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Songs of Gold Mountain
Cantonese Rhymes From San Francisco Chinatown
Marlon K. Hom
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University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
Oxford, England
© 1987 by The Regents of the University of California
First Paperback Printing 1992
Printed in the United States of America
An abridged version of the second half of the introductory essay appeared
in Western Folklore (1983); song 16 appeared in Amerasia Journal (1982);
songs 2–9, 11, 12, 14, and 16 appeared in Greenfield Review (1983)
Renditions of these rhymes are slightly different in the present volume.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data
Chinshan ko chi. English.
Songs of Gold Mountain.
Translation of: Chinshan ko chi.
1. Chinese poetry—California—San Francisco—Translations into
English. 2. English poetry—Translations from Chinese. 3. Chinese
poetry—California—San Francisco. 4. Chinese poetry—20th century.
5. China—Emigration and immigration—Poetry. 6. California—
Emigration and immigration—Poetry. 7. Chinatown (San Francisco, Calif.)—Poetry. I. Hom, Marlon K. II. Title.
PL3164.5.E5C54 1987 895.1'1 8611234
ISBN 0520081048
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI 39.481984.
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Translator's Note x
An Introduction to Cantonese Vernacular Rhymes from San Francisco
Chinatown
3
The Songs of Gold Mountain
1. Immigration Blues 71
2. Lamentations of Stranded Sojourners 91
3. Lamentations of Estranged Wives 111
4. Nostalgic Blues 148
5. Rhapsodies on Gold 176
6. Songs of Western Influence and the Americanborns 203
7. Nuptial Rhapsodies 231
8. Ballads of the Libertines 252
9. Songs of the Young at Heart 269
10. Songs of Prodigals and Addicts 288
11. Songs of the Hundred Men's Wife 308
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Acknowledgments
In the course of doing research on Chinese American literature, I came across a “Wooden Barracks” poem at the Angel Island Immigration Station, written by a
Cantonese immigrant sometime between 1910 and 1930. I have translated it as follows:
Poems, thousands and thousands, written all
over the walls:
All words of grievances and sorrow.
Should we one day be freed from this prison,
and prosper with success,
Treasure the memory: marks of all those years.
Times have changed considerably in the last fifty years. Still, the literature of the Chinese in America prior to the 1950s remains largely unknown even to many Chinese
Americans today. Books by recent Chinese American writers promoted by American publishers have gained their deserved recognition and ac
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ceptance, but the literature of the early Chinese Americans is still buried in the past. It was not until very recently that the poems of the Chinese immigrants on Angel
Island became known and were translated into English, allowing us to understand and appreciate in depth a chapter of our literary heritage.
I hope that the present work, a selection of Cantonese vernacular rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown, written in the early 1910s, will be still another window into
early Chinese American literary life, and that it will provide us with authentic knowledge of the experiences of Chinese in America at the turn of this century.
For this volume, I am especially grateful to Mr. Him Mark Lai of the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco. Mark Lai, as he is usually called, is the
dean of Chinese American history and has been most generous in sharing his vast knowledge and huge collection of Chinese American materials. My casual inquiry to
him about early Chinatown literature resulted in his providing me, from his own library, with photocopies of the rare Jinshan ge ji (Songs of Gold Mountain)
anthologies of 1911 and 1915. Among teachers and friends who have read my manuscript, in part or in its entirety, and have offered me valuable criticism and
suggestions for revision, I am especially thankful to Professors Wuchi Liu and Jeffery P. Chan, Frank Chin, Russell Leong, Ruthanne McCunn, and Sam Solberg. Mr.
Tan Biyon also gave me additional insights for the revision of my manuscript during our two meetings in San Francisco in April 1984. Lorraine has been working with
me on the Chinese American literature project untiringly all these years; her support has been unrelenting. Dr. Barbara Metcalf, Ms. Phyllis Killen, and Ms. Susan
Stone,
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editors at the University of California Press, and Ms. Sally Serafim have given me tremendous assistance and expert advice in preparing this volume for publication. Of
course, I alone am responsible for all the imperfection in this book.
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Translator's Note
All Cantonese expressions are transcribed in a modified Yale Cantonese romanization system. A Mandarin equivalent in pinyin transcription is given in parentheses.
E.g.: Gamsaan (Jinshan) for Gold Mountain.
There are two sets of footnotes to the rhymes. The notes to the Chinese originals consist of a collation of misused homophonous words; wrong words are cited and
correct ones appended. Regional Cantonese expressions are annotated in standard Chinese. The notes to the translations provide annotation to Chinese literary
expressions that are not selfexplanatory in English.
Abbreviations: JSGJ I: Jinshan ge ji (1911)
JSGJ II: Jinshan ge erji (1915)
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An Introduction to Cantonese Vernacular Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown
Early Chinatown:
A Historical Overview
Establishing the Oldest American Chinatown
The French sinologist M. de Guignes wrote in 1761 that the Chinese had first come to the American continent one thousand years before the European explorers,
when Hui Shen, a Buddhist monk, came to a land called Fusang, which de Guignes identified as the west coast of North America. Upon returning to China, Hui Shen
reported in detail on the livelihood of the Fusang natives. His account appears in the sixthcentury A.D. historical text Liang shu.1 However, no other conclusive
1. French Sinologist M. de Guignes's study was based on the account in volume 54 of the Liang shu (History of the Liang dynasty), a historical work written between 502 and 556.
Some later scholars rejected this study, or tried to identify “Fusang” as another place. A brief summary regarding this issue and further references are given in Thomas Chin et al.,
A History of Chinese in California (San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America, 1969), pp. 1–2.
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documents are available on this socalled early discovery of America by the Chinese. Recent Chinese anthropological studies have, however, drawn comparisons
between the Chinese and the natives of America, showing some similarities in language and culture between the two peoples now separated by the Pacific Ocean.2
The verifiable Chinese presence in America came much later. In the midseventeenth century, Chinese seamen traveled on board Spanish trading vessels via the
Philippine Islands, which were known in Cantonese as Leuisung (Lüsong), after the island of Luzon. Some settled in Mexico, which they called Siu Leuisung (Xiao
Lüsong) or Little Luzon, probably because Spanish was spoken in both countries and they thus appeared similar in culture. These Chinese settlers became a part of the
local community, making their living among the Mexicans.3 Merchants and traders from southeastern China,
2. Wei Juxian, Zhongguoren faxian Meizhou chu kao (A preliminary investigation on the Chinese discovery of America) (Taibei: Shishi chuban gongsi, 1975). Wei uses
archaeological evidence of similarities between Native American and Chinese culture to suggest that Native Americans are Chinese in origin. See also Wei's Zhongguoren faxian
Meizhou tiyao (A summary regarding the Chinese discovery of America) (Rpt., Taibei: Shishi chuban gongsi, 1975) in which he claims that ancient China had a long history of
communication with natives in the American continent. Fusang is often identified as a hibiscus plant. In Chinese writings, its red blossom alludes to the sun, hence it becomes the
name for the eastern part of the world where the sun rises and, consequently, for the island nation of Japan, which literally means “sun's origin.” However, Wei in his studies
argues that fusang must be the redwoods of America. He also cites the mention of hummingbirds, native birds of America that never appeared in any Chinese writings prior to that
entry in the Liang shu, as proof of his theory, since it was Hui Shen who introduced these new items to China.
3. Chin et al., p. 6.
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long experienced in doing business with foreigners, were seen regularly in the ports of Mexico. In 1838 the earliest Chinese reached Yerba Buena, the name for San
Francisco before California was incorporated into the United States in 1850.4
In 1849, the news of the discovery of gold in California reached China, and hundreds of Chinese began arriving in the early months of 1850. Thousands followed in
subsequent years, as mining, farming, and railroad construction boomed. Then, as now, the Chinese called the United States Gamsaan (Jinshan), or Gold Mountain, a
term deriving from the 1849 Gold Rush. It was also called Fakei (Huaqi), or Flowery Flag, a name inspired by the fancy graphics of the American flag.
Instead of the cruel coolie system of slavery found in Southeast Asia and South America, the Chinese workers usually came to the United States under the “credit fare”
system. A man would repay the loan that paid his passage by working under contract for a specified period. He was then free to pursue his own living. Workers were
largely Cantonese, natives of Guangdong province in southeastern China, an area that had prospered from foreign trade since the sixteenth century. Specifically, they
came from two regions around the Pearl River delta. The Saamyup (Sanyi) area consisted of the “Three Counties”—Naamhoi (Nanhai), Punyu (Panyu), and Seundak
(Shunde). The Seiyup (Siyi) area encompassed the “Four Counties” of Sunning (Xinning)/Toisaan (Taishan), Sunwui (Xinhui), Hoiping (Kaiping), and Yanping
(Enping). Saamyup natives in
4. Chin et al., p. 10. In 1946, Americans renamed Yerba Buena “San Francisco.”
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Map 1.
The Pearl River Delta and the American
West Coast
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America often engaged in mercantile and other business trades; Seiyup natives, mainly laborers, accounted for 70 percent of the total Chinese population in the United
States.5
In San Francisco, the Chinese soon formed fraternal organizations based on their county of origin to assist those who came to earn a living in America. In the early
1850s, most Chinese workers did not stay long in the port. For them, as for their white Gold Rush counterparts, San Francisco was only a stopover on the way to the
vast interior. Merchants, traders, and providers of services and supplies would stay. In the mid1850s, more Chinese began to settle in San Francisco, engaging in
service industries, which provided stable employment and income. The socalled Chinatown of San Francisco was formed in those early years, as a concentrated area
of Chinese commercial and other business operations began to take shape. The owners and workers usually occupied living quarters located behind the storefronts.
However, Chinese were scattered throughout this frontier city, living an integrated existence among San Franciscans of various ethnic and cultural origins.
At first, the arrival in California of the “China boys” was welcomed. Aside from working in the mines, the Chinese provided the major labor force for reclaiming
California land for farming. Some were skilled fishermen and shrimp harvesters. Later, tens of thousands worked, and many died, building the transcontinental railroad,
even laying a recordbreaking ten miles of track in a single day on April 28, 1869. However, by the mid1850s, conflicts had developed in the mines, and
5. Chin et al., p. 4.
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Chinese miners became the victims. When the transcontinental railroads were completed in 1869, a massive labor surplus was created. Some Chinese workers left for
the farms, but many turned to San Francisco, now the major urban center in the West. However, the railroad was also facilitating the movement of workers from the
depressed East Coast cities into an already saturated West. Conflicts arose, fueled by the belief in “manifest destiny” by the white men who would claim the American
continent. This created a tremendous hardship for the Chinese on the West Coast, who became the objects of attack by and exclusion from the greater American
society. The benign tolerance of times past turned into hysterical rejection. “The Chinese must go!” became an accepted slogan, serving the selfinterest of both the
white working class and the opportunistic politicians, as wealthy capitalists exploited cheap Chinese labor for their own gain.6 Chinese were attacked everywhere as
white workingmen and labor unionists and their supporters tried to drive the Chinese away.
California had the largest concentration of Chinese; many lived in San Francisco. Although discriminatory practices were severe in the city, there was no safer or
economically more feasible place for them to go. The Chinese realized that the presence of so many of their countrymen would enable them to render mutual as
6. For an excellent analysis of the conflict in the triangular relationship among the white working class and white unionists, the capitalists, and the Chinese workers, see Alexander
Saxton, The Indispensable Enemy: Labor and the AntiChinese Movement in California (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971). Saxton views labor conflicts between the
Chinese and white workers from a class perspective, in which the capitalists manipulate the two groups to advance their selfinterest and their profits.
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Map 2.
San Francisco Bay Area, with Street Map of Chinatown
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sistance and comfort in a time of crisis. As it turned out, while the Chinese were often stoned or physically abused in nonChinese neighborhoods, once inside their
own enclave they were relatively safe. As a result, a large Chinese community, sometimes called the “Canton of the West,” existed in San Francisco by the early
1870s. It was located two blocks west of Yerba Buena Cove, the city harbor (today the landfilled area occupied by the financial district and the Embarcadero). The
area surrounding Portsmouth Plaza (now Portsmouth Square) and Dupont Street (now Grant Avenue, but in Chinese still called by its former name) was San
Francisco's downtown, but later, when Chinese businesses and residents moved in as white ones moved out, it became part of Chinatown. Sacramento Street was
called Tongyan gaai (Tangren jie), the Street of the Chinese. By the time the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricting Chinese immigration was passed, the Chinese
population in America had reached 132,000.7 Nearly 10 percent of San Francisco's 1880 population of 233,959 were Chinese.8
San Francisco Chinatown became well established as its residents grew to represent an integral part of the work force of the city. They were dominant in industries like
shoe making and shirt and cigar manufacturing, and in service industries like the laundry business. Meanwhile, the transPacific mercantile trade provided Chinatown
with goods that were not otherwise available in America. Welldefined social organizations were established in Chinatown through clan, district, and fraternal
affiliations, all of which were governed by a
7. Chin et al., p. 18.
8. Chin et al., p. 21.
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supreme joint administration known as the Six Companies (later the Consolidated Chinese Benevolent Association). Where the San Francisco city and other
government agencies failed, the Six Companies maintained and protected the welfare and interests of the Chinese residents. After the 1906 earthquake and fire
completely destroyed Chinatown, efforts were made to move Chinatown from the downtown area bordered by Kearny, Stockton, California, and Broadway to a
remote southeastern corner of the city. However, the attempt failed and the Chinese returned to the old site to rebuild among the ruins.
The Chinese population in the United States began to drop as the Exclusion Act was enforced. Because of the numerous discriminatory immigration laws and local
ordinances of the ensuing years, many Chinese already in America were unable to stay on. They were not allowed to become naturalized citizens, nor could they own
land. In California, interracial sex and marriage were prohibited. San Francisco's Chinatown was frequently raided, and Chinese residents caught without proper
identification were arrested and often deported unless they could prove they were legal immigrants. U.S. immigration officials often denied reentry even to Chinese
travelers with valid reentry certificates, on grounds that their documents had been invalidated by new immigration regulations. The Chinese regularly challenged the
many unfair laws in courts. Even so, by 1900, the U.S. census reported a drop in the Chinese population to less than 90,000; by 1910, to 71,531; and by 1920, to
61,639—about onehalf of the reported figure in 1882.
Despite the abundance of exclusionary laws, many Chinese nevertheless found ways to circumvent them.
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Crossing the border from Mexico was one common practice. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, moreover, gave the Chinese an immigration reprieve.
Official birth records had been destroyed by the fire, and many Chinese oldtimers in San Francisco took the opportunity to claim citizenship, saying that their American
birth records had been destroyed. This opened up a new avenue for the younger generation, who could then claim to be the foreignborn, unmarried children of
American citizens, a category unaffected by the exclusionary laws. Actually, many of the oldtimers had married shortly before coming, and had left their brides in
China. Another practice was to come as a “paper son,” assuming a false identity and claiming to be the offspring of an American citizen.9 As the early Chinese
population was overwhelmingly Cantonese, the immigrants who came through these methods were from the same Cantonese locale. Hence, the Saamyup and Seiyup
population distribution in America did not dramatically change, although the Seiyup immigrants, being mostly laborers, were the major target of the exclusion.
9. Him Mark Lai et al. briefly explain the “paper son” practice as follows: (1) a Chinese with United States citizenship rights would return from China and report the birth in China of
a child, usually a son, thus creating an immigration slot for the newborn; (2) the slot would be sold to a relative, friend, or even a stranger through a broker (price in 1930 was $100
per age year; thus, a slot for a seventeenyearold would cost $1,700); (3) the paper son would be coached on his immigration testimony in preparation for his interrogation upon
arrival to the United States. See Him Mark Lai et al., Outline of the History of the Chinese in America (San Francisco: by the authors, 1971), p. 96. All newcomers and returnees to
America were meticulously interrogated by immigration officials. Like anyone else, paper sons who failed would be denied entry and deported back to China. Usually, a bribe was
one recourse to ensure safe passage through United States immigration.
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Nevertheless, the Chinese population in America survived, despite everything. Discrimination only served to fortify the independence of the Chinese community and to
make racial differences all the more apparent in the greater American society. Contrary to the claim of many critics in the past, the formation of San Francisco
Chinatown was not just a result of the Chinese immigrants' unwillingness to assimilate. Nor was it formed merely as the product of the Chinese immigrants' desire to
preserve their own way of life. Part of the historical basis for its emergence can be found in the Chinese response to racism. Chinatown was created as a means of
survival during a time of rampant racial intolerance, when the Chinese were forced to retreat from an integrated existence to an alienated one. Chinatown's independent
internal social structure resulted from social injustices from without, as experience showed that the Chinese could not depend on local laws, which discriminated against
them and perpetuated their hardship. Chinatown had to establish itself and prosper on its own for the survival of its inhabitants.
Literary Depictions of Chinatown Life
Although San Francisco Chinatown was always viewed as an ethnic Chinese enclave, a “city within a city,” its street life was actually “vibrant with a curious and
colorful mix of Chinese and nonChinese,” with its stores displaying goods to be consumed by Chinese and nonChinese alike.10 Chinatown's inhabitants were ac
10. John Kuo Wei Tchen, Arnold Genthe's Photographs of San Francisco's Old Chinatown (New York: Dover Publications, 1984), p. 19.
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tively engaged in making a living, just like other hardworking San Franciscans.11 They worked in factories adjacent to Chinatown; they managed their own businesses
and peddled their goods and wares. The Chinese community, though fearful of white man's intrusion and disruption, was open to exploration and observation by non
Chinese. Some whites even became Chinatown tour guides, creating a picture of an exotic, mysterious Chinatown for tourists by hiring poor souls to display their
bound feet or smoke opium. A tremendous quantity of writings on the Chinese and Chinatown, most of it critical and negative, appeared in local newspapers and in the
influential Overland Monthly, a local publication whose contributors were recognized American writers from the West.
Writings appearing after the 1880s tended to depict Chinatown in an extremely negative light, appealing to fears of the “Yellow Peril,” the white man's xenophobic fear
of Asians. The emphasis was on Chinatown as a foreign and exotic place, thus perpetuating its mystery. As Alexander McLeod later found in his studies of the early
Chinese in America, the nonChinese regarded San Francisco Chinatown as “mysterious” and totally “different.”12 American frontier writers, including Jack London,
wrote about the Chinese with bias and distortion based upon an unfounded fear that an onslaught of
11. Liu Boji, Meiguo Huaqiao shi (A history of the Chinese in the United States of America, 1848–1911) (Taibei: Liming wenhua shiye gongsi, 1976), pp. 1067. (Hereafter cited as
History.)
12. Alexander McLeod, Gold Dust and Pigtails (Caldwell, Ida.: The Caxton Printers, 1949). McLeod describes mysterious and exotic practices of San Francisco Chinatown since the
1850s. Chapter 10 (pp. 26881), for example, describes Chinatown as a “different world” from the white America.
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Chinese would conquer America.13 The literary hysteria fanned the flames for stricter laws to exclude the Chinese. On the other hand, a few writers were less
prejudiced. Mark Twain called the Chinese “harmless,” and said they should be left alone.14 Francis Bret Harte was of the opinion that the Chinese were wise and
could not easily be taken in by white men's trickery.15 However, most popular writers in the pulp genre engaged in vicious muckraking, depicting Chinatown as a sinful,
foreign, crimeridden ghetto.
Amidst these negative and distorted treatments, the works of Arnold Genthe (1869–1942) and Edith Eaton (1867–1914) stand out for their fair treatment of the
authentic Chinatown. They were able to capture the vivid and vibrant livelihood of Chinatown in the late 1890s and the early 1900s, because they were actively
present in the community and knew Chinatown resi
13. William P. Fenn, in Ah Sin and His Brethren in American Literature (Peking: College of Chinese Studies, 1933), provides the first critical analysis of the Chinese in American
literature, showing how the Chinese are often portrayed as foreigners, in a very negative light. Limin Chu's The Image of China and the Chinese in the Overland Monthly, 1868–
1875, 1883–1935 (Duke University, Ph.D. dissertation, 1965), gives details on xenophobic writings published in San Francisco since 1870. William F. Wu, in his Yellow Peril:
Chinese Americans in American Fiction, 1850–1940 (Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1982), also shows how American writers, including the “local colorists” of the West,
created a villainous image of the Chinese in America with racist distortions and stereotypes. Such writings catered to a popular demand to perpetuate the image of Chinatown as
mysterious and foreign as well as crimeridden. None gave a valid, objective portrayal of the Chinese way of life in Chinatown.
14. Mark Twain, Roughing It (New York: New American Library, 1962), pp. 29197.
15. Francis Bret Harte, “Plain Language from Truthful James,” Overland Monthly 5, no. 2 (September 1870): 28788.
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dents personally. Genthe recorded and preserved the life and images of Chinatown in his photographs;16 Eaton did so in a score of short stories whose protagonists
were Chinatown residents.17 Genthe's photographs of Chinatown before the 1906 disaster showed its bustling street scenes, telling a lively pictorial story of its men,
women, and children. Edith Eaton, under the pen name of Sui Sin Far, depicted the trials and tribulations of Chinatown families as they tried to establish homes in
America. She also effectively probed behind the laughter and tears of contact between the Chinatown residents and the white majority. Both artists, in their respective
media, captured a truelife picture of Chinatown that was rarely depicted by other American artists of the time.
Chinatown Low Life—
The Three Vices.
Racial intolerance and xenophobic practices have accounted for most of the negative depictions of China
16. See John Tchen's introduction to Arnold Genthe's Photographs of San Francisco's Old Chinatown, pp. 3–18. Genthe published his photographs first in Pictures of Old
Chinatown (New York: Moffat, Yard, and Co., 1908) and again in Old Chinatown: A Book of Pictures (New York: Mitchell Kennerly, 1913). Because the old Chinatown was
destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire, Genthe's photographs are most valuable today to the study of old Chinatown. John Tchen's 1984 publication provides an excellent
explanation and analysis of these photographs.
17. Sui Sin Far (Edith Eaton), Mrs. Spring Fragrance (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1912). The short stories that are particularly of interest in dealing with family and social life in Chinatown
during the late 1890s and early 1900s are “The Wisdom of the New” (pp. 47–85), “Its Wavering Image” (pp. 85–95), “The Story of One White Woman Who Married a Chinese” and
“Her Chinese Husband” (pp. 11144), “The Americanizing of Pau Tsu” (pp. 14461), and “In the Land of the Free” (pp. 16178).
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town life since the 1880s. No one could deny that Chinatown was different, nor that it had its share of serious social problems in a society that accepted and practiced
racial discrimination and segregation. Chinatown was criticized particularly for its social vices— prostitution, opium addiction, and gambling. It was frequently attacked
as a place of filth and sin, whose values were in direct contradiction to the Christian ethics so valued by white American society.
However, if viewed objectively, the vices of early San Francisco Chinatown seem no worse or more malicious than the vices of any other frontier town in the West
during that period. Ever since the Gold Rush days, prostitution had prospered throughout San Francisco. Mining and railroad construction work encouraged a
tremendous influx of male workers to the West, but the migratory nature of the work discouraged most of them from establishing normal family lives. Prostitution was
recognized as a necessity and was in full operation wherever there were a large number of male workers. As the center of the West, ever since the 1850s San
Francisco's downtown district was littered with houses of ill repute, some of which were more “reputable” than others based on the reputability of their clientele. At
first, the prostitutes came from various Caucasian backgrounds. Soon, Chinese and Japanese prostitutes also appeared. Only Chinatown's proximity to downtown and
the existence of a separate Chinese operation in Chinatown made it a part of that infamous scene.
Ever since the early period of immigation, prostitution had been a community concern in Chinatown, since Chinese women often were prevented from coming to
America and Chinese men were denied the
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opportunity to live a normal family life in America.18 The sex ratio of the Chinese population in San Francisco was extremely imbalanced. At its worst, in 1880, there
were only 1,781 Chinese women in a Chinese population of 21,745.19 Predictably, this sex ratio provided a favorable climate for the emergence in 1852 of Hip Yee
Tong, a fraternal group that engaged in a profitable operation, importing Chinese women from China to be prostitutes. Thousands were brought over by the
organization, which came to monopolize the traffic. In the beginning, some prostitutes came voluntarily on their own. Later, young girls and women in their teens were
brought over and groomed for the business, most coming from impoverished families that had sold them to agents operating in China. Many were victims of kidnapping
and other means of deceit and enticement.20 One recent point of view holds prostitution to be a form of labor, in which women offer their sexuality in exchange for a
fee,21 but what went on was hardly the same as male workers offering their labor and strength to earn a wage. Life for these Chinese women, commonly known as
“slave girls,” was cruel and inhumane.22 They were treated like merchandise, often sold and resold many times. Societal attitudes stripped away their selfrespect and
pride. A few lucky ones were pur
18. Lucie Cheng, “Free, Indentured, Enslaved: Chinese Prostitutes in NineteenthCentury America,” in Labor Immigration under Capitalism: Asian Workers in the United States
before World War II, ed. Lucie Cheng and Edna Bonacich (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), pp. 4056.
19. Mary Coolidge, Chinese Immigration (1909; rpt., New York: Arno Press, 1969), p. 502; and Chin et al., p. 21.
20. Cheng,pp. 40708.
21. Ibid., pp. 42425.
22. McLeod, pp. 17386.
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chased by the rich and powerful as mistresses or concubines. Most, however became diseased by their profession and were often left to die in the most pathetic way,
without human dignity.
The importation of prostitutes was prohibited by law in 1873, but many still landed in America through illegal means. AntiAsian groups in San Francisco criticized
Chinatown for its prostitution. Reform efforts from within Chinatown failed to halt Hip Yee Tong's ruthless activity, however, as the latter enjoyed the law's protection
and collaboration through bribery.23 Nevertheless, prostitution declined citywide after the 1900s, when Victorian Christians reaching San Francisco actively moved to
transform this once freewheeling frontier city into a metropolis of stable families and industrial growth.24 White missionary women in Chinatown, led by Margaret
Culbertson and later by Donaldina Cameron, were able to “rescue” many slave girls and provide shelter for those who fled from their owners. These missionaries were
successful mainly because, like most Chinese in the early days, the Hip Yee Tong avoided getting involved in disputes with Caucasians unless it was absolutely
necessary. The Hip Yee Tong might go after the Chinese who helped the prostitutes escape, but not Caucasians. Hundreds of Chinese women were able to lead a
normal life as a result of Donaldina Cameron's tireless rescue efforts. Her accomplishment won praises but at the same time overdramatized the problem of prostitution
in Chinatown. The focus on prostitution in Chinatown, in a city where the immoral trade was rampant, also revealed the “paternalistic atti
23. Liu Boji, History, pp. 12830.
24. Cheng, pp.42324.
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tude” of the white missionaries and their “racial hypocrisy,”25 and contributed to the concerted attack on the Chinese. White houses of prostitution just around the
corner tended to be ignored, however. The missionary attitude tended to perpetuate white supremacist attitudes and strengthen the already negative image of the
“heathen Chinese” in America during a period of hysterical exclusion.
