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158-596: In San Francisco's Chinatown district, the Tong Wars lasted until 1921, with the various criminal Tongs estimated between nineteen and as many as thirty at the peak of the conflict, though the actual number is uncertain, with frequent splintering and mergers between the various Tongs. While a loose alliance, consisting of the Chinatown police, Donaldina Cameron , the courts, and the Chinese community itself tried to stem

316-445: A pocketknife ; there are kitchen knives for preparing foods (the chef's knife , the paring knife, bread knife , cleaver ), table knife ( butter knives and steak knives ), weapons ( daggers or switchblades ), knives for throwing or juggling, and knives for religious ceremony or display (the kirpan ). A modern knife consists of: The blade edge can be plain or serrated , or a combination of both. Single-edged knives may have

474-399: A reverse edge or false edge occupying a section of the spine. These edges are usually serrated and are used to further enhance function. The handle, used to grip and manipulate the blade safely, may include a tang , a portion of the blade that extends into the handle. Knives are made with partial tangs (extending part way into the handle, known as "stick tangs") or full tangs (extending

632-451: A tantō , a common Japanese knife. An athame , a ceremonial knife, is used in Wicca and derived forms of neopagan witchcraft. In Greece , a black-handled knife placed under the pillow is used to keep away nightmares. As early as 1646 reference is made to a superstition of laying a knife across another piece of cutlery being a sign of witchcraft . A common belief is that if a knife

790-406: A cradle, to protect the baby; knives were included in some Anglo-Saxon burial rites, so the dead would not be defenseless in the next world. The knife plays an important role in some initiation rites, and many cultures perform rituals with a variety of knives, including the ceremonial sacrifices of animals. Samurai warriors, as part of bushido , could perform ritual suicide, or seppuku , with

948-420: A hatchet, as they would cut much of the handle off just enough to have a good grip, and cut a hole into it. The hatchet men were also known to use many different materials as body armor , with varying success. San Francisco's Chinatown prior to the Tong Wars of the 1880s was relatively peaceful. Chinatown's boundaries ran from Broadway, California, Kearny, and Stockton Streets with about a dozen blocks making up

1106-453: A layered structure, combining the attributes of both. For example, a harder, more brittle steel may be pressed between an outer layer of softer, tougher, stainless steel to reduce vulnerability to corrosion. In this case, however, the part most affected by corrosion, the edge, is still vulnerable. Damascus steel is a form of pattern welding with similarities to laminate construction. Layers of different steel types are welded together, but then

1264-552: A member of their tong as well. These forces, consisting of a militant style police force, Donaldina Cameron , and a Chinese community finally united against the tongs along with the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that brought the end of the tongs and the Tong Wars. Legislation was passed enforcing stricter control of the opium dens and brothels in the 1890s were a factor as well. The Presbyterian and Methodist Missions, led by Donaldina Cameron, had saved at least eighteen slave girls. The Chinese Consul General, Ho Yow, repeatedly attacked

1422-656: A missionary in Canton, came to work with the Chinese immigrants in San Francisco. In November 1853 he organized the first Chinese mission in the United States, which provided much needed medical aid and conducted day and night schools that taught English to Chinese immigrants. He also published a Chinese/English newspaper, the Oriental , which staunchly defended the Chinese as anti-Chinese sentiment began to grow in

1580-557: A number of different materials, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. Handles are produced in a wide variety of shapes and styles. Handles are often textured to enhance grip. More exotic materials usually only seen on art or ceremonial knives include: Stone, bone, mammoth tooth, mammoth ivory, oosik (walrus penis bone), walrus tusk, antler (often called stag in a knife context), sheep horn, buffalo horn, teeth, and mop (mother of pearl or "pearl"). Many materials have been employed in knife handles. Handles may be adapted to accommodate

1738-463: A place of vice caused it to become a tourist destination, attracting numerous working-class white people, who sought the oriental mystery of Chinese culture and sought to fulfill their expectations and fantasies about the filth and depravity. The white customers' patronization of Chinatown prostitutes was more extensive than gambling. After catering for three decades to white people as well as Chinese bachelors, Chinatown's prostitution sector developed into

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1896-409: A post office, and other infrastructure. Recent immigrants, many of whom are elderly, opt to live in Chinatown because of the availability of affordable housing and their familiarity with the culture. Due to a combination of factors, some more broad-based related to difficult circumstances for San Francisco itself, while other factors are more specific to this neighborhood, San Francisco's Chinatown faces

