISCOVERED IN CALIFORNIA.

AS WORD OF THE DISCOVERY QUICKLY SPREAD TO CHINA, THEY CALLED THIS NEW LAND GAM SAAN, "GOLDEN MOUNTAIN." JAMES P. DELGADO: AND SO GOLD MINERS START LEAVING CHINA FROM THE COASTAL PORTS LIKE HONG KONG OR FUKIEN PROVINCE OR OR QUANG DONG.

ALL OF THESE PEOPLE START COMING TO CALIFORNIA.

NARRATOR: THIS IMMIGRATION WAS ONLY ONE PART OF A LARGER PATTERN THAT SAW CHINESE MOVING ALL OVER THE GLOBE TO PLACES LIKE SOUTHEAST ASIA AND SOUTH AMERICA.

DURING THIS TIME, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHINESE TOOK THE DARING AND HEART-WRENCHING STEP OF LEAVING THEIR HOMELAND FOR FOREIGN SHORES.

BUT UNLIKE MOST OTHER IMMIGRANTS, THEY WERE NOT GOING PERMANENTLY.

THEY WERE SOJOURNERS, USUALLY YOUNG MEN WHO HAD NO HOPE OF MAKING A LIVING IN CHINA, WHO PLANNED TO MAKE THEIR FORTUNES OVERSEAS, THEN RETURN HOME TO LIVE IN COMFORT.

BUT THE JOURNEY TO GOLDEN MOUNTAIN WAS FILLED WITH DANGER.

ONE OF THE WORST THREATS WAS POSED BY THE DREADED "PIG TRADERS," UNSCRUPULOUS LABOR CONTRACTORS WHO USED METHODS THAT RANGED FROM FALSE PROMISES TO KIDNAPPING TO OBTAIN CHINESE WORKERS.

JAMES P. DELGADO: BY 1851-52, LARGE NUMBERS OF CHINESE WERE BEING COLLECTED ON THE COAST OF CHINA FOR SHIPMENT ELSEWHERE TO THE WORLD AS CHEAP LABORERS-- AS COOLIES.

THE WORD ACTUALLY COMES FROM THE CHINESE TERM KO-LEE, OR BITTER LABOR.

ALL OF THEM HAD BEEN PROMISED A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA AND AN OPPORTUNITY TO STRIKE IT RICH.

BUT THAT WAS NOT THE INTENT OF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE GOING TO TAKE THEM.

INSTEAD, THEY WERE BEING SHIPPED TO PERU TO MINE GUANO.

THEY WERE BEING SHIPPED TO CUBA OR TO HAWAII TO WORK IN PLANTATIONS UNDER CONDITIONS OF NEAR SLAVERY.

IN FACT, THE COOLIE TRADE WAS A SLAVE TRADE IN EVERYTHING BUT NAME.

NARRATOR: TRAGICALLY, FEW OF THE 150,000 COOLIES TAKEN TO WORK IN SOUTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN EVER FULFILLED THEIR GOAL OF REACHING CALIFORNIA.

BUT EVEN FOR THOSE SOJOURNERS WHO ESCAPED THE PIG TRADERS, ENORMOUS CHALLENGES STILL LAY AHEAD ON THEIR JOURNEY TO GOLD MOUNTAIN.

ONE OF THEM WAS FINDING A WAY TO BUY PASSAGE TO AMERICA.

THE SOLUTION WAS SOMETHING CALLED THE CREDIT TICKET SYSTEM.

THE SOJOURNER COULD SECURE A $100 TICKET FROM HONG KONG TO SAN FRANCISCO FOR $125 ON CREDIT.

REPAYMENT OF THE DEBT WAS HANDLED BY AGENTS IN SAN FRANCISCO WITH TIES TO THE BOOKERS IN CHINA.

BUT NO ONE COULD RETURN TO CHINA WITHOUT PROOF OF REPAYMENT.

FOR THEIR $125, THEY RECEIVED A 20-INCH WIDE, 6-FOOT LONG HARDWOOD BERTH IN THE CROWDED HOLD OF A SHIP AND 2 MISERABLE MEALS A DAY TO SUSTAIN THEM DURING THEIR WEEKS-LONG JOURNEY.

AN ILLEGAL VERSION OF THIS SYSTEM STILL EXISTS TODAY, RUN BY CHINESE SMUGGLERS CALLED "SNAKE HEADS." THOMAS ONG: THE PERSON IS A FACILITATOR FOR GETTING PEOPLE OUT OF THE COUNTRY.

LET'S SAY YOU GET HERE, YOU WANT YOUR SISTER TO COME, YOU WANT YOUR BROTHER TO COME, AND YOU DON'T WANT TO WAIT YOUR 7 YEARS FOR CITIZENSHIP.

YOU DON'T WANT TO WAIT 'TIL YOU APPLY ANOTHER 5 OR 6 YEARS FOR PROPER PAPERS.

YOU WANT 'EM OVER BEFORE THEY DIE OF OLD AGE.

NARRATOR: THE FEES CHARGED TODAY BY THE SNAKE HEADS ARE GENERALLY UP TO $38,000 AND MORE.

IN A CHILLING PARALLEL WITH THE COOLIE TRADE OF THE 19th CENTURY, THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE OFTEN FORCED TO PAY OFF THEIR DEBT BY WORKING IN SWEATSHOPS AND OTHER BUSINESSES FOR YEARS, AT A FRACTION OF THE MINIMUM WAGE.

THOMAS ONG: THEY ARE SOLD OFF OR AUCTIONED TO A RESTAURANT OWNER AS A WASHER OR LABORER, AND HE BUYS HIS TARIFF.

AND SO NOW THE PERSON WORKS FOR THE RESTAURANT FOR MAYBE HALF HIS SALARY OR 1/3 OF HIS SALARY.

AND THE OTHER 2/3, THE STORE OWNER OR RESTAURANT OWNER IS GAINING, BECAUSE THAT'S THE MONEY HE ALREADY PAID UP TO THE SNAKE HEAD UP-FRONT.

NARRATOR: TODAY, THESE LATTER-DAY SOJOURNERS OFTEN COME STUFFED 15 OR 20 AT A TIME INTO CRAMPED STEEL CARGO CONTAINERS, WITH LITTLE VENTILATION, A SINGLE BUCKET FOR SANITARY FACILITIES, AND NOTHING BUT BOTTLED WATER AND BAGS OF JUNK FOOD TO SUSTAIN THEM ON THE 2-WEEK JOURNEY ACROSS THE PACIFIC.

OTHERS COME IN RUSTED FREIGHTERS LIKE THE GOLDEN VENTURE WHICH RAN AGROUND IN ROCKAWAY, NEW YORK, IN 1993 WITH OVER 400 CHINESE IMMIGRANTS ABOARD.

MANY OF THESE PEOPLE DIE IN THE SQUALID CONDITIONS.

YET PUSHED BY ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES AT HOME AND PULLED BY AMERICA'S BOOMING ECONOMY, THEY CONTINUE TO COME, JUST AS THEIR FOREFATHERS DID DURING THE 19th CENTURY.

DESPITE THE DIFFICULTIES OF THEIR JOURNEY, DURING THE FIRST 5 YEARS OF THE GOLD RUSH ALONE, SOME 40,000 CHINESE LANDED IN SAN FRANCISCO.

THESE STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND WOULD NOT ONLY FILL A CRUCIAL NEED FOR THEIR LABOR, BUT PLAY AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN BUILDING A NATION.

[ACCORDION PLAYS SHENANDOAH]

â"!ª OH, SHENANDOAH, I LONG TO SEE YOU OH, YOU ROLLING RIVER AWAY, AWAY, 'CROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI â"!ª NARRATOR: THE NEW ARRIVAL FROM CHINA WAS CONFRONTED WITH ALIEN SIGHTS AND SOUNDS.

NOTHING WAS EVEN FAINTLY FAMILIAR.

WHAT COULD HE DO?

WHERE COULD HE GO?

HOW COULD HE MANAGE?

YEE AH TYE, LANI AH TYE FARKAS' GREAT GRANDFATHER, ARRIVED IN SAN FRANCISCO DURING THE 1850's.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: THE ORAL HISTORY OF MY FAMILY SAYS THAT YEE AH TYE ARRIVED ON A JUNK OR CHINESE SHIP IN AMERICA.

AND WHEN THEY ARRIVED IN SAN FRANCISCO FOR THE FIRST NIGHT, HE AND HIS COMPANIONS WERE HUDDLED AT A DOORWAY OF A BUILDING WITH NO PLACE TO STAY.

NARRATOR: BUT HELP WAS AVAILABLE TO YEE AH TYE.

FOR UNLIKE OTHER IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA, THE CHINESE ARRIVED TO FIND A COMPLEX SUPPORT SYSTEM ALREADY IN PLACE-- ONE THAT STILL EXISTS TODAY.

IT'S MADE UP OF A UNIQUE GROUP OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS CALLED ASSOCIATIONS WHICH, EVEN NOW, ARE VISIBLE ON ALMOST ANY STREET IN CHINATOWN.

TO THE UNTRAINED EYE, THE ASSOCIATIONS APPEAR TO BE LITTLE MORE THAN ORNATELY DECORATED BUILDINGS, MARKED BY A FEW CHINESE CHARACTERS, SOME FLAGS, AND A DISCREET NAMEPLATE AT THE DOOR.

BUT, IN REALITY, THEY ARE INVOLVED IN NEARLY EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE IN CHINATOWN.

THEY WERE AN OUTGROWTH OF THE FACT THAT CHINA IS A LAND WITH NEARLY 800 LOCAL DIALECTS, SOME OF WHICH ARE SO DIFFERENT FROM ONE ANOTHER THAT THEY ARE ALMOST LIKE COMPLETELY SEPARATE LANGUAGES.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: IN CHINA, THEY HAD DISTRICT ASSOCIATIONS AS WELL.

FOR INSTANCE, IN BEIJING, WHEN A SCHOLAR FROM CANTON WOULD GO TO STUDY TO PASS THE EXAMS, THE PEOPLE WOULD KNOW JUST FROM HIS DIALECT THAT HE WASN'T FROM THAT CITY, AND THEY WOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIM.

IT WAS LIKE A BIG-CITY PERSON TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A COUNTRY COUSIN.

SO THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DISTRICT ASSOCIATIONS IN BEIJING WAS TO PROVIDE AN UMBRELLA OF SECURITY FOR THOSE PEOPLE THAT WERE FROM THEIR PROVINCE IN CHINA.

NARRATOR: THESE ASSOCIATIONS WERE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT IN CALIFORNIA, WHERE THE CHINESE LACKED ANY CULTURAL CONNECTION TO THE EXISTING SOCIETY.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: SO WHEN A CHINESE LABORER GOT OFF OF A BOAT IN SAN FRANCISCO, JUST BY SPEAKING, A DISTRICT ASSOCIATION LEADER COULD TELL WHICH DISTRICT ASSOCIATION THAT LABORER BELONGED IN.

NARRATOR: AMONG THE MANY SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE DISTRICT ASSOCIATIONS, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WAS ARRANGING FOR SHIPMENT OF THEIR MEMBERS' REMAINS BACK TO THEIR VILLAGE IN CHINA FOR PROPER BURIAL, IN THE EVENT OF AN UNTIMELY DEATH OVERSEAS.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: HE WOULD PAY A MEMBERSHIP FEE.

AND THAT MEMBERSHIP FEE WOULD GUARANTEE THAT, IF HE WERE TO DIE IN AMERICA, THAT HIS BONES WOULD BE RETURNED TO CHINA SO THAT THEIR SPIRIT WOULDN'T BE WANDERING FOREVER IN THE DARKNESS OF A FOREIGN LAND.

NARRATOR: AS A RESULT OF THIS CUSTOM, TEMPORARY CHINESE CEMETERIES WERE CREATED TO HOLD THE SOJOURNERS' REMAINS UNTIL THEIR BONES COULD BE TRANSPORTED HOME.

THE INSCRIPTION ON WHAT IS LEFT TODAY OF THE LONE MOUNTAIN CEMETERY, LAND ORIGINALLY GIFTED TO THE THE SAN FRANCISCO CHINESE COMMUNITY BY YEE AH TYE, READS, "TEMPORARY RESTING PLACE FOR SOJOURNERS FROM THE DISTRICT OF KONG CHOW." IN ADDITION TO THE DISTRICT ASSOCIATIONS, THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHER TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS A NEWCOMER COULD JOIN, INCLUDING GROUPS THAT LINKED EXTENDED FAMILIES.

IN CONTRAST TO THE THOUSANDS OF FAMILY NAMES THAT EXIST IN AMERICA, THERE ARE ONLY ABOUT 100 FOR ALL OF CHINA'S OVER ONE BILLION PEOPLE.

INDEED, BECAUSE THE RURAL CHINESE TEND TO LIVE IN THE SAME AREA THEIR WHOLE LIVES, IT IS COMMON FOR VIRTUALLY ALL THE PEOPLE OF A VILLAGE OR DISTRICT TO SHARE THE SAME SURNAME.

SOJOURNERS COULD ALSO JOIN ASSOCIATIONS WITH NO FAMILY TIES CALLED TONGS--A WORD THAT MEANS HALL OR CLUB-- WHOSE MEMBERS OFTEN SHARED SIMILAR BUSINESS INTERESTS.

IRWIN K. LIU: FOR INSTANCE, LIKE THE HIP SING TONG OR THE ON LEONG TONG, WHICH OPERATE ON DIFFERENT AREAS IN CHINATOWN, ANYBODY OF ANY FAMILY NAME CAN BELONG TO A TONG.

NORMAN LAU KEE: AND MANY OF THE MEMBERS OF A TONG ARE MEMBERS OF DISTRICT ORGANIZATIONS, FAMILY ORGANIZATIONS.

SO WE HAVE PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY WHO BELONG TO MANY ORGANIZATIONS.

4 OR 5, AND SOMETIMES AS MANY AS 10.

NARRATOR: STANDING AT THE TOP OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL PYRAMID IS A COALITION OF ALL THE ASSOCIATIONS.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: THE ONE THAT PEOPLE HEAR ABOUT IN PUBLIC GENERALLY IS THE CHINESE CONSOLIDATED BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, WHICH IS AN UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION WHICH IS COMPRISED OF 60-ODD MEMBERS, WITHIN WHICH ARE OTHER ASSOCIATIONS--FAMILY ASSOCIATIONS, VILLAGE ASSOCIATIONS, AND FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND ALSO SOME COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS.