Opium was equally targeted for attack. This potent drug was brought to southern China in large quantities by the British merchants of the East India Company, the very
same company involved in the Boston Tea Party. Opium smoking was a lethal addiction, but it was passed off as something healthful. British merchants and their
agents in China promoted opium, a product of the British colony of India, as an elixir of life, a cureall. As addiction became widespread in Guangdong province, it
created epidemic social disorder, with addicts wasting away their lives and bringing ruin to their families. An allout campaign to eradicate the import in the late 1830s
failed, only giving the British imperialists an excuse to champion their “gunboat diplomacy.” Britain won the infamous Opium War of 1840, colonized Hong Kong, and
expanded her opium trade in China. As a result, opium addiction took its toll on the Chinese population. The Japanese would later call the Chinese “the sick men of
Asia” because of the withered physiques of addicts in the Chinese coastal cities.
British promotion of opium smoking made it an acceptable social pastime among the Chinese. Many deeply believed in its medicinal power. For a long time, the habit
was regarded highly as a privilege of the elite
25. Tchen, p.96.
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class. The Cantonese immigrants brought the habit with them to America, since there were no specific regulations on the substance prior to the 1860s. In 1869, the
Burlingame Treaty between China and the United States prohibited the Chinese in America from importing opium. However, the treaty did not stop the import of the
drug through nonChinese operations. Opium came from Hong Kong through the Fook Hing Company, a company that served as a refiner and distributor for the
British, and the customs house in San Francisco levied a hefty tariff on it. This dutypaid substance, known as gung yin (gong yan), “taxed opium,” was packaged in
tins the size of sardine cans and sold openly in San Francisco Chinatown.26
It is said that over two hundred opium dens once operated in San Francisco Chinatown, many of them shady operations located in basements and tiny alleyways.27
They were considered by white Americans to be the most disgusting sight in Chinatown.28 Their existence testified to the gloomy side of the Chinese immigrant way of
life. The small, crowded opium dens were usually dimly lit; the walls were black with years of smoke; the thick air was totally smokefilled. In them addicts lay
sideways on crudely prepared beds, busying themselves with the chemical substance and the smoking apparatus, silently puffing away their savings, their families, and
finally their own lives.
26. McLeod, p. 155. For a detailed study of the opiate problems in the United States, see David T. Courtwright, Dark Paradise: Opiate Addiction in America before 1940
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982); pages 62–86 cover the situation in San Francisco at the turn of the century.
27. Liu Boji, History, p. 120.
28. McLeod, p. 156.
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City officials paid little attention to the opium addiction in Chinatown, which they regarded as primarily a Chinese problem that did not affect the white population.29
Later, however, as whites became addicts and as opium dens catering solely to white patrons sprouted on California and Pine streets, the local authorities became
alarmed. By the 1880s, opium addiction was a citywide issue, and the Chinese were blamed for it. Local ordinances were passed to control and punish operators and
patrons of opium dens.30 However, the drug was still sold openly and the customs house still collected a hefty duty annually on its import.
In 1909, federal laws were passed to ban the import of opium. As supplies dwindled, the price soared, from $12 per pound to $70 in 1917.31 As a result, smuggling
and bribery became the norm in the attempts to bring in the drug. The shortage, the price hikes, and the possibility of criminal prosecution, coupled with a vigorous
campaign to eradicate opium addiction in Chinatown, brought about its eventual demise.
The popularity of opium smoking during this period had its roots in the fact that the Cantonese had long been exposed to the drug and accepted it as they did tobacco
smoking. Their life in America—an abnormal existence punctuated with hardship, loneliness, and alienation— and the availability of the drug in the open market only
led more people to the drug as they tried to seek solace by means of a temporary escape. However, the Cantonese had also witnessed the destruction of their
homeland in the Opium War of 1840, which sowed hatred
29. Liu Boji, History, p. 120.
30. Ibid., p. 121.
31. Ibid., p. 122; also Courtwright, p. 83.
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toward the drug among Cantonese intellectuals. Some came to America and, in local Chinese newspapers, advocated a ban on opium long before the United States
passed that law in 1909. Not one piece of Chinatown writing can be found in support or defense of opium smoking. However, for nearly sixty years after the massive
Chinese immigration began, American authorities allowed the import and sale of opium and regarded it as only a Chinese problem, forgetting that the problem had
originally been brought about by the British imperialists. It is disheartening to note that the ills of opium addiction, which inflicted so much misery for so long on San
Francisco Chinatown, were ignored and nothing was done until it finally started to take its toll on the Caucasian population.
Finally, there was gambling. Man's interest in games of chance is universal, and Chinese immigrants, like their European counterparts, brought their favorite games with
them to America. Gambling, like alcohol and prostitutes, was a fixture of the saloons of Western frontier towns. However, since the Chinese could not patronize the
white man's saloons at the time, they had their own gambling operations in their own community. These establishments were also frequented by Caucasians, Filipinos,
Japanese, and other ethnic groups.
Many Chinese games of chance were popular in America in the early period.32 The most famous were faantaan (fantan), literally, “turn over the display,” baakgaap
piu (baige piao), literally “pigeon's note” but better known as the “Chinese lottery,” paaigau (paijiu), or
32. See Stewart Culin, The Gambling Games of the Chinese in America (1891; rpt. Las Vegas: Gambler's Book Club, 1982).
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“arrange in nine” but better known as “Chinese dominoes,” and mahjong—all games that are still played today. Mahjong, a timeconsuming game, is a kind of
clubhouse game played more for socializing than for gambling, as seen in the Chinese American novel Eat a Bowl of Tea (1962) by Louis Chu, and has become
popular with some segments of the Jewish community.
Among all ethnic groups, the most popular games of chance were the simple games. For example, faantaan is simply a game of elementary counting. An unknown
number of Chinese coins are covered by a bowl, and players bet on four numbers, one to four, or on “even” or “odd.” After all bets have been placed, the dealer
removes the bowl and quickly counts off the coins with a chopstick, counting four coins at a time, until four or less remain. For example, if two remain, bets on “two”
and “even” would be the winners. The game's apparatus can be improvised easily. Instead of coins, beans can be used. Hence, the game was very popular at work
camps during the early days. The Japanese laborers' indulgence in this Chinese game of chance was immense.33
Baakgaap piu is a lottery game based on the first eighty words of the “Thousand Word Prose” (Qian zi wen), a wellknown fourwordperline prosepoem. No
words are duplicated in the prose; hence there are eighty different spots on which the players can bet. A player wins if his choice of word (s) matches the winning
word(s). Two lotteries were held each day by each operator in San Francisco Chinatown, one at noon and one in the evening. The game's popularity was due to the
fact that, in addition to being a simple lottery that required no skill
33. Liu Boji, History, p. 120.
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but only luck, it did not require presence of the player, who could carry on his usual business while playing the game. Agents in storefronts wrote up the lottery tickets
for the players; in addition, couriers for the operators were readily available to pick up or deliver bets and winnings. This game was also well received by nonChinese
players. The Japanese mockingly called it baka (“foolish”), a play on its Chinese name, baakgap (lit., “pigeon”). It was also immensely popular among white players,
so much so that, according to Stewart Culin, white casinos later adopted it and turned it into the game of Race Horse Keno, and later, simply Keno.34 Here, eighty
numbers, written from left to right and top to bottom, replace the original Chinese characters, which were arranged from top to bottom and right to left.
There were over seventy gambling operations in San Francisco Chinatown in the 1880s, most of them located in alleys and patronized by more than just Chinese
players. Gambling was so popular in the West that local authorities simply could not stop it. Weekly bribes to local police ensured its smooth operation.35 The immense
interest in gambling was indicative of the social realities of the American West. Workers were attracted to the West by its promise of work and an improvement in their
impoverished lot. This economic incentive was perhaps also the driving force behind the popularity of gambling. In a game of chance a person's lot could quickly
change, and large sums of money, otherwise unattainable, might be won with no effort.
In sum, the socalled vices and low life of Chinatown,
34. Introduction to the reprint of Culin's work; no page number [p. I].
35. Liu Boji, History, p. 120.
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often cited by antiChinese elements to justify Chinese exclusion, were part and parcel of the nineteenthcentury American West. Prostitution and gambling were
everywhere. Opium to the Chinese was like alcohol to the white men. In fact, alcohol created just as many social problems in the white community as opium did in the
Chinese one, if not more.36 Therefore, most of the criticism was actually racially motivated. The prevalence of these problems in San Francisco was also due to
corruption within the government: the authorities allowed the import and sale of opium until addiction became more than a Chinese problem; and, by accepting bribes
from the operators of Chinatown brothels, opium dens, and gambling houses, they allowed these vices to continue without interference. The true victims were, of
course, the participants who ventured into such an existence in search of a moment of solace, a dream of wealth, or simply an escape from reality.
Chinatown High Life—
A Literary Pride
The literary legacy of San Francisco's Chinese Americans is not widely known because in studying the past the major focus has always been on the labor aspects of
36. When Ng Poon Chew, a wellrespected Chinese Christian and publisher of the wellregarded San Francisco Chinese daily, the Chung Sai Yat Po, was confronted with the issue
of Chinese opium addiction, he supported the call to eradicate opium but rejected the antiChinese rhetoric behind it. Likening the ills of opium addiction to alcoholism, which was
prevalent in white society, he stated that opium weakened the user, disarming him from dangering anyone else, whereas alcohol made the drinker a dangerous person whose
unruly behavior would harm others. He joked that a wife could beat her opiumaddicted husband, but she would be beaten by her alcoholic husband.
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post1860s Chinese immigration. Because of subsequent years of segregation, however, Chinese Americans also became secondclass citizens in the English language.
The population of schoolage Chinese American children grew from about five hundred in 1867 to four thousand in 1900, with at least 75 percent of them residing in
San Francisco.37 However, until the 1930s, hardly any of them excelled at creative expression in the English language. This area of intellectual endeavor remained
beyond their reach. Chinese Americans gained Englishlanguage skills first through missionary programs in Chinatown and later in segregated public schools.38 But
fluency in English was not enough to enable them to break into the white man's whitecollar society. A Chinese American who was fluent in both English and Chinese
might use this language ability to become a cheut faan (chu fan, lit. “out to the barbarians”), a kind of translatorrepresentative hired by Chinese organizations to
negotiate with the white men. At best, he might be employed as the official chyun wa (chuan hua, interpreter) for court or immigration cases involving nonEnglish
speaking Chinese. Thus, early Chinatown residents could demonstrate practical English skills, but not literary ones.
However, this was not the case insofar as Chineselanguage skills were concerned. Rampant racial preju
37. Coolidge, p. 436.
38. For an extensive study of the history and issues of education confronting the Chinese in San Francisco, see Victor Low, The Unimpressible Race: A Century of Educational
Struggle by the Chinese in San Francisco (San Francisco: East/West, 1982). Chinese Americans have consistently challenged racial segregation. However, in 1906, a public school
located north of Stockton Street, between Clay and Washington streets, was established for “Oriental” students. Only the Japanese were able to successfully challenge segregated
schools.
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dice had early on convinced most Chinatown residents of the merchant class that the future of the younger generation would be in China, because they would never be
accepted in America. Thus, many parents made special efforts to equip their offspring with Chinese skills in preparation for their future in China. There were over a
dozen private Chinese tutorial schools in Chinatown in the 1870s,39 and in 1888 a communitysupported Chineselanguage school was established. Students were
taught from the traditional Chinese texts—classics, belles lettres, and historical writings. Also, many youngsters were sent back to China to receive a Chinese
education, a practice akin to that of San Francisco highsociety families who sent their children to the East Coast for a “proper” education. Many Americanborn
Chinese excelled in their Chinese studies; some were even able to pass through the imperial examination system. For instance, an Americanborn Chinese named Jeung
Siucheung (Zhang Shaoxiang), a graduate of the Chinatown Chineselanguage school, sent back to South China for further studies at the age of fourteen, later passed
the regional level of the imperial examination (i.e., xiang shi) and obtained the prestigious xiucai degree in 1904.40
Thus, there was no shortage of cultural expression among the immigrant generation in San Francisco
39. Him Mark Lai, “Meiguo Huaqiao jian shi” (A brief history of the Overseas Chinese in America), 38th installment of a serialized column in San Francisco's Shidai Bao (December
24, 1980), p. 2.
40. Liu Boji, History, pp. 35657. The Chinese imperial examination system had three major testing levels; each consisted of a battery of examinations to test the candidates' writing
skills. The first (base) exam was conducted on the local/regional level; successful candidates would be conferred the xiucai (“talented man”)
(footnote continued on next page)
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Chinatown. In fact, their literacy level must have been quite high, since the first community newspaper began to circulate in 185441 and several more papers appeared
in later years. In 1900, the Chung Sai Yat Po was established by Ng Poon Chew, a Christian. It became an influential daily in the Chinatown communities. In 1908, it
instituted a daily supplement that frequently printed historical writings, prose, fiction, poetry, and popular Cantonese vernacular rhymes and satires. Then in 1909 the
Sai Gai Yat Po also came into existence. Its editor, C. K. Leang (Liang Chaojie), was a leader of the Chinatown literati community. The two dailies frequently
advertised books and other writings from San Francisco Chinatown's ten bookstores. Tai Quong, Fat Ming, and Sun Tai Lok were the bestknown booksellers and
publishers, and carried numerous dictionaries, Englishlanguage primers, and books on accounting, health and hygiene, current Chinese and world affairs, and
geography. They also sold works of popular Can
(footnote continued from previous page)
degree. The intermediate examination was conducted on the provincial level, usually in the provincial capital; successful candidates would receive the juren (“outstanding man”)
degree. The highest level, the “palace examination,” was held in the imperial capital, and successful candidates would receive the jinshi (“advanced scholar”) degree, with the top
three candidates receiving special designations. The examinations were held once every three years, with special ones held on exceptional occasions as decreed by the emperor.
The imperial examination system was the only ladder to success for men of letters who desired to hold government office. This system was abolished in 1905. For an extensive
study of the system, see Deng Siyu, Zhongguo kaoshi zhidu shi (A history of the Chinese examination system) (Taibei: Xuesheng shudian, 1966).
41. Karl Lo and Him Mark Lai, “Introduction,” in Chinese Newspapers Published in North America, 1854–1975 (Washington, D.C.: Center for Chinese Research Materials, Association
of Research Libraries, 1977), p. 2.
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tonese literature as well as traditional Chinese classics and histories. Hence, Chinatown's population was able to sustain a market for books ranging from popular to
highbrow.
In addition, the leaders of the organizations under the umbrella of the Six Companies were men of letters of their respective districts who held at least the xiucai
degree. They were appointed by the district organizations in San Francisco as district presidents or chairmen for a tenure of a specific number of years before returning
to China. The president of the Six Companies was appointed in a similar fashion. Therefore, there was always a group of Cantonese literati in the San Francisco
Chinese community. They often held gatherings known as the nga jaap (ya ji “refined meeting,” a euphemistic expression for a gathering of poets taken from the Book
of Songs [Shi jing]). At each meeting a topic would be suggested and members would write poems on that subject. Poems and parallel couplets (duilian) were the
most popular form of creative expression among Chinatown literati. Huang Zunxian, a Cantonese and wellknown Chinese poet in the late Qing period who was
consul general in San Francisco from 1881 to 1885, actively organized and encouraged them, holding frequent gatherings to inspire their writings. A poetry society was
formed.42 Men of letters from Victoria, British Columbia, another major Chinese settlement in the West, later joined Huang's wellpublicized group and participated in
the literary exchanges among group members.
42. Liu Boji, Meiguo Huaqiao shi xu bian (English title: A History of the Chinese in the United States of America, II) (Taibei: Liming wenhua shiye gongsi, 1981), p. 404. (Hereafter
cited as History II.)
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In the spring of 1886, another literary society, the Xiao Peng Shi She (Paradise Poetry Club), was founded in Chinatown. In May that year, its members wrote over
one hundred poems and presented them to Zhang Yinhuan, the envoy of China to the United States, gracefully asking for Zhang's comments and evaluations.43 This
practice of submitting one's writings to officials of higher rank was a common practice in imperial China, serving as a form of selfintroduction in the process of seeking
recognition and acceptance.
Other literary societies such as the Tong Wen She (Associates of Letters) and the Wen Hua She (Literary Splendor Society) were well established years before the
1906 earthquake and had numerous members. In 1888, the Tong Wen group also sent out their poetic couplets to Zhang Yinhuan when he toured Peru on behalf of
the imperial government. This group's reputation for coupletwriting activities reached far beyond the Chinese communities in the San Francisco Bay area. When the
group, to celebrate the Spring Festival of 1911, sponsored a coupletwriting competition, contestants from as far away as Canada, Peru, Mexico, and Cuba sent in
compositions. Thus, there was a wellorganized and established literary network among the Chinese on the American continent.
The Wen Hua Club was even more influential and active on the local level. It had over one hundred and fifty duespaying members and a clubhouse at Brenham Place
(recently changed to Walter Lum Place), opposite Portsmouth Plaza, where a shrine to Wen Chang, the patron god of letters, was installed. Incense was burned
43. Liu Boji, History II, p. 404.
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and offerings were attended to daily, and celebrations marked festive occasions throughout the year. The society strictly observed the Confucian emphasis on and
respect for writing, to the point of showing reverence for all writings. Hence it employed a “paper collector,” who, carrying a clubissued gray cloth sack, would patrol
the streets of Chinatown from early morning until late afternoon, picking up all discarded paper on the streets and collecting it from the stores.44 He would then take the
paper back to the clubhouse, where it would be burned. To show the club's respect for the privacy of others, no one ever looked at the contents. An incinerator was
built in the shrine for this ritual burning. The ashes were placed in the gray sack, and, once a week, the club would hire a horse and wagon to take them to the pier; a
boat would then ferry them out to the Golden Gate and empty them into the ocean. This elaborate ceremony for “paper garbage” was the club's demonstration of its
utmost respect for writing, showing themselves as true disciples of the Confucian teaching that writing was the constitution of literacy. However, the nonChinese
looked upon this extremely dignified activity as only one more baffling example of Chinatown's exotic behavior, one among the many curious and eccentric practices of
Chinatown.45 Without understanding the Confucian motive behind the action, they saw it as merely “strange,” and the ritual served to perpetuate the stereotype of the
Chinese as an “unimpressible race.”
The Wen Hua clubhouse was destroyed in the 1906
44. Tchen, p. 52, plate 52.
45. McLeod, pp. 25669.
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disaster, and the paper collection was discontinued shortly thereafter. However, the group continued its literary activities in the post1906 years, as, rather amazingly,
did most of the other literary groups. Shortly after the quake and fire, announcements of literary activities were to be found alongside those of community organizations
and district groups rebuilding their destroyed Chinatown, especially in the Chung Sai Yat Po. Between 1906 and 1909, over a dozen literary groups announced
activities, for the most part poetry and couplet writing contests. Some groups established temporary headquarters across the bay in Oakland. This feast of literary
activities was quite unusual, given the destruction and chaos of the time, and, later, the community emphasis on economic reconstruction. But it demonstrated the
unbroken existence of literary life in Chinatown at a time when the common perception of Chinatown in many nonChinese writings dwelled on its “low life.”
The early 1900s was a period of continuous growth for literary Chinatown, aided by the presence of many prominent and progressive men of letters such as Kang
Youwei and Liang Qichao, who fled China after the reform movement failed in 1898. Although Kang never went to San Francisco, only to Victoria and Los Angeles,
his followers nevertheless established a strong base in San Francisco Chinatown. In 1909, Kang's political party, the Bao Huang Dang (Royalist Party, later renamed
the Xianzheng Dang, “Constitutional Party”), started the Chinatown daily Sai Gai Yat Po. Its editor, the scholar C. K. Leang, was a leader in literary activities, as we
have seen, and through the Sai Gai Yat Po press, he also published many of his own
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writings.46 In subsequent years, community literary activities expanded to writing competitions in various genres, including classical poetry, prose, and political essays.
Their topics ranged from leisureclass interests (“A Warm Night by the Lotus Pond”) to contemporary ones (“Riding an Airplane over the Rockies”) to political and
social ones (“On China's National Affairs”), with each competition attracting over a hundred contestants.47 In July 1915, the topic of a poetry competition sponsored
by the Hua Zhi Club was “Hardships of the Chinese Overseas,” a subject dear to their own experience in the United States.
The many literary contests were publicly announced and entries were judged by wellrespected scholars in the community. Top winners were usually awarded cash
prizes and citations, and some of the works were anthologized and published.48 Literary life in Chinatown continued to be active in the 1920s, when another influential
poetry society, the Jinmen Yin She (Golden Gate Poetry Club), was formed by literati from the Seiyup and Saamyup districts. The society published an anthology of
poetry in San Francisco in 1924.49
During the late 1910s and early 1920s, an unpre
46. C. K. Leang, under the pen name of Chuyun Guan Juren, published many books, including two collections of essays both entitled Chuyun Guan wen ji (1922, 1926) and poetry
collections that included You Mei si ci cun gao (1930), Liang shi xiao ya (1934), and Wu guang shi se (1941).
47. Liu Boji, History II, p. 406.
48. For example, a collection from the Caoxiang Group entitled Cao xiang ya ji (A collection of poems by the Caoxiang Club) (San Francisco: Nanhua shuju, 1934).
49. Jinmen Yin She, ed., Jinmen Yin She shi ji (A collection of poems by the Golden Gate Poetry Club) (San Francisco: Fat Ming Company, 1924).
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cedented literary reform movement, later called the May Fourth literary movement, was launched in China. Many of its advocates were Americantrained. They called
for a reform in the Chinese written language, replacing classical Chinese with vernacular language.50 However, this “New Literature” movement apparently had no
effect on the Chinatown literary climate at the time, despite the strong emphasis of the Chinatown literati on cultural and ethnic identification with China during the
period of rejection in the United States. Chinatown's indifference to the cultural reform is even more interesting if one considers the fact that the reform was first
advocated by writers like Hu Shi, who had studied in the United States and whose philosophy for reform was basically Americanbased. The failure of literary reform
in China to make an impression on Chinatown's literary community can perhaps be best explained by the fact that Chinatown's resident literati were mostly traditionally
educated Cantonese. They had little if any social interaction with the Chinese reformers, who were nonCantonese. Earlier political reformers such as Kang Youwei,
Liang Qichao, and Sun Yatsen were Cantonese and had come to America to solicit support and build a power base in the Chinatown community. However, although
cultural reformers like Hu Shi had studied for many years in the United States, they had never made an effort to become active in the Chinatown community.51 In fact,
Hu's
50. For an excellent study of this movement, see Tsetsung Chow, The May Fourth Movement: Intellectual Revolution In Modern China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1960).
51. Perhaps one notable exception was Wen Yiduo (1899–1946). When Wen was studying art in New York as a student in
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advocacy of the modernization of China's literary tradition was based on the idea of a “wholesale Westernization” of China, something most unlikely to be accepted in
Chinatown, as the community jealously safeguarded its Chinese tradition and cultural heritage. Its literati were intent on maintaining a sense of belonging, dignity, and
purpose in an America whose political system and social practices had denied Chinese the right to participate in national life. Hence, literary Chinatown remained
basically conservative, unaffected by the literary reform, and holding on to traditional literary expression. The situation did not change until the 1930s, when the Sino
Japanese War and the rise of Marxist ideology in China became forces that brought about a new literary era in Chinatown.52
Cantonese Folk Literature about the American Experience
The American Sojourn as Seen From Guangdong
The massive emigration of Cantonese natives to the United States beginning with the Gold Rush days had a tremendous effect on the social and economic condi
(footnote continued from previous page)
1924–25, he wrote a poem entitled “Xi yi qu” (Laundry song) about a Chinese laundryman. Wen used the hardship of the laundryman to illustrate his displeasure that this kind of
life was humiliating for the dignified Chinese race. “Xi yi qu,” first published in 1925, was later included in Wen's Si shui (Dead water) (Shanghai: Xinyue shudian, 1928).
52. For a brief reference to the literary development in Chinatown, see “Chinatown Literature during the Last Ten Years (1939–1949) by Wenquan,” translated by Marlon K. Hom with
an introduction, Amerasia Journal 9, no. 2 (1982): 75–100.
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tions of the Guangdong region. Not only were the people's livelihood and education markedly improved with the inflow of remittances and other means of support
from outside, but the emigrant experience also affected the literature of the region. The emigration created a new content for its oral literature of folk songs and other
popular narrative rhymes. These works of folk literature were commonly known as Gamsaan go (Jinshan ge, or “Gold Mountain songs”), and their content dealt
primarily with the effects of the natives' emigration to America. For example, one popular song told, in hyperbole, of a Cantonese native's sojourn in the United States
in 1852:
In the second reign year of Haamfung, a trip
to Gold Mountain was made.
With a pillow on my shoulder, I began my perilous
journey:
Sailing a boat with bamboo poles across the seas,
Leaving behind wife and sisters in search of money,
No longer lingering with the woman in the bedroom,
No longer paying respect to parents at home.53
53. Anon. (Tan Bi'an), “Jinshan fu xing” (Songs of the wife of a Gold Mountain man), Xinning zazhi 1100 (January 1949): 68. The second reign year of Haamfung (Xianfeng) of the
Qing dynasty was 1852.
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A song expressing the sojourner's sentiment from a participant's perspective was, however, a rarity. Most of the songs that circulated among the immigrants' homes
focused on those who remained at home while husband, father, or relatives went to the United States. In 1929, Sun Yatsen University in Canton (Guangzhou), in a
concerted effort to promote folklore studies advocated by the Academia Sinica in Peking, published an anthology of folk songs from Toisaan (Taishan),54 whose
natives constituted the largest Chinese group in America. Of the 203 locally collected folk songs, many deal with going overseas. Most of these are explicitly about the
American journey; of these, some are children's ditties and some, songs of wives left behind. They have two basic themes: the expectation or promise of wealth from
America and the wives' inevitable sorrow of separation.
