History of the Chinese Americans in Los Angeles
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Historically there has been a population of Chinese Americans in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
and the
Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino C ...
. As of 2010, there were 393,488 Chinese Americans in Los Angeles County, 4.0% of the county's population, and 66,782 Chinese Americans in the city of Los Angeles (1.8% of the total population).


History

The historian William Mason stated that the first Chinese in Los Angeles were Ah Luce and Ah Fou, who arrived in 1850. In his memoirs, Harris Newmark stated that the first Chinese person was the servant of his uncle, Joseph Newmark. The
Chinese massacre of 1871 The Los Angeles Chinese massacre of 1871 was a racial massacre targeting Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles, California, United States that occurred on October 24, 1871. Approximately 500 white and Hispanic Americans attacked, harassed, robbe ...
was a racially motivated riot which occurred on October 24, 1871 in Los Angeles, when a mob of around 500 white men entered Chinatown to attack, rob, and murder Chinese residents of the city. An estimated 17 to 20 Chinese immigrants were systematically tortured and then
hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
by the mob, making the event the largest mass lynching in American history. By 1900, there were about 3,000 Chinese in the city. Most residents of the old Chinatown came from
Sanyi Sanyi () or Nanpanshun (), also known by Cantonese romanizations such as Sam Yup and Nam Pun Shun, refers to the three districts (former counties) of Nanhai, Panyu and Shunde surrounding Guangzhou and Foshan in Guangdong, China. Geography The ...
(San Yup) and
Siyi The Siyi (Seiyap or Sze Yup in Cantonese; ) refers to the four former counties of Xinhui (Sunwui), Taishan (Toisan), Kaiping (Hoiping) and Enping (Yanping) on the west side of the Pearl River Delta in Southern Guangdong Province, China. Geogra ...
(Sze Yup) in
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
. The Old Chinatown began to decline as more Chinese left. The
Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California, and the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States. It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacing La Grande St ...
, built in 1933, was built over much of the former Old Chinatown, so a new Chinatown was established after Peter SooHoo Sr. and Herbert Lapham, an agent for the
Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
, negotiated a land purchase for what would become the new Chinatown.Cho and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, ''Chinatown in Los Angeles'', p
7
Christine Sterling, a civic leader, developed "China City," a tourist attraction which opened in 1938. Chinese working there also lived there. After two fires, "China City" decayed and was gone by the 1950s. To make way for the
Hollywood Freeway The Hollywood Freeway is one of the principal freeways of Los Angeles, California (the boundaries of which it does not leave) and one of the busiest in the United States. It is the principal route through the Cahuenga Pass, the primary shortcut ...
, almost all of the remainder of old Chinatown was destroyed in 1951. The remaining portions were parts of Sanchez Alley and Garnier Block.Cho and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, ''Chinatown in Los Angeles'', p
8
More Chinese, especially those from
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, immigrated to Los Angeles after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Cellar Act) passed. By the end of the 20th Century many Chinese began moving to suburbs such as Monterey Park, Alhambra, Arcadia, and Rosemead. By 2013, large numbers of ethnic Chinese moved into communities in the San Gabriel Valley, including San Gabriel,
San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
, and
Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
. The
2015 Rowland Heights, California bullying incident In March 2015, two incidents of bullying and assaults occurred in Rowland Heights, California, with Chinese nationals as the perpetrators." Details On March 28, 2015, two Chinese nationals assaulted a 16-year-old girl at a restaurant and a park in ...
involved Chinese nationals living in the Los Angeles area.


Geography

The San Gabriel Valley has a large Chinese population. Much of the Chinese immigrants are from Taiwan and Hong Kong. The population is concentrated in the cities of Monterey Park and Alhambra.


Institutions

The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California is located in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California.


Language

Previously
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
was a major spoken language among the Los Angeles area Chinese. By 2022
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
was becoming more dominant.


Recreation

The
Chinese American Museum The Chinese American Museum (Chinese: 華美 博物館; abbreviated CAM) is a museum located in Downtown Los Angeles as a part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. It is dedicated to the history and experience of Chinese America ...
is located in Downtown Los Angeles.