NARRATOR: THE ASSOCIATIONS SERVED AS THE FRAMEWORK FOR THE CHINESE COMMUNITIES, WHICH OUTSIDERS WERE ALREADY BEGINNING TO CALL "CHINATOWN." THESE CHINESE ENCLAVES QUICKLY BECAME URBAN GHETTOES.

FOR THEIR RESIDENTS, HOWEVER, CHINATOWN COULD ALSO BE A HAVEN, PROVIDING A SMALL MEASURE OF REFUGE FROM THE DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE OF A HOSTILE SOCIETY.

ONCE A CHINESE IMMIGRANT HAD BEEN TO CHINATOWN AND REGISTERED WITH THE PROPER DISTRICT ASSOCIATION, HE HEADED TO THE GOLD FIELDS.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: AND SO FROM SAN FRANCISCO, HE WOULD GO ON TO SACRAMENTO, AND THEN MARYSVILLE.

AND THEN FROM MARYSVILLE, EITHER HE'D TAKE A WAGON OR A STAGECOACH UP TO LE PORTE, WHICH WAS ONE OF THE NORTHERN MINES IN THE SIERRA, AND THE TOWN THAT MY GREAT GRANDFATHER WOUND UP IN.

NARRATOR: WHEN THEY ARRIVED, THE CHINESE JOINED THOUSANDS OF OTHER MINERS IN THE BACKBREAKING LABOR OF DIGGING THEIR CLAIMS.

IT WAS A TYPE OF WORK THAT, LIKE THE DISTRICT ASSOCIATIONS, HAD DEEP ROOTS IN THEIR HOMELAND.

EVEN TODAY, IN MODERN CHINA, THERE IS A CONTINUING ECONOMIC RELIANCE ON MANUAL LABOR AND SKILLED CRAFTSMANSHIP.

THE MOST MODERN SKYSCRAPERS ARE LIKELY TO HAVE PORTIONS OF THEIR FOUNDATIONS DUG BY HAND.

AND AT MASSIVE PROJECTS LIKE THE THREE GORGES DAM, THOUSANDS OF WORKERS WITH SHOVELS AND BUCKETS CAN BE SEEN WORKING SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH FORESTS OF STATE-OF-THE-ART CRANES AND FLEETS OF MODERN TRUCKS.

IT'S A UNIQUE CONTRAST TO WESTERN EYES.

BUT TO THE CHINESE, IT IS THE FABRIC OF THEIR SOCIETY.

THROUGHOUT CHINESE HISTORY, THEIR MOST VALUABLE NATURAL RESOURCE HAS BEEN THE EXTRAORDINARY ABILITIES OF THEIR PEOPLE.

IT WAS THE SWEAT, MUSCLE AND SKILL OF CHINESE WORKERS AND ARTISANS THAT PRODUCED THE GREAT WALL, THE 2,000- YEAR-OLD DUJIANGYAN IRRIGATION PROJECT, AND THOUSANDS OF LIFE-SIZED TERRA COTTA SOLDIERS THAT WERE FOUND IN THE FIRST CHIN EMPEROR'S TOMB, AND THE OTHER MAGNIFICENT ACHIEVEMENTS OF CHINESE CULTURE AND ENGINEERING.

THIS PROUD TRADITION WAS CARRIED ON BY THE CHINESE IN AMERICA.

IN THE GOLD FIELDS, HOWEVER, THE DIFFICULTY OF THE WORK WAS ONLY ONE OBSTACLE FACED BY THE CHINESE.

JAMES P. DELGADO: CALIFORNIA COLLECTED MORE THAT $5 MILLION, PRIMARILY FROM CHINESE MINERS, WHO WERE TAXED FOR A RIGHT TO MINE THAT WAS GIVEN FREE TO CAUCASIANS.

THERE WERE OTHER WAYS OF KEEPING THE CHINESE OUT OF THE MINES AS WELL.

LYNCHINGS, MOB VIOLENCE, BRANDINGS, WHIPPINGS, BEATINGS.

ALL OF THESE PUSHED THE CHINESE OUT OF THE ESTABLISHED COMMUNITIES.

THEIR ONLY HOPE WAS TO GO TO DIGGINGS THAT HAD BEEN ABANDONED BY THE WHITE MINERS.

IN THIS FASHION, THE CHINESE WERE ABLE TO MAKE MONEY AND TO PROSPER TO SOME LEVEL DURING THE GOLD RUSH.

NARRATOR: YET, EVEN AS MOST OF THE CHINESE SOJOURNERS WERE TOILING IN THE GOLD FIELDS, OTHERS WERE FINDING NEW WAYS TO MAKE THEIR FORTUNES--MANY OF THEM WITHIN THE CONFINES OF SAN FRANCISCO'S GROWING CHINATOWN.

[PLAYING OH, SUSANNA]

NARRATOR: AMONG THE FIRST GROUPS TO ARRIVE IN GOLD MOUNTAIN WERE CHINESE MERCHANTS, WHO SAW IN THE TEEMING GOLD FIELDS RICHES OF ANOTHER KIND-- THOSE THAT COULD BE MADE BY SUPPLYING MINERS WITH ALL MANNER OF COMMERCIAL GOODS.

TANGIBLE EVIDENCE OF THIS WAS UNEARTHED WHEN A HIGH-RISE AT 600 CALIFORNIA STREET WAS BUILT IN WHAT USED TO BE THE HEART OF GOLD-RUSH CHINATOWN.

ALLEN PASTRON: WHAT WE FOUND WAS TRULY AMAZING.

AN IMMENSE SITE--THE REMNANTS OF A GOLD RUSH-ERA STORE, DATING FROM THE HEIGHT OF THE GOLD RUSH IN 1851.

ONE OF THE PIECES THAT IS ON DISPLAY IS A LARGE BLUE AND WHITE VASE THAT WAS MANUFACTURED IN THE IMPERIAL POTTERY IN BEIJING.

IT'S AN ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR SPECIMEN.

IT'S THE FINEST PIECE I'VE EVER EXCAVATED.

IT WAS SO EXCITING TO FIND THAT, BECAUSE, OBVIOUSLY, A PIECE LIKE THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN PURCHASED FOR DISPLAY IN THE HOME OF SOMEBODY OF MEANS, THEN AS NOW.

NARRATOR: THE EXQUISITE ARTISANSHIP OF THESE WORKS REVEALS THE REMARKABLE CULTURE THE CHINESE BROUGHT WITH THEM TO AMERICA.

ALLEN PASTRON: ONE OF THE THINGS ABOUT ARCHEOLOGY AT CHINESE SITES--OR DOING HISTORICAL RESEARCH WITH RESPECT TO THE CHINESE IN AMERICA THAT I FIND FASCINATING-- IS THE CONSTANT REMINDER OF THE GREAT ANTIQUITY AND CONTINUITY OF THAT CULTURE.

THE CERAMICS AND OTHER ARCHEOLOGICAL MATERIALS THAT WE'RE EXCAVATING ARE, IN MANY RESPECTS, NO DIFFERENT THAN PIECES YOU FIND FROM THE MING DYNASTY OR EVEN EARLIER.

AND WHATEVER HISTORICAL PERIOD ONE FINDS THEMSELVES IN, THE CHINESE HAVE MAINTAINED THIS TREMENDOUS CONTINUITY OF CULTURE THROUGHOUT THE AGES.

NARRATOR: UNDOUBTEDLY, ONE OF THE MOST VISIBLE AND ENDURING ASPECTS OF CHINESE CULTURE IN AMERICA IS THEIR FOOD.

HIGH IN QUALITY AND RELATIVELY LOW IN COST, IT QUICKLY CAUGHT ON WITH THE NON-CHINESE POPULATION, OPENING DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR CHINESE ENTREPRENEURS THAT STILL EXIST TODAY.

IRWIN K. LIU: IT, FOR SOME REASON, ALWAYS GOES BACK TO FOOD WITH THE CHINESE PEOPLE.

AND YOU WALK OUTSIDE, AND THAT'S ALL THEY'RE DOING.

90% OF THE ECONOMY THAT YOU SEE IN CHINATOWN IS FOOD.

AND I GUESS THAT'S BECAUSE WHEN YOU GO SOMEPLACE, AND YOU DON'T REALLY HAVE ANY OTHER SKILL-- YOU KNOW, YOU CAN'T BECOME A RADIO ANNOUNCER, A NEWSPAPER WRITER, OR A BROADCASTER-- WHAT DO YOU DO?

"WELL, I COOK." NARRATOR: BUT FOOD WAS MORE THAN A WAY FOR CHINESE-AMERICAN BUSINESSMEN AND THEIR EMPLOYEES TO MAKE A LIVING.

IT WAS--AND STILL IS--CENTRAL TO THE ENTIRE CHINESE WAY OF LIFE.

DR. HERBERT YEE: TO CHINESE, THAT IS THE ESSENCE OF LIFE, IS TO EAT WITH FRIENDS AND RELATIVES.

THEY WILL DISCUSS FAMILY PROBLEMS OR MUTUAL PROBLEMS WITH THE COMMUNITY.

SO EVERY TIME WE MEET, IT'S ALWAYS PROPER TO INVITE THEM TO HAVE SOMETHING TO EAT AT EITHER THE MEETING OR THE FAMILY GATHERING.

NARRATOR: FROM CANTONESE CUISINE, WITH ITS RICH AND DELICATE SAUCES, TO THE MORE FIERY ARRIVALS FROM SICHUAN AND HUNAN, THE MANY TYPES OF CHINESE FOOD REFLECT THE ASTONISHING VARIETY OF TRADITIONS IN CHINA AND A LARGE PART OF THE MANY CULTURAL LEGACIES THAT THE CHINESE HAVE BROUGHT WITH THEM TO AMERICA.

NO MATTER WHAT THEIR DIFFERENCES, HOWEVER, ALL OF THEM SHARE ONE THING IN COMMON: A HEAVY RELIANCE ON THE FRESHEST INGREDIENTS AVAILABLE.

MANY OF THE MORE TRADITIONAL FOODS AND DISHES CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN THE LARGER CHINATOWNS OF NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO, WITH RESTAURANTS AND MARKETS CATERING MAINLY TO CHINESE.

CHOP SUEY, HOWEVER--WHICH IN CANTONESE SIMPLY MEANS "MIXED BITS"--WAS STRICTLY AN AMERICAN INVENTION FOR AN AMERICAN CLIENTELE.

THOMAS ONG: LOT OF THE TRADITIONAL OLDER CHINESE DISHES WEREN'T MEANT FOR CHINESE TO CONSUME.

EGG ROLLS, FRIED RICE, CHICKEN CHOW MEIN, EGG FOO YUNG.

THESE THINGS THAT AMERICANS MIGHT CONSIDER, "WOW, THAT'S CHINESE FOOD," IS NOT CHINESE FOOD.

IT'S CHINESE PEOPLE PREPARING THIS FOOD BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WANTS TO CONSUME IN THE CHINESE RESTAURANT.

NARRATOR: DESPITE THE ADVANCES CHINESE MERCHANTS IN SAN FRANCISCO MADE IN LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES LIKE RESTAURANTS, SOME ENGAGED IN PURSUITS THAT WERE AGAINST THE LAW.

JAMES P. DELGADO: VERY FEW CHINESE WOMEN CAME OUT DURING THE GOLD RUSH.

THOSE FEW WHO DID WOULD COME EITHER AS SOMEONE'S WIFE, OR IN LESS FORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES TO WORK AS PROSTITUTES.

ONE OF THE FIRST PROSTITUTES TO REACH SAN FRANCISCO IN 1849 WAS A WOMAN WHO WAS KNOWN AS AH TOY, WHICH WAS PROBABLY A PLAY ON WORDS.

THERE ARE MANY TALES TOLD ABOUT HER, SOME OF THEM WHICH REALLY CAN'T BE REPEATED, BUT ONE, WHICH HAD HER MERELY CHARGING MINERS FOR THE PLEASURE OF GAZING UPON HER IN ALL OF HER SPLENDORS.

NARRATOR: CHINESE MERCHANTS IN AMERICA WERE ALSO HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE OPIUM TRADE, A DEADLY SCOURGE THAT TOOK ITS TOLL ON THE CHINESE IN AMERICA JUST AS IT HAD CONTINUED TO DO IN CHINA.

IT HAD A PARTICULARLY TRAGIC IMPACT ON THE FAMILY OF YEE AH TYE.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: SAM AY TYE WAS YEE AH TYE'S ELDEST SON, AND ONE OF HIS FAILINGS WAS THAT HE BECAME ADDICTED TO OPIUM, AND HE'D STARTED SMOKING OPIUM JUST LIKE THE CHINESE MINERS WHO SMOKED OPIUM AT THE END OF A HARD WORKING DAY, AND IT'S VERY ANALOGOUS TO THE CAUCASIAN IN AMERICA OR THE AMERICAN WHO RETURNS HOME AT THE END OF A HARD WORK DAY AND JUST DRINKS A COUPLE OF BEERS, AND JUST LIKE ANYONE ELSE, THERE'S MODERATION AND THERE'S EXCESS, AND SAM AH TYE BECAME ADDICTED TO OPIUM, AND IT'S BECAUSE OF THIS ADDICTION THAT HE COMMITTED SUICIDE, AND HE CALLED IT THE DREAD OF HIS LIFE.

NARRATOR: AS AN ENDURING PART OF THEIR CULTURE, AND ONE OF THEIR PREFERRED SOCIAL ACTIVITIES, THE CHINESE HAVE ALWAYS ENJOYED GAMBLING.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: THE CHINESE VIEW GAMBLING AS THEIR FAVORITE RECREATION.

IN COMPARISON, WHEN IT COMES TO SPORTS, THEY VIEW THAT AS CHILDREN'S PLAY.

SO CHINESE REALLY LOVE TO PLAY MAH-JONGG AND PAI GOW.

AND KENO--THE BEGINNINGS OF THAT IS CHINESE.