The journey to America was regarded as an economic necessity, an opportunity for a man to secure a bright financial future for his family:
54. Chen Yuanzhu, ed., Taishan geyao ji (A collection of Taishan folk songs) (1929; rpt. Taibei: Folklore Books, 1969). There is also another collection of Cantonese folk songs
available: Hu Zhaozhong, ed., Meizhou Guangdong Huaqiao liuchuan geyao hui bian (A collection of folk songs popular among the Cantonese in America) (Hong Kong:
Zhendan tushu gongsi, 1970). Most of the 250 entries in Hu's collection can also be found in Chen's 1929 publication. Its claim that these folk songs were popular among the
Cantonese in America has never been verified, though Chen's book shows that some of the songs were indeed concerned with the Gold Mountain journey from a nonparticipant
perspective.
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Swallows and magpies, flying in glee:
Greetings for New Year.
Daddy has gone to Gold Mountain
To earn money.
He will earn gold and silver,
Ten thousand taels.
When he returns,
We will buy a lot of land.55
Father has gone to Gold Mountain.
Hurry up, send money home:
The whole family is depending on you;
When you get money, send it back, Hurry!56
The economic incentive for going to the United States is further seen in another song, in which a journey to America is preferred to a journey anywhere else:
O, sojourner returning from Gold Mountain:
If you don't have one thousand dollars,
You must have at least eight hundred.
55. Chen, song 87, p. 104.
56. Chen, song 127, p. 146.
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O, uncle returning from the South Seas:
Just look at your money bag,
It's empty; it's all empty!
O, young man returning from Hong Kong:
You have earned money in Hong Kong
And spent it all in Hong Kong, too!57
With America held in such high regard, it naturally followed that to marry “a man from Gold Mountain” was most desirable, far superior to marrying anyone else:
He left home at a young age, finally returning
to South China at thirty.
A matchmaker runs about in great haste.
A mother with a daughter hears about him,
joy fills her heart.
In less than three words, candy is accepted
as a proposal gift.58
57. Chen, song 59, p. 72.
58. Chen, song 38, pp. 49–50.
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Don't marry a daughter to a man of books:
He locks himself behind doors and sleeps by himself.
Don't marry a daughter to a man who farms:
His feet covered with manure and his hair full of dust.
Hurry and marry the daughter to a man from Gold
Mountain:
Once he gets off the boat, he has money all in hundred
dollar bills.59
Other songs are expressions of the feelings of lonely wives left behind in China while their husbands eked out a living in America. On the surface, these women, who
were commonly known as Gamsaanpo (Jinshan po, or “wives of Gold Mountain men”) and were the envy of those who lacked this American connection, lived on
handsome remittances, and led comparatively affluent and comfortable lives. On the emotional level, however, due to the customary practice of wives staying home
while the men worked abroad,60 the Gamsaanpo suffered greatly, enduring a long and agonizing separation from their spouses, who sometimes vanished in America
without a trace. One common practice was for
59. Chen, song 1, p. 1.
60. As briefly mentioned earlier in the text, most Chinese men were married before they came to the United States. It was customary for a Cantonese family to ensure that before leaving
home the man was married, in order to establish in him a sense of responsibility and obligation to support the family. Another reason why wives were left behind is that early Chinese
emigration to the United States was a labor movement. The conditions in America were not suitable for many of them to establish permanent homesteads in America, as was the case
for most European immigrants during the same period. American laws also disallowed Asian women from coming. In 1924, the United States implemented exclusionary laws specifically
barring the entry of Asian women.
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a marriage by proxy to be arranged for a young woman to a man who was still in America. The young bride would go through the entire wedding ceremony, but the
marriage would not be consummated until the man returned.61 Given this peculiar form of involuntary widowhood, it is not surprising that Seiyup folk songs about
Gamsaanpo are full of complaint and grievance:
My husband, pressed by poverty, took off
to Gold Mountain.
With a petty sum of money, he cannot make
the journey home.
The road to Gold Mountain is extremely
perilous and difficult;
At home, in grief and pain, my longing eyes
pierce through to the horizon, waiting for
his return.
61. In this proxy marriage practice, a rooster was used to represent the sojourning groom. The bride would go through the entire wedding ceremony with the rooster by her side as
her husbandtobe. This practice was common among the Cantonese in the Pearl River delta and has been described in many creative writings. See “Jinshan fu xing” (n. 53 above)
for an example.
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O, no way is such a life better than that of
farming at home:
Toiling for half a year, relaxing the rest;
You greet parents in the morning;
You are with your wife at night;
Everyone is happy, with smiles all over their
faces;
Festivals, parties, New Year's Eve celebrations—
You and I, husband and wife, O, how loving
would that be!62
You bid farewell to the village well, setting out for
overseas.
It's been eight years, or is it already ten, and
you haven't thought of home.
Willow branches are now brilliant, fields exuberantly
green;
In her bedroom, the young woman's bosom is filled
with frustration and grief.63
62. “Jinshan fu xing,” p. 68.
63. Chen, song 37, p. 49.
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I am still young, with a husband, yet I'm a widow.
The pillow is cold, frighteningly cold.
Thoughts whirl in my mind, as chaotic as hemp
fibers.
Separated by thousands of miles, how can I
reach him?
Thinking of him tenderly—
I toss and turn, to no avail.
He's far away, at the edge of the sky by the
clouds.
At midnight, I long all the more for his return
now.64
Given the misery and frustration of such an existence it should come as no surprise that, despite its promise of a comfortable life, such a marriage is held up to
questioning in several folk songs:
O, just marry all the daughters to men from
Gold Mountain:
All those trunks from Gold Mountain—
You can demand as many as you want!
O, don't ever marry your daughter to a man
from Gold Mountain:
Lonely and sad— A cooking pot is her only companion!65
64. Chen, song 201, p. 238.
65. “Jinshan fu xing,” p. 69.
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Don't marry a daughter to a man of books:
He locks himself up behind doors and sleeps by
himself.
Don't marry a daughter to a man who farms:
His body is filled with the smell of mud and will
suffocate her to death.
Don't marry a daughter to a man from Gold Mountain:
Once he leaves home, home he will forget.
It's best to marry a daughter to a young merchant:
With fish for lunch and meat for supper, he's the
most considerate.66
Other Cantonese vernacular genres also adopted Gold Mountain themes in their depiction of the life of the sojourner. In the genre of rhythmic chants known as the
muk yu go (mu yu ge, or “woodfish songs”),67 there are
66. Chen, song 89, p. 106.
67. Muk yu go is a Cantonese vernacular rhymed narrative. There are two theories as to its origin. One claims that it comes from the folk songs of the Cantonese boat people living
along the Pearl River and its tributaries. The other theory is that it is borrowed from the Buddhist practice of chanting sutras to the beating of a red wooden block, shaped like a fish
head. The rhythmic chanting tells a story. These narratives have been published, mostly in Canton and Hong Kong, for readers to use as a chantalong. This genre of vernacular
oral/written storytelling is popular among both Cantonese peasants and the merchant class, and its wide circulation in San Francisco Chinatown is indicated by book advertise
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a few extant pieces on the Gamsaanpo's life that were also in circulation in America's Chinatown. One piece, entitled “Laments of the Wife of a Gold Mountain
Man” (“Jinshan po zi tan”),68 is a firstperson narrative of a young wife waiting anxiously for her husband to return. The chant manipulates monthly calendar events and
seasonal festivals to emphasize the wife's state of separationinduced loneliness and grief. On each occasion, the gaiety of the outside world is juxtaposed against the
wife's sadness. She perpetually wishes for her husband's return, a futile expectation that only fuels her despair and resentment upon the arrival of Chinese New Year,
traditionally a time for family reunions:
(footnote continued from previous page)
ments. For a study of this genre, see Liang Puichee, WoodenFish Books, Critical Essays and an Annotated Catalog Based on the Collection in the University of Hong Kong
(Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, 1978).
68. Anon., “Jinshan po zi tan” (N.p.: Cang ji chubanshe, n.d.).
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. . .
Dear Husband, it's time to make the journey home.
My longing eyes pierce through the horizon.
You are nowhere in sight.
I return to the bedroom with heavy sighs.
In a flash I see you by the bed.
I hold myself by the bedside, with both hands on the edge;
I try to touch your clothes; I want to feel your face.
O, even if this means a shorter life, I won't begrudge it!
. . .
So comes the New Year;
Still I must wait for you.
Red paper coins decorate houses everywhere;
New Year scrolls proclaim good fortunes.
Images of the Three Immortals of Happiness,
Longevity, and Prosperity grace the front door.
All over the place, thousands of flowers are sweet and candles bright.
Families are together as husband and wife unite.
In abundance, chicken and pork are prepared;
Loud firecrackers burst off clouds of smoke.
And for me—
A time for reunion means a solitary retreat.
The taste of honey now is not at all sweet.
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O, I shall be wise and never reborn a girl again!
I shall cultivate celibacy and the immortal deed!69
In the genre of vernacular prose narrative, a tale entitled “Jit haau Waanwan” (Jie xiao huanhun) (“Chastity, filial piety, and reincarnation”),70 written before the 1900s
by a Cantonese writer named Tong Santin (Tang Xintian), tells the story of Chan Baakhong (Chen Bokang), a native of Sunwui (Xinhui, of the Seiyup), who goes on a
journey to America to seek a living for his family. However, he is barely able to survive, let alone support his family. A laborer, he is stranded for nineteen years in the
mines, unable to contact his family. His wife and mother live a meager existence while awaiting his return. Years pass and rumor has it that Chan has died in America.
His mother is in poor health, and his wife, who is a filial daughterinlaw, pawns what is left of her belongings and clothing to prepare a good meal for her elderly
motherinlaw, telling her falsely that Chan has finally struck it rich in America and is sending money to them. The old woman is overjoyed, but later, when she hears a
rumor of her son's death, she dies in grief. After the mourning period, the people in the village suggest that Chan's wife remarry, but she steadfastly refuses and commits
suicide instead.
Meanwhile, Chan still toils in America. One day,
69. “Jinshan po zi tan,” p. 5.
70. The publication data for this story are unknown. It is the first entry in a collection entitled Yong yan she qu (Trivial but interesting words), vol. 2, pp. 1–12. It is written in colloquial
Cantonese. There are two editions of this anthology. One has no publication data. The compilation of the other edition is attributed to Tang Yincai. It was published in Canton in 1896.
Tang Yincai and Tang Xintian appear to be the same person.
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luck finally comes to him when he claims a huge gold nugget in a mine. With that comes plenty of money, and he hurries home after his prolonged absence, only to find
out what has happened. The story then moves into the supernatural realm, as Chan's wife returns to life in a surrogate body, and they are rewarded for their filial piety
and for her chastity.
This story is significant in that Chan's journey to America is consistent with the economic aspects of the early Chinese labor immigration patterns. His hardship in
America is only casually mentioned and not discussed in detail, probably due to the narrator's lack of personal experience. However, the American experience
functions effectively as the catalyst for the story's development: the hardship endured by Chan in America is the cause of all the grief at home. In fact, the story is an
indictment of the glorified journey that does not necessarily reward the participants with the promised wealth.
On another occasion, a Cantonese man of letters from the late Qing period (ca. 1880s) looks at the sorrow of a forsaken wife and poignantly states that it was a direct
result of the economic hardship endured by her spouse in America:
At first, there were indeed a couple [of emigrants] who returned with some profit. Subsequently, many flocked over there. Gradually the gold mines were exhausted. Many became
displaced drifters in a foreign land and died there. Those who were able to survive numbered no more than one or two out of a hundred.
When they first put up their fare for the journey [to Gold Mountain], they could do no better than borrow money from friends and relatives, or sell land and property. As their
wishes were betrayed and they were
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unable to save even enough money to return home, they simply showed no more concern for their parents, wives, and children.71
Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown
The experience of the Cantonese immigrants in the United States at the turn of the century has been vividly preserved in vernacular writings and folk songs. Numerous
Cantonese popular writings had appeared in newspapers in Chinatown. Most of them were humorous pieces, poking fun at prostitutes, opium addicts, gamblers, and
so forth. There were always folk songs and other vernacular writings published in the supplement to the Chung Sai Yat Po. The widespread popular acceptance of the
genres among the Chinese American communities was probably due to the fact that creative expression in the Cantonese vernacular was widely accepted among the
Cantonese men of letters living in Chinatown. They might write formal poetry (i.e., classical poetry) on serious or “refined” occasions, but they would also write
vernacular pieces for entertainment on other less serious occasions.
Besides being published in Chinatown, some works found their way to publication in China, as a result of the close relationship between the “home” community and the
Chinatown abroad. Many Cantonese vernacular pieces appeared in Canton during the 1905 national movement to boycott American goods in protest of the United
States' unfair extension of Chinese exclusion laws. For example, there is a muk yu narrative entitled “Lamentation of a Gold Mountain Man at Night”
71. “Jinshan fu xing,” p. 68.
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(“Jinshan ke tan wu geng”),72 written anonymously in the first person about immigrant life in America. In addition to expressing economic concerns, the work keenly
relates feelings of banishment and indignation over the agony and injustice of the American sojourn; none of these concerns is to be found in any other Cantonese folk
song from China. The participant's perspective is also found in another piece of prose, entitled “Preface to Detention in the Wooden Barracks” (“Muwu juliu xu”).73 It
was first published in the Sai Gai Yat Po (which deleted a few lines that were critical of the Manchu government). A year later, the complete version appeared in the
Xinning zazhi,74 a Toisaan publication that also enjoyed wide circulation in America. The prose work deals with the harsh and unequal treatment that the Chinese
received in the American immigration station. This complete version also reveals a politically explicit and critical voice.
More significant in the development of early Chinatown literature was the publication in San Francisco of two anthologies of Chinatown folk rhymes. The first, entitled
Jinshan ge ji (Songs of Gold Mountain) and consisting of 808 pieces, was published in 1911 by Tai Quong Company, a noted Chinatown bookseller and publisher. It
cost one dollar. There was no exact count as to how many copies were printed and sold; however,
72. This piece is collected in A Ying, ed., Fan Mei Hua gong yinyue wenxue ji (A collection of literature opposing the American exclusion of Chinese laborers) (Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju, 1960), pp. 67778.
73. “Muwu juliu xu,” Sai Gai Yat Po (January 16, 1910). For an English translation of this prose work, see Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, comp.
and trans. by Him Mark Lai et al. (San Francisco: Hoc Doi, 1980), pp. 13841.
74. “Muwu juliu xu,” Xinning zazhi 28 (1911): 76–78.
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it quickly sold out. Popular demand led to publication in 1915 of an additional 832 rhymes under the title Jinshan ge erji (Songs of Gold Mountain, volume 2). These
two volumes contain a total of 1,640 vernacular rhymes in the Cantonese folk song format known as seisapluk ji go (sishiliu zi ge, or “fortysixsyllable song”). They
represent the largest collection of Cantonese folk rhyme writings ever published anywhere.
In their formal structure, these folk rhymes have fortysix syllables, which are arranged in an eightline pattern of 55773577, with each line ending in a rhyming
syllable, as illustrated in the following:75
75. Jinshan ge erji (San Francisco: Tai Quong Company, 1915), pp. 11a. This piece is translated as song 16 in this anthology. Hereafter, Jinshan ge ji (1911) and Jinshan ge erji
(1915) will be abbreviated as JSGJ I and JSGJ II respectively.
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Their structural arrangement appears to be rigid in comparison with the looser format of most other Cantonese folk songs. Most Cantonese folk songs have no specific
convention as to the length or number of syllables, other than a rhyming scheme based on Cantonese phonology. On the surface, these fortysixsyllable songs share
the rigid line pattern found in the genre of classical Chinese poetry known as the ci, which has flourished since the late Tang dynasty (ninth century): both the ci and the
seisapluk ji go must have a specific number of syllables per line, and both have rhymed lines that are irregular in length but evenly matched. However, the similarity
ends there. The cipoems and certain other classical Chinese poems also have an extremely regulated pattern of tonal metering for each syllable, commonly known as
“tonal balance” (pingze),76 but this is not a requirement of the fortysixsyllable song. Traditional Chinese poetics also require a rhyme scheme to stringently follow the
conventions of the “rhyme books” (yunshu), in which the final of each syllable belongs to a given phonological or rhyming category and only syllables sharing the same
classification can be used to form an acceptable rhyme scheme. The fortysixsyllable song does not adhere to this formal rhyming convention. As we saw in the
example above, the rhyming scheme is rather loose; finals [a:k], [ k], and [ k] are all regarded as rhyming since they are phonetically similar in Cantonese.
It has been claimed that these Chinatown folk rhymes
76. For a detailed study of Chinese poetics, particularly of the formal structure of the different poetic forms in classical Chinese poetry, see Wang Li, Hanyu shilü xue (A study of
Chinese poetics) (Shanghai: Shanghai jiaoyu chubanshe, 1962). See chapter 3, pp. 508–683, for a study on ci poetics.
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have a unique format, different from, though somewhat similar to, that of regular Cantonese folk songs.77 However, folk songs with an identical format are also found in
Toisaan county.78 Liang Shouping, author of the brief preface to the 1911 anthology, plainly states that fortysixsyllable songs are Cantonese vernacular rhymes based
on the phonology of spoken Cantonese that need not follow the standard Chinese rhyming and metering system. He adds that the major requirement is that their
language consist of local expressions and be colloquial enough for women and children to understand and learn from the song.79 Therefore, it is clear that the fortysix
syllable song format is a genuinely Cantonese folk song pattern that differs only because it deals with the American experience and is the product of San Francisco
Chinatown. The Chinatown writers merely utilized this Cantonese pattern for their own creation.
In addition to the abovementioned format, some rhymes follow a “word game” format. Here, a theme word, usually a noun or a verb, which is sometimes used with
another word to form a compound, is required on every line. The repetition of the particular word both defines the song's theme and illustrates the writer's skill at
arriving at a variety of expressions using the same thematic word. For example, “dream” (meng) or “hometown/village” (xiang) are frequently used in songs dealing
with nostalgic emotions; “wealth” (cai) or
77. Li Boji, History II, p. 407.
78. Cf. Chen Yuanzhu's 1929 collection of folk songs. Songs 124 and 201 are of the fortysixsyllable song format. Song 201 has been translated in this introduction; see n. 64 above.
79. Liang Shouping, “Preface,” in JSGJ I (San Francisco: Tai Quong Company, 1911), pp. 1a1b.
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“money” (qian), dealing with the wish to become rich; “flower” (hua), dealing with women. The repetition of the theme word in such a short piece makes these rhymes
either extremely emotionally laden or comically lighthearted. It was both a challenge and a game for the writers to be innovative under such rules.
Although these folk rhymes were called “playful inkings by celebrities” of San Francisco Chinatown,80 sometimes they dealt with matters beyond San Francisco
Chinatown in scope. Apparently, many were contributed by writers who lived or had lived as far away as Mexico or Canada. Individual authors, however, were not
identified, in keeping with the traditional Chinese practice of maintaining anonymity in the publication of vernacular or vulgar literature, which was frowned on by
Confucian teaching. Nevertheless, “teachers,” that is, men of letters in the Chinatown community, were given credit as judges and reviewers of these rhymes. For the
1911 anthology, there were fifteen teachers, and for the 1915 one, fourteen. All wellknown in Chinatown, they included leaders of the seven largest district
associations, editors of newspapers, Chineselanguage school teachers, and scholars.81 This was a project that transcended SeiyupSaamyup or any other district
barriers, as men of letters from all regional backgrounds participated.
It is possible that these folk rhymes were the result of some collective writing activity in San Francisco Chinatown. A topic would be announced and a “teacher” put
80. This statement appears on the cover of the 1915 anthology, and the preface states that the writings come from San Francisco Chinatown.
81. Liu Boji, History II, pp. 4078.
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in charge of that topic. Writers would submit their compositions, which were in turn judged and selected by the teacher for publication. Some of the teachers did so for
more than three topics. Within each category, some pieces share extremely similar content and language usage. However, the possibility that these rhymes could have
been written by the same author seems remote. Rather than repeating his own expressions, it seems more likely that a writer would choose to display his broader
creative talents within the same given topic. Similar pieces were written by different writers, perhaps as a result of their response to each other's inspiration and views
on the same topic. The preface to the 1915 anthology states that it was the product of over thirty writing activities with over one hundred contributors.82 Given that the
Chinese population in San Francisco was less than fourteen thousand in the early 1910s, this indicates an enormous response from the community.
As mentioned earlier, the language used in the rhymes is colloquial Cantonese. It is folksy, somewhat vulgar, and at times erotic. Some of the pieces contain faultily
written characters, either unintentional mistakes by writers or typographical errors. The errors reveal the unsophisticated peasant background of some of the writers,
who became very uninhibited behind the mask of anonymity. The rhymes also contain many impromptu Chinese translations and transliterations of terms commonly
used in the United States at the time. For example, terms such as “bicycle” [ ], “telephone” [ha:m/si:n], “yellow eagle” (a United States gold coin)
82. “Preface,” JSGJ II, p. 1a.
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[ ], “Alpine” (a county in northeastern California, the Mother Lode) [a: / pa:n], to name only a few, can be found in the two anthologies. Evidently coined by the
Cantonese in America, these expressions were different from those used in China. Since some of the terms are no longer in vogue in today's Chinatown vocabulary,
these folk rhymes provide an excellent glimpse of how early Chinese Americans improvised new expressions to accommodate and describe their American
experience, thus developing their own unique language sensibility.
Numerous standard Chinese clichés and formulaic expressions can also be seen in these works. Many poetic images, allusions, and stock phrases are conventional,
revealing little innovation from established usage. For example, “full moon” always alludes to a reunion, “clouds and rain” to sexual intimacy, “geese” to couriers of
news, and so on. Hence, these writings may appear unoriginal and trite at first glance. Nevertheless, these “flaws” are evidence that the origin of the rhymes was from
oral folk song, in which formulaic expressions and language usage are distinct features.
Most compilers of vernacular writings in old China emphasized that the function of the genre is to be didactic and to provide entertainment for the less educated. For
centuries, even the folk songs in the Confucian classic Shi jing, China's first book of poetry, were studied for their didactic messages. The compilers of the two
Chinatown folk rhyme anthologies shared the same traditional view of vernacular literature. In fact, the writer of the preface to the 1915 volume, under the guise of a
pen name, even borrowed the views of Feng Menglong (?1646), a famous compiler and writer of
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vernacular Chinese short stories of the late Ming period, to claim that vernacular writings serve the didactic function better than standard classics and historical writings
do—the latter being uninspiring, while the former are more lively and entertaining. He even went a step further in regard to folk songs:
When we study the Record of History or History of the Han Dynasty, we all get sleepy. But if we read the West Chamber or Water Margin, each of us would be full of interest and
energy. The brisk and refreshing nature of a folk song is even more exquisite than the West Chamber or Water Margin. In it, every sound has rhythm. If sung in our local dialect,
every word rhymes. If put into a tune, it is acceptable to both the refined and the vulgar. It is playful but not at all crude. It has both seriousness and humor. Its ideas are like a clear
breeze, and its feelings, moving.83
As far as the content is concerned, there are thirtyfour topic categories in the 1911 anthology, and thirtythree in the 1915 one. Many of the categories overlap in
theme, as we can see from the chart on page 61.
Of the 1,640 original entries in the two anthologies, I have selected 220 pieces for this translation anthology. I have chosen them because I believe they best illustrate
the life of the early Chinese Americans and Chinatown. From the original thirtyplus overlapping categories in each volume, I have grouped the pieces by theme into
eleven categories.
Major themes deal with the immigrants' feelings of hardship and loneliness in America, their separation
83. Ibid., pp. 1a1b.
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Topics Category/Chapter Number Total
1911 Anthology 1915 Anthology
On immigration and related
problems
3,* 10 1 1/2
On hardship and poverty in
America
4, 12 5, 6, 7, 8, 24, 32 8
On a wife's sorrow due to
separation
14, 16, 31, 32, 33 19, 28 7
On homesickness and
China
7, 9, 30, 34 21, 22, 23, 29, 30 9
On money and wealth 19, 27 2, 33 4
On Westernization and
social conformity
6, 18 1, 9, 12, 16 6
On love and romance 17, 20, 21, 25, 29 18 6
On marriage and weddings 11, 15, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28 3, 20 9
On opium, gambling, and
vices other than womanizing
1, 2, 5 4, 25, 26, 31 7
On womanizing 3, * 8 11, 14, 17 4 1/2
On prostitutes 13 10, 13, 15, 27 5
Total 34 33 67
* Category no. 3 in the 1911 anthology is entitled Meiren, which can mean either
“beautiful women” or “Americans.” Its content covers trouble with both women and
Americans.
from families, and their expreiences in the new land. The rhymes frequently express complaints of hardship and voice disappointment over the American sojourn. The
economic motive for the Cantonese emigration to the United States was also pursuit of the American dream in the “land of opportunity.” However, these Chinese
immigrants soon realized that because of exclu
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sionary practices in America and the white man's belief in manifest destiny, their status was that of unwelcome heathens and they were regarded as an inferior race.
Instead of the opportunity to better themselves financially, their life often turned out to be a constant struggle for survival within a marginal existence. These folk rhymes
poignantly reveal their disappointment at their failure to attain success and to fulfill their aspirations. Their disillusionment is explicit in the complaint that, even after
laboring for scores of years in America, a country that prohibited their naturalization and denied them equal status, they were unable to get away and go home. The
failure to realize their Gold Mountain Dream was both a wound to their egos and a betrayal of their mission in America.
The desire to return to China after attaining some kind of financial success is repeatedly expressed in many of these songs. This desire was often attacked during the
exclusion days by antiChinese critics, who claimed that the Chinese could not assimilate into the greater American society since they were not here for permanent
residency. However, critics failed to recognize a more objective explanation for the “sojourner's mentality” that was so pronounced among early Chinese immigrants.
From the first, only males were recruited, and the immigration of their families was not encouraged. Second, most of these workers held transient jobs that were
located outside a stable or urban environment, jobs such as mining or railroad construction that were not conducive to raising a family. Later, when under the
exclusionary laws, Chinese immigrants were neither allowed to be naturalized nor permitted to own land. In California, interracial marriage for the Chinese was ille
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gal. Thus, political and social policies did not provide favorable conditions for the Chinese to establish families and to stay permanently in America. Thus it was only
natural that Chinese men would wish to return to China if they could. Hence, the sojourner's mentality was also a product of antiChinese practices.