Education

As of 2006 most of the Greater Los Angeles Chinese supplementary educational schools are located in Chinese communities, serving mostly ethnic Chinese, in the San Gabriel Valley. The ethnic Chinese students come from various ethnic Chinese backgrounds. The weekend schools have a tendency of attracting clientele from wider areas while daily programs have a tendency of attracting nearby students.Zhou, Min and Kim, Susan S. (
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
).
Community forces, social capital, and educational achievement: The case of supplementary education in the Chinese and Korean immigrant communities

Archive
. ''
Harvard Educational Review The ''Harvard Educational Review'' is an academic journal of opinion and research dealing with education, associated with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and published by the Harvard Education Publishing Group. The journal was established ...
'', 2006. 76 (1), 1-29. Cited page: 10
As of 1993 Saturday morning Chinese language programs in the San Gabriel Valley had about 10,000 Chinese American children as students. That year Chinese schools held classes in four Rowland Unified School District elementary school campuses.Li, Tommy.
Hanging on to Heritage : Saturday-Morning Chinese Schools Are Teaching Language and Culture
" ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''. June 3, 1993. Retrieved on March 8, 2015.
As of 2006, the ''Southern California Chinese Consumer Yellow Pages'' had a listing of such institutes, stating that there were 135 academic after school tutoring establishments, with '' buxibans'' among them. The same directory listed 90 Chinese language schools, 90 dancing and music schools, and 50 art centers and schools. The weekend Chinese schools, in addition to Saturday classes, also held classes on summer weekdays and in after-school periods on other weekdays. As of 1993 the yearly tuition of a weekend Chinese school for children ranged $200 to $300 (with inflation accounted for, $ to $) per person. Classes were generally held from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Some public schools in the San Gabriel Valley distributed foreign language credits to students of Chinese schools.


Chinese schools

11 Los Angeles area Chinese weekend schools in Los Angeles County co-founded the Southern California Council of Chinese Schools in 1976. In 1993 this council operated Chinese schools in California and Arizona, and that year almost all of the San Gabriel Valley Chinese schools belonged to this council. The
Hacienda Heights Hacienda Heights () is an unincorporated suburban community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the community had a total population of 54,038, up from 53,122 at the 2000 census. For statistical purposes, the ...
Area Chinese School, which opened in 1982, initially held classes in a church and had about 100 students. In 1984 it moved to Dibble Adult School. In 1990 it began holding classes at Cedarlane Junior High School due to an expanding student body. As of 1993 it had about 550 students. Michael Chen co-founded the Ming Yuan Institute, held at St. Steven's Catholic School in Monterey Park, in 1987. As of 1993 the school had 750 students in its main Saturday program in Monterey Park and 50 students at a branch campus in
Rowland Heights Rowland Heights is an unincorporated area in and below the Puente Hills in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 48,231 at the 2020 census. Rowland Heights is in the Los Angeles metropol ...
. The San Fernando Valley Chinese School was founded in 1971 and had sponsorship from the San Fernando Valley Chinese Cultural Association. As of 1988 it holds its classes in Andasol Elementary School in Northridge.Lingre, Michele. "Early Linguists : Private Foreign-Language Schools Give Bilingual Education a New Twist." ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''. April 28, 1988. p
2
Retrieved on June 29, 2015.


Notable people

*
Lanhee Chen Lanhee Joseph Chen (; ; born July 4, 1978) is an American policy advisor, attorney, and academic. Chen serves as the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution, director of domestic policy studies and ...
*
Judy Chu Judy May Chu (born July 7, 1953) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she has held a seat in Congress since 2009, representing until redistricting. Chu is the first Chin ...
*
Helen Liu Fong Helen Liu Fong (January 14, 1927April 17, 2005) was a Chinese-American architect and interior designer from Los Angeles, California. Fong was an important figure in the Googie architecture movement, designing futuristic buildings like Norms Res ...
*
Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time ...
*
Ted Lieu Ted W. Lieu (; born March 29, 1969) is an American politician and Air Force Reserve Command colonel who has represented California's 33rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015. The district includes much of wes ...


References


Citations


Sources

* Cho, Jenny and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. ''Chinatown in Los Angeles''.
Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publ ...
, 2009. , . * Estrada, William David. ''The Los Angeles Plaza: Sacred and Contested Space''.
University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texan ...
, February 17, 2009. , . * Cho, Jenny and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California. ''Chinatown and China City in Los Angeles'' (Postcard History).
Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publ ...
, 2011. , . * * Louis, Kit-King. ''A Study of American-born and American-reared Chinese in Los Angeles''.
University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...
, 1931. * Li, Wei (Department of Geography,
University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
).
Anatomy of a New Ethnic Settlement: The Chinese Ethnoburb in Los Angeles
" ''
Urban Studies Urban studies is based on the study of the urban development of cities. This includes studying the history of city development from an architectural point of view, to the impact of urban design on community development efforts. The core theoretica ...
''.
SAGE Journals SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California. It publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books ...
, March 1998 vol. 35 no. 3. 479–501. doi: 10.1080/0042098984871 . * Zesch, Scott. ''The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871''.
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, June 29, 2012. , . * Wu, Frances Yu-tsing. ''Mandarin-speaking Aged Chinese in the Los Angeles Area: Needs and Services''.


External links


Los Angeles Lee Family Association
{{Authority control
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
Chinese-American history