NARRATOR: IN NEW YORK'S PRESENT-DAY CHINATOWN, GAMBLING STILL EXISTS, THOUGH TO A MUCH SMALLER EXTENT THAN IT DID BEFORE THE ADVENT OF LEGALIZED GAMBLING.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: BECAUSE THEY WERE HERE, OTHER THINGS SUPPORTED THEM.

YOU COULD GET A BOWL OF NOODLES.

YOU COULD GET SOME BAKED GOODS AT 3:00 IN THE MORNING.

IT SADDENS THE OLD TIMERS LIKE MYSELF THAT IT'S VERY HARD TO GET A FRESH CUP OF COFFEE AFTER MIDNIGHT ANYMORE IN CHINATOWN.

THIS WAS UNHEARD OF.

I'M NOT SAYING THAT IT'S A BAD THING THAT THEY'RE NOT HERE.

I'M JUST BEMOANING THE LOSS OF MY COFFEE AT 3:00 IN THE MORNING, BUT IT'S BECAUSE THE GAMBLING HOUSES DISAPPEARED, AND PEOPLE ARE TAKING THE BUS TO ATLANTIC CITY.

NARRATOR: THOUGH SOME PARTICIPATED IN ILLICIT OCCUPATIONS, THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF CHINESE BUSINESSMEN IN AMERICA WERE HONEST AND HARD WORKING, BUT NO MATTER HOW MODEST THEIR BUSINESS WERE, AS SOON AS THEY SHOWED SIGNS OF BEING SUCCESSFUL, THE WHITE MAJORITY TARGETED THEM FOR DISCRIMINATION.

ALLEN PASTRON: THE CHINESE GOT INTO THE LAUNDRY BUSINESS DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY 'CAUSE IT WAS SOMETHING THAT THEY WERE ALLOWED TO DO, AND IMMEDIATELY THE CITY FATHERS IN SAN FRANCISCO TRIED TO PASS LAWS AND DID PASS LAWS RESTRICTING THEIR BUSINESSES AND MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR THEM.

AT ONE POINT, A CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN NAMED YICH WO SUED ABOUT A VARIETY OF THESE LAWS, CLAIMING THEY WERE DISCRIMINATORY, AND EVENTUALLY, THE CASE WENT TO THE SUPREME COURT, AND HE WON.

IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST CIVIL RIGHTS CASES IN THE POST CIVIL WAR ERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

NARRATOR: CHINESE BUSINESSMEN IN AMERICA WEREN'T THE ONLY ONES WHO WERE STRUGGLING TO MAKE INROADS IN THE BURGEONING ECONOMY OF GOLD RUSH-ERA SAN FRANCISCO.

MERCHANTS IN MAINLAND CHINA ITSELF WERE ALSO INVOLVED.

PROOF OF THIS WAS FOUND IN A MOST UNLIKELY PLACE--A SUNKEN SHIP OFF THE CALIFORNIA COAST.

DR. THOMAS LAYTON, PH.D., SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY: IT WAS A BALTIMORE CLIPPER, THE FROLIC, BUILT IN 1844, WRECKED THERE IN THE SUMMER OF 1850 WITH A WONDERFUL CARGO OF CHINESE MANUFACTURED GOODS BOUND FOR GOLD RUSH SAN FRANCISCO.

NARRATOR: AMONG THE AMAZING ITEMS ABOARD THE FROLIC WAS AN ENTIRE PRE-FABRICATED HOUSE, COMPLETE WITH WINDOWS MADE OF TRANSLUCENT OYSTER SHELLS WHICH HAD BEEN MANUFACTURED IN CHINA SPECIFICALLY FOR THE AMERICAN MARKET.

DR. THOMAS LAYTON: THIS HOUSE TOLD US A WHOLE LOT ABOUT CHINESE COMMERCE WITH CALIFORNIA.

THE CHINESE HAVE FOR CENTURIES BEEN PRODUCING ITEMS FOR THE WESTERN MARKET THAT ESSENTIALLY ARE DUPLICATES OF THINGS PRODUCED IN THE WEST.

THIS HOUSE WAS A MIXTURE.

THE DIMENSIONS WERE WESTERN MEASUREMENTS--8 FEET HIGH FOR EACH OF THE PANELS, BUT ALL OF THE DETAILS OF CONSTRUCTION WERE CHINESE.

THE JOINERY, THE MORTISE AND TENNAN WORK WAS ALL NON-STANDARD, ALL CUSTOM CHINESE WORK.

INSIDE THIS HOUSE, WE COULD SEE THE CHINESE CHARACTERS PAINTED ON THE ENDS OF RAFTERS, ON THE ENDS OF BEAMS-- THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE HOUSE.

NARRATOR: THOUGH ADVANCES HAD BEEN MADE IN BUSINESS AND COMMERCE, THE MAJORITY OF THE CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN AMERICA STILL TOILED IN MENIAL JOBS UNDER INCREASING SCRUTINY, RESENTMENT, AND PERSECUTION.

IRONICALLY, THIS CONTINUING DISCRIMINATION WOULD LEAD TO THE FOUNDATION OF ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S MOST IMPORTANT INDUSTRIES.

[SINGING IN CHINESE]

NARRATOR: NESTLED IN A COVE ON THE SHORES OF MARIN COUNTY ON SAN FRANCISCO BAY, CHINA CAMP IS ONE OF THE LAST REMAINING CHINESE FISHING VILLAGES IN CALIFORNIA, AND FRANK QUAN IS ITS LAST RESIDENT.

ENDURING THROUGH GENERATIONS OF PERSECUTION AND PREJUDICE, THE QUAN'S STORY IS A MICROCOSM OF THE CHINESE EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA.

IT'S A TALE OF TENACITY, ADAPTATION, FAMILY, AND SURVIVAL THAT STRETCHES ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE GOLD RUSH.

JAMES P. DELGADO: BECAUSE OF HEAVY TAXES ON THEM, BECAUSE OF VIOLENCE IN THE MINES, MOST CHINESE WERE FORCED OUT OF THE GOLD DIGGINGS EARLY ON.

THEY WERE STUCK.

THEY HAD PAID A FAIR AMOUNT OF MONEY TO COME TO CALIFORNIA.

THEY WEREN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK HOME, SO WHAT COULD THEY DO?

A NUMBER OF THEM TURNED TO THE TRADES THAT THEY HAD KNOWN BEFORE.

MANY OF THEM HAD COME FROM THE COASTAL PROVINCES AND WERE FISHERMEN, AND SO CALIFORNIA'S FISHING INDUSTRY WAS BEGUN IN 1852.

WITHIN A FEW DECADES, MORE THAN 400 CHINESE FISHING VILLAGES DOTTED THE COAST.

ALLEN PASTRON: HOWEVER, BY THE BEGINNING OF THE 20th CENTURY, MOST OF THEM WERE GONE.

CHINA CAMP IN MARIN COUNTY, A VIBRANT COMMUNITY OF CHINESE FISHERMEN AND THEIR FAMILIES, IS ONE OF THESE 19th CENTURY CHINESE FISHING VILLAGES THAT HAS ENDURED UP UNTIL THE PRESENT DAY.

NARRATOR: FRANK QUAN WAS BORN AT CHINA CAMP.

DURING HIS CHILDHOOD, IN THE LATE 1920s, IT WAS STILL A SMALL, BUT SURVIVING, COMMUNITY.

FRANK QUAN: I REMEMBER THE FISHERMEN, MAINLY THE FISHERMEN, THE SHRIMPERS AT THAT TIME.

THERE WAS 8 OR 9 BOATS FISHING OUT OF HERE, FISHING FOR SHRIMP, AND THE CHINESE CLAM DIGGERS, WHICH HAD A BUILDING JUST BEHIND ME, WHICH IS NOT THERE ANYMORE NOW, AND THEY DUG THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF CLAMS HERE, AND THAT'S IN THE PAST.

NARRATOR: CHINA CAMP WAS ONCE FAR LARGER.

FOUNDED IN THE 1860s, IT QUICKLY BECAME PART OF A PROSPEROUS INDUSTRY THAT WAS PIONEERED AND DEVELOPED ENTIRELY BY THE CHINESE.

PAT ROBARDS, RANGER, CHINA CAMP STATE PARK: THE CHINESE REALLY CREATED AN INDUSTRY OUT OF NOTHING.

THEY FOUND A TOTALLY UNUSED RESOURCE, THE SHRIMP, BROUGHT IN 30 CENTURIES OF TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE FISHERY AND MADE THIS ONE OF THE LARGEST, IF NOT THE LARGEST, FISHERY IN THE NATION FOR SHRIMP DURING THE PERIOD OF THE LATE 1860s THROUGH THE 1900s.

IT EMPLOYED 26 VILLAGES, LIKE CHINA CAMP, UNTOLD NUMBER OF MEN, PROBABLY SEVERAL THOUSAND AT THE MOST.

YOU COULD HAVE TAKEN THE ENTIRE OUTSKIRTS OF THIS VILLAGE, TAKEN IT BACK TO THE PEARL RIVER DELTA AREA, AND IT WOULD HAVE BLENDED RIGHT IN WITHOUT ANYBODY HARDLY KNOWING.

FRANK QUAN: THE CHINESE TOOK A MILLION AND A HALF POUNDS OF SHRIMP A YEAR.

THEY HAD BAG NETS, OR WE CALL THEM TRAPS, WHICH WERE ACTUALLY USED IN CHINA FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, AND THEY BROUGHT THEM OVER HERE, AND THEY WERE VERY EFFICIENT.

NARRATOR: SINCE CAUCASIANS AT THE TIME CONSIDERED SHRIMP TO BE A JUNK FISH, NOT FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION, MOST OF THE SHRIMP CAUGHT AT CHINA CAMP WAS EATEN BY THE CHINESE THEMSELVES.

PAT ROBARDS: THOSE THAT WERE HERE IN CALIFORNIA DEMANDED HIGH QUALITY FOOD PRODUCTS SIMILAR TO WHAT THEY HAD IN CHINA.

THEY SOON REALIZED THAT IT WAS SUCH A STRONG ECONOMIC BASE THAT THEY COULD EXPORT THE SHRIMP BACK TO CHINA AND STILL MAKE A PROFIT.

LITERALLY 99% OF ALL THE SHRIMP HERE EVENTUALLY WAS SOLD BACK INTO CHINA.

NARRATOR: PROCESSING THE SHRIMP FOR EXPORT WAS AN INVOLVED PROCEDURE THAT REQUIRED LONG HOURS OF BACKBREAKING LABOR AND A GREAT DEAL OF INGENUITY, ALL OF WHICH WAS SUPPLIED ENTIRELY BY THE CHINESE.

PAT ROBARDS: HERE AT CHINA CAMP, THEY CREATED LONG PIERS AND AT THE BASE OF THOSE PIERS THEY HAD COOKING POTS WHERE THEY WOULD COOK THE SHRIMP.

THE SHRIMP, AFTER IT WAS COOKED, WAS PLACED ON THE HILLSIDES OR DRYING PLATFORMS.

FRANK QUAN: AND THEY TURNED THEM ABOUT, OH, 3 TIMES A DAY WITH A BROOM.

YOU GO UP AND DOWN WITH A BROOM AND TURNED 'EM OVER, AND IT TOOK ABOUT 2 1/2 DAYS TO DRY 'EM, AND THEN WE HAD A SHELLER THERE TO KNOCK THE SHELLS OFF.

PAT ROBARDS: WHERE THEY WOULD PUT IT IN THE TOP, THEY USE A HAND CRANK TO CRANK IT.

IT WOULD FLAIL THE MEAT FROM THE SHELL APART, THEN THEY WOULD CRUSH THE SHRIMP, REPACKAGE IT INTO BAGS OF PURER SHRIMP MEAT AND THEN OTHER BAGS OF THE SHELLS AND THE HEADS.

THEY'D USE THE SHELLS AND THE HEADS FOR FERTILIZER PRIMARILY.

FRANK QUAN: VERY LABOR INTENSIVE.

IT TOOK 10 POUNDS OF COOKED SHRIMP TO MAKE ONE POUND OF MEAT, SO IT'S A LOT OF WORK TO GET A FEW BUCKS OUT OF IT.

NARRATOR: AS IMPORTANT AS THE SHRIMP INDUSTRY WAS, HOWEVER, IT WAS THE PEOPLE OF CHINA CAMP WHO EMBODIED THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ITS HISTORY.

FOR THE QUAN FAMILY, IT BEGAN AT THE TURN OF THE 20th CENTURY WHEN FRANK'S GRANDFATHER QUAN YIK YIN SETTLED HERE.

PAT ROBARDS: IN 1900, QUAN YIK YIN MOVED TO CHINA CAMP, MARRIED YEE SEE, FRANK'S GRANDMOTHER, AND HAD 2 YOUNG BOYS--GEORGE AND HENRY.

NARRATOR: FRANK'S MOTHER GRACE, WHO EVENTUALLY MARRIED HENRY QUAN, WAS A CAUCASIAN WHO WAS ORPHANED AT AN EARLY AGE.

FRANK QUAN: AND SHE WAS RAISED BY A CHINESE MAN, RAISED HER FROM A CHILD.

FOUND OUT IN LATER YEARS THEY TRIED TO TAKE HER AWAY FROM THIS MAN BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, A CAUCASIAN BEING RAISED BY A CHINESE MAN AT THAT TIME, THAT WAS TERRIBLE.

THEN WHEN HE PASSED ON, THEN SHE GOT INTO THE CAMERON HOUSE.

NARRATOR: LOCATED IN SAN FRANCISCO, THE CAMERON HOUSE WAS FOUNDED BY DONALDINA CAMERON, A PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARY WHO WAS APPALLED BY THE INHUMAN LIFE, THE VIRTUAL SLAVERY, OF CHINESE PROSTITUTES, WHICH WAS FAR DIFFERENT FROM THE GLAMOROUS LIFE AH TOY ENJOYED DURING THE GOLD RUSH.

JAMES P. DELGADO: IT WAS A BRUTAL, DEGRADING EXISTENCE, AND IT TOOK A FAIR AMOUNT OF EFFORT TO STAMP IT OUT.

DONALDINA CAMERON WORKED ASSIDUOUSLY TO RESCUE THESE GIRLS FROM A LIFE OF PROSTITUTION TO EDUCATE THEM AND TO TRAIN THEM IN LIFE SKILLS AND TO GIVE THEM A BETTER CHANCE THAN THEY'VE BEEN OFFERED.