Being a family man, away from home and unable to bring along his family, created tremendous hardships on the immigrant's mental wellbeing. The folk rhymes express
the torment of separation from family extremely vividly, with the voice of frustration never understated. However, the pieces on separation contain an interesting
phenomenon, which may seem peculiar to modern readers unfamiliar with traditional Asian culture: few of the rhymes deal specifically with a man's affection for his
wife. Instead, most of them contain no direct male expression of conjugal sentiment, unless in the context of expressing affection for the man's parents, siblings, or
children. But there are numerous rhymes written from the perspective of a wife, revealing her feelings and affection for the sojourning husband in America. Similar to
the Toisaan folk songs in China, these rhymes express sympathy for the plight of the forsaken wives. In particular, they condemn the unbearable absence of physical
affection, which they regard as a miserable, pitiful waste of the prime years of a woman's life.
Given the internal evidence in these rhymes, which contain impromptu transliterations of English terms, it is unlikely that they were written by women living in Toisaan.
And given the social morality and sex ratio of the Chinatown population during the early 1900s, it is inconceivable that so many Chinese women would have been
permitted to mingle actively in maleoriented lit
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erary circles. Nor is it likely that they would have written so frankly and intimately, as if they were back in China writing for their men to come home. No other aspect
of their own life in America is mentioned. Therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that these rhymes were in fact the creation of men living in America, men who
took on female personae in their poetic expression of conjugal affection. In many of the poetic works of old China, men write in a feminine voice, particularly on the
subject of conjugal affection or marital intimacy. Since the Cantonese men in America were also inhibited from directly expressing conjugal affection for their spouses,
they likely also preferred to project themselves as wives expressing such feelings, as if the expression of conjugal affection were not masculine but the privilege of
women.
By using the guise of a feminine persona, these men obviously emphasized the common belief that conjugal affection was an exclusively feminine emotion. They wrote
what they believed their wives should feel during the separation, inevitably putting the husband at the center of the wife's existence. On the other hand, they also
showed a keen understanding of the plight of their women. Their rhymes are comparable to the folk songs sung among Toisaan women. Therefore, to a certain extent,
the Cantonese men in America were able to place themselves in their spouses' position and vehemently acknowledge what the American journey had done to their
marital relationships. The agony of separation was a shared sorrow for both husband and wife.
Another substantial number of folk rhymes deal with the subjects of women, prostitutes, and sex, reflecting the strong desire for female companionship among the men
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in predominantly male Chinatown. We have seen earlier how the lopsided sex ratio created many social problems, such as prostitution. The population imbalance grew
even more acute and permanent as laws were enacted to prohibit the entry of Asian women to America. Therefore, behind some of the rather farcical expressions of
sexual fantasy in these folk writings, there existed an extremely troubling social phenomenon.
The attitude toward women that these rhymes express is somewhat paradoxical. Empathy is shown for the lonely wives. For the unfortunate women trapped in
prostitution, there are remonstrations to leave the shameful profession. The women's suffrage movement in the United States and the emancipation of women are
praised as bringing the status of women into the modern era of equality. However, there are numerous rhymes that treat women as objects for the fulfillment for men's
sexual fantasy and gratification. For instance, in the rhymes on marriage and weddings, the primary depiction is physical, that is, sexual pleasure. In other rhymes, an
old man's fornication with younger women serves to illustrate his vitality and youthfulness at heart. Furthermore, any Chinese woman who was Westernized, that is,
whose behavior deviated from traditional Chinese practices, is denounced as licentious, cheap, and immoral.
Such contrasting attitudes about women are not particularly contradictory if we consider the conditions under which the Cantonese man lived in America. His
depictions of women were based purely on his own needs. Some immigrants were apparently impressed by the Western democratic idea of equality for women, while
others were still bound by the Confucian way of
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thinking, in which woman played a subjugated role. Thus, while some rhymes show approval of the modern idea of equality for women in general, others complain of
Chinese women's becoming modernized. In addition, since these men lived in a community whose population was predominantly male, out of sheer physical need, they
made women the objects of much interest, desire, and fantasy. Thus, while some men were sympathetic toward the plight of prostitutes and critical of prostitution,
many nevertheless showed immense indulgence toward and a willing patronage of prostitutes.
Fantasy and desire extended beyond the depiction of women, however. Led by hardship to a desperate desire for wealth, they saw wealth as the absolute gauge of
their success in America. It was in the tradition of the work ethic to believe also that frugality and endurance would eventually be rewarded with wealth and success.
However, many of these immigrants knew that in reality their only hope of quickly becoming wealthy, or of having enough to finance a triumphant journey home, would
be from a sudden opportunity to strike it rich in the States. Thus, they dreamed of unexpected gain: hitting a gold claim or finding some hidden treasure. Although
gambling was considered a major vice, in their fantasy of wealth these men came to believe that gambling might provide a source of hope for them: through a game of
chance, they could at least try their luck at materializing the Gold Mountain Dream. Rhymes on this theme reflect the desperation and fantastic thinking of the betrayed
Chinese immigrants as they wishfully tried to seek solace in gambling.
There are also rhymes about the Americanborn children of those lucky enough to have families in the
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United States. Before the rediscovery of these writings, there were few extant pieces of creative writing that dealt with Americanborn children of the early days. While
the Chinese community was generally perceived as a “bachelor society,” that is, predominantly male and transient, these rhymes reveal that Chinese American family
units were already well established, mostly among the merchant class. With an increase from five hundred schoolage Chinese children in the 1860s to about four
thousand in the early 1900s, most of them in San Francisco, a new generation of Chinatown residents was born, whose behavior and lifestyle were often not at all
similar to those of their immigrant parents.
It is significant that these few folk rhymes on the younger generation acknowledge the “nonChinese” behavior of the new Chinatown generation, who were physically
Chinese but Westernized in thought. This is an important recognition of their new cultural characteristics. However, the immigrant writers of these rhymes interpret the
difference negatively. We have seen that in some rhymes the immigrants praise American culture as modern, liberal, and symbolizing progress and independence.
However, the “Americanness” exhibited in Americanborn children was a disgrace to the immigrants' timehonored Confucian tradition, especially when American
born women refused to play a submissive role. They were regarded as wild and undisciplined, badly influenced by the “barbaric” Western culture. Some American
born women were even labeled women of ill repute and treated despicably, as if they had prostituted themselves. Unfortunately, this negative attitude toward the
Americanborn generation is still evident among the immigrant generation today, the latter
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often calling Americanborns mou nou juk sing (“brainless bamboo sections”), implying that they are ignorant and shallow, without any sign of intelligence.
Many rhymes reveal that the early immigrants did not live in sheltered alienation from the greater American society, but were influenced by the Western way of life and
kept abreast of the important events of the American community. There are rhymes, for example, that comment on the women's suffrage movement. Some praise it as
salvation for the many oppressed women; others, marked with chauvinistic contempt, offer sarcastic comments about emancipated women who turn around to bully
their husbands, thereby throwing domestic order into chaos and destroying family peace of mind. These expressions, while of course playful, still show the state of
mind of the Chinatown residents in that period. Most of the rhymes are didactic and rigidly prescribe to Confucian moral values. Gambling, opium addiction,
womanizing, and the other vices of a bachelor society are sternly criticized, although gambling and womanizing are sometimes depicted as enjoyable and a needed
indulgence for desperate men.
The viewpoint of a few of the rhymes, however, indicates a departure from the Confucian praise for the selfless individual who would conform and sacrifice himself for
his family or for society. They express the view that one's own needs must take precedence over everything else. For instance, in the Confucian framework, having a
son has always been regarded as an ethical obligation. A son also provides for the parents' security and comfort in the order of Confucian filial piety. But this belief is
ridiculed in some of the rhymes, which state that wealth, a personal gain, is preferable to
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a son. This attitude perhaps was a rationalization, deemphasizing the importance of family piety in the “familyless” existence of the Chinatown residents. This
readjustment, coupled with a lopsided criticism of Americanborn children, indicates that a number of the immigrants were more concerned with their own immediate
wellbeing, and were hence turning their backs on Chinese family ethics and Confucian piety. Ironically, though, these very forces were the reason for their perilous
expedition to America in the first place.
In conclusion, the vernacular writings from Chinatown vividly reflect the dynamic life of the early Chinese immigrants, most of whom came from a peasant or merchant
background. The works are folksy, artistic illustrations of the early immigrants' experience in the United States; they are the aesthetic echoes and records of the
immigrants' own sentiments. As a result, they offer an unusual perspective on early Chinatown life. As writers and readers of these works, the Cantonese immigrants
might have also gained from them a sense of belonging and identification, seeing that their own personal experiences in America were actually shared by their fellow
countrymen. The immigrant writers, without hesitation or shame, vividly bared their feelings about the American experience, using the artistic form with which they were
most comfortable and familiar—the formulaic folk song. These compositions also reveal their authors to be from a region where, in comparison with China's northern
urban centers, literary cultivation was not very sophisticated. For us today, it is exciting to learn that these folk rhymes express both the serious and the humorous side
of the life of the early immigrants. Together with the Toisaan folk songs on America, these
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Cantonese vernacular writings from Chinatown provide us with an authentic glimpse into the fascinating and diverse lives of the Chinese affected by the American
experience at the turn of this century.
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One— Immigration Blues
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 opened an infamous chapter in United States immigration history, one that brought insurmountable hardship to the Chinese. The
moment that their ship docked at the San Francisco pier, the Chinese immigrants were herded into the notorious detention center known to all the Chinese as the “Muk
uk” (Mu wu), or “Wooden Barracks,” to be processed for immigration. Before 1910, detainees were sent to a wooden building alongside the Pacific Mail Steamship
Company pier that was known as the “Tongsaan Matau” (Tangshan Matou), the China Dock (now Pier 50 on the San Francisco waterfront). Because of rampant
corruption and the facility's poor physical condition, it ceased to be used in 1910. Instead, the government put into operation the newly built Angel Island Immigration
Station in San Francisco Bay to process immigrants and returnees from Asia. This station was sometimes called the Ellis Island of the West Coast.
At Angel Island, the Chinese had to submit to a bat
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tery of physical examinations and harsh interrogations. Those who passed were ferried to San Francisco to begin their new life; those who did not were deported back
to China permanently. Detainees at the Wooden Barracks were not allowed to go beyond the compound or to meet any outside visitors. It was not uncommon to be
detained in the Wooden Barracks for several weeks, even over a year, while awaiting processing. The facilities were minimal, without any consideration for privacy.
Suicides were not unknown.
Many of the Chinese at the Angel Island Wooden Barracks wrote poems expressing their agony, frustration, anger, and despair. They would scribble the lines all over
the walls of the barracks where they slept. In the 1930s, two detainees copied these scribbles and brought them to San Francisco. However, this genre of Chinese
immigration poetry remained unknown to most people until recently.*
In 1940, a fire destroyed the administration building of the Angel Island Immigration Station, and the use of the facility was soon halted. Detainees were moved to
another detention center in San Francisco. Barrack 37, the housing compound, survived the fire, but was forgotten for thirty years. Finally in the early 1970s, when the
building was targeted for demolition, the Chinese scribbles on the walls caught the attention of the Chinese in San Francisco. Community efforts from Chinatown saved
Barrack 37, and it has since become a historical site, augmented by an exhibit on the island's Chinese immigration history. Over 135 Wooden Barracks poems are
extant today.
*See n. 73 of introduction for publication information.
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The Cantonese folk rhymes on immigration in the 1911 anthology represent the earliest collection of published poems dealing with the Chinese immigration experience.
They are different from the poems on the Wooden Barrack walls. Not only do these rhymes protest the harsh treatment at the Wooden Barracks; they also show that
Angel Island with its Wooden Barracks was not a euphoric Ellis Island for the Chinese immigrants. Instead, it was a contradiction to the principles of liberty that
testified to injustice. This criticism, so pronounced in these rhymes, reveals that the Chinese immigrants did have an appreciation of the American principles of justice
and democracy. They expected to be treated on that level and they believed that they should be accorded such rights. This was, I believe, the first crude sign of their
Americanization.
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1
As soon as it is announced
the ship has reached America:
I burst out cheering,
I have found precious pearls.
How can I bear the detention upon arrival,
Doctors and immigration officials refusing
to let me go?
All the abuse—
I can't describe it with a pen.
I'm held captive in a wooden barrack, like King Wen
in Youli:*
No end to the misery and sadness in my heart.
JSGJ I.13b
*King Wen (ca. 1200 B.C.), the first ruler of the Zhou dynasty, was detained in Youli for being an adversary of the ruling Shang.
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2
The moment I hear
We've entered the port,
I am all ready:
my belongings wrapped in a bundle.
Who would have expected joy to become sorrow:
Detained in a dark, crude, filthy room?
What can I do?
Cruel treatment, not one restful breath of air,
Scarcity of food, severe restrictions—all
unbearable.
Here even a proud man bows his head low.
JSGJ I.13b
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3
In search of a pinhead gain,
I was idle in an impoverished village.
I've risked a perilous journey to come to the Flowery
Flag Nation.
Immigration officers interrogated me:
And, just for a slight lapse of memory,
I am deported, and imprisoned in this barren
mountain.
A brave man cannot use his might here,
And he can't take one step beyond the confines.
JSGJ I.5a
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4
At home I was in poverty,
constantly worried about firewood and rice.
I borrowed money
to come to Gold Mountain.
Immigration officers crossexamined me;
no way could I get through.
Deported to this island,
like a convicted criminal.
Here—
Mournful sighs fill the gloomy room.
A nation weak; her people often humiliated
Like animals, tortured and destroyed at others'
whim.
JSGJ I.14a
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5
Wooden barracks, all specially built;
It's clear they're detention cells.
We Chinese enter this country and suffer
All sorts of autocratic restrictions made at
whim.
What a disappointment—
Cooped up inside an iron cage;
We have an impotent ambassador who cannot
handle matters.
We knit our brows and cry for heaven gives no
recourse for our suffering.
JSGJ I.13b
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6
The wooden cell is like a steel barrel.
Firmly shut, not even a breeze can filter
through.
Over a hundred cruel laws, hard to list
them all;
Ten thousand grievances, all from the
tortures day and night.
Worry, and more worry—
How can I sleep in peace or eat at ease?
There isn't a cangue, but the hidden
punishment is just as weighty.*
Tears soak my clothes; frustration fills my
bosom.
JSGJ I.14a
*A cangue consists of two locked wooden boards with holes for the neck and hands. A convict wears it around his neck, with his hands bound in front of him and his feet in
chains.
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7
Dentention is called “awaiting review.”
No letter or message can get through to me.
My mind's bogged down with a hundred frustrations
and anxieties,
My mouth balks at meager meals of rice gruel.
O, what can I do?
Just when can I go ashore?
Imprisoned in a coop, unable to breathe,
My countrymen are made into a herd of cattle!
JSGJ I.14a
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8
America, I have come and landed,
And am stranded here, for more than a year.
Suffering thousands upon thousands of
mistreatments.
Is it in retribution for a past life that
I deserve such defilement?
It is outrageous—
Being humiliated repeatedly by them.
I pray my country will become strong and
even the score:
Send out troops, like Japan's war against
Russia!*
JSGJ I.14a
*In the RussoJapanese War of 1903, Japan defeated Russia in Manchuria, in northeastern China, and emerged from this war as a world power.
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9
A weak nation can't speak up for herself.
Chinese sojourners have come to a foreign
country.
Detained, put on trial, imprisoned in a hillside
building;
If deposition doesn't exactly match: the case is dead
and in a bind.
No chance for release.
My fellow countrymen cry out injustice:
The sole purpose is strict exclusion, to deport
us all back to Hong Kong.
Pity my fellow villagers and their flood of tears.
JSGJ I.14a
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10
The mighty power rescinds her treaty;
The weak race suffers oppression from the mighty.
I am jailed unjustly across the bay,
Enduring the unendurable tyranny of immigration
officials.
Doors: firmly shut.
Guards and officers: watching me closely, like wolves.
News and letters: not permitted.
O, it's hard to bear the hundred cruel regulations
they devise at will.
JSGJ I.13b
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11
American laws, more ferocious than tigers:
Many are the people jailed inside wooden walls,
Detained, interrogated, tortured,
Like birds plunged into an open trap—
What suffering!
To whom can I complain of the tragedy?
I shout to Heaven, but there is no way out!
Had I only known such difficulty in passing
the Golden Gate . . .
Fed up with this treatment, I regret my journey here.
JSGJ I.13b
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12
So, liberty is your national principle;
Why do you practice autocracy?
You don't uphold justice, you Americans,
You detain me in prison, guard me closely.
Your officials are wolves and tigers,
All ruthless, all wanting to bite me.
An innocent man implicated, such an injustice!
When can I get out of this prison and free
my mind?
JSGJ I.13b
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13
Fellow countrymen, four hundred million
strong;
Many are great, with exceptional talents.
We want to come to the Flowery Flag Nation
but are barred;
The Golden Gate firmly locked, without even
a crack to crawl through.
This moment—
Truly deplorable is the imprisonment.
Our hearts ache in pain and shame;
Though talented, how can we put on wings and
fly past the barbarians?
JSGJ I.5b
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14
I roam America undocumented.
White men blackmail me with many demands.
I say one thing, and they, another;
I want to complain of injustice, but my tongue
stutters.
At a loss for words—
I wrack my brain for a solution, to no avail.
Thrown into a prison cage, I cannot fly away.
Don't you think this is cruel? Don't you think
this is cruel?
JSGJ I.13b
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15
I am a man of heroic deeds;
I am a man with pride and dignity.
My bosom encompasses the height of Heaven
and the brilliance of Earth;
Everywhere they know me as a truly noble man.
In search of wealth—
Greed led me on the road to Gold Mountain.
Denied landing upon reaching the shore, I am
filled with rage.
With no means to pass the border, what can a
person do?
JSGJ I.5b
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16
Stay at home and lose opportunities;
A hundred considerations lead me to sojourn
in Mexico.
Political parties are like wolves and tigers eliminating
each other;
Hatred and prejudice against foreigners take away our
property and many lives.
Unable to stay on—
I sneak across the border to the American side,
But bump into an immigration officer who sternly
throws the book at me
And orders my expulsion back to China.
JSGJ II.11a
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17
A transient living beneath a stranger's
fence.
Cruelties increase day by day.
Though innocent, I am arrested and thrown
in jail;
Pathetic the lonely bachelors stranded in a
foreign land.
O, let's all go home.
Spare ourselves of this mighty tyrant.
The outside world may be entertaining at times;
But life at home is just as bustling.
JSGJ II.40b
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Two— Lamentations of Stranded Sojourners
Economic hardship is the theme of the rhymes contained in this section. In recruiting Cantonese to work as laborers in America's West, Western capitalists preached
the promise and glory of economic advancement. The possibility of attaining a better life was an irresistible temptation in southeastern China during the midnineteenth
century, as many of the inhabitants of the region had been reduced to a marginal existence by natural and human disasters. Therefore, the news of economic
opportunity was a welcome relief, and the discovery of gold in California only further encouraged the desperate Cantonese natives to rush to the United States. The
promise of a steady income by working on the construction of the transcontinental railroads was also readily accepted by these impoverished men. Thus, they made
the journey, thousands of miles across the perilous Pacific Ocean, pursuing their Gold Mountain Dream of success, a dream not too different from that of their
European immigrant counterparts.
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The Chinese immigrants worked hard at their jobs. They reclaimed California land and laid the foundation for the state to become the salad bowl of America. They
mined claims that had been abandoned by white miners, paying a hefty foreign miners' tax. They worked on railroad construction, handling the most dangerous
assignments, at a cost of thousands of lives. The wages they were paid, however, were lower than those of white workers. When they struck to demand better pay,
their employer cut off their food supplies and the white workers did not support them. In the winter season, they lived and worked literally in the snow while laying
track through the Sierra mountains. An avalanche could claim many lives without warning. When spring finally arrived, the bodies would emerge from the melting snow,
intact, still holding picks and shovels, as a frozen testimony to their hardships.
Hardship and labor in the United States were an accepted reality for these Cantonese men, but the rampant racial prejudice of American society only made their lives
more miserable. Even in urban San Francisco, their economic opportunities were limited. Many became disillusioned upon realizing that, after years of toiling in pain,
there was not one sign of relief. Increasing their plight was the agony and frustration that they felt when they recognized the fact that their journey to America was not
made just for themselves. Their sense of duty to their families back in China, who depended on them for survival, became an everpresent reminder, pushing them to
the edge of desperation. A man's ability to achieve economic success and to provide for his family was the ultimate judgment of his success in the American sojourn.
Anything less than that would be con
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sidered a failure. Thus, the most poignant reference in these rhymes about hardship is not to the actual hardship or physical labor, but to the lack of economic reward.
When their labor went unrewarded, many of these men became resigned to fate and disillusioned; others still desperately continued trying. Regardless of their differing
responses to this harsh reality, all were haunted by the Gold Mountain Dream.
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18
Dispirited by life in my village home,
I make a journey specially to the United States
of America.
Separated by mountains and passes, I feel an
extreme anxiety and grief;
Rushing about east and west does me no good.
Turning in all directions—
An ideal opportunity has yet to come.
If fate is indeed Heaven's will, what more can
I say?
'Tis a disgrace to a man's pride and dignity.
JSGJ II.12a
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19
Born into a rotten life,
Coming or going, all without leaving my mark.
Even after leaving the village for a foreign
country,
Running about east and west, I've gained nothing.
Everything's turned upside down;
It's more disconcerting being away from home.
I have gone to the four corners of the world;
Alas, I am neither at ease while resting nor
happy while moving.
JSGJ II.12b
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20
Pitiful is the twentyyear sojourner,
Unable to make it home.
Having been everywhere—north, south, east,
west—
Always obstacles along the way, pain knitting
my brows.
Worried, in silence.
Ashamed, wishes unfulfilled.
A reflection on the mirror, a sudden fright:
hair, half frostwhite.
Frequent letters from home, all filled with much
complaint.
JSGJ II.11b
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21
Come to think of it, what can I really say?
Thirty years living in the United States—
Why has life been so miserable and I, so frail?
I suppose it's useless to expect to go home.
My heart aches with grief;
My soul wanders around aimlessly.
Unable to make a living here, I'll try it in the East,
With a sudden change of luck, I may make it back to
China.
JSGJ II.44a
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22
Stranded in a lodge: a delay;
Old debts up to my ears: here to stay.
No sign of relief, only a pain stealing through
my heart,
And nagged by worry for my aged parents.
I want to go home;
But what can I do without money in my purse?
Determined to shape up and shake loose, I move
elsewhere;
But I am still stuck with rotten luck, as life only
gets worse.
JSGJ II.11b
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23
I have walked to the very ends of the earth,
A dusty, windy journey.
I've toiled and I'm worn out, all for a miserable lot.
Nothing is ideal when I am down and out.
I think about it day and night—
Who can save a fish out of water?
From far away, I worry for my parents, my wife,
my boy:
Do they still have enough firewood, rice, salt, and
cooking oil?
JSGJ II.12a
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24
Toiling in pain, east and west, all in vain;
Hurrying about, north and south, still more
rushing.
What can a person do with a life full of mishap?
Searching, scheming, on all four sides, not
one good lead in sight.
Eyes brimming with tears:
O, I just can't get rid of the misery.
My belly is full of frustration and grievance;
When life is at low ebb, I suffer dearly.
JSGJ II.11a
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25
Drifting around, all over the place,
Seeking food everywhere, in all four directions.
Turning east, going west, always on an
uncertain road;
Toiling, rushing about, much ado for nothing.
Fed by wind and frost,
I search for wealth, but all in vain.
If fate indeed has excluded me so, what more can
I say?
After years of sojourn, I sigh in fear.
JSGJ II.11b
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26
Look at that face in the mirror:
My appearance so completely changed.
Hair white as frost, long beard hanging;
Disheartening are the bald spots sparkling
like stars.
Old age has arrived.
No longer is my face young and handsome.
Without my noticing, I am already over forty.
Shame is toiling in hardship, across the vast
and distant oceans.
JSGJ II.59b
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27
My ambition wouldn't allow me to stay cooped up
in humility.
I took a raft and sailed the seas.
Rising early at dawn, with the stars above me,
I traveled deep into the night, the moon my
companion.
Who could have known it would be a journey full of
rain and snow?
Winds pierced through my bones.
Hugging a blanket, my thighs trembling.
I wish to buy a foxfur coat, but lack the
money—
Right now I don't have the means even to fight
the cold!
JSGJ II.14b
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28
The Flowery Flag Nation is deep in frost and heavy
with snow.
No one can withstand its winter without a fur
coat.
Traveling is not at all like staying at home:
In thin clothing on wintry days, my shoulders and
arms shrug and shiver in the cold.
Even if you are brave and strong,
The fierce wind will bend your back into a bow.
Prepare a cottonpadded gown and rush it to me!
Don't make this distant traveler wait anxiously
for the journeying geese!*
JSGJ II.14a
*Migratory geese—a metaphor for news messengers.
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29
Men on the remote frontier, all terrified:
In autumn, north winds begin to blow.
Sojourners from faraway places share the same
thought:
O, how can this little bit of clothing be enough
in deep frost and heavy snow?
Once winter comes—
A fur coat is needed all the more in the
freezing cold.
I can buy one at a clothing store,
But it's not the same as the one sewn by my dear wife
or my mother.
JSGJ II.15a
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30
Life is like a vast, long dream.
Why grieve over poverty?
A contented life soothes ten thousand matters.
Value the help from other people.
In all earnest, just endure:
You can forget about cold and hunger, as you
see them often.
After lasting through winter's chill and snow's
embrace,
You will find joy in life when happiness comes
and sorrow fades.
JSGJ I.20b
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31
A brave man meeting an untimely adversity,
All day long, unable to eat or sleep.
Rushing about over ten thousand miles,
deep in sorrow,
Every hour, every minute, mind and body
toil in pain.
Heaven's will is extreme!
This big roc wants to spread its wings.*
Yet scores are not evened up; the mind is not
at ease.
Alas, I can't rest in peace, I just can't rest
in peace.
JSGJ I.20a
*“Big roc,” an allusion from Zhuang zi, commonly refers to a person who is about to seek out a great future.
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32
To be hard pressed by poverty is truly disgusting.
Yet it's all due to fate.
Since antiquity, great men have often had to contend
with adversity;
Remember, the cycle of life is Heaven's way.
So there's no need to complain.
All matters will turn around in the end, they
always do;
One day, Heaven's eyes will no longer wink at me,*
And we'll go back to South China with enough
money.
JSGJ I.20a
*A Cantonese expression meaning positive retribution for a good deed.
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33
In dire need of food and clothing,
I took my chances and came to Mexico alone.*
Savages rob and loot with frequent violence.
I ask Heaven: Why is there hatred against the
yellow race?
On a journey,
It's hard to go anywhere without money.
With deep sorrow we Chinese sojourners must
face many calamities,
Wondering when we can expect to go home in
triumph and in grace.
JSGJ II.41a
*For the Chinese in America, Leuisung refers to the Philippines or Mexico, or sometimes Cuba, probably because Spanish is spoken in these places. Here, the term refers to
Mexico, as the poem depicts the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, as also seen in song 16.
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34
Since coming to the frontier land,
I have taken all kinds of abuse from the
barbarians.
I have come across the horizon to the Flowery
Flag Nation;
The surroundings still fill me with thoughts
of home.
Don't despair:
All we need is profit and money.
Should our purses be stuffed with gold,
We'll pick out a date and have our homebound
whip ready.
JSGJ I.12a
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Three— Lamentations of Estranged Wives
The separation of husband and wife was the most difficult emotional issue for the Chinese immigrants in the United States. Traditional Cantonese practices and unjust
American immigration practices made it impossible for wives to come to the United States with their husbands unless the latter were of the merchant class. Hence,
Chinatown became a “bachelor society”—a community of married men who lived without their wives—and their home villages turned into a land of widows, as
married women had to live without the companionship of their spouses. Since the Cantonese practice was to make sure that a man was married before he left home to
earn a living, many of these women were newlyweds when their husbands left home. These women knew little about America, known to them as Gold Mountain or
Flowery Flag, where their spouses had gone to spend years of their life in toil and hardship. They knew it only as a faraway place that took away their husbands, in
exchange for a seasonal remittance.
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Patiently they waited for the husbands to return; many waited in vain, as their dear ones vanished in that foreign land without a trace. For some of the men, the return
home was in a box that contained only their bones, shipped back home by the charity arm of their district association in the United States for a proper and final burial.
The rhymes in this section that are written in the wife's persona are laden with immense emotion. I have divided them into two groups. The rhymes in the larger group
focus on the woman's feelings about separation. Her need for companionship and the lack of it led to great agony, frustration, and pain. Her world is seen as a
domestic one, in which she lives for her husband's presence. In his absence, her life is miserable, unfulfilled, and meaningless, as she lacks an independent life of her
own. The return of her husband from Gold Mountain rejuvenates her; his prolonged absence only withers her prematurely.
The other rhymes comprise only a minority. In them, the marriage of an intelligent woman to an inept man is looked at from the wife's point of view. In traditional
China, the bride was not allowed a voice in her marriage. The matchmaker proposed and arranged the marriage, which was actually between two families; the parents
of the bride and groom made the decisions. The two families' social and economic status, not the individual persons involved, had to be compatible. If a couple was
poorly matched, it would lead to much grief and sorrow for both husband and wife, but more so for the woman, since the man was allowed to take another wife,
whereas society scorned the woman who divorced and remarried. Interestingly enough, in these rhymes
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the protest against arranged marriage is not based on the traditional standard of class compatibility, but on individuality. Probably influenced by the modern Western
concept of individual compatibility, this rebellious notion is at odds with the traditional Chinese notion that the woman should never stress her own intelligence over a
man's. She might resent being married to an inferior man, but her duty was to make the situation more tolerable for herself by practicing the traditional feminine virtues,
or else die with that unresolved resentment. In these rhymes, however, the woman's voice emphasizes individual liberty, as she seeks conjugal compatibility by
divorcing her inferior husband and marrying someone else—something unheard of in early twentieth century China.
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35
Husband: his foolishness is second to none.
Life indeed is tragic for the woman.
Seek a divorce, like an American?
But the Chinese do not work things out
in that way!
A belly full of resentment,
At the sight of him, eyes burst out in flames.
What evil deed in my previous life made me
married to you?
Why me? Why did I end up with such a fool?
JSGJ 1.40a
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36
Husband: so dumb, second to none;
Wife: wounded with deep resentment.
Foolish and naive, he doesn't know when
to have fun;
It's a real bore to be with him at any moment.
Alas! is this called fate?
I am disgusted with the family, everyone.
Had I followed the Western practice and
made my own choice,
Never, never would I have agreed to wed a moron.
JSGJ I.39a
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37
I ended up with a simpleton husband;
The fun and games in life, all betrayed.
Just look at him: stupid, clumsy, like a lump
of clay,
A goodfornothing, skilled in neither craft
nor trade.
O, my whole life is wronged—
I resent the red string binding us together by
mistake.*
If, by chance, this marriage can be dissolved,
I would be most happy to throw out another bouquet.**
JSGJ I.40b
* “Red string” is a metaphor for a nuptial relationship.
**“To throw out a bouquet” is a reference to the popular legend of Wang Baochuan (translated as Lady Precious Stream by S. I. Hsiung), who threw out an embroidery bouquet to
the public to select her marital mate. Xue Rengui, a poor soul, caught her bouquet, and she married him despite his poverty.
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38
Unexpectedly I heard Husband say that
He's about to study abroad.
My mind is confused, as tangled up as hemp
fibers.
So we have money, but what do I care!
Who wouldn't be afraid—
To live like a widow in my young age?
If it's not proper for me to tag along,
What ingenious scheme can I dream up to keep
him to me, close and dear?
JSGJ I.23a
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39
Husband says he's going to Gold Mountain
And doesn't listen to my pleas.
In the still of night, full of thoughts, I cannot
rest my eyes.
Standing before the dresser alone, I face a
grieving reflection.
I wonder
What man doesn't treasure a lover's bond?
Youth, once gone, will never return;
We may become rich, but wealth is really
nothing!
JSGJ I.51b
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40
The sailing date approaches in quick pace.
Husband will be off to Gold Mountain.
At first I thought it was all fun and excitement;
Who would see it, in our youthful years, as a
cruel separation?
But suddenly—
An endless remorse, aroused by his parting.
Husband says he must go; I plead: don't go so soon;
Don't leave this young woman all by her lonesome
self, griefstricken.
JSGJ I.23a
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41
Dear Husband, you mention a journey to Europe
and America;
Side by side in bed, softly I speak words of
advice:
Once you have made some small gain, hurry home;
Be on guard, there are vices of which you may not
even be aware.
By all means, remember:
Years go by in the twinkling of an eye.
Work hard, earn gold and silver, prepare for our
later years;
And, at this moment, we still don't have an heir.
JSGJ II.10a
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42
Exuberant willows, playful along the riverside;
A distant journey, revealed in the young woman's
eyes.
Her mothlike brows are locked in sorrow; trees
become a blur.
With no sight of her husband, sorrow besieges her.
Remembering the peak of Wu Mountain,*
No longer possible, the dreams of clouds and rain.**
Great grief and resentment are sown by separation.
All in the cries of orioles, the calls of swallows.
JSGJ I.27a
* “Wu Mountain” is a metaphor for a lovers' rendezvous or the act of sexual intimacy. It originated from a Han dynasty myth about Emperor Wu (reigned 14086 B.C.).
** “Clouds and rain” alludes to the act of sexual intimacy.
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43
Once you sing the parting song,
I'll end up living in loneliness and pain.
Ten thousand miles of clouds and mountains
tear apart the bliss of our love,
While my life is young and vital and in full
spring.
Husband is on a distant journey—
Who wouldn't be worried?
Even if he should come back in triumph and
grace,
The tender years of my life will have all but gone
to waste.
JSGJ I.22b
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44
After we wed,
I am lacquer and husband, glue.*
At sixteen my life is in full blossom;
A hundred delights fill us to our hearts' content.
Sadly I am forsaken,
Living for a long time in solitude.
The way parentsinlaw behave is hard to explain.
O, what can I do but live through these days of
prolonged delay?
JSGJ I.42b
*“Glue and lacquer” is a conventional metaphor used for an ideal marital relationship.
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45
Enjoining the words thousands of times:
Deep is our love as we share the pillow.
I ask Husband: you're leaving now, but when
will you return?
Take pity on your wife living like a swan, all
alone.
Quietly I sigh.
Alone in bed I cannot close my eyes.
I can't stop the fleeting years;
Letters of love, soaked with tears, all sent to you,
my dear.
JSGJ I.28b
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46
Since you've sojourned to America, Husband,
My heart aches for you all the time.
Unable to share my feelings, my brows are
besieged with sorrow;
I grieve that we're at opposite ends of the
earth.
Mourning at midnight,
I cannot fall asleep in the gauzetented bed.
Thinking, wondering, O, who is the trusted
friend?
Who will deliver my message to the Flowery Flag
Nation?
JSGJ I.50a
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47
We had been wed for only a few nights;
Then you left me for Gold Mountain.
For twenty long years you haven't returned.
For this, I embrace only resentment in my bedroom;
Heaving a sigh
For the faraway sojourner who hasn't come home.
Everything brings me sorrow; I no longer care about
my appearance,
Endless longing for you leads only to streams of
falling tears.
JSGJ I.51a
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48
I count on my fingers: a year is about to end.
In the embroidery room, a young woman laments:
I am still somewhat young—
Yet time passes ever so quickly, in the blink
of an eye,
Gone and never to return;
No one can detain it.
Enjoy life when the time is right, don't ever delay.
Alas, no thanks to Husband, who has yet to come
home.
JSGJ I.34b
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49
The pair of mandarin ducks has been split apart;*
The rougefaced woman is left with a broken heart.
How she regrets urging Husband to go to the
Golden Gate.
So many oceans, so many mountains—her spirit
dies while she waits.
Without a moment of peace—
Youth goes away swiftly.
Disheartening surroundings, a chaotic mind,
How can she bear the full moon in the still of the
night!**
JSGJ II.53b
*A pair of either mandarin ducks or lovebirds is a metaphor for a man and woman deeply in love.
** “Full moon” is a literary allusion for the reunion of lovers, family members, or friends.
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50
Husband is in North America.
He leaves me so easily for some gain!
This makes me lonely, as I guard the scented
bedroom by my lonesome self,
Giving up the gaiety of life at the age of
twentytwo!
It's so frustrating.
This cold bedding keeps me from sleep.
I light the lamp, and again write him a letter
from home,
Dear love, I ask, have you decided when to
return?
JSGJ II.52b
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51
Husband is stranded in a travelers' inn;
The rougefaced woman, restless in her sleep,
Drafts a letter and asks the geese to take it to
the Golden Gate;*
In it she pours out her deep feelings:
Dear love, please read on,
Our happy days are few.
Hurry, hurry home to share my pillow.
Spare me from growing cold and lonely under
our jadegreen quilt.
JSGJ II.36a
*“Geese,” see song 28.
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52
Pressing poverty led to desperation;
And Husband took off to Gold Mountain.
It's been three years, or is it five, and I haven't
seen him come home.
Many times I write and ask the geese to deliver
my letters to him:*
O, far away from home,
Pity the mandarin ducks torn apart by separation.**
How can I get you back to cheer me up?
Just come home, rich or poor, I simply don't care
anymore!
JSGJ I.23b
*“Geese,” see song 28.
**“Mandarin ducks,” see song 49.
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53
Husband stays in a foreign land;
His suffering there leaves me griefstricken.
Idle, sitting alone with knitted brows, I count:
Alas, over twenty years of my precious youth
have gone to waste.
Long sighs and long resignation—
Unable to sleep, I toss and turn.
Distant cries of geese arouse my melancholic
solitude;*
Many times, I dream of flying to the Flowery
Flag Nation.
JSGJ I.51a
*“Geese,” see song 28. Here they also symbolize the migratory return of a sojourner.
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54
A mere mention of Husband's journey—
A journey one thousand miles away from our
bedroom—
And my heart is shattered into bits and pieces.
What young woman indeed is willing to sleep alone?
Grief and resentment, all piled up.
A pair of mandarin ducks, separated in two places.*
Let me ask you, my young peers in rouge:
How would you feel if you were severed from your
husband?
JSGJ I.23a
*“Mandarin ducks,” see song 49.
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55
Dear husband, ever since you sojourned in a
foreign land,
I've lost interest in all matters.
All day long, I stay inside the bedroom, my
brows knitted;
Ten thousand thoughts bring me endless remorse.
In grief, in silence.
I cannot fall asleep on my lonely pillow.
Over the walls comes neighbors' laughter,
piercing through my ears, vexing me with envy.
No thanks to you I alone must endure this misery.
JSGJ I.23a
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56
Fond thoughts of my man: a million emotions.
My husband, a sojourner in Gold Mountain.
Pity this lonesome rougefaced young woman:
I can live through the day, but not the night.
In my embroidery room,
Misery, with no end in sight.
The sixteenyearold Seung Ngo is made into a lonely
swan.*
Disheartened by a parting song, my tears quietly flow.
JSGJ I.24b
*In early Chinese mythology, Seung Ngo (Chang E or Heng E), wife of Hau Yu (Hou Yi) who shot down nine suns, stole the elixir of life and fled to the moon. In popular literature,
Chang E symbolizes a woman with goddesslike beauty.
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57
Husband has gone to a country far away.
The sorrows of separation are manifold in kind.
The bedroom is desolate; the quilt, chilly.
How can a single pillow be my mate in my lonely
sleep?
My restless sleep?
With emotions suspended, depression lingers on.
I am thinking of my man, who hasn't yet returned
from the ends of the earth;
I look up, and the moon, so round and full, brings
me insurmountable frustration.*
JSGJ I.28a
*“Full moon,” see song 49.
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58
Where is my husband now?
Before the vanity, I no longer care to paint my
brows.
Spring catkins from the fields fly in through the
curtains;
Orioles' cries startle and frustrate me.
O, silly me—
I cannot sleep with only a pillow.
Aroused by the sorrow of parting, a sorrow without
an end,
I longingly recall plucking willow branches at the
Farewell Pavilion.*
JSGJ I.27a
*“Plucking willow branches at the Farewell Pavilion” is a literary allusion to a woman bidding farewell to her journeying lover/husband.
The reference was popularized in the West Chamber Romance (Xixiang ji), a Yuan dynasty drama based on a Tang dynasty tale of premarital love.
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59
I have finished my needlework for the night.
My mood is as chaotic as hemp fibers.
My blossoming years have been wrongly wasted
And I cannot even share with you the parting
sorrow, a sorrow so immense in my mind.
A heart left dangling.
One day is three autumns.
Privately I pray Heaven to grant me this wish:
Let my husband come home early and in triumph.
JSGJ I.28b
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60
Youth is a blossom, a fleeting span.
How can you take leave for a distant place?
I grieve that I have no wings to fly by your
side.*
Alone, hugging the scented quilt, I endure the
sleepless nights.
I mourn, in silence.
A cold breeze comes through the curtains.
In melancholy, I wonder where that faraway
frontier is,
And who will I rely on to deliver the traveler's
clothes to my dear.
JSGJ I.27b
*“To have wings and fly side by side” alludes to the lovers' closeness. It originates from Erya, an ancient reference classic, and its romantic reference was popularized in the Tang
dynasty by poet Bo Juyi (772–846) in his poetic rendition of the romance between Emperor Xuanzong (reign years 71355) and his consort Yang Guifei.
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61
I have sewn a foxfur coat; it's ready to be sent.
I look for someone to deliver it for me.
The road to the frontier city is distant, beyond
the vast horizon;
Can somebody do me a favor, and take it to my
husband?
I've prepared it well.
How can Husband get it?
If there are trains as in the West,*
I will be spared the terrible hassle of sending it by
mail.
JSGJ I.52b
*“West” refers to the United States.
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62
I wish to send traveler's clothes
To my husband somewhere outside.*
Is there a courier going to that end of the sky?
I hope it will reach Husband in time.
Humbly I bow;
On whom can I rely?
On the frontier, most fearsome are the strong
winds and snows.
Sorrowful are those who endure the blizzards in
thin clothes.
JSGJ I.52b
*“Outside” could also be rendered as “Sierra.” The Chinese characters asai in this line might be a phonetic reversal for rhyming purposes.
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63
The young, rougefaced woman cherishes her husband
And fears most a separation: one here, the other there.
My dearest love, why must you make a living in a
foreign land?
Besieged by sorrow, our youthful years are totally
wasted.
O, be on your guard:
Don't be corrupted by vices.
As an old saying goes: So many young men wander
all over the world,
Drifting around, forgetting the poor wife of husk
at home.*
JSGJ I.24a
*“Wife of husk”: the wife who shares the suffering (“eats husk”) with her husband before he becomes rich and prominent, as seen in the heroine Zhao Wuniang in Pipa ji (The
Lute), a Yuan dynasty drama written by Gao Ming (fl. 1354).
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64
Since you left for North America,
You haven't thought of me for twenty long years.
You've banished me to solitude and to my knitted
brows.
It's wrong for lovers to be separated in two places.
O, you are bad!
You don't feel a thing for your poor wife.
You care only for your fun and games outside.
And I must live with the fate of separation for the
rest of my life!
JSGJ II.39b
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65
I am petrified by crazy nightmares
And Husband doesn't seem to care.
When we were married, as husband and wife,
that year,
I thought he would treasure our conjugal tie.
Alas, who would have guessed:
He is a cruel wolf at heart.
He abandons me to solitude; my eyes are puffy
from tears.
He lingers around Gold Mountain, and of me,
he is hardly aware.
JSGJ II.39b
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66
The betrothal presents were not yet prepared,
When husbandtobe sojourned in Gold Mountain.
It's been over sixteen years and he has not
returned.
He doesn't care about my grief and resentment
in the bedroom.
Quietly I sigh;
I am dying from all this thinking.
Why are you, my dear man, so nonchalant?
You waste my youth, as if it were nothing!
JSGJ II.40a
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67
Right after we were wed. Husband, you set
out on a journey.
How was I to tell you how I felt?
Wandering around a foreign country, when
will you ever come home?
You are wasting many joyous years of our
precious youth.
My spring heart has turned to ashes.
Poverty does not allow me the luxury of a choice.
But let it be known to all my sisters:
Don't ever marry a young man going overseas!
JSGJ I.23b
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68
The ship SS Asia has arrived.
But Husband has not come home on it.
Perhaps a delay, and he is on the SS China?
Or maybe he's returning on the SS Korea.
O, my mind is full of worries—
I hope the news is not false.
I am waiting: SS Manchuria, SS Mongolia . . .
Finally the geese bring a word and everything
turns blurry.*
JSGJ I.51b
* “Geese,” see song 28.
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Page 148
Four— Nostalgic Blues
Chinese men of letters have long written both poetry and prose expressing the sojourner's nostalgia for home, which is evoked by certain scenes and events. For
example, to the poets Li Bo (701–762) and Su Dongpo (1036–1101) a full moon would automatically evoke fond memories of home and family. A seasonal festival
made the sojourner's solitude more intense than ever, as another poet, Wang Wei (701–761), lamented: “A stranger alone in a strange place / All the more I think of
my family on a festive occasion.” Later, vernacular stories express both the happiness and the sorrow of a man being away from home. His departure often led to
events, great and small, that would ultimately change the individual as well as his family. For instance, in Feng Menglong's “PearlSewn Shirt,” a man's family and the
life of his wife all went to ruin due to his prolonged absence from home, as the wife succumbed to sexual temptation. Being away from home has thus always been a
negative notion unless the sojourner will ultimately return.
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Page 149
Home, or family, is always the most important part of the Chinese societal structure. A Chinese family is seen as a tree that grows with many branches extending and
outreaching; but every branch is physically part of the tree. Once a branch is cut off from the tree trunk, it cannot survive on its own. There is even a Chinese proverb
that says: “Fallen leaves return to the roots of the tree.” Along with that sense of belonging, of course, comes the responsibility to safeguard the welfare of the family.
Each member must do his part to protect its wellbeing, sacrificing his own personal comfort and happiness, even his own life, for its preservation or honor.
In Chinese perception, home is not just a man's castle. It is also his ultimate “security blanket.” Without it, he would be at a loss during a time of crisis. With it, he finds
security among the stormy and unhappy events of life. It provides its members with comfort and the true sense of belonging. When Tao Qian (372?–427?), the famous
poet and prose writer, was totally frustrated by life outside his home, he declared in indignation, “Why don't I go home!”
This sense of returning home and belonging to the family is central to the Chinese way of life. A person cannot stay away from home throughout the year. Traditionally,
he must rush home by the end of the year for the grand family dinner on New Year's Eve, an occasion no less significant than the family reunions at Thanksgiving or
Christmas in American society. Absence from such an occasion occurs only if it is absolutely impossible for the sojourner to make it home. Without the presence of
every family member, the reunion is not complete; the happiness and joy for the New Year celebration cannot be total. On such an occasion, members of the
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Page 150
family will then express their wishes for the sojourning member's early return.
In old China, no one leaves home if he can make a decent living in his native place. In fact, there were only three common situations in which a person would have to
leave home. The first was the education expedition in preparation for the imperial examination, success in which would bring fame and honor to the family name. The
second was exile, if a person had disgraced his family and was expelled from home as a punishment. The third was to seek a living outside, when a person could no
longer survive on the means available at home. This last situation was, in fact, also a form of exile, one in which the sojourner took the burden and responsibility for the
economic survival of the family. His triumphant return with economic success would be a vindication of having had to leave the family under such circumstances.
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69
Though I've journeyed to the very ends of the earth,
I cannot forget my ancestral home.
The traveler, in the still of night, thinks of his
family,
Tossing and turning, thoughts whirling, asleep,
awake.
In dreams, my soul flies
Back to the village.
Fields and gardens seem barren and abandoned.
O, why didn't I go home.? Why don't I go home?*
JSGJ I.11b
*The last two lines are borrowed from the prose work “Homecoming” (“Gui qu lai xi ci”) by the Jin dynasty poet Tao Qian (372?–427?), who chose to retire to a rustic life rather
than humiliate himself as a petty bureaucrat.
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70
Since my departure in Hong Kong,
She and I are each in different places.
A long separation makes a person even more miserable.
How can one ever forget home, sweet home?
Stranded in a foreign country,
In dreams my soul encircles my village home.
Words to wife and children: don't worry, you won't
have to wait too long.
Once I amass the gold, I will be on my way.
JSGJ II.41b
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71
My loved one is far away.
Alone, by the railing, I look around aimlessly.
Many times, depressed by a bright, full moon, *
My body aches and twists with ninefold grief and
pain.
A heart left hanging.
A deep love that cannot be severed.
Just how can we be reunited and share companionship
again?
Spare me from sleeping with only a cold quilt and
pillow.
JSGJ I.43a
*“Full moon,” see song 49.
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72
Ever since I've arrived in Gold Mountain,
Not one day have I dared forget my family.
My mind is chaotic, like hemp fibers, with constant
thought of home;
Each meal is hard to swallow, because of sorrow.
My dear woman:
Don't ever think your husband has betrayed your
love.
It's hard enough to share my words with you in
dreams;
My soul is wandering, every night, my tongue
tightened.
JSGJ I.12b
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73
Living stranded under the Flowery Flag
Is like shouldering a heavy cangue.*
Never for one moment do I stop wishing to go
back to China,
But the road is long and I cannot gallop away.
A heart left hanging—
Wife at home sends me these words:
You have been there across the ocean for a long,
long time;
By all means, remember to come home soon.
JSGJ I.12a
*“Cangue,” see song 6.
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74
My body aches; my heart pains me all the more.
Separation brings even more remorse.
Away at the edge of the horizon, everything seems
remote;
In vain I long for my virtuous wife and my filial 0
children.
For a husband and his wife—
The two sorrows share the same origin.
I endure sleepless nights thinking of home.
I wonder if anybody at home ever thinks of me?
JSGJ I.12b
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75
Who could have guessed the sojourn would last
so long?
Had I known, I wouldn't have come at all.
Separated by many mountains and vast seas,
I have forsaken wife and children to seek my fortune.
Heart bleeds in pain.
A sojourner thousands of miles from home.
Time passes ever so quickly, but a reunion is so
hard to come by;
I just don't know when I can start my homebound
journey.
JSGJ I.12b
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76
My friends, remember by all means:
Don't let yourselves be stranded in a foreign country.
Brows besieged by sorrow from frequent worries
of home;
Thousands of miles of clouds and mountains further
impede a gloomy stay.
Separation brings out misery.
Have your belongings always packed and ready.
A journey to America is only a search for wealth.
Return to the old country quickly, to avoid
going astray.
JSGJ I.11b
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77
The folks are still there, waiting by the gate.
This traveler at the edge of the world has yet to
return.
It's hard to find the key to fortune.
Thoughts of home are a grief multiplied hundredfold.
I encountered an unusual disaster:
The City fell victim to red flames.*
When can I go back with songs of bountiful success,
And spare the aged ones from becoming senile while
they wait?
JSGJ I.15b
*The fire that destroyed San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.
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78
I bid farewell to Father and Mother.
Throughout the journey I worry and worry about
them.
To get food, I have no choice but to hurry about;
My thoughts of them are all in a tangle, like hemp
fibers.
Unable to return—
When will I again sit beside their knees?
An endless horizon severs family happiness.
As I long in vain for my parents, my eyes turn blurry.
JSGJ I.14b
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79
To chase after a pinhead gain,
I endured the separation from my mother.
Drifting on a voyage of thousands of miles,
I reached the Flowery Flag Nation to take my
chances.
Sorrow is to be so far away from home.
I must burden Mother to send me clothes for my
stay.
Unable to prepare the homebound whip, stranded
in a foreign land,
O, when can I repay her kindness in raising me?
JSGJ I.14b
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80
I've come, because of poverty, to a foreign country,
Cherishing the memory of my home state.
Again and again, I wish to go back, but am unable
to set a date,
Tossing and turning, I am restless in a sojourner's
bed.
Alone, sighing.
Thrice asleep, thrice awakened.
I pray tomorrow morning I can amass a hefty gain.
Then I'll buy a boat and return to Canton
smiling in satisfaction.
JSGJ I.13a
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81
Now that I've thought everything over:
I am all confused.
Needless to say I feel concern for my parents,
I am also burdened with thoughts of my wife and
children.
Why so?