NARRATOR: EVEN THOUGH GRACE WAS NEITHER A PROSTITUTE NOR CHINESE, SHE STILL FOUND A HOME AT THE CAMERON HOUSE.

IT WAS WHILE LIVING HERE THAT SHE AND HER FRIEND ALICE MET THEIR FUTURE HUSBANDS-- GEORGE AND HENRY QUAN.

PAT ROBARDS: GRACE AND ALICE, ON ONE OF THEIR OUTINGS, CAME TO MARIN COUNTY AND MET THE QUAN BROTHERS, 2 YOUNG BACHELORS HERE CARRYING ON THE TRADITIONS OF THE SHRIMP FISHERY.

NARRATOR: WITHIN A FEW MONTHS, GRACE DECIDED TO MARRY HENRY, BUT THE SAME PREJUDICE THAT HAD INSPIRED THE ATTEMPT TO TAKE GRACE AWAY FROM HER ADOPTIVE FATHER, ONCE AGAIN BECAME A FACTOR IN THEIR LIVES.

FRANK QUAN: THEY COULDN'T GET MARRIED HERE IN CALIFORNIA.

THEY HAD TO GO TO NEVADA TO GET MARRIED.

YOU DON'T REALIZE THE DISCRIMINATION AT THAT TIME, AND IT WASN'T UNTIL ABOUT THE MIDDLE FORTIES, WHEN IT WAS ACTUALLY LEGAL FOR MIXED MARRIAGES IN THIS STATE.

DISCRIMINATION WAS TERRIBLE.

NARRATOR: THIS WAS ONLY PART OF THE LONG HISTORY OF PERSECUTION SUFFERED BY THE CHINESE IN AMERICA.

IT WAS AN INTOLERANCE THAT BEGAN TO AFFECT THE RESIDENTS OF CHINA CAMP SOON AFTER IT WAS FOUNDED, WHEN A SPECIAL TAX, SIMILAR TO THE ONE ON CHINESE MINERS, WAS IMPOSED ON CHINESE FISHERMEN.

THEN, IN 1882, THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT WAS PASSED BY THE U.S. CONGRESS ADDING FEDERAL AUTHORITY TO OVER A GENERATION OF STATE AND LOCALLY SPONSORED LEGAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE CHINESE.

ENACTED AT TIME WHEN AMERICA WAS UNDERGOING AN UNPRECEDENTED WAVE OF IMMIGRATION OF ALL TYPES, THE EXCLUSION ACT WAS AND STILL IS THE ONLY IMMIGRATION LAW IN U.S. HISTORY THAT TARGETED A SPECIFIC NATIONALITY.

JAMES P. DELGADO: THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT OF 1882 WAS AN INCREDIBLY RACIST LAW EXCLUDING AN ENTIRE RACE OF PEOPLE IN A WAY THAT THE UNITED STATES HAD NEVER DONE BEFORE.

PAT ROBARDS: FROM THE EXCLUSION ACT, THEY CREATED A SEASON, FOR EXAMPLE, WHERE ON THE MOST PRODUCTIVE TIMES OF YEAR, THE CHINESE WEREN'T ALLOWED TO FISH.

FRANK QUAN: AND OF COURSE, THEY CAME INTO THE FISHING, AND THEY OUTLAWED THE CHINESE WITH THEIR BAG NETS IN 1911.

PAT ROBARDS: THEY LOOKED AT THE BAG NETS THEMSELVES.

AFTER 3,000-PLUS YEARS OF BUILDING THAT TECHNOLOGY, THEY TOOK OUT THE BEST WORKING PARTS OF IT, AND THAT WAS REALLY ONE OF THE FINAL STROKES.

FRANK QUAN: AND SO OUR FAMILY IS ACTUALLY THE ONLY CHINESE FAMILY THAT STAYED HERE AND STAYED IN SHRIMP.

THE REST OF THEM LEFT.

PAT ROBARDS: THEY WENT BACK TO CATCHING SHRIMP USING DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY, SWITCHING OVER FROM SET NETS TO A BEAM TRAWL METHOD, LIKE FRANK USES TODAY, DECREASING THE CATCH FROM MILLIONS OF POUNDS DOWN TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF POUNDS DOWN TO THOUSANDS OF POUNDS PER YEAR.

NARRATOR: WHILE THEIR HUSBANDS WERE AT SEA, GRACE AND ALICE QUAN TOOK ON THE CONSIDERABLE BURDEN OF RUNNING THE LAND OPERATIONS AT CHINA CAMP.

THESE WERE CRITICAL TO MAKING UP THE INCOME LOST FROM STEADILY DECLINING CATCHES.

FRANK QUAN: MOM WAS SOME KIND OF LADY.

AS YOU SAW IN THE PHOTOS, SHE SMOKED CIGARS.

SHE DID HER SHARE OF DRINKING, BUT SHE HAD A BIG HEART, BUT I DON'T THINK ANYBODY WOULD EVER CROSS HER.

LIKE I TOLD PAT, LUCKY SHE'S NOT ALIVE TODAY.

I DON'T THINK SHE'D GET ALONG WITH THIS PARK, THIS BUREAUCRACY AT ALL.

NARRATOR: FOLLOWING HIS SERVICE IN WORLD WAR II, FRANK HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEAVE CHINA CAMP, BUT BOUND BY STRONG CULTURAL TIES, HE REMAINED.

FRANK QUAN: THE FAMILY NEEDED HELP, AND THERE I WAS, SO I GOT STUCK, AND I'M STILL HERE.

I COULD'VE GONE ON AND PROBABLY GONE ON--USED THE G.I. BILL AND DONE SOMETHING ELSE.

MY OTHER FAMILY, THEY ALL WENT ON AND DID OTHER THINGS.

LIKE I SAY, WE HAD THE BOAT RENTALS, AND DAD, HE WASN'T TOO WELL, SO I GOT KIND OF STUCK HERE.

HERE I AM, STILL AT IT.

NARRATOR: FRANK QUAN AND CHINA CAMP STAND TODAY AS TESTAMENTS TO PERSEVERANCE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT IN THE FACE OF OVERWHELMING ODDS.

IT'S A STORY THAT'S BEEN REPEATED TIME AND AGAIN AS THE CHINESE FACED NEW CHALLENGES VIRTUALLY EVERYWHERE THEY LIVED AND WORKED IN AMERICA.

ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OF THESE OCCURRED AT NEARLY THE SAME TIME CHINA CAMP WAS BEING FOUNDED AND ONLY A FEW HUNDRED MILES AWAY.

THE RESULTS WOULD FOREVER CHANGE THE FACE OF 2 NATIONS.

[CHINESE MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: IN 1862, AS AMERICA'S BLOODY CIVIL WAR RAGED, THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS APPROPRIATED START-UP FUNDS FOR A TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD.

THE UNION PACIFIC CONTRACTED TO BUILD WESTWARD ACROSS AMERICA'S PLAINS AND PRAIRIES.

THE CENTRAL PACIFIC WON THE CONTRACT TO BUILD EASTWARD FROM SACRAMENTO TO PROMONTORY POINT, UTAH, OVER 689 MILES OF RUGGED, MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN, PLUNGING RAVINES, AND BLISTERING DESERT, BUT THE CENTRAL PACIFIC'S GREATEST PROBLEM WAS LABOR.

CHARLES CROCKER, WHO MANAGED THE ROAD'S ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION, COULDN'T FIND MEN WILLING TO WORK AT WAGES HE COULD AFFORD TO PAY, THEN HE THOUGHT OF EMPLOYING THE CHINESE.

HOWEVER, THE WHITE FOREMEN UNDER CROCKER RAISED STRONG OBJECTIONS.

JAMES P. DELGADO: THEY WOULDN'T WORK WITH CHINESE.

THEY WOULDN'T BOSS CHINESE, BUT WHEN THE CHINESE CAME IN AND WERE FOUND TO BE EXCELLENT, HARD-WORKING PEOPLE WHO DID A MAGNIFICENT JOB AND FOR VERY LITTLE PAY.

ESSENTIALLY, THE RAILROAD WAS COMPLETED AND BUILT ENTIRELY WITH CHINESE LABOR AND UNDER SITUATIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WHITE LABORERS WOULD HAVE BALKED AT.

NARRATOR: EVENTUALLY, 12,000 CHINESE WORKED ON THE RAILROAD, NEARLY HALF THE TOTAL CHINESE POPULATION IN AMERICA.

THE CONDITIONS THEY WORKED UNDER WERE OFTEN DANGEROUS AND HUNDREDS OF CHINESE DIED WHILE BUILDING THE RAILROAD, BOTH FROM ACCIDENTS AND DISEASE.

JAMES P. DELGADO: BUT THEIR CONTRIBUTION WITH ALL OF THAT SACRIFICE, WAS THE LINKING OF THE EAST COAST TO THE WEST COAST, AND WHEN THE GOLDEN SPIKE IS DRIVEN AT PROMONTORY IN 1869, IRONICALLY ENOUGH, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE PHOTOGRAPH, THERE ARE WHITE FACES EVERYWHERE, BUT IT WAS THE SWEAT AND THE LABOR OF THE CHINESE THAT HAD SEEN THAT RAILROAD THROUGH, THAT HAD COMPLETED IT, AND MOST APPROPRIATELY, THOUGH IT WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED AT THAT TIME, THE PERSON WHO DROVE THAT LAST SPIKE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CHINESE.

NARRATOR: BUT THIS WASN'T THE CHINESE' ONLY ACCOMPLISHMENT IN RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION.

WHEN THE UNION PACIFIC WAS COMPLETE, SOME OF THEM WERE RECRUITED TO WORK ON A SIMILAR PROJECT IN CANADA--THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD, WHICH WAS BEGUN IN 1871.

DR. WALLACE B. CHUNG, COLLECTOR OF HISTORY: THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN OTTAWA PROMISED BRITISH COLUMBIA TO BUILD THE RAILWAY IN ORDER THAT B.C.

JOIN THE REST OF CANADA AND NOT THE UNITED STATES, BUT, YOU SEE, THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA IS ABOUT 35,000 WITH ONLY 1,500 CHINESE.

NARRATOR: THIS CREATED A SEVERE LABOR SHORTAGE.

YET DESPITE THE SMALL NUMBER OF CHINESE IN CANADA, THEY STILL FACED THE SAME KINDS OF PREJUDICE THAT BESET THEM IN AMERICA.

DR. WALLACE B. CHUNG: THERE WAS QUITE AN ANTI-ORIENTAL FEELING AT THAT TIME, AND EVERYONE WAS PUSHING THAT THE RAILWAY WOULD BE BUILT, BUT WE MUST NOT USE CHINESE LABOR, BUT EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THERE WERE JUST NOT ENOUGH WORKERS, AND EVEN THE PRIME MINISTER, HE SAY, "NO CHINESE, NO RAILWAY." NARRATOR: SO LIKE CHARLES CROCKER OF THE UNION PACIFIC, ANDREW ONDERDONK, THE BUILDER OF THE CANADIAN PACIFIC, HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO TURN TO THE CHINESE.

DR. WALLACE B. CHUNG: AND HE WAS VERY FORTUNATE TO GET ABOUT 1,500 EXPERIENCED CHINESE LABORERS FROM THE UNITED STATES, BUT HE NEEDS A TOTAL OF 10,000 WORKERS, SO HE WAS FORCED TO IMPORT CHINESE LABORERS FROM HONG KONG, AND ONDERDONK SAVED ABOUT A QUARTER OF HIS BUDGET BY HIRING CHINESE, AND THEY FELT THAT IF IT WASN'T FOR THAT, HE WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COME OUT EVEN.

NARRATOR: COMPLETED IN 1885, THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILROAD HAS AN IMMENSE IMPACT ON THE GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF VANCOUVER, HELPING TO MAKE IT CANADA'S GATEWAY TO THE FAR EAST.

JAMES P. DELGADO: IT SAW AN ECONOMIC EXPLOSION THAT GREATLY BENEFITED VANCOUVER WHICH BECAME CANADA'S PRINCIPLE PORT ON THE PACIFIC, AND TO THIS DAY, THE PORT OF VANCOUVER IS THE FOURTH BUSIEST, THE FOURTH MOST IMPORTANT PORT, IN ALL OF NORTH AMERICA BECAUSE OF ITS TIES TO ASIA, BECAUSE OF ITS TIES TO CHINA.

NARRATOR: DESPITE CONTINUING ANTI-CHINESE SENTIMENTS, VANCOUVER'S CHINATOWN ALSO GREW AND THRIVED, EVENTUALLY BECOMING ONE OF THE LARGEST CHINATOWNS IN CANADA.

BUT WHILE VANCOUVER'S CHINATOWN WAS ON THE UPSWING IN THE MID-1880s, SAN FRANCISCO'S HAD HIT PARTICULARLY HARD TIMES.

THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT HAD BEEN IN EFFECT SINCE EARLY IN THE DECADE, AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CHINESE COMMUNITY WAS DEVASTATING, BUT WITH CHARACTERISTIC ADAPTABILITY AND INVENTIVENESS, THE CHINESE SOON FOUND A WAY AROUND THE EXCLUSION ACT.

IT WAS CALLED PAPER SONS.

THIS PRACTICE TOOK ADVANTAGE OF A LOOPHOLE IN THE EXCLUSION ACT WHICH ALLOWED A CITIZEN OR LEGAL RESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO LEGITIMATELY BRING THEIR SONS OR GRANDSONS INTO THE COUNTRY.

MANY CHINESE-AMERICANS WOULD SELL THAT TITLE TO SOMEONE IN CHINA WHO WANTED TO COME TO THE UNITED STATES.

ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASSUME THE SURNAME OF THE SELLER.

USING FORGED CHINESE BIRTH CERTIFICATES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS, THE BUYER COULD THEN LEGALLY ENTER THE COUNTRY, THUS BECOMING A "PAPER SON." THE PRACTICE BECAME SO WIDESPREAD IN THE CHINESE COMMUNITY THAT WHEN AN AMNESTY WAS FINALLY DECLARED IN 1957, THE IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE RECEIVED OVER 8,000 CONFESSIONS OF FRAUD BY PAPER SONS, SOME OF WHOM HAD BEEN LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES FOR OVER 30 YEARS.