'Cause I cannot make it home.
I look around—north, south, east, west—and
I don't know which direction is home.
JSGJ I.13a
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82
A long time away from home:
My family, an unavoidable concern.
In pain I left my parents to journey ten thousand
miles away.
Many times I wish to go back and be with them
again.
Autumns come and go.
I haven't succeeded in amassing silver and gold.
I pray Heaven will bless me:
Let me one day return in splendid clothes and spare
myself being thus detained.
JSGJ I.13a
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83
Letters from home are frequent and urgent:
Urging me to return to China.
I hesitate: my purse is not full.
I am ashamed; I have no excuse for my fault.
But, how am I to explain it all?
So my homebound journey is postponed.
I'm only afraid my parents will be waiting with
everlonging eyes.
O, why don't I just pack up for home now, while
there's still time?
JSGJ. I.12b
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84
Often I dream of the moment I return to South
China.
When the dream ends, my eyes are in a daze.
In dream after dream, I'm back in Sunning: *
Wife, children, the village well—all in my dreams.
O, let the dreams never end.
Dream again, another wonderful dream.
But dreams of my prolonged incarceration here
set my heart aflame.
Dream, dream—how I would like to dream of being
home again!
JSGJ I.12a
*Sunning (Xinning) is the former name of Toisaan (Taishan).
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85
The world outside my village is vast, without a
boundary in sight.
I'm cut off from my village by mountains and seas.
Away from my village, searching for gold and
silver,
In melancholy, I long for the sight of the village
gate tower.
I think of things back in the village.
Since leaving my village, I haven't returned.
Messages from the village are filled with ten
million complaints.
Remembering my village, I wish to follow the
geese home. *
JSGJ I.11b
* “Geese,” see songs 28 and 53.
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86
The journey is thousands of miles of vast distance.
From afar, I remember my home garden.
My dear wife must be tossing and turning in her sleep,
waiting for me.
O, how I wish my business will bring me fortune.
To South China, I would return:
My young son would stare at me by the door;
Brothers would meet, like geese after a long journey.
And, my parents would beam happily in the living
room.
JSGJ I.12a
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87
Drifting all this way to seek some gain,
I've forsaken my family for a long time.
No need to linger in the Flowery Flag Nation,
Pack up my belongings and go home!
This is truly my wish:
Leave this barbaric land on the earliest possible
day.
It can't be compared to the warmth of home;
My heart cares only for the day of my return.
JSGJ I.12b
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88
Held stranded many years in a travelers' lodge,
The sojourner harbors a restless mind.
With prolonged anxiety, I remember the fields and
gardens back at home:
A lingering emotion spans the two continents, and
my heart is nearly broken.
Mind and soul are full of worry.
An empty purse always depresses me.
Suddenly, in a dream, I'm back in the village;
But alas, my body still remains in the Golden
Gate!
JSGJ II.40b
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89
A sojourn in Canada:
A duckweed's trace, my stay uncertain.*
Looking back, home is way beyond the horizon;
Ambitions are unfulfilled, sorrows unresolved.
In debt, up to my neck.
I wonder if prosperity ever comes after extreme
misfortune.
I wish to raise the homebound whip, but with an
empty purse—
Cloudy mountains seem so distant; my bosom aches
with emotion.
JSGJ II.41a
*“A duckweed's trace” alludes to a person's living in a transient state.
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90
Since I came to San Francisco,
Father and Mother are with me in dreams.
No longer can I attend to them piously morning and
evening;
Family needs force me to become a wanderer.
Wounded with silent grief,
A traveler stranded on this American sojourn.
Each festival arouses my feelings of home.
For parents' love and health, a son must show his
concern.
JSGJ I.15a
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91
This wanderer left home long ago.
Who is taking care of the ancestors' graves?
When Cold Food Day comes each year, I alone am
in tears. *
Unwilling to fawn upon the rich, I maintain
myself in poverty.
Stranded on the American continent,
How can I be with my family again?
I wish to set sail for home, but my fortune is
not yet made.
My parents' kindness, my wife's faith—I grieve
I might not be able to repay them.
JSGJ II.55b
*Cold Food Day is the day before the Qing Ming festival (PureBright Day, usually around April 5 or April 6), the day to pay respects and offer sacrifices to the deceased of the
family. No cooking with fire is done on Cold Food Day.
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92
Months and years, like a current, flow along.
Counting on my fingers, I realize it's now the middle
of the eighth month. *
Tonight is marvelous, moonlight at the doorsteps;
The moon, crystalclear, so round and full.
I view the moon.
But seeing the moon arouses my sorrow.
The moon makes me long for home, so far away.
Leaning by the rail before the full, round moon,
all in vain.
JSGJ I.49a
*Referring to the “Midautumn Festival,” celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. A full moon symbolizes a union, especially of families or lovers.
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Although it's a long time since I came to the West,
My homeland is truly my heartfelt concern.
Her mountains and passes, ten thousand miles away,
beyond the mist and fog;
She is now a bean split, a melon carved—O, what
a horror! *
Fellow countrymen:
Please end all partisan disputes!
A united republic of north and south would be
so grand;
How can you tolerate civil strife and chaos in China?
JSGJ II.44a
*“Bean split” is an allusion to internal disputes; “melon carved” refers to annexation by outsiders. These are specific references to the political turmoil at the founding of the
Republic of China in 1911.
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Five— Rhapsodies on Gold
The collapse of the Taiping Revolt in 1864 and then the failure of the Chinese intellectuals' Hundred Day Reform in 1898 brought a number of Chinese political exiles
to the United States for refuge. However, what brought the great majority of early Chinese immigrants to America was the most basic human need, economic survival.
Their Pearl River delta homeland, the Cantonese “rice bowl,” had been devastated by natural disasters and by social unrest brought on by both the foreign imperialism
of the British and French and regional ethnic conflicts between Cantonese natives and Hakka settlers. The result was famine and starvation, which forced the able
bodied to leave home in order to survive. And, since the delta region was the gateway for foreign trade and international exchange, why not go abroad? Labor
recruitment and commercial opportunities in the United States offered a strong new attraction. Thus, the Cantonese, not unlike other newcomers to the United States in
the latter half of the nineteenth century, were
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drawn to the United States as a land of plenty in which to realize their dreams of wealth. They, too, heard the call: “Go West, young man!”
The Chinese contingent of new arrivals came to California hoping above all for financial success. Decades later, however, many of them no longer harbored illusions of
becoming rich through hard work. Nor did they still patiently hope for the equal opportunity to strike it rich in the land of equal opportunity. Still, they could not just
pack up and return home emptyhanded, for to do so would be to admit failure and to declare that the journey to America had been made in vain.
Hardluck American reality, thus, led many of these men to fanastic wishes of wealth. In the wild West, there were ample chances to take a lucky shot at a game of
chance. For those who were down and out, the game of chance seemed to represent a truly “equal,” though remote, opportunity to materialize the dream of wealth.
After all, no one had come to work in California, the Gold Mountain, without having hopes of becoming rich. Hard work might, eventually, be rewarded; but a sudden
stroke of luck could at once alter a person's improverished lot. Perhaps this rationale explains the widespread indulgence in gambling in the West. It was engaged in
not only by the Chinese but also by hardworking laborers, merchants, and fortuneseekers of every ethnic background. To all of them, luck and the game of chance
appeared to be a yellow brick road to financial success.
The Chinese immigrants were not bashful about the objective of their journey across the Pacific Ocean. They freely expressed their preference for wealth, as we see in
these poems. On festive occasions such as Chinese New
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Year, they would greet each other with good wishes not just for a happy new year, but for a new opportunity to become rich and to improve their lot in America. They
would toast not only the arrival of the new year but also their aspiration for wealth and the coming of financial success, so that their hardship stay could soon end and
they could return home with a true sense of accomplishment—to make the homebound trip with suitcases full of gold and money.
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94
The very moment when the Wealth Star favors me,
Wealth will come naturally.
Wealth will arrive without sweat and toil;
Wealth will bring more wealth through its wide
and open road.
The air of wealth will soar.
Wealth will bring me recognition.
A man of wealth is famous, a generous spender;
Wealth will make a rich tycoon out of this
povertysticken soul.
JSGJ I.7b
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95
A son, or money—which is more precious?
On top, of course, is money.
Without money, liberty and rights are beyond your
means.
Parents take care of a son, but money takes care of
your skin.
Money is everything.
What's more convenient than having money on a
spending spree?
A son wastes his father's money; nothing unusual
about that indeed.
But a father can only drool in vain over his son's
money!
JSGJ I.46a
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96
Sons and grandsons are dearest to one's heart.
Yet money is a foundation of life.
A hundred thousand dollars in a money belt
will enable you to survive;
Even the filiality of a crow is no comparison.*
Remember, by all means:
Profits and privileges are all in your possession.
A son may be illustrious and outstanding,
But you and your money should never have a
separation!
JSGJ I.45a
*In Chinese legend, the crow is a bird of filial piety.
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97
The mournful sight of dreaded autumn, a sudden
fright:
Time flies in the blinking of an eye.
Money is no casual matter;
As the old saying goes: beware of future falls. In not time—
Poverty will drive you up the wall.
What comfort to store grain and avoid hunger in
later years
And not to live on only one meal a day.
JSGJ II.9b
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98
All of a sudden, my luck is piping hot:
I've found treasures, filled in several pots.
In no time I've become a young man of wealth;
I turn around, and I'm no longer a part of that
miserable lot.
I am a millionaire—
Right now I can open a bank.
What can be more delightful than having unexpected
wealth?
I will buy land, build a house, and get myself a
concubine.
JSGJ I.6a
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99
Those were the days of extreme hardship and pain.
And of suffering much misery.
Suddenly, the Spirit of Money graces my thatched
hut,
Carrying greenbacks and flying in through the
window.
I look around:
It's all gold and silver, I've lost count.
In one blink I've become a rich young man.
From now on I am no longer a poor soul living
in desperation!
JSGJ I.7b
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100
At the moment, I hardly have enough grub to
eat.
But I won't take it as fate, my final destiny.
I don't believe I will live like this till my hair
turns white;
It's only the low ebb in my life.
When luck strikes,
With the whole world behind me,
I will be rich in a few years' turn.
And then, I will buy property and build a
Western mansion.
JSGJ II.44a
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101
Since rushing to this foreign place,
I have been down and out in the Flowery Flag
Nation.
I figure it's been more than thirty years—
My plans are unrealized; I am still waiting for
that magic moment.
At last, my wishes are granted:
The God of Wealth follows me from behind.
My purse stuffed full of foreign dollars;
I'll set a date and make ready the homebound whip.
JSGJ II.13a
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102
In a sojourn in San Francisco,
Luck and wealth grace me as spring arrives.
With trunks full of yellow eagles, it's time to
head home;*
Right away my boat ticket and visa are prepared
and ready.
O, truly wonderful—
I bid farewell to all my good friends.
I am returning home with purses and bags
stuffed full.
Soon, I will see my parents' brows beaming with
joy.
JSGJ I.53b
*“Yellow eagles”—a term used by the Chinese in America for U.S. gold coins.
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103
Our idle talk often runs to wealth and
nobility.
Shouting and resounding, reaching far and
near.
My head turns—my, what silver and gold!
Getting rich is indeed wonderful.
I'll change all my clothes.
Today I'll be different from before.
At once I will return to my village home by
boat;
I am young, but I'll be called an expert in
business circles.
JSGJ I.7a
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104
At a moment of tremendous opportunity,
They all come—happiness, prosperity, longevity,
and peace.
Treasures from mother nature are rewards for one's good deeds;
Once wealth and nobility arrive, the success story is
complete.
With fastexpanding wealth,
I'll turn around and go back to Canton by sea.
No need to wait for luck in the picksix exacta;
I'll just take nature's endless bounty as it flows.
JSGJ I.7b
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105
I am red hot under the Wealth Star.
In no time I have made a million.
My savings, kept in a vault, are all yellow
gold.
O, far away, my wife and children must be
waiting for me anxiously.
I prepare the traveling clothes.
I'll set out within a few days by boat.
With favorable winds, I will reach Hong Kong
safe and sound;
Everyone will rush out to greet this wealthy
sojourner coming home.
JSGJ I.53a
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106
The God of Wealth showers me with blessings.
The Ghost of Poverty goes a far distance away.
Right away I hit it big, with purses stuffed
full;
I even find hidden treasures while taking a
stroll.
I will buy a farm.
The present can't compare with the past.
Truly delightful is fortune coming from every
direction.
I'll hurry back to South China, with a hundred
thousand dollars secured around my waist.
JSGJ I.6b
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107
In the beginning I was just a poor soul.
Suddenly, I am rich and noble.
It's not an illusion to have a splendid mansion
or a luxurious home;
I think fate must be the cause of my past ill
fortune.
With a push from luck,
Gold and silver will fill my lot.
As life changes for the better, wealth accumulates in
heaps;
Clothed in silk, with a hundred thousand dollars
wrapped around my waist, I'll return in triumph.
JSGJ I.6b
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108
It's a summerlike first month of the new year.
Ten thousand houses are decorated with New
Year scrolls.
In a foreign country, we celebrate the joyous
festival in springtime clothes;
We greet each other by the door, with auspicious
sayings:
May you claim a mine full of gold.
May wealth soothe your soul.
Hosts and guests, so gaily, raise the jade winecups,
Sipping the spring wine, toasting merrily the
swift, rosy clouds.
JSGJ I.33a
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109
All the auspicious greetings, I deeply appreciate.
A prominent future will follow the New Year's Day.
Brows beam with joy at the wonderful moment of
an approaching spring,
I sincerely wish good luck and peace to fellow
Chinese sojourners in America.
With a soaring spirit,
I present you a greeting card in return.
New Year gatherings are filled with immeasurable
gaiety;
When we are all rich enough, let's set an early
date for home.
JSGJ I.33b
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110
New Year's Day starts a new calendar year.
The scent of spice fills the air beyond the front
door.
Pouring cups of spring wine, toasting up to our
brows,
Everywhere, we Chinese sojourners greet each other
with auspicious sayings.
In joyous laughter,
We wish good luck to others, and to ourselves:
May this year be prosperous for all walks of life;
So that, clothed in silk, we can together bid the
Flowery Flag farewell.
JSGJ I.32b
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111
Those were the days, the penniless days.
Prosperity comes after extreme misfortune.
As soon as I sprint over to the other side, I will
be rich for sure;
It's no bother at all to move my feet to become
a wealthy fellow.
When good luck reigns,
Heaven will shower me with many blessings.
In a game of chance, I instantly win the daily
double.
Without any effort, I have a hundred thousand
dollars secured around my waist.
JSGJ I.6a
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112
Living in adversity, as always,
Then things suddenly come my way.
Unexpected wealth falls into my hands through
the square city;*
I will buy a boat and return to my village
right away.
Everything will be smooth.
Friends and relatives will come to wish me
well.
I will buy ten thousand acres of land and build
a mansion.
With a luxurious house, I can show off my rich
and prosperous family.
JSGJ II.12b
*“Square city” is a Cantonese idiom for a game of mahjong.
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113
You need not come haunting me,
Accusing me of not returning home.
A thousand dollars is petty cash; but shoud I hit
the jackpot thrice:
It will explode into millions just like that,
believe me!
Won't that be great?
I will hurry and make the sailing date for China.
I will go first class, with yellow eagles stuffed
in several suitcases.*
I will return home, act like a big shot, and live
in extravagance.
JSGJ. I.53b
*“Yellow eagle,” see song 102.
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114
In just a few hands, I wipe out the house for good.
Immediately I pack my suitcases for the journey.
Bags and trunks, all full of shiny yellow coins,
I rush aboard the liner to return to Hong Kong.
I have firstclass accommodations,
In the company of nobles and officials.
Truly delightful is a homecoming in wealth and
triumph;
I will buy land, take a concubine, and build a
mansion.
JSGJ 1.53b
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115
Lucky for me, fate took a turn.
I have one hundred thousand in cash wrapped
around my waist.
I packed my clothes, and took the SS China;
Fed with sumptuous feasts, greeted humbly, and
accorded courtesy.
I am pleased with myself.
Soon I'll make friends during the journey.
In no time, we will pass Japan, via Honolulu;
With a favorable wind, we will reach Hong Kong
safe and sound.
JSGJ 1.53b
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116
I regret leaving home so long ago.
I want to return, but I don't have a penny.
How lucky it would be to realize my wishes in my
job and a game of chance:
Money will come, piling as high as a mountain.
Then I will quickly retire.
With cashier's checks stuffed inside my sleeves,
Friends and relatives all feasting me farewell,
In no time I will be a rich man in Asia.
JSGJ 1.53a
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117
I've returned to Hong Kong from America,
With one hundred thousand dollars securely
wrapped around my waist.
My hair is long, my face dirty, like a beggar;
My denim mule clothes are like a net, all torn and
tattered.*
I went up to King Fong Restaurant.
The maître d'hôtel ignored me.
Then a gentleman in a long gown came over and sized
me up;
After tea and tobacco, they even offered me betel nuts.
JSGJ 1.10a
*“Mule clothes” refers to the workingman's garb made famous by the muleandspade label of the Levi Strauss Company.
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Six— Songs of Western Influence and the Americanborns.
For early Chinese immigrants, immigration to the United States ultimately meant a challenging new life. They had to leave something behind, give up something old, and
accept many new things. It was not possible for them to continue to live a preimmigration existence, no matter how they tried. When time and place change, people
naturally change accordingly as a matter of evolution and adaptation.
Although the early immigrants established what they called the “Canton of the West,” Chinatown was never the Canton of China. NonChinese visitors there found that
for all its exotic Asian flavor, there was a familiar American accent to almost everything in Chinatown. Chinese visitors to Chinatown perceived it as an American
invention, camouflaged in quasiChinese colors. Familiar yet different, Chinatown was authentic to neither culture, because Chinatown was (and is) an American ethnic
community, the home of Chinese immigrants, not just a replica of some city in China. As a
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community, it has made numerous adjustments in its way of life and cultural perceptions, and has emerged with its own unique identity, and its residents, with their own
perspective on matters surrounding them.
The rhymes in this chapter illustrate the early Chinese immigrants' responses to and interpretations of life in their new home. They were eager to experiment with the
new world and to reevaluate the old one. The sensibility and perspective on life that emerged do not represent a melting pot mentality—a mere combination of the old
and new. Instead, theirs was the product of a continuous fusion of the East and West—a brandnew, independent viewpoint based on the experiences gained from
living in America among a variety of ethnic groups. These rhymes address the many crosscultural matters that challenged them as immigrants and reveal a
characteristic Chinatown perspective on the issues. Their views on personal wealth, family lineage responsibilities, and other ethical obligations are a reexamination of
their own traditional cultural heritage in the light of living in a new environment, punctuated with a new priority of values. Their opinions regarding the issues of equal
rights for women and freedom of love and marriage show a recognition of the issues from both sides. They were able to see what they considered as flaws in both
cultures' outlooks. More importantly, their viewpoints on the issue of Westernization dramatized the significance of the issue of identity to the Chinatown community.
Chinese Americans recognized the importance of accepting the new, because it was their newly acquired identity. At the same time, they also wanted to balance the
change by holding on to the old values they brought with them from China.
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Many immigrants were alarmed and disheartened, however, when they witnessed the extremes of the younger generation's new pattern of behavior. Their criticism of
the younger generation was not so much a display of antiWestern sentiment as dismay that the younger generation was so influenced by what they perceived as vices
of the American culture. To the immigrant generation, these vices represented the ignorant, uncivilized side of the Western lifestyle. Ignorance and incivility were the
causes of numerous discriminatory practices in America which had victimized them as immigrants. Seeing such vices in the younger generation, the immigrants voiced
their disapproval by recalling the values of the old country.
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118
Since I left South China,
I have changed my clothes to the Western style.
I seek praise for being neat and fashionable
Though I have yet to speak with an American
tongue.
Smart in appearance—
Who dares to call me an ignorant fool?
A loose gown with wide sleeves brings only
scurrilous remarks
And it gets you nowhere, even if you are modern
in education.
JSGJ I.11a
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Before your social status is revealed,
You are first judged by the brilliance of your
clothes.
No need to boast about whatever talents you might
have—
Nowadays, in any situation, the exterior is what
counts the most.
My fellow countrymen:
One day we might celebrate a happy occasion.
But if you don't have something presentable to cover
your birthday suit,
Who will choose you to propose a toast in front of
everyone?
JSGJ I.11a
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With a mere glance at the fur coat,
Courtesy and hospitality are accorded in earnest,
Regardless of one's vulgarity or sophistication;
So what if you are learned and civil?
Who is to know?
A blue garb is simply despicable.
So, even if you face poverty and an empty rice bowl,
You must by all means put up a front with a few
items of smart apparel.
JSGJ I.10b
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Spring returns to the continent.
Soothing is the misty scenery.
Flowers by the hundreds in red, by the thousands in
purple, all noble and rich;
Everywhere, towers and terraces, all decorated with
brilliant lanterns.*
It's a delight to the heart.
I sightsee in the Golden City,**
Eyes darting around, spirit dashing about, what
genuine joy—
Entertaining myself, I have forgotten about going
home.
JSGJ I.32a
*The Lantern Festival is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month; it concludes the Lunar New Year Festival.
**“Golden City” is short for Golden Gate City, i.e., San Francisco.
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I have a bellyful of grudges and frustrations.
Where can I go to unwind?
I have heard about the many scenic spots in the park;
Leisurely, I stroll along the path that lies before me
Looking around.
Indeed this makes me forget all my troubles.
They say running amidst flowers is not a proper
thing to do;
But you can get rid of your worries only by
having fun.
JSGJ II.16a
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A cool breeze, a warm day,
A leisurely walk around the New Garden. *
Willows green, peaches red, all are marvelous
sights;
I don't mind the fragrant paths leading a
distance away.
All the more delighted,
I wander along, to the east, to the west.
Each blade of grass and every blooming flower
can cheer a troubled mind.
O, why not take it easy and enjoy everything all
over again?
JSGJ I.31a
*“New Garden” —a term for Golden Gate Park used by the Chinese in San Francisco during the 1900s.
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School lets out for the summer.
No need to go home right away.
Bustling are the parks and museums;
So, hurry and rent a bicycle*
Just to ride around.
Start pedaling, roll down the streets!
It's soothing and pleasing to the soul, a truly
dashing experience.
But my companions tease me about what a big
showoff I am.
JSGJ II.16b
*The bicycle is called a “footpedaled free” (geukdaap jiyauche) and the automobile, “enginepropelled free vehicle” (geidung jiyauche). Since the original gives simply jiyauche,
it could be either a bicycle or an automobile. The subjects here are students, so bicycle appears to be a more suitable rendition.
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125
A son is not totally dependable,
The toil of raising him is all but futile.
Blood kin becoming strangers in the streets
is not at all a strange sight;
That's the practice, especially in Europe and
America.
Each one flie his own way.
Liberty is not concerned with filial piety.
You should save enough for later while you're
still able;
Spare yourself from suffering cold and hunger
when you are old.
JSGJ I.45b
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American ways are very extreme.
This worn writing brush cannot reveal them
all.
Just let me show you one ridiculous example
in brief,
And I must warn you, gentlemen, before you
die of shock from hearing this news:
There was a lawless shrew—
She bullied and humiliated her inept husband;
She divorced him, seized and sold the family
property;
Then, she openly found and married another man!
JSGJ II.30a
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The emancipated women are the most shameful;
Their mouths are filled with foreign speech.
They loiter around with men day and night,
everywhere,
Showing no respect for the husbands they married.
They are out of control.
How can a decent man challenge such a woman?
He resorts to remonstrating with kind and wise
words;
Pity no shrews can appreciate such kind intent.
JSGJ I.37b
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Morality is despised: too stiff and confining.
The charming girl is spoiled beyond control.
She soars high, wanting to be equal to man,
Casting away chastity, treating propriety with
contempt.
If two hearts are in agreement,
She will consent to marry a man.
She claims to be civilized, following the Western
ways.
Well, we may as well forget about eating the roasted
pig.*
JSGJ II.1a
*In Cantonese wedding customs, the roasted pig symbolizes the bride's virginity. After the marriage is consummated, the groom's family sends a roasted pig to the bride's family in
recognition of her virginity. Otherwise, the bride's chastity is in doubt and disputes follow.
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I married an emancipated woman,
Who flexes her tigress might.
What can I do about harmony in the bedroom?
She has no fear of lectures from the pillow side.
For her, they are so much wind.
She talks back all the more.
It's a repeat of the lioness roaring at the eastern
riverbank.*
O, how did that Gwaiseung ever have any fun?**
JSGJ II.35a
*“Lioness' roar at the eastern riverbank” alludes to a wife's outrage at and domination over her husband, usually seen as negative in the man's viewpoint.
**Gwaiseung (Chen Jichang) is a legendary henpecked husband who lived in fear under the ruthless dictates of his wife.
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130
A Chinese woman follows Western ways,
Accepting none of her husband's remonstrations,
O, how can there be the conjugal harmony of fish
and water?*
She absolutely disdains the Three Classics and
the Six Rites.**
Flexing her status and her might,
Ignoring her notorious reputation,
She puts on strange and colorful clothes, acting
cute and charming;
She would trade her flesh to make a living.
JSGJ II.23a
*“Fish and water” alludes to a perfect marital relationship.
**The “Three Classics” were the three major classics for Chinese women to cultivate a virtuous womanhood: Nü jie (Regulations for Women), Nü lunyu (Woman's Analects), and
Neixun (Domestic Lectures); the “Six Rites” were the six proper steps to follow in a traditional marriage arrangement, from initial proposal to wedding ceremony.
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131
These young women, with their rougedarkened
brows,
At last, they're all freed from their confining boudoirs.
No longer needing matchmakers to arrange their
marriages;
They go out together, handinhand, seeking out
handsome men.
They are all lovely,
Endowed with sensuous charms.
From afar, I thought they were peipa girls;*
Who would have guessed they are actually fine
maidens!
JSGJ II.3a
*A peipa(pipa) girl is a song girl for hire, an entertainer. Usually the term refers to a prostitute trained to play the stringed musical instrument to entertain her patrons.
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132
The oppression of women has been around for a
long, long time.
So many women live in sorrow.
Progress and civilization are gradually removing
the restrictions.
So, let's stretch out and free our minds; no more
suffocation!
Wisdom unfolds,
Acquiring knowledge of East and West through
education.
Equality has been won, and must be maintained.
How can we tolerate the confines of those dated
moral conventions?
JSGJ II.3a
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We are all charming and refined;
We don't submit ourselves to oppression.
Sisters, let's have a good time together;
Who'll dare criticize us for wearing different
and colorful clothes?
What's there to fear?
Let's hang around here and there, everywhere.
We'll ignore the street gossip and slanderous
remarks;
We are all as pure as white jade, without a blemish
whatsoever.
JSGJ II.3a
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134
In all earnestness, I speak to all my sisters:
Why be so easily discouraged?
From now on, superior talents will arise
among us women;
Men and women will have equal rights, and that
will not change!
Won't that be wonderful?
A life without oppression!
We can choose our own mate, be he a wise man
or a fool.
Even our parents can't interfere with us anymore!
JSGJ II.2a
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135
Following the practice of the Western countries,
I am free to make my marriage choice.
I cheer that the obsolete rituals are abolished.
No longer can matchmakers manipulate our lives.
It's a brand new world.
I am married in a civilized way.
I have found a good husband on my own, as I have
wished.
Our hearts and views are at one, our brows beam
with joy.
JSGJ II.2b
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136
Living in this Flowery Flag Nation,
Marriage is by our own decision.
The laws don't let even our parents break us
apart—
A pair of mandarin ducks or two entwined trees.*
Remember this firmly:
We have secretly vowed our matrimony.
Someday, as we sing in harmony in our bedroom,
We'll laugh that we were way ahead of our time.
JSGJ II.32b
*“Mandarin ducks” and “entwined trees” allude to conjugal happiness.
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137
What a batch of lousy broads,
All without proper upbringing.
They hustle in the doorways, their gold teeth on
parade;
Day and night, always going to the picture show.
They are fearless.
They laugh with lust and speak the barbarian tongue.
With men, they are experts at fooling around.
Alas, their dissipation is shameful to our China.
JSGJ II.1a
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138
The beautiful lass, an Americanborn,
A barbaric little princess.
She follows the Western example and lives the
American way;
She doesn't accept her parents' strict discipline.
Harboring high ideals,
She chooses her own mate.
Falling in love with one who shares her likes,
She agrees to have sex with him before picking out
the wedding day.
JSGJ II.1b
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139
A gorgeous girl, of marriageable age, waiting for a
proposal,
Pretending to believe in Jesus' gospel.
She falls head over heels for a prettyfaced young
lad;
They stroll together, handinhand; their infatuation
is mutual.
Imitating the barbarian women,
She plays house with him at her pleasure.
Her parents might be furious, but what does she
care;
She wants a dandy, not her parents to interfere.
JSGJ II.2a
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My heart belongs to a handsome young lad.
We exchange messages in English letters.
Sixteen is a peach blossom that's just about to bud;
O, how I long to share his pillow!
Lips meeting,
Like the union of Cowherd and Weaving Maid.*
The passion of clouds and rain is thick as glue.**
We make another date to meet in the evening after
an interlude.
JSGJ II.32b
*In Chinese mythology, the Heavenly Queen Mother separated the celestial couple, the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid, because their infatuation interfered with their jobs. They
were given the opportunity to have a reunion once a year at the Milky Way, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
**“Clouds and rain,” see song 42.
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All dolled up, strolling along the street.
She's so elegant and sweet!
She dresses half Chinese, half American,
She ties her loose temple hair with a bright silk
ribbon.
She shows her fashion expertise,
Not her feminine disposition.
Women nowadays are different from those in the past;
They follow their own preferences now in choosing a
husband.
JSGJ II.1a
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Nativeborns call each other brother and sister.
They live in the American way.
Holding hands, they say they're off to a picture
show.
Actually, they're going to a hotel!
Enjoying their longings and desires,
So what if people gossip;
The two of them entwined in deep passion;
She may become pregnant, but that's nothing strange!
JSGJ II.23a
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Page 231
Seven— Nuptial Rhapsodies
According to Cantonese folklore, a man's highest achievement is dang fo (deng ke), meaning “advancement to the honor roll.” Specifically, a man had two
opportunities in life to dang fo. The first is the daai dang fo (“major advancement”), in which he successfully passed the highest level of the imperial examination and
was proclaimed the best scholar in the imperial honor roll. This could be achieved only through intellectual pursuits. The other, siu dang fo (“minor advancement”),
happened on the wedding night, when the groom would finally meet his bride to consummate their marriage. “Major advancement” was a man's top honor in the
Confucian society, bringing great prestige and glory to the family name, but few could attain it. “Minor advancement” was more accessible. To the family, it was equally
significant, because for a man to continue the family line was an important responsibility. Every man could achieve his “minor advancement” when he got married. The
marriage was treated as the most important event
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Page 232
of his life, and it would be duly recorded in the family registry.
Through the social institution of marriage, a man's masculinity was publicly acknowledged and his manhood recognized. Thus, Cantonese folklore places emphasis on
man's sexuality, which represents not just his social responsibility to the family but also his transition from son to husband, from childhood to manhood. The wedding
night is the testimony of this ascension to manhood.
These Chinatown rhymes on nuptial bliss are an interesting group of writings, given the reality that many of the Chinese immigrants were married but lived without their
wives in the United States. In these compositions, the immigrants act out their sexual and marital fantasies through writing, in Western terms, using creative writing as a
form of sublimation. By indulging in fantasies about his sexuality on the wedding night, the man is making a declaration of his manhood, despite being deprived of his
normal sexual relationship with his wife during his American sojourn. Furthermore, the assumption of a feminine persona in some of the rhymes serves merely to affirm
a man's erotic and sexual desires in a marital relationship. However, a few rhymes on this theme contain statements about the practice of polygamy that show a modern
Western influence, and recognize marriage as an equal relationship between man and woman.
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143
Seeing the moon is but an added vexation.
A full moon brings back memories:
The Moon Festival, a clamorous celebration;*
The moon, round and clear, is at its best this evening.
To the moon I pray:
Where is the Old Man from the Moon?**
I have yet to meet a woman of moonfaced charm.
In a solitary window, the bright moonlight—my spirit
sinks all the more.
JSGJ I.49b
*That is, the “Midautumn Festival,” the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, a festival of love and reunions. Cf. song 92.
**“Old Man from the Moon” is a mythical deity, a matchmaker.
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144
Beside the Peony Pavilion,*
By chance I met a lady visitor.
Her charm and grace, all beyond pen's description;
Her dress, white as snowflakes.
So unique and special.
I am aroused thinking of her all the time.
Constantly yearning for her, with passionate
admiration,
O, I can't let go of the thought of her; I just can't
let it go!
JSGJ I.43b
*A reference to the famous Ming dynasty drama Peony Pavilion (Mudan ting) by Tang Xianzu (1550–1616), about the meeting and secret rendezvous of a scholar and a young
woman.
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145
I was hooked by that woman dressed in white.
My spirit held captive, as if intoxicated.
At home, sitting by the window, the more I think
of her, the more captivated I am.
O, I've fallen in love and can't share with her my
admiration.
I constantly think of her,
I can't sleep the whole night.
I only wish to meet her again in the garden,*
Where we will sing happily together in the
moonlight.
JSGJ 1 .43b
*In Tang Xianzu's Peony Pavilion (see song 144), there is a scene entitled “A Sudden Dream in the Garden” in which the young heroine, in her dream, meets the young scholar
and they have a premarital relationship.
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146
I am at the age of waiting for a marriage proposal.
Naturally I desire a fine man.
To start, I write a message on a red leaf, * and
enjoin the matchmaker:
My heart admires not just any young dandy, be he
smart and handsome.
Please, set your mind to the task.
Take your time, check him out to total satisfaction.
If he is talented, well versed in the classics and
histories,
I could care less about his appearance.
JSGJ II.38b
*“Red leaf” is a symbol used in marriage proposal rituals. It originated in a Tang dynasty tale in which a palace maid wrote a message on a red (maple?) leaf expressing her desire to
be married. The leaf floated down the palace canal and was picked up by a young man, who later became her husband.
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147
A handsome lad, though fair and fine,
Does not compare to a man of talent.
With good looks but no skills, life is nothing but
toil.
But if he is fluent in Chinese speech and American
ways,
And has high ambition,
He can make a living in commerce or government.
His works will win everyone's praises.
Why then judge a man by his hair and skin at such a
moment?
JSGJ II.38a
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148
Finally, we are wed.
Never before have I shared a word with my man.*
A stealthy glance at my groom, dazed and delighted;
O, how I wonder about tonight's happy moment.
I must be a complete fool—
Not following the emancipated women,
Not sharing a bed sooner with my handsome man,
To wait until today for this paired arrangement!
JSGJ I.42a
*In traditional China, newlyweds met each other for the first time after completing the public wedding ceremony. They were often total strangers before that moment since their
marriage was arranged by parents through a matchmaker.
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149
The young man, in joyous song of the peach,*
The bride's charm radiates under the glow of
wedding candles.
Happy their first meeting in the bedroom.
Tenderly they talk, sharing their hearts.
The beautiful woman's wish:
Smilingly, softly, she speaks—
At midnight, our union is consummated with utmost
delight;
Inside the hibiscus tent, my regret is to have waited
so long to marry.**
JSGJ I.26b
*“Peach” alludes to courtship and nuptial bliss. This usage originates from the Confucian classic Shi jing, the first anthology of Chinese poetry.
**“Hibiscus tent” implies the act of love and sexual intimacy, as seen in the Tang narrative poem “Chang hen ge” (“Everlasting Sorrow”) by Bo Juyi (772–846), which depicts the
romance of Emperor Ming of Tang (Xuanzong) and his consort Yang Guifei. See song 60.
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150
Tenderly I share words with Husband,
Pleasantly enjoying the various delights.
The hibiscus tent is filled with happy moments;*
O, why didn't the nuptial bliss take place sooner?
I am as intoxicated as an apple blossom.
In our castle, we sleep entwined.
In union at night, deep in passion, lips meeting
lips,
O, this young woman regrets the belated match.
JSGJ I.42a
*“Hibiscus tent,” see song 149.
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151
A lovely woman, sheltered in a gilded mansion.
A nuptial union, celebrated under the bright lights
of wedding candles.
Furtively, his hands fondle her breasts;
Modestly, she steals a glance at her groom.
Their eyes come together.
Fondly attracted, they loosen their clothes.
Together they sleep, sharing pillow and bed—
O, this is what I want to have; this is truly what I
I want to have!
JSGJ I.26a
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152
A beautiful woman, sheltered in a gilded mansion.
A nuptial union, celebrated under the bright lights
of wedding candles.
Together we'd sleep, sharing pillow and bed.
To my heart's content, I'd caress her tender breasts.
O, moments such as this—
I just don't know this joy that I can get.
Instead I came to live alone in the West
And betrayed sixteen years of my youthful best.
JSGJ II.25b
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153
Of all the joys in life,
The happiest is the nuptial hymn.
A young couple, man and wife, consummate their
conjugal tie.
A pair of lovebirds, sleeping together, necks
entwined.
Eyes meet—
Neither is accustomed to the dew of clouds and rain.*
She is willing, yet shy; his spirit soars and dances.
A handsome man with a charming woman, O, what
would that joy be like?
JSGJ I.25b
*“Clouds and rain,” see song 42.
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154
Such sensations are second to none:
Husband and wife indulging in each other's passion.
Celebrating the marvelous moment in the nuptial
chamber, under bright wedding candles,
Shyly she releases the gilded tenthooks, sharing
the brocade quilt.
They act out a new play,
Truly fascinated.
The fifth watch strikes at early dawn, hurrying them
to rise.*
O, how can the entwined lovebirds ever separate?
JSGJ I.25b
*A night in China was divided into five watches. First watch: 7–9 P.M.; second watch: 9–11 P.M.; third watch: 11 P.M. to 1 A.M.; fourth watch: 1–3 A.M.; fifth watch: 3–5 A.M.
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155
A nuptial union is a song of joy.
For the first time I met my blossom of the
wedding chamber.
A consummation at night, more exquisite than the most
gorgeous sight.
Her smiling profile, so refined.
O, sweet sixteen.
Inside the tent, the hibiscus is in full bloom.*
She sleeps, an apple blossom tired by spring passion.
At fifth watch she puts on her rouge and magnolia
cream.**
JSGJ I.26b
*“Hibiscus tent,” see song 149.
**“Fifth watch,” see song 154.
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Clouds and rain meet in the scented bedroom;*
Immense pleasure, the evening union.
The nuptial bliss, as chanted in the Songs, is the
utmost joy;**
A good man and a virtuous wife—perfect harmony.
It's sheer intoxication;
Lovebirds begin to open their hearts.
The apple blossom sleeps well on a warm spring
day.
Happy is the song of conjugal harmony within
the hibiscus tent.***
JSGJ I.25b
*“Clouds and rain,” see song 42.
**“That is, the Confucian classic Shi jing; its first section consists of folk songs of courtship and marriage.
***“Hibiscus tent,” see song 149.
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157
Under painted wedding candles, the bride and
groom unite.
Of all delights, this is the best.
Like rain clouds after a prolonged drought;
Young and strong the groom, lovely and tender
the bride.
Within the nuptial chamber,
Better than a thousand in gold is their wedding bliss.
With untiring passion, the phoenix turns, the dragon
whirls.*
A word to the neighbor's rooster: don't crow too
early in the morning!
JSGJ I.26a
*Dragon and phoenix represent groom and bride in Cantonese wedding phrases.
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158
Smiling, we sing to our nuptial union.
It begins with a poem written on a red leaf.*
The bliss of love, like fish in water, reaches up to
the brows;**
Inside the hibiscus tent, unrestrained is our passion.***
A song of the peach.****
I am in harmony with two delights in the fragrant
bedroom:
Tonight, I've finally tasted the scent of rouge and
blossoms;
Next year, we will give birth to a son!
JSGJ I.26b
*“Red leaf,” see song 146.
**“Fish and water,” see song 130.
***“Hibiscus tent,” see song 149.
****“Song of the peach,” see song 149.
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159
Speaking of the fun of having wives:
You should have at least three or four—
The slender Feiyin on the left, the plump Yukwaan
on the right,*
O, that would be heavenly, even better than immortal life.
Then, most provoking—
Suddenly a jealous wind starts to blow:
Number One refuses to take you in; and Number Two
ignores you.
It's a hell of a long night in solitary.
JSGJ I.44a
*Allusions to Chinese beauties: Feiyin (Zhao Feiyan) was a classic slender beauty; Yukwaan (Yang Yuhuan, or consort Yang Guifei) was her plump counterpart.
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160
I've examined the marriage laws:
The Western practice is the most civil.
One man with one woman: happiness and harmony.
Why in the world do Chinese men take in concubines
And redeem their favorite prostitutes?
Lust and greed are an insatiable lot.
When concubines all fight to butter up the First Wife,
They'll throw out the husband to sleep with only his
pillow until the rooster crows.
JSGJ I.44b
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161
One man paired with one woman,
Love, not jealousy, will prevail.
For peace and quiet at home, this is the only way.
If you insist like a tyrant on taking a concubine,
And indulging in pretty young women,
How can you avoid your wife's lioness roar?*
You'll have to put up with her and suffer the pain.
Had you known what would happen today, how you
would have regretted your behavior.
JSGJ I.44b
* “Lioness roar,” see song 129.
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Eight— Ballads of the Libertines
Just as there has been a perennial controversy over the artistic expression of nudity and pornography in Western culture, in China, romancing a woman and
womanizing for sheer sex have attracted similar attention. In traditional Chinese literature, courtship and romance are for the most part praised. Sex between lovers,
even if premarital, was championed as far back as the folk songs of the Shi jing collection and the later Yuefu anthology. Womanizing and the lust for sex, however,
have been regarded as excessive behavior and wicked indulgence. Chinese legends and stories repeatedly tell of the destruction of families and kingdoms, as well as
the destruction of a man's future, because of the obsession for women and sex.
In Cantonese folklore, womanizing is considered to be one of the major vices, leading a man from a happy and contented life to one of tragedy. In the Pearl River delta
region, womanizing was considered much like opium smoking; it was a vice of the affluent class, since
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less fortunate men could not afford the luxury of recklessly spending money on either women or opium. To occasionally socialize with loose women of the gay quarters
was common and acceptable; but frequent patronization of these places was considered sinful. Men, both married and unmarried, were sternly and frequently warned
of the harm associated with such illicit sex—the ruin of one's reputation and wealth and the diseases that could eventually cost a libertine his manhood and his ability to
sire children. Thus, licentiousness was considered most unfilial, a betrayal of a man's duty and obligation to his family.
Many vernacular writings tell of adventures with women, with the final message that succumbing to lust would mean the downfall of everything else. Of course, like
other writings that purport to have redeeming social value, these popular books were often actually quite pornographic, the pornography camouflaged by a didactic
ending, a moral to serve as a “warning” to the audience. Such a treatment apparently satisfied Confucian didacticism, and made such works at least on the surface
acceptable on the grounds of “moral education.”
This type of vernacular literature was popular as well in early Chinatown. In book advertisements of the day, titles of such publications are listed side by side with those
of dictionaries to learn English, sex manuals, and the Confucian classics. Alongside them, one might also notice the ads of physicians and pharmacists announcing cures
and remedies for venereal diseases.
The tolerance of Chinatown residents toward pornographic writings extended to the early immigrants' own creative writings, for erotic and pornographic rhymes were
published alongside the more serious
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rhymes. However, this phenomenon did not indicate that the population was full of sex fiends, nor that the men were wanton in their behavior. In reality, the acute
absence of normal female companionship encouraged these “vices” to be regarded as something normal in the community. In this womanless environment,
expressions of immense sexual fantasy and deep interest in the opposite sex were natural. They also served to show how these desperate men attempted to
compensate for living in an American community barren of normal sexual expression, and thus dramatize a social problem in Chinatown. What had been once
perceived as a major vice in their own Cantonese upbringing became a necessity in their American existence, providing the immigrants with a temporary form of solace
and an instant reminder of their manhood when life without female companionship appeared to be no life at all.
To the modern reader, these rhymes also provide a muchneeded antidote to the stereotype of the early Chinese immigrants as a group of emasculated, morbid men
lacking in expressions of sexual or any kind of human interest. On the contrary, these writings reveal a physically vibrant and often humorous group of people.
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162
Life is a dream, an illusion:
A twentyyear span of fun and games.
Hugging the one in red, leaning on the one in green,
O, what joy and gaiety!
Treasure the youthful years: once gone, they never
return.
Before that time comes—
What man won't hanker after pretty faces
Like a butterfly lingering around lustrous flowers?
A death from passion is really nothing.
JSGJ II.26b
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163
At eighteen or twentytwo,
Young man, don't forget:
It's best to enjoy life when the time is right.
Should you wait till old age comes, there won't be
any more fun.
Just think about this, each of you—
All the singing and dancing in places of merriment.
If you pretend to be upright and won't lay your finger
on this,
You're wasting a splendid moment and you are but a
fool.
JSGJ II.25a
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164
We're guests stranded in North America;
Must we also give up the fun in life?
Girls of the Flowery Flag Nation, all superbly
beautiful and charming;
By all means, have a taste of the white scent while
there's time.
If both sides are willing,
Why not share a dream in bed?
If you betray your youthful vigor and such
wonderful delight,
Just remember, you may return to the old country as a
wealthy man, but you won't have this chance again!
JSGJ II.26a
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165
I've madly fallen for that woman.
No magic pills can cast away the love spell.
Her blossomlike appearance, charmingly madeup,
a beauty unsurpassed—
O, how can I share her pillow?
For her,
My heart aches with deep anxiety.
Such a beautiful woman, but there's no way I can get
her to be mine.
I only wish my soul would seek out her scented
curtain in dreams.
JSGJ I.42b
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166
Sweet sixteen, that's the right moment.
Happy times should not be lightly abandoned.
Youthful days, once they have slipped away, cannot be
detained.
Dear lady, do you realize this opportunity is golden?
A union of clouds and rain—*
Most wonderful at the young and tender age.
If you don't catch the fun while it's here,
It won't taste as sweet in later years.
JSGJ II.26a
*“Clouds and rain,” see song 42.
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A demeanor truly charming and divine:
Her willow waist is slender and graceful;
Her steps, beneath her fitted silk skirt, are
leisurely;
Her hair, spread over her shoulders; her appearance,
a peerless splendor.
Overwhelmed by her charm,
I have fallen in love and I am haunted.
Her elegance is rare in the mortal world.
O, how can I spend the night with her, sharing
quilt and pillow!
JSGJ I.35a
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168
Who can surpass her charm and grace?
Her spirit is captivating, not just some coquettish
play.
At the sight of her, what man's brows won't be
raised?
Dandies follow her from behind; they drool and
anticipate.
She is a rare beauty in any age!
There's just no comparison.
She wears a long tunic, covering her thighs;
O, she dresses so well, better than anyone else
in the Flowery Flag Nation.
JSGJ I.36b
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169
A man's ambition is to conquer the world.
He cannot let rouge and women bewitch him.
Admiration for the young and beautiful is natural;
so what can he do?
Escape from their tender demands and intimate bonds
is just impossible.
Stranded in the realm of lust,
You've stayed in the paradise of comfort far too
long;
You may have the might to move mountains,
But you must bow to the fragrant curtain that
blocks your way.
JSGJ I.5a
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170
I have seen action in war a hundred million times;
I can move swiftly around battlefronts with habitual
ease.
To destroy enemy troops and behead their general is
a simple, effortless task;
I can go on a rampage, without fear whatsoever.
But, once trapped among flowers—
I am indolent despite my power.
Unable to free myself from the layered curtains
in the kingdom of fragance,
My unusual prowess all becomes ordinary and
unspectacular.
JSGJ I.5b
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171
Once inside the labyrinthian cave,
Even a heroic man would lose his mighty demeanor.
So many brave men are held captive amidst flowers:
Souls and spirits bewitched, unable even to turn.
In a palace of beautiful women,
Can anyone boast of his wisdom and might?
Indulging in the love of flowers, with no caution
or care,
He could not escape this prison cage even if he had the
ability to fly.
JSGJ I.5a
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172
The gorgeous woman is just too much;
Her tender passion is a tigercage prison.
With an army I challenge her, showing her the
weapons.
To my surprise, I am flattened by her soft,
whirling whips.
Soar no more;
A defeated general stranded on a narrow path.
Water flows from the ravine, flooding the grass.
O, how can a powerless man make his escape?
JSGJ.I.5b
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173
Wandering into an array of flowers and wine,*
Spending thousands for the love of flowers,
Flower debts are endless;
It's better to live a straight life, away from flowers:
No more a heart of the flower;**
No more indulgence in flowers;
In flying steps, I leap out of the flower bushes;
Bidding flowers farewell, I make up my mind to
return to farming.
JSGJ I.8b
*An array, literally, a military formation in preparation for battle, here refers to the danger of involving oneself with women.
**“A heart of the flower” is a Cantonese idiom for a fickle and unfaithful lover, usually a man.
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174
I almost ended up begging with a bowl.
What's this talk about having a good time with
women?
My savings are exhausted; what choice is there for me?
How can I even speak of a rendezvous with fragrance?
I'd rather remain as this inept self,
Bearing hunger and enduring thirst.
I am cut off from the wild world of flowers and wine,
Away from ten thousand kinds of crazes and passions.
JSGJ II.25b
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Well fed, warmly clothed; next comes desire and
passion.
Get a woman and shelter her in a gilded mansion.
But I am broke and constantly toiling;
How can I think of loving fragrance and indulging
myself in jade?
Trapped in this impoverished valley—
Bowels twist in sorrow, brows twitch in pain.
To live without pleasure is to be a piece of wood or a
clod of dirt.
Yet, with not even a grain to eat at home, what can
a man do?
JSGJ II.25a
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Nine— Songs of the Young at Heart
In old China, a maledominated, gerontocratic society, a man of advanced age commanded respect, authority, and special privileges. It was acceptable for a man of
wealth and nobility to have more than one wife and common for him to acquire one or more concubines to “entertain” him during his retirement. Moreover, instead of
scandalizing his neighbors, he would be known as “an old man but young at heart” (ren lao fengliu). Of course such a society was extremely unfair to women, as the
latter were not accorded similar privileges. In such a gerontocracy, young women became the means by which “old fools” recaptured their lost youth and reclaimed the
youthful spirit and vitality that was contradicted by their chronological age. Not having a young one beside him would be an admission that an old man's days were
numbered. With her by his side, he might be an old fool, but he was young at heart. He still had energy and vitality of life; chronological age did not matter.
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The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 left many Chinese workers stranded in the United States. They were afraid that if they ever made a short visit to China, new
American immigration regulations would not allow them to return. Thousands upon thousands of those who had come as laborers during the earlier period were sent
back to China, either voluntarily or involuntarily, under the exclusion provisions. For them, leaving the United States meant losing their means of economic survival.
Those who could not afford to go home permanently dared not leave at all. Those who had married before coming to the United States faced prolonged separations
until they earned enough to finance a journey home. But those who had not married faced lifelong bachelorhood. This situation persisted until after the 1906 earthquake
and fire, when some immigrants were able to claim the status of nativeborns, hence obtaining the right to return to the United States. In the late 1890s, there was a
large population of older Chinese men in Chinatown. Unlike their countrymen who settled in the deep South and married outside of their race, these Chinatown men
had few social opportunities. They were the true bachelors of this bachelor society. With their deaths, their generation simply died off.
Some of them finally made sufficient financial gain. Many of these older men decided to go back to China for good, realizing that their only alternative would be to die a
lonely death in the United States. The return of the older Gamsaan haak (Jinshan ke) or “sojourners from Gold Mountain” led to a common nuptial phenomenon in
the Pearl River delta starting in the 1880s. It was commonly known as ga lou long (jia lao lang), meaning “to wed an older groom”—marriage between an
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older returnee and a young woman. Of course, behind this marriage relationship lay an economic incentive, a hefty dowry from the groom to the bride's parents. The
young woman was thus merchandise in exchange. It was not uncommon for a returnee groom to be scores of years older than his bride. This was truly a cynical
version of a young woman marrying for “maturity” and “security.” For the man, such a marriage meant winning a trophy. His long years of hard work abroad had finally
been rewarded by marriage to a young woman. His youthful manhood, much of which was lost in his prolonged stay in America, was reclaimed.