BUT MANY MORE THAN THIS DID NOT COME FORWARD, AND TO THIS DAY, A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF CHINESE- AMERICANS USE NAMES THAT AREN'T REALLY THEIRS.

DARWIN KAN, OWNER, THE BIG STORE: I WAS SITTING DOWN PLAYING CARDS ONE DAY IN COLLEGE, AND WE HAD A GROUP OF ASIANS THERE, PREDOMINANTLY CHINESE.

"OF YOU GUYS SITTING HERE, HOW MANY HAVE REALLY TRUE NAMES, YOU KNOW, NOT PAPER NAMES, BUT TRUE NAMES?" YOU KNOW, BECAUSE THEY WERE SECOND AND THIRD GENERATION CHINESE, AND THERE WAS, LIKE, MAYBE 2 PEOPLE RAISED THEIR HAND.

THE REST WERE ALL PAPER NAMES.

NARRATOR: AT THE TIME, DARWIN'S LAST NAME WAS LEE, LIKE HIS FATHER PING LEE, BUT PING LEE'S ORIGINAL FAMILY NAME HAD BEEN KAN.

PING LEE, GROCER, WALNUT GROVE, CALIFORNIA: MY COMPLETE NAME IS PING KAN LEE.

OH, I USUALLY SIGN THE CHECKS OR SIGN THE DOCUMENTS PING K. LEE, BUT I CANNOT DROP THAT LEE BECAUSE I WAS ALREADY ESTABLISHED IN BUSINESS.

PEOPLE WOULDN'T KNOW ME.

NARRATOR: TO AVOID HAVING TO USE A PAPER NAME FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE, DARWIN LEE DECIDED TO CHANGE HIS NAME SHORTLY AFTER GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE.

DARWIN KAN: THE ONLY TIME YOU CAN CHANGE IS WHEN YOU GRADUATE COLLEGE BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR NAME ON ANY KIND OF OWNERSHIP OF ANYTHING.

SO I WENT TO SUPERIOR COURT, DID ALL MY PAPERWORK, AND CHANGED MY NAME, THUS TAKING ALL THOSE NAMES AND CREDIT CARDS, DRIVER'S LICENSE, ALL THOSE ITEMS, AND I CONVERTED IT TO KAN AND DROPPING THE LEE COMPLETELY BECAUSE IT WAS DARWIN K. AND LEE.

THEN I JUST DROPPED THE LEE AND MADE THE K, KAN, K-A-N, AND I STAYED WITH THAT BECAUSE I FIGURE IF I DID GET MARRIED, AT LEAST MY OFFSPRINGS WILL HAVE THE REAL NAME.

PING LEE: SO TODAY, WE ALWAYS HAVE A LOT OF EXPLANATION TO DO WHEN IT COMES TO "THAT'S MY SON.

WELL, HIS NAME IS LEE.

MY NAME IS KAN," AND THAT KIND OF BUSINESS.

SO, THAT HAPPENS TO A LOT OF CHINESE, MANY, MANY.

IF THE CHINESE OF MY AGE, OVER 50% IS NOT THE SAME, NOT HIS REAL SURNAME.

HE BOUGHT IT SOMEPLACE, GRANDFATHER DID OR HIS FATHER DID.

NARRATOR: MANY OF THESE PAPER SONS CAME IN THROUGH A DESOLATE PLACE IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY WHICH OPENED IN 1910.

IT WAS NAMED ANGEL ISLAND, SOMETIMES CALLED THE ELLIS ISLAND OF THE WEST.

HERE, OVER THE FOLLOWING 30 YEARS, 175,000 CHINESE WOULD BE HELD, INTERVIEWED, AND EVENTUALLY PROCESSED FOR ENTRY OR DEPORTATION.

FOR THE MORE THAN 20 MILLION EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS WHO ENTERED THROUGH NEW YORK'S ELLIS ISLAND, THE PROCESS WAS RELATIVELY QUICK--A CURSORY MEDICAL EXAMINATION FOLLOWED BY A BRIEF 29-QUESTION INTERVIEW.

AT ANGEL ISLAND, HOWEVER, IMMIGRANTS WERE OFTEN HELD FOR MONTHS AND SUBJECTED TO THE REPEATED GRILLING OF HOSTILE INSPECTORS WHO ASKED AS MANY AS A THOUSAND QUESTIONS WHILE TRYING TO CATCH THOSE WITH FALSE IDENTIFICATION.

A WRONG ANSWER TO ANY ONE OF THEM COULD RESULT IN INSTANT DEPORTATION.

THE SEX-SEGREGATED DORMITORIES WERE CROWDED, AND FOOD WAS ABYSMAL.

THE TERRIBLE CONDITIONS SPARKED RIOTS SEVERE ENOUGH TO REQUIRE ARMED TROOPS.

JAMES P. DELGADO: THERE'S AN INCREDIBLE POWER TO PLACES LIKE ANGEL ISLAND IN EVOKING THE PAST, AND I THINK THAT FOR MANY CHINESE VISITORS WHO GO, THERE'S A VERY STRONG SENSE OF THE INCARCERATION AND THE BITTERNESS, BUT EVEN FOR THE NON-CHINESE VISITOR, IN PARTICULAR, WALKING THROUGH THOSE HALLWAYS, SEEING THE POEMS AND THE BITTER STATEMENTS AND THE SADNESS THAT'S CARVED ON THE WALLS, YOU CAN'T HELP BUT COME AWAY WITH A SENSE OF WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE.

PHILLIP CHOY, ARCHITECT: ANGEL ISLAND IS A LEGACY FOR ALL AMERICANS.

IT'S NOT JUST A CHINESE-AMERICAN LEGACY.

I THINK IT'S SOMETHING THAT REFLECTS IN OUR PAST THAT, BECAUSE IT'S UNPLEASANT, WE TRY TO BURY.

THIS BELONGS IN THE ANNALS OF AMERICAN HISTORY, NOT AS AN APPENDIX, AND IT'S NOT AN ABERRATION.

IT GOES A LONG WAYS TO TELL US WHO WE ARE, WHO WE AS AMERICANS ARE.

NARRATOR: DESPITE THE CREATIVE WAYS THEY WERE ABLE TO CIRCUMVENT THE EXCLUSION ACT, PLACES LIKE ANGEL ISLAND ENSURED THAT CHINESE IMMIGRATION INTO AMERICA WAS SLOWED TO A TRICKLE.

YET EVEN BEFORE THE EXCLUSION ACT WAS PASSED, THE CHINESE STILL FACED ENORMOUS CHALLENGES IN THEIR EFFORTS TO SURVIVE AND PROSPER.

ONE OF THOSE EFFORTS HELPED TRANSFORM CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL VALLEY INTO THE BREADBASKET OF THE NATION.

[SINGING IN CHINESE]

NARRATOR: OF ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHINESE IN NORTH AMERICA, ONE OF THE GREATEST AND LEAST APPRECIATED IS THE CREATION OF THE FARMING LANDS OF THE SACRAMENTO RIVER DELTA.

ONCE UNPRODUCTIVE SWAMPS, THESE 180,000 ACRES OF RECLAIMED FIELDS ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF CALIFORNIA'S MULTI- BILLION DOLLAR AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY, WHICH IS FAMOUS FOR BEING NOT ONLY THE LARGEST IN THE COUNTRY, BUT ONE OF THE LARGEST ON THE GLOBE.

WHAT ISN'T GENERALLY KNOWN, HOWEVER, IS THAT THIS LAND WAS CREATED BY THE LABORS OF CHINESE WORKERS USING TECHNIQUES THAT HAVE BEEN TRIED AND PERFECTED IN CHINA OVER A PERIOD OF AT LEAST 2,000 YEARS.

THE PROCESS BEGAN IN THE EARLY 1870s.

JAMES P. DELGADO: ONCE THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD WAS COMPLETED, CALIFORNIA, WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GARDEN OF WONDERFUL FRUITS AND GRAINS AND WINES, NOW IS LINKED TO THE EAST COAST, AND THE RAILROAD INSPIRES AN EXPLOSION IN CALIFORNIA'S AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY.

THE CHINESE, WHO HAD JUST COMPLETED WORKING ON THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD, NOW TURNED THEIR HANDS AS LABORERS TO PLANTING THE VINEYARDS IN THE NAPA VALLEY AND CUTTING HUGE CAVES INTO THE HILLSIDES FOR THE STORAGE AND FOR THE FERMENTATION OF WINE.

THEY WERE ALSO WORKING IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY DRAINING THE DELTA, CONSTRUCTING THE DIKES AND THE INTRICATE SYSTEMS OF WATERWAYS THAT WILL IRRIGATE THE FIELDS THAT WILL SEE THE CENTRAL VALLEY BECOME THE BREADBASKET OF THE WORLD IN THE 1870s AND THE 1880s.

NARRATOR: DURING THIS PROCESS, THE CHINESE SETTLED IN SMALL CHINATOWNS IN COMMUNITIES ALL OVER CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.

THE EXCLUSION ACT HAD NOT YET BEEN CREATED, AND CHINESE WORKERS POURED INTO THE AREA, BOTH ON THEIR OWN AND AS LABOR GANGS RECRUITED BY WHITE LANDOWNERS.

HOWEVER, WHEN THE CHINATOWN IN THE PREDOMINANTLY CAUCASIAN CITY OF WALNUT GROVE BURNED DOWN IN 1915, THEY WENT ONE STEP FURTHER, BUILDING AN ENTIRELY SEPARATE AND AUTONOMOUS CHINESE COMMUNITY--THE TOWN OF LOCKE, CALIFORNIA.

THE SITE WAS ORIGINALLY PART OF AN ORCHARD OWNED BY A LOCAL CAUCASIAN FAMILY NAMED THE LOCKES.

PING LEE: IN 1915, MY FATHER, HE TOOK MAYBE A DOZEN OF HIS CHINESE MERCHANTS, THE JUNGSAN PEOPLE, UP TO THE ORCHARD HALF A MILE UP NORTH AND STARTED BUILDING THAT TOWN, SHAKING HANDS WITH AGREEMENT WITH THE LOCKES.

NARRATOR: THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW FOR THE CHINESE TO ACTUALLY OWN THE LAND THEIR HOUSES WERE BUILT ON.

THOUGH THEY WERE ALLOWED TO OWN THE STRUCTURES THEMSELVES, THEY HAD TO RENT THE LAND ON WHICH THEY STOOD FROM THE LOCKE FAMILY.

IT WAS THE FIRST TOWN BUILT BY CHINESE ENTIRELY WITH CHINESE MONEY.

BY THE TIME PING LEE WAS A YOUNG BOY DURING THE MID 1920s, LOCKE HAD GROWN FROM ITS HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO BECOME A THRIVING COMMUNITY.

PING LEE: LOCKE WAS A PRETTY BUSY LITTLE TOWN.

WE HAVE MAYBE 30 OR 40 FAMILIES, 30 OR 40 STORES, AND SOME OF THE STORES, THE UPSTAIRS, THE RESIDENTS LIVE, AND DOWNSTAIRS, WE RUN THE STORE.

IT COULD BE A HARDWARE STORE, LIKE MY FATHER HAD 7 OF THEM, ALL IN TOWN.

IT WAS A BUSY PLACE, ESPECIALLY ON WEEKENDS, WHEN LOCKE COULD HAVE 400 OR 500 PEOPLE.

THESE ARE THE FARM HANDS THAT COME UP HERE FROM THE SHARECROPPER'S RANCHES, AND THEY WERE SITTIN' OUTSIDE.

EACH STOREFRONT WOULD HAVE A BENCH.

ON SUNDAY, THERE WAS ROAST PIG, ROAST DUCK, ALL THE THINGS THAT TODAY YOU SEE IN SAN FRANCISCO CHINATOWN ON A SMALLER SCALE.

NARRATOR: ONE OF THE BUSINESSES OWNED BY PING LEE'S FATHER WAS A SMALL GAMBLING HALL.

CONTRARY TO STEREOTYPE, IT WAS HARDLY A DEN OF INIQUITY.

LIKE MANY OTHER CHINESE BUSINESSES, IT SERVED AN IMPORTANT SOCIAL FUNCTION, PARTICULARLY BECAUSE THE TOWNS OF THE CENTRAL VALLEY WERE TOO SMALL TO HAVE SEPARATE SPACES FOR BRANCHES OF THE DISTRICT ASSOCIATIONS.

PING LEE: MY FATHER'S SO-CALLED GAMBLING HOUSE EVEN HAD A--LIKE, A POST OFFICE IN THE BACK.

THAT'S ONLY ONE OF THE THINGS THEY DO.

THEN THEY USED TO HAVE CHINESE INSTRUMENTS LIKE BANJOS AND THINGS LIKE THAT, AND A LOT OF THOSE GUYS, THEY'D GET TOGETHER AND 4 OR 5 OF THEM, THEY WERE PLAYIN', AND THEY WERE SINGIN', AND THEY'D DO A LOT OF THINGS THERE, AND THERE'S ALWAYS TEA FOR THEM TO DRINK.

SO THAT'S WHY THOSE PLACES SOMETIMES SERVED AS A SOCIAL HALL.

NARRATOR: PING LEE'S FATHER ALSO PRACTICED THE ANCIENT CHINESE TRADITION OF HERBAL MEDICINE.

STILL USED TODAY, IT EMPLOYS TIME-PROVEN NATURAL REMEDIES TO TREAT A WIDE VARIETY OF AILMENTS.

ANOTHER LEGACY OF THEIR HOMELAND, HERB STORES AND DOCTORS COULD BE FOUND ALMOST EVERY PLACE THE CHINESE SETTLED.

ONE OF THESE STORES STILL STANDS TODAY IN FIDDLETOWN, CALIFORNIA.

IT WAS FOUNDED DURING THE 1850s BY DR. HERBERT YEE'S GREAT GRANDFATHER, NI FONG CHONG, WHO, LIKE PING LEE'S, OWNED SEVERAL SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES.

DR. HERBERT YEE: HE WAS A MERCHANT PRINCE.

HE, OF COURSE, IN THOSE DAYS, ESTABLISHED HIS HERB STORE, AND HE WAS EVERYTHING, MEANING HE WAS THE POSTMASTER FOR THE CHINESE.

HE WOULD SEND MAIL AND MONEY AND COLLECT MAIL.

HE WOULD HAVE HIS HERB STORE TO TREAT THE MINERS FOR THEIR AILMENT.

HE ALSO HAD A GROCERY STORE, AND YOU COULD ALWAYS FIND A HOT MEAL ON A WEEKEND WHEN YOU COME FROM THE GOLD FIELD, AND THEY WOULD SIT AROUND THE POTBELLY STOVE AND HAVE SOME HOT FOOD FOR THEM.

HE WAS EVEN A COBBLER, SO HE DID JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING, YOU KNOW, UP IN THAT LITTLE TOWN.

NARRATOR: AMAZINGLY, NI FONG CHONG'S HERB STORE IS IN EXACTLY THE SAME CONDITION AS IT WAS IN THE EARLY 1900s, WHEN ITS LAST OWNER LOCKED IT UP, TURNED IT OVER TO HIS HANDYMAN, AND RETURNED TO CHINA.

DR. HERBERT YEE: HE MADE SURE THAT NOTHING WAS TAKEN OUT OF IT OR NOTHING WAS BROUGHT IN.

SO EVERYTHING IS IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM.

SO IT'S ONE OF THE VERY FEW BUILDING THAT HAS SURVIVED THOSE MANY YEARS THAT HAS KEPT ALL OF THE CONTENT INTACT.

NARRATOR: THOUGH TOWNS LIKE FIDDLETOWN AND LOCKE WERE SMALL AND RELATIVELY ISOLATED, COLLECTIVELY, THEY HAD AN ENORMOUS IMPACT ON CHINA ITSELF.

ONE OF THE MOST NOTABLE EXAMPLES WAS IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY, WHEN THOUSANDS OF CHINESE- AMERICANS RALLIED TO SUPPORT THE BUDDING CHINESE NATIONALIST REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT LED BY DR. SUN YAT TSEN.

THE REMNANTS OF THAT ENTHUSIASM CAN BE SEEN TODAY ADORNING CHINESE COMMUNITY HALLS IN THE DELTA AND THROUGHOUT AMERICA.

PING LEE: SUN YAT TSEN WAS, OF COURSE--HE'S THE GEORGE WASHINGTON OF CHINA.

OF COURSE, HE HAD A LOT OF FOLLOWERS, AND MY FATHER BEING OVER HERE WAS A FOLLOWER OF DR. TSEN, AND A LOT OF THESE PEOPLE, THESE RANCH HANDS, MOST OF THESE PEOPLE WERE FOLLOWERS OF DR. TSEN.

NARRATOR: THE SCHOOLHOUSE THAT STANDS IN LOCKE TODAY WAS ORIGINALLY BUILT BY PING LEE'S FATHER AS A SMALL LECTURE HALL FOR FOLLOWERS OF DR. TSEN, WHO OFTEN TOURED THE AREA RAISING MONEY FOR HIS CAUSE.

IT WAS LATER USED TO HOUSE THE LOCAL CHINESE SCHOOL WHERE CHINESE PARENTS SENT THEIR AMERICAN-BORN CHILDREN TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE, CUSTOMS, AND TRADITIONS OF THEIR ANCESTRAL HOMELAND.

ONE OF THE STUDENTS HERE WAS PING LEE'S SON DARWIN, WHO, LIKE ALL THE OTHER CHINESE CHILDREN, WAS ALSO ATTENDING TRADITIONAL U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOL.

DARWIN KAN: WE HAD TO GO TO CHINESE SCHOOL 5 DAYS A WEEK, AND I BELIEVE IT STARTED AT 5:00 AND IT WENT TO 7:00.

THE PARENTS WOULD PUT THE KIDS IN THERE TRYING TO LEARN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND SO FORTH AND SO ON.

AS FOR ME, THE SCHOOLMASTER WOULD RING THE BELL.

IT WOULD TAKE ME QUITE A LONG TIME TO GET BACK INTO CLASS.

SOMETIMES THEY HAD TO COME AND GET ME.

NARRATOR: EDUCATION IS SOMETHING THAT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO ALMOST ALL CHINESE- AMERICANS WHO SEE IT AS ONE OF THE BEST WAYS THEY HAVE TO OVERCOME THE MANY BARRIERS THAT BLOCK THEIR ADVANCEMENT.

IRWIN K. LIU: IF I SAID ONE THING THAT WAS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE THAT EITHER CAME HERE AS IMMIGRANTS, THE ONES THAT CAME OVER AND WORKED ON THE RAILROAD, THE ONES THAT CAME OVER AND WORKED AS WAITERS OR WORKED IN RESTAURANTS AND WHATEVER, I WOULD SAY THAT THE ONE OVERWHELMING CONCEPT THAT EVERYBODY WOULD PROBABLY AGREE ON IS THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A GOOD EDUCATION TO SURVIVE, AND EVERY CHINESE FAMILY I KNOW, YOUNG, OLD, POOR, RICH, THE MAIN EMPHASIS IS ON THE CHILDREN TO GET A GOOD EDUCATION AND TRY TO USE THAT EDUCATION TO BETTER THEMSELVES.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: MY GRANDFATHER WAS SO COMMITTED TO EDUCATION THAT MY FATHER WENT TO COLLEGE, BUT HE HAD ALL SISTERS, AND ALL 7 OF THEM GOT COLLEGE DEGREES IN AN ERA WHEN IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT FOR A WOMAN TO BE COLLEGE- EDUCATED, TO BE A CHINESE WOMAN AND BE COLLEGE- EDUCATED.

IT WAS A PRETTY PHENOMENAL ACHIEVEMENT FOR THEM AND FOR MY GRANDFATHER.

NARRATOR: EVEN THOUGH PING LEE'S FATHER HAD NO FORMAL SCHOOLING HIMSELF, HE INSISTED THAT HIS SON GO TO COLLEGE.

PING LEE: MY FATHER STRONGLY BELIEVED IN EDUCATION, SO I SPENT 2 1/2 YEARS IN JUNIOR COLLEGE TO MAKE UP FOR ALL THE THINGS, THEN I WENT INTO BERKELEY AS A JUNIOR, AND I GRADUATED IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND POLITICAL SCIENCE.

NARRATOR: DARWIN ALSO EARNED A COLLEGE DEGREE.

AFTER GRADUATING, HE COULD HAVE LEFT THE AREA AND GONE OFF ON HIS OWN, BUT LIKE HIS FATHER BEFORE HIM AND FRANK QUAN AT CHINA CAMP, HE DECIDED TO STAY, JOINING HIS FATHER IN THE FAMILY GROCERY BUSINESS IN NEARBY WALNUT GROVE.

DARWIN KAN: AS I WAS GROWING UP, I WAS WORKING THE STORE HELPING MY DAD, AND HE SAYS, "WELL, THIS IS THE ONE PERSON THAT WOULD LIKE TO DO THIS.

HE DOESN'T LIKE TO STUDY, BUT I THINK HE CAN BE A BUSINESSMAN." SO HE KIND OF DIRECTED ME TOWARD THAT, AND IT WAS EVEN EASIER THAN I EVER DREAMED OF BECAUSE IT WAS WHAT I HAD BEEN DOING ALL OF MY LIFE.

MY FATHER IS STILL HERE AT 82 YEARS OLD.

I DO THE PHYSICAL THING, HE DOES THE MENTAL THING--BUSINESS- OUTLOOK THING, WHICH IS THE BEST PART BECAUSE HE KNOWS WHEN, WHAT, AND HOW OF EVERYTHING.

NARRATOR: LIKE THE QUANS AT CHINA CAMP, THE HISTORY OF THE KANS AND LEES IN LOCKE, CALIFORNIA EXEMPLIFIES THE DEEP COMMITMENT OF CHINESE-AMERICANS TO THEIR FAMILIES, COMMUNITIES, AND RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE.

STORIES LIKE THIS WOULD BE MIRRORED FARTHER EAST IN ANOTHER COMMUNITY--ONE THAT WOULD EVENTUALLY GROW TO BECOME THE SECOND LARGEST CHINATOWN IN THE UNITED STATES.

NARRATOR: ON THE MAIN ARTERY OF NEW YORK CITY'S CHINATOWN AT 32 MOTT STREET, STANDS A BUILDING THAT SYMBOLIZES THE STRIKING SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE CHINESE NO MATTER WHERE THEY SETTLED IN NORTH AMERICA.

IT'S NOT A MONUMENT OR EVEN A DISTRICT ASSOCIATION.

IT'S A STORE, ONE THAT WAS FOUNDED BY PAUL LEE'S GRANDFATHER LEE LOK IN THE LATE 1800s.

BUT LIKE THE STORES IN LOCKE AND FIDDLETOWN, IT SERVED MANY OTHER PURPOSES AS WELL, INCLUDING A MAIL DROP FOR THE CHINESE IMMIGRANTS WHO BEGAN COMING IN THROUGH ELLIS ISLAND AS PAPER SONS DURING THE LATE 19th CENTURY.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THAT AT ELLIS ISLAND THERE MAY BE 30-, 40-, 50,000 PEOPLE SHOWING THEIR HOME ADDRESS AS 32 MOTT STREET, WHEN THEY COULDN'T ALL POSSIBLY LIVE IN THE BUILDING AT THE SAME TIME, SO WHAT THEY WERE DOING WAS GETTING THEIR MAIL SENT THERE AND THEN SPREADING OUT ALL OVER THE NORTHEAST--BOSTON, PHILADELPHIA, WASHINGTON--THEN COMING BACK AND PICKING UP THEIR MAIL.

NARRATOR: LIKE THE STORES IN LOCKE AND FIDDLETOWN, 32 MOTT STREET ALSO SERVED AS AN HERB SHOP.

IT WAS EVEN AN UNOFFICIAL BANK, SINCE, AT THE TIME, CHINESE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE BANK ACCOUNTS.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: WE KIND OF HAVE GONE FULL CIRCLE.

INITIALLY, WE SERVED A LOT OF FUNCTIONS, MORE THAN JUST SELLING PRODUCTS.

NOW WE ARE A BILL PAYMENT CENTER FOR THE COMMUNITY, FOR PEOPLE PAYING THEIR PHONE BILLS, SO NOW A LOT MORE OF THE LOCAL TRADE IS COMING IN, AND IT SOUNDS LIKE A MINIMAL THING, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY VERY GOOD FOR US, AND WE LIKE IT A LOT.

IT BRINGS A LOT OF OUR OLD NEIGHBORS BACK INTO THE STORE.

NARRATOR: BUSINESSES LIKE 32 MOTT STREET WERE PART OF THE NUCLEUS OF WHAT WOULD BECOME AMERICAS SECOND LARGEST CHINATOWN, HOWEVER THE BEGINNINGS OF THIS COMMUNITY WERE MODEST.

IN 1870, WHEN THE CHINESE POPULATION OF SAN FRANCISCO WAS APPROXIMATELY 12,000, THERE WERE FEWER THAN 50 CHINESE IN NEW YORK CITY, BUT BY THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY, NEW YORK'S CHINATOWN HAD GROWN TO ALMOST 7,000.

MOST OF ITS NEWCOMERS WERE CHINESE FLEEING THE VIOLENCE AND DISCRIMINATION ON THE WEST COAST.

LIKE THE CHINESE EVERYWHERE, THEY BROUGHT THEIR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS WITH THEM.

AMONG THE FIRST TO BE ESTABLISHED WERE THE DISTRICT AND FAMILY ASSOCIATIONS.

MANY OF THESE, INCLUDING IRWIN LIU'S FOUR BROTHERHOOD ASSOCIATION, ARE STILL IMPORTANT IN TODAY'S CHINATOWN.

IRWIN K. LIU: IT'S A PLACE TODAY WHERE PEOPLE CAN GO IN THE AFTERNOON, HAVE A CUP OF TEA, WATCH TV, PLAY SOME CARD GAMES, HAVE DINNER THERE.

USUALLY, THE FAMILY ASSOCIATION WILL SUBSIDIZE THE DINNER, AND THE MEMBERS THAT GO THERE TO EAT AT NIGHT WILL CHIP IN $1.00 OR $2.00 FOR A VERY NICE HEALTHY DINNER AND THEN SPEND SOME TIME TOGETHER AND GO HOME.

NARRATOR: HOWEVER, SOME ASPECTS OF THE ASSOCIATIONS WERE NOT SO CONSTRUCTIVE.

AMONG THE MOST NOTORIOUS CONFLICTS TO RIP ACROSS CHINATOWN WERE THE BLOODY GANG WARS BETWEEN THE 2 MAIN BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS--THE HIP SING TONG AND THE ON LEONG TONG--THAT RAGED BETWEEN 1896 AND 1925.

NORMAN LAU KEE: THESE ARE ORGANIZATIONS WHICH HAD FOR ITS MAIN PURPOSE COMMERCIAL INTERESTS, BUT THE COMMERCIAL INTERESTS BECAME TERRITORIAL.

HIP SINGS SAID, "PELL STREET AND DOYER STREET IS MY TERRITORY.

I'LL TAKE CARE OF THE BUSINESS HERE." ON LEONG SAYS, "MOTT STREET'S MY TERRITORY.

WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THE BUSINESSES HERE." BUT THE BUSINESSES SOMETIMES WERE NOT STRICTLY LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES.

SOME BECAME GAMBLING ESTABLISHMENTS AND SO FORTH, SO IN THE TERRITORIAL FIGHTS, THERE WERE SOME TONG WARS.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: PELL STREET AND MOTT STREET IS ONE AREA THAT WAS SORT OF THE DIVIDING LINE.

PELL AND DOYER WAS A MORE FAMOUS AREA.

AND DOYER STREET ITSELF WAS SPECIFICALLY CALLED "THE BLOODY ELBOW," BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY BATTLES FOUGHT ON THAT LITTLE PARTICULAR STREET.

AND IT'S A TINY LITTLE STREET.

NARRATOR: IN 1925, A TRUCE BETWEEN THE WARRING TONGS FINALLY BROUGHT PEACE.

BUT SINCE THE STREET FIGHTS, VIOLENCE, AND STEADY STREAM OF MURDERS HAD BEEN REPORTED IN LURID DETAIL IN THE WHITE PRESS, AMERICA'S WORST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CHINESE SEEMED CONFIRMED.