Not much is known about the life of those early bachelors who remained in Chinatown. These vernacular rhymes about the older men's womanizing craze, written in
the early 1910s, are perhaps the only extant pieces of creative writing by members of that generation about themselves. They vividly bring to life the fantasies of these
older men, as they, recognizing that they have lost their youth, desperately try to make up for lost time via the companionship of their young brides.
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176
It's a darn shame just talking about it.
I'm already eighty this year.
For my whole life, I have despised going around to
brothels;
Never once did I make myself a foolish John
among whores.
I must be under a spell;
Why have I become so restless lately?
At this old age, I don't seem to know what to do
with my life;
And now, I am totally taken by the sight of
flowers.
JSGJ I.17a
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177
I've lived more than half of a century.
Only now do I start chasing after skirts.
Dressed like a handsome lad, I take a stroll along the
willow lanes.*
When I spot a lovely face, thoughts whirl in my mind,
Heart throbs.
I must come up with a clever scheme:
If I could only redeem the fair one all for myself;
This old fool would be willing to empty his purse of
silver and gold.
JSGJ I.16b
*“Willow lanes”—brothels.
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178
The pair of mandarin ducks is wrongly matched.*
Their age difference is way too great:
An eightyyearold grandpa, with his eighteen
yearold wife—
Why, why such a nice young lass married to such an
old fellow?
And that long beard of his!
O, you should be ashamed of yourself in front
of the young woman.
I ask you, in the nupital suite, under the bright
wedding candles,
What can become of a rougefaced woman with a
whitehaired man?
JSGJ I.18a
*“Mandarin ducks,” see song 49.
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A rougefaced young woman weds a whitehaired
old man,
What can she do with such a marriage arrangement?
Husband, already many years past sixty;
Wife, barely sixteen, a fine maiden.
Alas, cut out the longwinded fuss!
You, have you had enough fun with women?
In this arranged marriage, she could not put in a word
of her own;
It's a fair bet that compatibility and love were never
once of concern.
JSGJ I.19b
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My head is going completely bald;
I am marrying the charming young one.
This marriage is supposedly my prayers come
true;
Who would expect that she is disgruntled over
my age so advanced?
When we retire to bed,
She always turns her buttocks toward me,
As if she is angry, all the time like this;
O, how can I get her to just compromise and have
some fun?
JSGJ I.19b
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181
I look like a pickled plum
When I marry a woman of willowy charm.
I was late in meeting this fine partner to tie the
lover's knot;
In the nuptial chamber, under bright wedding
candles, she's the very answer to my prayers.
I'm bent as an old pine tree.
In excitement, I turn to her happily.
I'm most afraid that she'll resent my old age.
Inside the hibiscus tent, no negotiation is deemed
necessary.*
JSGJ I.18b
*“Hibiscus tent,” see song 149.
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A shrunken old man am I,
Lucky enough to marry a young and lovely woman.
Don't ever laugh that a man in his late years has no
talent;
The nuptial union under brilliant candlelight is
celebrated in cheer.
Marvelous, isn't it?
A wonderful union consummated tonight.
My hair is white, but my vitality, like spring;
My lips on her rouged face, I love her all the more.
JSGJ I.18b
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183
At first I thought it might not be fun:
An old man paired with a young woman.
It's not exactly a perfect match in the bedroom,
Yet it turns out like fish and water, our brows
beaming in joy!*
As long as we like each other,
Why bother with our age?
Marriage is predestined in a former life;
I tease my young love, born just a bit late.
JSGJ I.18a
*“Fish and water,” see song 130.
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Indeed my age is advanced—
A withered willow tree, but growing new wands.
Like a young lad, wearing a pair of fancy shoes,
I enter the nuptial suite and consummate the
wedding rites.
I am satisfied,
Having a young and beautiful wife.
I pray that Heaven will look upon me with special
favor:
Let me live a hundred years before we part!
JSGJ I.19a
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185
I'm sixty, this autumn.
White hair on my temples, but I am not worried.
I dress in red and green, all fine silk;
When I walk, my body moves like a bending willow.
I indulge in wine,
And seek out a playmate in Laamkung.*
Tipsy, I turn to Seung Ngo and examine her fine
details.**
The clouds and rain atop Wu Mountain are the
wonders of making love.***
JSGJ I.16b
*In a Han dynasty anecdote, and later in popular tales, the talented scholar Sima Xiangru (ca. 179–117 B.C.) and Zhuo Wenjun, the widowed daughter of the rich and powerful
noble Zhuo Wangsun, eloped to Laamkung (Linqiong) to live together without her father's blessing. However, the reference here to Linqiong is to a place of loose women, namely
prostitutes.
** “Seung Ngo,” see song 56.
***“Clouds and rain” and “Wu Mountain,” see song 42.
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186
An old man am I: cranewhite hair, weatherbeaten,
Face wrinkled like a rooster's layered skin.
I am indeed an old crow, but with a desire to linger
around nests of magpies
And to enjoy my last years paired like mandarin ducks
in the wild.*
Like a homeless pigeon I look for a pleasure mate by moonlight.
The gaily dressed orioles and swallows cover up
their mouths to hide their giggles;
Dear ladies, don't you laugh at my white hair!
JSGJ I.16b
*“Mandarin ducks,” see song 49.
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Already senile, still hanging around the north alley,*
Embracing young women and paying for their smiles,
Instantly forgetting his wrinkled skin and cranewhite
hair,
Once bewitched by the charm of foxy women.
Like a starving hawk,
Enjoying the taste of the wild—
Hugging the beautiful one, not ashamed of his
hunched back.
What a lovely sight is an old man, walking cane in
hand, leaning on a young and lovely woman.
JSGJ I.16a
*“North alley” refers to a redlight district.
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188
So, just follow your impulse:
Enjoy the company of a beautiful woman.
With enough money, you can shelter the beauty
in a gilded mansion;
With too much indulgence your back will become
hunched and waist bent.
Obsessed with lust,
Spending nights in the whorehouses much too
often;
Don't you ever worry about your age, a lit candle
in a gusty wind?
You don't know your limits, you just don't!
JSGJ I.16a
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189
I never tire of the lust for women;
At seventy, what do I care about destiny.
Loose with passion, wild with desire, just like
my younger days,
Brothels and whorehouses are places of my mad indulgence.
Am I a crazy old fool?
But I do care if people see me there.
So, I'd rather hide myself amidst beautiful
flowers, look around to my heart's content,
And ask every lovely creature to spend the night
as my companion.
JSGJ I.17b
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190
With this long beard already reaching to my belly,
You wouldn't think I'd be affected by lust or
desire.
But I'm still chasing after fragrant skirts;
Leaning on my cane, bent and bowed, I make love
with women.
A solace to my dire wishes—
The sisters celebrate my longevity with a banquet.
A whitehaired man with blushing young women, all
drink to the Golden Valley,*
O, that's a heavenly life, don't you agree?
JSGJ I.17a
*“Golden Valley” refers to the Golden Valley Villa built by the wealthy Shi Chong (A.D. 249–300) of the Jin dynasty, where Shi entertained his beloved Lüzhu.
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191
Searching for the Peach Blossom Cave,*
This old man asks for directions.
He comes to the kingdom of fragrance and visits
the charming faces;
He entertains himself with clouds and rain among
the flowers.**
Amidst the beautiful bushes,
He teases at will, like a butterfly.
The tender petals, soft and light, emit a heavy
fragrance;
An old man's indulgence is all the more a fanatic
passion.
JSGJ I.16a
*“Peach Blossom Cave” is a utopia. The term originated in the writings of Tao Qian of the Jin dynasty. He depicts it as a secluded community of tranquility and peace. In this
rhyme, however, the term does not carry the original connotation.
**“Clouds and rain,” see song 42.
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Ten— Songs of Prodigals and Addicts
The most unfortunate thing that could happen to an affluent Cantonese family was for its head or his son to become addicted to one of the socalled four vices—that is,
womanizing among prostitutes (piu), compulsive gambling (dou), excessive indulgence in food and drink (yam), and smoking opium (cheui). Every one of these vices,
it was said, would bring ruin to a man and his family—in the form of disease, failing health, loss of wealth and property, sale of wife and children, and so on—and
unless the addict quickly repented, he was doomed. One could avoid such vices by moral cultivation, according to Confucian teachings. Duty and responsibility to
one's family must be placed above one's individual interests. Not only could these vices destroy the man, they could also cause the downfall of his entire family.
It was known even back in China that the skewed social environment of Chinatown encouraged the rampant growth of the four vices. In the late nineteenth
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century, one Cantonese writer, who was surnamed Yee and a native of Sunwui county, wrote the following coupletpoem based on what he had learned about
Chinatown life:
Without a criminal conviction, he was exiled tens
of thousands of miles away;
Married with a husband, she must maintain a life
of widowhood for eighteen years.
To serve the parents,
To take care of wife and children—
One must realize the burden of family obligations;
At a moment of crisis, who can shoulder such a
responsibility?
To take a chance at the faantaan table,
To womanize among prostitutes—
Don't ever say this is the way it is in an overseas
stay;
Once you kick the bucket, it's gone, never to return.
So, be resolute to discipline yourself with virtues;
Be aware of your behavior in the barbarian land.
What kind of man does not entertain himself with the
joys of being with his parents, wife and children?
What kind of man does not ever think of his own
family and the village home?
The Cantonese immigrants were well indoctrinated with the moral teachings that encouraged family responsibility. However, Chinatown's attitude toward these vices,
which were so dramatized in Cantonese folklore, was quite ambivalent. Gambling and womanizing were accepted as necessary evils by a population of desperate men
to whom escapist moments provided a remote hope of becoming rich or fulfilling their physical needs.
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At the same time, the four vices all were regarded as wicked and serious threats to a person's wellbeing. Opium in particular was singled out for attack, since the
Cantonese immigrants' homeland had suffered dearly when the British importers of opium forced open the Chinese market to the drug. Numerous Chinatown
vernacular rhymes ridiculed and cursed opium addicts; none showed any support for the drug, in contrast to their frequent toleration of gambling and womanizing.
In rhymes that exhort addicts to kick their bad habits, the wife plays a prominent role as an advicegiver, particularly in the case of gambling. In the rhymes of wealth
(“Rhapsodies on Gold”), we saw the man express the desire for a concubine once he becomes rich. In these rhymes, the wife appears as wise and virtuous as the
husband's gambling puts the family's finances in jeopardy. The attitude thus seems to be that a man needs a virtuous wife to support him through hard times; but when
times are good, he prefers the companionship of a young woman as a reward for his success—a rather sad commentary indeed on traditional male and female roles.
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192
I have been a bad boy ever since leaving home;
I should never, never have become so.
My parents reproached me in letter after
letter;
I must wake up and repent.
I must take notice of the wide and open road:
A straight avenue without obstacles.
Two years of frugality and hard work will bring
joyous success.
I can then easily turn around and go home in
splendid clothes.
JSGJ I.9b
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193
A young man, lacking common sense;
By mistake, addicted to the four extremes.*
But suddenly he reforms his behavior and goes
straight;
Attribute it to an ancestral blessing.
Knowing what to do,
He redeems more than half of the family's fields
and gardens.
From now on, no more show of a reckless young
spender.
And no more worry about cold and hunger in
later years.
JSGJ I.8a
*“The four extremes” is another term for the four major vices, mentioned in the introduction to this section.
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194
Gold and silver, all wastefully spent;
I look around, but no one appears to be my kin.
Who would take pity on a drifter overseas?
My memory is haunted by past extravagance—I am
ashamed to show my face.
Alone in fright,
What a shabby prime of my life!
I'd better shape up and keep myself in line,
Make a new world for myself and ease my mind.
JSGJ I.8b
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195
My life's half gone, but I'm still unsettled;
I've erred, I'm an expert at whoring and
gambling.
Syphilis almost ended my life.
I turned to friends for a loan, but no one took
pity on me.
Ashamed, frightened—
Now, I must wake up after this long nightmare;
Leap out of this misery and find my paradise.
But others laugh that old habits die hard and I'll
never change.
JSGJ I.9a
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196
Opium is most poisonous:
Ruining families, weakening the race.
Once you are addicted to it, your life is gone to waste;
Before the smoking lamp, you are constantly in a
daze.
O, strike the warning bell—
Shape up, don't be an addict to it anymore!
If you still cannot make this move,
You will sink deep into a bitter sea, and suffer endless
remorse!
JSGJ I.1b
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197
Shoulders, hunched up past his ears;
Haggard and thin, a body wrapped with a layer of
skin.
No trace of an heroic air,
Only a withered and withdrawn look, just despicable.
His spirit is flat
As if he's about to drop dead.
He lazes away instead of taking care of the thousand
matters piled up in front of him;
All that knowledge and all those ideas, abandoned.
JSGJ II.49b
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198
Holding the bamboo pipe in his hands,
Paying tribute to the whitehaired clans,
He pawns away his shirts and trousers, but it's still
not enough;
So, he gives up his land and garden, and sells the
family mansion.
All for this poisonous addiction.
Wife and children cry, day and night.
O, turn back before it's too late for the happiness
that might lie ahead of you!
Otherwise, a piece of wood is smarter than you!
JSGJ I.2b
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199
For five measly milligrams, he argues and weighs;
Then he lies down sidewise, feet curled up like a
shrimp,
With his bamboo pipe over a lamp lit next to his
head.
His face, like a bird's; his body, like an insect's;
His eyelids, in constant recess.
Outside the house, he fears the sweeping wind;
Not only will his wife and children suffer from
cold and hunger,
He will drop dead before King Yimlo calls his
number.*
JSGJ 1.1b
*King Yimlo (Yanluo Wang), the ruler of the underworld in popular Chinese mythology, keeps a registry of deeds on all the mortals. The soul of the deceased must appear before
his court. King Yimlo's verdict on the deceased's deeds in the mortal world, as recorded in the registry, will determine the fate of the soul—to be punished or rewarded, to be
reincarnated into either animal or human life, etc.
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200
The filthy poison brings you ruin:
It drains away life's very essence.
It makes your head look like a dead man's,
and your face, too.
And your shrugged shoulders, hunched back,
with your waist bent.
You are a goodfornothing,
A nightmare in your family's geomantic display.*
Your family fortune, all gone up in smoke,
What can you live on?
You will suffer pain, cold, and hunger in your
old age!
JSGJ I.1a
*In popular Cantonese belief, geomantic considerations affect the fortunes of all family members. Thus, sites for building construction or burial are seriously regarded so that a
decision will not jeopardize the family fortune. Cf. song 193.
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201
The taxed gum is actually a poison.*
Don't ever take it as some kind of elixir pill.
Get away from it, otherwise misfortune will
come:
Home ruined, property lost, and relatives all in
shame.
Humiliation will haunt you all your life.
So, why not turn back now?
Look, a longtime addiction will wither your ability
to sire;
Your wife will cry and cry, with much complaint!
JSGJI.1b
*The import of opium was taxed before it was banned altogether by the U.S. government in 1909.
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202
The taxed gum is a tremendous burden:*
Once addicted to it, it does you in:
Pockets empty, clothes ragged,
Furniture pawned, children sold . . .
All for smoking opium.
Indulgence shows no concern for the future:
Talent and abilities all go down the gutter.
No way to escape from it, even if you put on
wings!
JSGJI.1a
*“Taxed gum,” see song 201.
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203
Face haggard, turning yellow and puffy,
Waist, bent like a drawn bow.
Lying on his side next to a small lit lamp,
He holds the pipe as his family fortune goes
down its hole.
Look at him:
Soon he will be six feet underground.
Lazy, remiss, he won't move even if you drag
him.
He's about to meet King Yimlo at Hell's tenth
palace.*
JSGJ II.48b
*According to Chinese popular belief, hell has eighteen “palaces” where the dead person's mortal deeds are reviewed. The eighteenth palace hands out the most severe
punishments. King Yimlo, see song 199.
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204
The aroma of taxed gum, a fragrance appealing
to the nostrils.*
A puff of it surely livens up the soul.
But once you're addicted, your face becomes
a layer of black skin;
Take it often, and your shoulders become shrugged
and thin.
You're held captive by this devil—
Organs ruined by opium poison.
It retails for over thirty dollars a tin can;
Kick the habit and don't ever hesitate, my dear
friend.
JSGJ II.49b
*“Taxed gum,” see song 201.
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205
I plead with you, Husband, have some selfcontrol:
Don't ever go to a place to gamble.
Faantaan is the worst, driving a person to poverty;
And keep away from paaigau and bullfights, too.
Hurry and wake up—
Please listen to your wife's remonstrations.
If you are still fanatic about this, like a dreamer,
Everything—our house and fields—will all become
nothing.
JSGJ II.7a
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206
I am holding several beans,*
Husband, can you guess how many there are
exactly?
Even a great man, once into the game, will
lower his head in defeat;
A rare lucky moment might yield a winner or
two:
But if you knock on lady luck's door too often;
If you bet on one slot, take your chances on the other
three,
You will lose all your gold and silver, and be left
emptyhanded.
I pray, dear man, don't ever fancy this game again!
JSGJ II.7a
* In an improvised faantaan game, beans are used instead of coins as the game apparatus. See introduction (“Chinatown Low Life” section) for a description of the game.
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207
Greed never makes wishes come true,
I've been losing for more than three years straight.
For all this, tears flood my wife's eyes.
Ashamed, how can I ever face her again?
I must reform right away;
I must correct my mistakes, change for the better.
My wishful thinking in the past has truly brought
me humiliation;
From now on, to all my wife's words I must
faithfully listen.
JSGJ II.6b
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208
She's truly a wonderful wife,
Always around to point out my errors.
When I lose money in a game of chance, whom
can I blame?
As I think of it, I'm afraid it's all my fault.
I've made mistakes.
From now on, my dear mate,
I won't enter any house of chance again or cause
any more trouble;
We may be poor, but no more of this suffering
and struggle.
JSGJ II.6b
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Eleven— Songs of the Hundred Men's Wife
Many outstanding Chinese literary works have movingly depicted the romance between a young scholar and a prostitute. The woman is inevitably beautiful, virtuous,
talented in the arts and music, and sometimes also in literature, all of which makes her a perfect companion for the scholar. Usually the affair concludes in tragedy, as
societal attitudes toward prostitutes prevent a happy union between the two. Although sympathy was frequently expressed toward the woman, prostitution was also
strongly condemned by Confucian morality, which held that such indulgence would only lead to a life of poverty, humiliation, and moral decadence. The fine line
between acceptance and condemnation of prostitution was based on a judgment of intent: was it love or lust? A distinction was also made between “highclass” and
“lowclass” prostitutes. The former, euphemistically called “courtesans,” were trained to entertain elite patrons; the latter offered “no frills” service.
Prostitution was a social institution in old China. In
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the Pearl River delta during the late nineteenth century, brothels were seen in many urban centers as international trade brought affluence to some segments of the
population. Young men were constantly exhorted to avoid prostitutes, and venereal diseases became a major concern.
The Cantonese were extremely cynical in the terminology they used for prostitutes. They called these women lougeui, meaning “always holding [her legs] up.” A
brothel was called lougeui jaai, meaning “lougeui camp.” A name that was more reserved, but equally insulting, was baak haak chai, “hundred men's wife.” Actually,
the term “hundred men's wife” reflected the chauvinistic attitude of Cantonese men toward such women.
Prostitution was a necessity in the early history of the state of California, as we have seen. It satisfied the needs of the “married but single” Chinese men who were
recruited to work in the West. Some Caucasian politicians and local newspapers even advocated allowing Chinese prostitutes, rather than wives, to immigrate, so that
the status quo could be maintained and a massive Asian settlement could be avoided. Chinese prostitutes would also act as an effective deterrent to Chinese men's
going to white prostitutes, and would thus maintain socalled Caucasian racial purity. Hence, prostitution thrived in Chinatown's bachelor society.
In the early days, some Chinese women came voluntarily to work as prostitutes, regarding prostitution as a way to earn a living without much capital investment. Later,
however, as criminal elements in the community took control of this profitable venture it became a major vice. Women were sold, kidnapped, tricked, and forced
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into the profession. As mentioned in the general introduction, these women lived a most inhumane existence in Chinatown. Chinatown's community newspapers
frequently reported on the escapes of young prostitutes. They covered Tong wars over territorial disputes or over the right of ownership of a prostitute, and told of
Donaldina Cameron's numerous rescues of “slave girls” from houses of ill repute and the halfway house where these women were rehabilitated before returning to a
normal life. Numerous editorials and other writings called for action against this vice in Chinatown. Both the prostitutes and their customers were satirized and ridiculed.
However, these efforts failed to eradicate prostitution so long as racism prevented the majority of Chinese men from having a normal family life in the United States.
In my research I came across a news item in the 1908 Chung Sai Yat Po that tells of an older prostitute named Ah Gam (“Goldie”), who was rescued and placed in
the halfway house. Several days later, there was further news of Goldie. She had been found insane and diseased, her eyesight failing and her skin rotting away. She
could not stay at the halfway house but was sent to a mental institution at Napa, California. The headline read: “An End to the Life of Another Prostitute.” Nothing ever
appeared about her again.
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209
What a streetwalking broad:
All dolled up like a charming young lass,
Like a nativeborn from Canada,
Loitering on the streets day and night.
I follow her from behind,
Thinking she might be something nice.
Quickly I walk up to take a good look:
O, my, is she a wilted flower!
JSGJ II.19a
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210
Yes, it tickles my funny bone to tell you:
The fashion now is Western.
We in this business of pleasing men must keep
up with the trend.
Our dresses must be new and in style.
Even if we have to sell and pawn,
We'll buy all the clothes we want.
Doll ourselves up like beautiful Americanborns;
Surely the men will find us very pleasant.
JSGJ II.19a
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211
Trying to line up funloving johns,
They've changed their clothing styles.
Now they wear heels in whorehouses
Like the fad among school girls,
As if there's no longer a difference between the two.
Still, their skin and flesh are for hire.
If they don't follow the trends, people will be
bored
And they might as well close up shop and take
down their signs.
JSGJ II.18a
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212
The whore has changed her appearance:
Now she looks just like a cute young lass.
Her look and her attire are indeed impressive;
Her behavior no longer reveals her lowly identity.
She leads her john by the hand;
Together they go out to eat at a restaurant.
Everyone marvels at her beauty and her social graces;
Who dares to say she is just a prostitute by trade!
JSGJ II.18a
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213
The john looks smart and swell;
The whore finds him to her liking.
Bound together by clouds and rain, they are
inseparable;*
She wants to sleep with him, so she even pays his
bills.
What a fanatic indulgence in passion!
All for a young man with a handsome face.
She loves him from the very bottom of her heart;
For her, not even gold is more precious than a good
young man.
JSGJ II.24a
*“Clouds and rain,” see song 42.
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214
The visitor is truly a handsome young man;
A prostitute sizes him up out of the corner of her
eye.
The look of a rich young lad, a most pleasing
sight;
Right away, she sends him her regards through the
talking wire.*
In her soft and sensuous voice,
She invites him to drop by.
He is a passionate soul indeed, and slick.
She lets him have his way, and doesn't want to pull up
her panties for even a short while.
JSGJ II.23b
*“The talking wire”—the telephone.
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215
Born with a fine and gentle air,
Predestined in life to be intimate with women.
Young and handsome, he's perfect, without a
flaw;
O, what prostitute won't want to have some
fun with him?
Passionately loving him,
Emotions bound like lacquer and glue.*
The pimp hears about this, and scolds and beats
her up.
She runs off and sneaks back to China with her
lover.
JSGJ II.23b
*“Lacquer and glue,” see song 44.
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216
A word of advice for you, dear peipa girl:*
Best to find a good man and get hitched to him.
Get out of this business while there's still time to
reach paradise;
The gaiety of pleasure houses in the past, where
is it now?
You want respect, don't you?
Then, shack up together and hope for a son.
In a blink, a flower will wither and then no man will
care;
Who in this world wants to pluck a wilted plum
branch?
JSGJ II.28b
*“Peipa girl,” see song 131.
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217
A green mansion is a place of filth and shame,*
Of lost chastity and lost virtue.
Most repulsive is it to kiss the customers on the
lips
And let them fondle every part of my body.
I hesitate, I resist;
All the more ashamed, beyond words.
I must by all means leave this troupe of flowers
and rouge;
Find a nice man and follow him as his woman.
JSGJ I.21a
*A “green mansion” is a brothel.
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218
Hitching up with a nice young man—
This whore sure has good vision.
Suddenly she quits her profession and her prayers
are answered;
Rids herself of the infamous label and becomes his
second wife.
It's a big deal for her:
She wanders the streets no more.
Now she retires to learn the manners of a family
woman;
She's spared from being flesh and skin for hire.
JSGJ I.21b
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219
Prostitution ruins the body most harmfully.
Come ashore, the sooner the better.
My advice is to get hitched to a man, and don't
ever forget, dear young lass:
It's no shame to have a decent meal with plain tea.
All in all—
You'd also gain a husband.
We've all witnessed the frequent raids of brothels
in the Golden Gate;
You need not worry about these roughnecks once
you live with a man.
JSGJ I.27b
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Page 322
220
The sufferings in a Cheun tower are unbearable.*
To leave it is to be spared from sorrow.
To be a prostitute is to be dirt cheap, and worse.
Today, happily, I've met a fine young man.
I vow to eternity;
I will withstand even poverty.
The domestic life may lack the luster of the gay
quarters;
But it's far better than living in a green mansion
as a hundred men's wife!**
JSGJ II.21a
*“Cheun (Qin) tower” is a brothel.
**“Green mansion,” see song 217.
EBSCOhost - printed on 2/23/2021 12:43 AM via SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIV. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use
- Songs of Gold Mountain
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Translator's Note
- An Introduction to Cantonese Vernacular Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown
- Early Chinatown: A Historical Overview
- Establishing the Oldest American Chinatown
- Literary Depictions of Chinatown Life
- Chinatown Low Life— The Three Vices.
- Chinatown High Life— A Literary Pride
- Cantonese Folk Literature about the American Experience The American Sojourn as Seen From Guangdong
- Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown
- One— Immigration Blues
- Two— Lamentations of Stranded Sojourners
- Three— Lamentations of Estranged Wives
- Four— Nostalgic Blues
- Five— Rhapsodies on Gold
- Six— Songs of Western Influence and the American-borns.
- Seven— Nuptial Rhapsodies
- Eight— Ballads of the Libertines
- Nine— Songs of the Young at Heart
- Ten— Songs of Prodigals and Addicts
- Eleven— Songs of the Hundred Men's Wife