THIS ATTITUDE BEGAN TO CHANGE, HOWEVER, IN THE 1930s.

A LARGE FACTOR WAS THE JAPANESE INVASION OF CHINA IN 1931.

AS REPORTS OF JAPAN'S BRUTAL CONQUEST FILLED NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSREELS, SYMPATHY FOR THE CHINESE GREW.

WHEN THE UNITED STATES DECLARED WAR ON JAPAN IN 1941, CHINESE- AMERICANS FLOCKED TO ENLIST, EVEN THOUGH HALF WERE NOT--AND BY LAW COULD NOT BE--CITIZENS.

13,000 CHINESE MEN SERVED IN AMERICA'S ARMIES AND AIR CORPS.

IT WAS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF MEN IN UNIFORM OF ANY SINGLE ETHNIC GROUP--17% OF THE ENTIRE CHINESE-AMERICAN POPULATION.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: MY GRANDMOTHER, ROSE AY TYE, HAD 6 SONS WHO WERE IN THE SERVICE DURING WORLD WAR II.

MY FATHER FLEW 35 MISSIONS OVER FRANCE AND GERMANY, AND HE EARNED THE UNITED STATES AIR MEDAL WITH OAK CLUSTERS AND THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS.

NARRATOR: AS A RESULT OF SACRIFICES LIKE THESE, THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS FINALLY REPEALED THE CHINESE EXCLUSION LAWS IN 1943.

ALTHOUGH THE REPEAL ONLY ALLOWED FOR 105 NEW IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA PER YEAR, IT MADE NEARLY HALF THE 40,000 FOREIGN-BORN CHINESE LIVING IN AMERICA ELIGIBLE FOR CITIZENSHIP.

AFTER THE WAR, THE CHANGING ATMOSPHERE HELPED THE CHINESE BEGIN TO MAKE NEW INROADS INTO AMERICAN SOCIETY.

AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME, WOMEN STARTED TO BECOME PART OF MAINSTREAM CHINATOWN.

NORMAN LAU KEE: AFTER WORLD WAR II, THE FIRST GROUP OF WAR BRIDES, AND THEN THE RELAXATION OF WIVES OF U.S. CITIZENS, AND THAT'S WHEN WE STARTED TO HAVE WOMEN IN THIS COMMUNITY.

AND THE WOMEN MADE A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN WHAT HAPPENED IN THE COMMUNITY.

NUMBER ONE, THEY WERE DEMANDING OF SERVICES AND FOOD AND THINGS THAT WERE NOT AVAILABLE AT THAT TIME.

NUMBER TWO, MANY BECAME AVAILABLE FOR THE LABOR MARKET.

AND NOW WE HAVE A VERY EXTENSIVE GARMENT INDUSTRY HERE.

NARRATOR: BESIDES THESE CHANGES, THE INFLUX OF WOMEN ALLOWED FOR THE INCREASING FORMATION OF STRONG NUCLEAR FAMILY UNITS IN CHINATOWN.

THESE COMPLEMENTED AND STRENGTHENED THE EXTENDED FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN SUPPORTED BY THE FAMILY ASSOCIATIONS.

THE DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT OF POST-WAR CHINATOWN ALSO CREATED BETTER OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA.

ONE OF THESE WAS IRWIN LIU'S FATHER, MR. C.P. LIU, WHO ARRIVED IN 1947.

IRWIN K. LIU: HE WOUND UP AS A WAITER.

THEN HE SAW ALL THE RESTAURANTS NEEDED THIS TYPE OF VEGETABLE CALLED THE BEAN SPROUT-- WHICH WAS BASICALLY A MUNG BEAN SEED.

AND HE DECIDED THAT HE WOULD GROW THESE, IN HIS HOME AT FIRST.

YOU KNOW, IN THE SINK OR THE BATHTUB OR WHATEVER HE HAD.

BUT EVENTUALLY, HE LEFT BEING A WAITER, AND OPENED UP HIS OWN HYDROPONIC FARM IN THE BASEMENT OF A BUILDING ON DIVISION STREET.

AT THE TOP OF THE MARKET, HE WAS PROBABLY GOING ABOUT 4 TO 6 TONS A DAY OUT OF THERE.

NARRATOR: BUT BUSINESS WASN'T THE ONLY WAY FOR THE CHINESE TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL.

IN POST-WORLD WAR II AMERICA, MORE TRADITIONAL CAREERS, THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN CLOSED TO THE CHINESE, ALSO BEGAN TO OPEN UP.

IN NEW YORK, ONE OF THESE WAS IN THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT.

DEWEY FONG: YEAH, IT'S ME, CHIEF FONG HERE.

WOMAN: HI, CHIEF.

DEWEY FONG: GOOD. WHAT'S GOING ON AT THE BOROUGH?

NARRATOR: TODAY, DEWEY FONG IS ITS FIRST CHINESE-AMERICAN DEPUTY CHIEF.

DEWEY FONG: ALTHOUGH MY GRANDFATHER AND MY FATHER WERE IN THE LAUNDRY BUSINESS DURING THEIR TIME--AND THEY MADE A CAREER OF IT UNTIL THEY RETIRED--I BASICALLY DID NOT HAVE A DESIRE TO GO INTO THE TRADITIONAL ROLE FOR THE CHINESE IN AMERICA.

WHEN I FIRST JOINED THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN NOVEMBER OF '79, THERE WAS ONLY MAYBE A DOZEN OR SO ASIAN-AMERICAN POLICE OFFICERS IN ALL THE AGENCIES COMBINED IN THE GREATER NEW YORK AREA.

THAT NUMBER HAS NOW GRADUATED TO OVER 400 MEMBERS.

NARRATOR: ONE OF THEM IS THOMAS CHAN, WHO IN 1993 BECAME THE FIRST CHINESE-AMERICAN COMMANDER OF THE FIFTH PRECINCT, WHICH ENCOMPASSES NEW YORK'S CHINATOWN.

PEOPLE LIKE THOMAS CHAN AND DEWEY FONG HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THEIR ROOTS.

THOMAS CHAN: I'M "ABC," AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, AND I WAS BORN IN NEW YORK CITY HERE.

BORN AND RAISED.

CERTAINLY, CHINATOWN IS INGRAINED IN MYSELF--THE FOOD, THE CUSTOMS.

IT FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME.

I FIND MYSELF FREQUENTING AND COMING BACK TO CHINATOWN, BECAUSE THAT'S WHERE I FEEL VERY COMFORTABLE--AMONG OTHER CHINESE.

DEWEY FONG: I ALWAYS HAD AN APPRECIATION OF THE CULTURE AS WELL AS THE ARTS FROM THE CHINESE COMMUNITY.

SO I STARTED TO PLAY TRADITIONAL, CLASSICAL CANTONESE MUSIC.

NARRATOR: DEWEY ALSO PLAYS WITH A GROUP OF HIGHLY-SKILLED PROFESSIONAL COMPOSERS AND MUSICIANS CALLED MUSIC FROM CHINA.

MUSIC, COMBINED WITH STORYTELLING AND MOVEMENT, IS ALSO AN IMPORTANT THEATRICAL FORM, THAT NOT ONLY ENTERTAINS, BUT PRESERVES THE LORE AND CLASSICAL TALES OF CHINA'S PAST, AS REFLECTED IN THE POPULAR SHADOW PUPPET SHOWS PERFORMED IN VILLAGES THROUGHOUT CHINA.

[SPEAKING CHINESE DIALOGUE]

NARRATOR: CHINESE OPERA PRESENTS A MUCH MORE EXTRAVAGANT AND SOPHISTICATED FORM OF THESE ELEMENTS.

DEWEY FONG: OPERA IS NOT JUST SINGING OR MUSIC.

I MEAN, IT REALLY CARRIES WITH IT HISTORY.

IT CARRIES WITH IT TRADITION.

AND IT REALLY PROVIDES AN INSIGHT INTO THE CHINESE PHILOSOPHY THAT'S BEEN PREVALENT FOR SO MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

[CHINESE DIALOGUE]

NARRATOR: ONE OF THE OPERA TROUPES IN NEW YORK CITY'S CHINATOWN INCLUDES MEMBERS OF A LOCAL SENIOR CENTER.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: BY THE WAY, IT'S SO POPULAR HERE, THAT PEOPLE WHO DON'T QUALIFY AS SENIOR CITIZENS ALSO COME IN HERE TO REHEARSE WITH THE GROUP.

THEY GO OUT AND THEY MAKE VISITS TO THE PRISONS IN THE AREA, AND PLAY CHINESE MUSIC TO PRISONERS IN THE NEW YORK CITY CORRECTIONS SYSTEMS.

THEY HAVE ACQUIRED A TASTE IN MUSIC THAT I HAVE NOT YET PERSONALLY ACQUIRED FOR THIS CANTONESE OPERA.

NARRATOR: OTHER ANCIENT CUSTOMS PRACTICED BY THE PEOPLE OF CHINATOWN ARE VARIOUS FORMS OF DANCE AND DISCIPLINED EXERCISE, INCLUDING T'AI CHI.

THESE GRACEFUL MOVEMENTS, WHICH ARE PERFORMED BY MANY PEOPLE IN CHINA TODAY, ARE DESIGNED TO KEEP THE BODY FLEXIBLE AND THE MIND CLEAR.

LIKE SO MANY OF THE DAILY ACTIVITIES--BOTH IN CHINA AND IN CHINATOWNS AROUND THE GLOBE-- THESE ANCIENT FORMS OF EXERCISE AND MOVEMENT ARE DEEPLY IMBEDDED IN CHINESE SOCIETY.

NOT ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF SELF-IMPROVEMENT, BUT TO STRENGTHEN THE BONDS OF THE WIDER COMMUNITY.

PLACES LIKE COLUMBUS PARK AND THE SENIOR CITIZENS' CENTER NOT ONLY HIGHLIGHT THE CONTINUING INTEREST IN CHINESE CULTURE IN MODERN CHINATOWN, BUT THE CONCEPT OF FAMILY AS WELL, WHICH IS STILL CENTRAL TO THE LIFE OF CHINESE AMERICANS.

DEWEY FONG: IN THE CHINESE COMMUNITY, THE EXTENDED FAMILY CONCEPT, IT'S VERY, VERY MUCH ALIVE AND PRACTICED TO THIS DAY.

AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT'S NOT UNCOMMON FOR 3 OR 4 GENERATIONS TO SHARE THE SAME ROOF.

EVEN THE DUTY OF RELATIVES TO HELP AND SUPPORT AND PROVIDING FOR THE NEW ARRIVALS-- IT'S VERY REAL.

NARRATOR: YET, DESPITE THE AMAZING ENDURANCE OF CHINESE CULTURE, LIFE IS CHANGING IN MODERN CHINATOWN.

THE SAME NEW ARRIVALS WHO SUSTAIN THE EXTENDED FAMILIES THAT LIE AT THE HEART OF THE CHINESE-AMERICAN EXPERIENCE HAVE ALSO CAUSED IMMENSE GROWING PAINS FOR THE COMMUNITY.

THE RESULTS ARE NEW PRESSURE, NEW STRIFE, AND MORE CHALLENGES FOR THE PEOPLE OF CHINATOWN.

[PLAYS DIRGE-LIKE MUSIC]

NARRATOR: TODAY'S CHINATOWN IS A UNIQUE MIXTURE OF OLD AND NEW.

OF EAST AND WEST.

ALL MEETING TO CREATE A WAY OF LIFE THAT IS BOTH SINGULAR AND SURPRISING.

THERE ARE FEW PLACES WHERE THIS BLENDING IS MORE EVIDENT THAN IN THE FIELD OF RELIGION.

THE ORIGINAL CHINESE IMMIGRANTS PRACTICED A NUMBER OF FAITHS, DEPENDING ON THEIR REGION OF ORIGIN.

FROM BUDDHISM, WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON SELFLESSNESS AND SPIRITUALITY, TO TAOISM AND CONFUCIANISM, WITH THEIR STRONG ELEMENT OF ANCESTOR WORSHIP.

ECHOES OF THESE BELIEFS CAN STILL BE SEEN TODAY IN THE FORM OF TEMPLES AND SHRINES THROUGHOUT CHINATOWN.

CHINESE IMMIGRANTS WHO HAD BEEN EXPOSED TO CHRISTIANITY BY MISSIONARIES IN THEIR HOMELAND BROUGHT THEIR RELIGION WITH THEM AS WELL.

THE OLDEST CHRISTIAN HOUSE OF WORSHIP IN NEW YORK CITY'S CHINATOWN IS THE TRANSFIGURATION CHURCH, AND TO THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE HERE, THIS VENERABLE INSTITUTION REPRESENTS MUCH MORE THAN RELIGION.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: THIS IS A TERRIFIC SYMBOL OF CHINATOWN ITSELF.

IT STARTED IN 1801 AND WAS AN IRISH CHURCH, AND THEN THE ITALIANS BEGAN TO MOVE IN.

WHOEVER THE NEW GROUP IS, THEIR MASS WAS HELD IN THE BASEMENT, AND THE REIGNING GROUP IS UP IN THE REGULAR CHAPEL.

NOW THE NEW WAVE OF IMMIGRATION INTO NEW YORK CHINATOWN IS THE FUKIENESE PEOPLE FROM FUKIEN PROVINCE.

THEIR SERVICE IS HELD IN THE BASEMENT.

THE CANTONESE AND MANDARIN SERVICE IS IN THE MAIN CHAPEL.

ONE DAY, THEY'LL BE IN THE MAIN CHAPEL, AND THERE'LL BE A NEW GROUP OF PEOPLE COMING FROM SOMEWHERE WHO'LL BE IN THE BASEMENT.

IT'S A GREAT PROGRESSION OF THINGS, AND IT'S A SYMBOL OF HOW THE COMMUNITY'S EVOLVED.

[PASTOR SPEAKING CANTONESE]

THE PASTOR WHO REALLY OPERATES THE PLACE TODAY IS FATHER NOBILETTI, WHO IS AN ITALIAN- AMERICAN FROM BENSONHURST.

HE SPEAKS CANTONESE, DOES HIS SERMONS IN CANTONESE, AND OFTEN TRIES TO EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME IN CANTONESE, AND AFTER 10 MINUTES, I HAVE TO SAY, "I DIDN'T GET THE LAST 5 MINUTES OF WHAT YOU WERE SAYING THERE, FATHER.

YOU GOTTA TELL ME IN ENGLISH NOW SO I CAN FIGURE THIS OUT." NARRATOR: THE FUKIENESE WHO ATTEND THE TRANSFIGURATION CHURCH AREN'T THE ONLY NEW ARRIVALS IN CHINATOWN OVER THE LAST FEW DECADES.

ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST VISIBLE OF THE NEW GROUPS IN CHINATOWN IS FROM HONG KONG.

THEY MADE A PARTICULAR IMPRESSION ON THE CITY OF VANCOUVER.

JAMES DELGADO: IT'S LED SOME CRITICS TO CALL US HONGCOUVER, BUT I I THINK IT'S ACTUALLY UNDERSCORED ONE OF THE WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT VANCOUVER, WHICH IS ITS DIVERSITY, ITS MULTICULTURALISM, THE STRENGTH OF ALL THE PEOPLE COMING IN, AND THE IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS THAT THE CHINESE, IN PARTICULAR, HAVE MADE TO THIS COMMUNITY.

NARRATOR: HOWEVER, THESE NEW WAVES OF IMMIGRATION HAVE ALSO BROUGHT PROBLEMS.

ONE OF THE MOST SERIOUS WAS THE RISE OF A VICIOUS NEW GENERATION OF GANGS IN THE LARGER CHINATOWNS ACROSS AMERICA.

THOMAS CHAN: DURING THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES, CHINATOWN HAD A REPUTATION OF BEING A FREE-FOR-ALL, AN AREA WHERE QUITE OFTEN GUNFIRE BETWEEN GANG MEMBERS WOULD ERUPT, SO IT HAD A VERY POOR IMAGE IN THE MEDIA AND ALSO IN THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

NARRATOR: EVENTUALLY, STATE AND FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES JOINED WITH LOCAL COMMUNITY LEADERS TO OVERCOME THE PROBLEM.

THOMAS CHAN: SINCE 1993, WE'VE SEEN A DECLINE OF 50% IN FELONY CRIME IN THE FIFTH PRECINCT AREA ITSELF.

NARRATOR: BUT NOT ALL OF CHINATOWN'S CRIME PROBLEMS HAVE BEEN SOLVED.

THE FUKIENESE REPRESENT THE LATEST WAVE OF IMMIGRATION FROM MAINLAND CHINA.

THIS HAS CREATED A WHOLE NEW UNDERCLASS IN CHINATOWN, ONE THAT IS OFTEN TARGETED BY CRIMINALS.

THOMAS CHAN: NEW IMMIGRANTS DO NOT HAVE A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, CANNOT HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT, SO THEY CARRY ALL THEIR MONIES ON THEIR PERSON.

AND IF THEY BECOME A VICTIM OF A CRIME, THEY LOSE THEIR LIFE SAVINGS AT ONE TIME.

NARRATOR: YET IN SPITE OF THE DIFFICULT CONDITIONS THAT AWAIT THEM, THE CHINESE CONTINUE TO COME TO AMERICA, JUST AS THEIR FOREFATHERS DID DURING THE GOLD RUSH.

IRWIN K. LIU: THIS IS THE GOLDEN COUNTRY, THIS IS THE PLACE TO COME TO BE FREE, TO MAKE MONEY, TAKE IT HOME, ENJOY IT WITH YOUR FAMILY, HAVE SOME STABILITY, HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE.

YOU GET THE NEW PEOPLE THAT COME IN, THEY DON'T HAVE IT.

THEY WANT TO GET IT.

THAT'S THE WONDERFUL ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT.

THEY NEVER GIVE UP.

NARRATOR: THE WIDE DIVERSITY OF GROUPS IN TODAY'S CHINATOWN HAS FORCED THE COMMUNITY TO EVOLVE WITH THE CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES, WHICH HASN'T ALWAYS BEEN EASY.

BUT AS CHINESE-AMERICANS HAVE SHOWN THROUGHOUT THEIR HISTORY, ADAPTABILITY IS ONE OF THEIR MOST NOTABLE QUALITIES.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: YOU KNOW, THE FUNNY THING TO ME IS THAT THIS GREAT ONSLAUGHT OF THE FUKIENESE IS NOT NEW, AND IT'S NOT THAT SCARY TO ME PERSONALLY BECAUSE HAVING GROWN UP IN CHINATOWN, WE'VE GONE THROUGH ALL THESE QUOTE, YOU KNOW, ONSLAUGHTS OR INVASIONS PREVIOUSLY.

5 OR 10 YEARS--SOME TIME FROM THE FUTURE--IT'S GONNA BE ANOTHER WAVE OF PEOPLE, AND THE FUKIENESE ARE GONNA BE THE ENTRENCHED.

NARRATOR: JUST AS THE RECENT INFLUX OF IMMIGRANTS HAS STRAINED THE BONDS THAT HOLD CHINATOWN TOGETHER, SO HAVE THE ADVANCES MADE BY THE YOUNGER GENERATION OF CHINESE-AMERICANS.

DEWEY FONG: AS THE SECOND GENERATION STARTS TO GROW UP AND THEY GET EDUCATED IN THE WESTERN TRADITIONS, I FIND CHINATOWN TO BE GRADUATING FURTHER AND FURTHER AWAY.

AS A MATTER OF FACT, PEOPLE ARE NO LONGER BOUNDED BY THE TRADITIONAL STREETS OF CHINATOWN.

NARRATOR: THIS TREND HAS BEEN REPEATED IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND PLACES LIKE MONTEREY PARK, WHICH HAS THE LARGEST CHINESE POPULATION IN THE U.S.

YET FUELED BY NEW WAVES OF IMMIGRATION, CHINATOWN HAS SURVIVED.

AND EVEN THOUGH MOST CHINESE-AMERICANS TODAY WERE NOT ACTUALLY BORN IN CHINA, THEIR CONNECTION WITH AND COMMITMENT TO THEIR ANCESTRAL HOMELAND REMAINS STRONG.

FOR PING LEE, THAT COMMITMENT GREW OUT OF HIS FATHER'S DEEP TRADITIONAL VALUES.

PING LEE: HE SAYS THAT, YOU KNOW, YOUR MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY.

AFTER YOUR FAMILY, IT'S YOUR VILLAGE, WHICH IS ALL KANS.

HE SAYS I HOPE ONE DAY, MAYBE YOU CAN FULFILL MY DREAMS, GO BACK, HELP THE VILLAGE, MAKE THEIR LIFE A LITTLE BETTER.

I WENT BACK THERE AND REFURBISHED THE SCHOOL.

IT TOOK ABOUT A YEAR AND A HALF, AND FINALLY, THEY SENT FOR ME TO COME BACK, CUT THE RIBBON AND DEDICATE THE SCHOOL AND ALL THAT.

NARRATOR: PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE EXAMPLE SET BY THEIR PARENTS, THIS SENSE OF COMMITMENT AND CONNECTION IS POWERFUL, EVEN AMONG THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS OF CHINESE-AMERICANS.

DARWIN KAN: THE INTERESTING PART, GOING BACK TO MY VILLAGE WITH MY MOM BACK IN '86, MET MY AUNT THAT I HAD NEVER MET BEFORE THAT LIVES IN MY GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE THAT HE BUILT WITH MONEY THAT HE MADE IN AMERICA.

SHE GREETED ME, AND THE FUNNY THING, SHE GREETED ME, SHE LIT INCENSE, SHE PUT HER ROAST PORK AS AN OFFERING TO THE DEITY, THEN SHE BOWED TO THE DEITY AND SAID, "YOU'RE HOME." NARRATOR: NO MATTER WHERE THEY WERE BORN, CHINESE-AMERICANS HAVE 2 HOMELANDS.

LIKE CHINATOWN ITSELF, THEY ARE A UNIQUE MIXTURE OF INFLUENCES-- EAST AND WEST, OLD AND NEW.

IT IS A BLEND THAT HAS IMMEASURABLY ENRICHED THEIR LIVES.

PAUL J.Q. LEE: FROM THE UNITED STATES, TAKE THE GOOD STUFF, LEAVE THE BAD STUFF.

FROM THE CHINESE CULTURE, TAKE THE GOOD STUFF, AND WE HAVE TO ACCEPT IT, WE GOT A LOT OF BAD STUFF, AND LEAVE THAT BEHIND.

WE'RE IN THE GOLD MOUNTAIN, YOU KNOW.

LET'S GO WITH IT.

DARWIN KANS: YOU ALWAYS TALK ABOUT THE MELTING POT OF AMERICA.

IT IS NOT A MELTING POT.

IT'S A TOSSED GREEN SALAD BOWL WITH EVERYTHING THROWN IN THERE.

BUT IT HASN'T MELTED.

IT'S THERE.

I CAN'T CHANGE WHO I AM.

I'M AN AMERICAN, BUT THEY KNOW I'M ASIAN DESCENT.

I AM, AND I'M PROUD I'M CHINESE.

I DON'T WANNA EVER CHANGE THAT.

NARRATOR: THE CHINESE HAVE BEEN CALLED AMERICA'S "MODEL MINORITY." ROUGHLY ONE IN A HUNDRED NOW HOLDS A PH.D.

A REMARKABLY HIGH PERCENTAGE FILL THE PROFESSIONAL AND MANAGERIAL RANKS AND ATTEND NORTH AMERICA'S ELITE UNIVERSITIES.

IN CALIFORNIA, WHERE POOR YOUNG CHINESE MEN ONCE PANNED FOR GOLD, LAID TRACK, DRAINED SWAMPS, PLANTED VINES, AND WASHED SHIRTS FOR OTHERS, THERE ARE NOW 30 CHINESE-OWNED BANKS.

DARWIN KAN: OUR FOREFATHERS CAME HERE WITH NOTHING, STOWED THEIR WAY ON BOATS TO GET HERE.

THEY HAD NOTHING.

NOW YOU LOOK BACK AND YOU'RE GOING INTO THE FOURTH GENERATION, PROBABLY IN SOME CASES, THE FIFTH, BUT GENERALLY, ABOUT THE FOURTH, AND THERE IS LEGISLATORS, DENTISTS, A TON OF DOCTORS.

IRWIN K. LIU: IT WAS A VERY, VERY BIG FAMILY MOMENT BECAUSE I PASSED THE BAR, AND I TOLD HIM I PASSED THE BAR, AND HE STARTED CRYING.

AND I SAID, "DAD, WHAT DO YOU WANT WHEN YOU GO HOME?" HE SAYS, "YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT?

I'D LIKE A BUDWEISER AND TURNING THE AIR CONDITIONING ON." PAUL J.Q. LEE: I STILL DON'T HAVE MY NBA AND NFL PLAYERS YET, BUT THERE'S CERTAINLY MICHAEL CHANG OUT THERE.

THERE'S CERTAINLY MICHELLE KWAN.

OUR VERSION OF BILL GATES--CHARLES WANG FROM COMPUTER ASSOCIATES.

IT JUST GOES ON AND ON.

THE LIST IS DEEP AND LONG.

NARRATOR: AMERICA HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY, A MAGNET FOR THE AMBITIOUS AND DARING.

A PLACE TO GET RICH, BREATHE FREE, OR JUST START OVER.

ITS GROWTH AS A NATION IS THE EPIC TALE OF ITS IMMIGRANTS-- NEWCOMERS WHO RISKED EVERYTHING FOR THE CHANCE AT A NEW LIFE.

YET DESPITE ALL THE OBSTACLES THAT CONFRONTED THEM, THE CHINESE HAVE BEEN REMARKABLY SUCCESSFUL.

THE REASON FOR THEIR SUCCESS IS EMBEDDED IN THE FABRIC OF CHINATOWN, IN ITS CULTURE OF HARD WORK, DEDICATION AND PERSEVERANCE, ITS VALUES OF FAMILY AND EDUCATION, ITS ADHERENCE TO ANCIENT INSTITUTIONS AND TRADITIONS, AND ITS ABILITY TO ADAPT TO CHANGING TIMES.

THIS IS THE TRUE WEALTH OF CHINATOWN AND WHY IT REMAINS THE HEART OF THE PLACE THE CHINESE STILL CALL GOLD MOUNTAIN.

AFTER A LONG AND SUCCESSFUL LIFE IN HIS ADOPTED LAND, YEE AH TYE DIED IN CALIFORNIA IN 1896.

HIS MEMBERSHIP IN HIS DISTRICT ASSOCIATION ENSURED THAT, LIKE THOUSANDS OF OTHER SOJOURNERS, HIS BONES WOULD BE RETURNED TO CHINA TO BE BURIED IN HIS NATIVE VILLAGE.

BUT YEE AH TYE'S ROOTS IN AMERICA WERE DEEPER THAN ANYONE KNEW.

LANI AH TYE FARKAS: "MY GREAT GRANDFATHER, YEE AH TYE, ASTONISHED HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS WITH HIS LAST REQUEST.

JUST BEFORE PASSING AWAY, HE SPOKE TO THOSE AROUND HIM.

I AM OLD.

NEARLY 73 YEARS HAVE PASSED OVER MY HEAD.

I HAVE LIVED IN THIS LAND SINCE I WAS A YOUNG MAN.

MY WIFE LIVES HERE, AND THIS LAND IS THE HOME OF MY SONS.

NOW LET MY BODY BE BURIED HERE AND MY BONES LIE UNDISTURBED FOR ALL TIMES IN THE LAND WHERE I HAVE LIVED." [CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY PERPETUAL MOTION FILMS]

[CAPTIONED BY THE NATIONAL CAPTIONING INSTITUTE --www.ncicap.org--]

>> FOR DECADES, MANY CHINESE AMERICANS WERE HOSTILE TO CHINA'S COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT.

BUT BY MAY OF 2000, WHEN THE U.S.

NORMALIZED TRADE WITH CHINA, THEIR TONE HAD SOFTENED.

THE TRADITIONAL VOICE OF SAN FRANCISCO'S CHINATOWN NOW STRONGLY SUPPORTS TRADE WITH MAINLAND CHINA, SAYING IT IS NOW MORE DEMOCRATIC AND MORE CAPITALISTIC.