2054-414: A powerful vested interest, favoring the vice industry. As the tourist industry grew up, the visitors came to include members of the white middle class, which pushed the vice businesses to transform into an entertainment industry as a more respectable form in which to serve white customers. After the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, San Francisco saw the birth of its tourism industry. By

2212-492: A progressive city like San Francisco should feel compelled to tolerate in its midst a foreign community, perpetuated in filth, for the curiosity of tourists, the cupidity of lawyers and the adoration of artists. Dr. Williamson, Annual Report to the Board of Health (quoted in 1901) In March 1900, a Chinese-born man who was a long-time resident of Chinatown was found dead of bubonic plague . The next morning, all of Chinatown

2370-575: A separate Vietnamese enclave on Larkin Street in the heavily working-class Tenderloin district of San Francisco, where it is now known as the city's " Little Saigon ". San Francisco's Chinatown was the port of entry for early Chinese immigrants from the west side of the Pearl River Delta , speaking mainly Hoisanese and Zhongshanese , in the Guangdong province of southern China from

2528-427: A sharp edge for years with no maintenance at all, but are fragile and will break if dropped on a hard surface or twisted in use. They can only be sharpened on silicon carbide sandpaper and appropriate grinding wheels. Plastic blades are not sharp and are usually serrated to enable them to cut. They are often disposable. Steel blades are commonly shaped by forging or stock removal. Forged blades are made by heating

2686-445: A single piece of steel, then shaping the metal while hot using a hammer or press. Stock removal blades are shaped by grinding and removing metal. With both methods, after shaping, the steel must be heat treated . This involves heating the steel above its critical point, then quenching the blade to harden it. After hardening, the blade is tempered to remove stresses and make the blade tougher. Mass manufactured kitchen cutlery uses both

2844-427: A small amount of carbon. It is not able to take quite as sharp an edge as carbon steel, but is highly resistant to corrosion. High carbon stainless steel is stainless steel with a higher amount of carbon, intended to incorporate the better attributes of carbon steel and stainless steel. High carbon stainless steel blades do not discolor or stain, and maintain a sharp edge. Laminated blades use multiple metals to create

3002-420: A specific clan, birthplace, or economic status, since tong members seem to have come from all different aspects of society. Also, while most tong members were Chinese, membership was not limited on the basis of nationality. Japanese, Filipino, and even Caucasians were known, albeit rarely, to join a tong organization. All tongs had harmless and peaceful sounding names, such as The Society of Pure Upright Spirits and

3160-416: A struggle for survival. Officially, Chinatown is located in downtown San Francisco, covers 24 square blocks, and overlaps five postal ZIP codes (94108, 94133, 94111, 94102, and 94109). It is within an area of roughly 1 ⁄ 2  mi (0.80 km) long (north to south) by 1 ⁄ 4  mi (0.40 km) wide (east to west) with the current boundaries being, approximately, Kearny Street in

3318-601: A stud, hole, disk, or flipper located on the blade, all of which have the benefit of allowing the user to open the knife with one hand. The "wave" feature is another prominent design, which uses a part of the blade that protrudes outward to catch on one's pocket as it is drawn, thus opening the blade; this was patented by Ernest Emerson and is not only used on many of the Emerson knives, but also on knives produced by several other manufacturers, notably Spyderco and Cold Steel . Automatic or switchblade knives open using

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3476-442: A tax of forty cents per prostitute upon their importation to the country and two cents per week from each slave-girl after that. It is quite understandable how the prostitution business was so profitable by the mere overview of the Chinese population throughout the period, with 30,360 males and only 1,385 females (with perhaps as much as 50% of the women being prostitutes) in the Chinatown in 1884. There were also minor cash markets in

3634-412: A utility tool the knife can take many forms, including: The knife plays a significant role in some cultures through ritual and superstition , as the knife was an essential tool for survival since early man. Knife symbols can be found in various cultures to symbolize all stages of life; for example, a knife placed under the bed while giving birth is said to ease the pain, or, stuck into the headboard of

3792-472: A wavy, scalloped or saw-like blade. Serrated blades are more well suited for tasks that require aggressive 'sawing' motions, whereas plain edge blades are better suited for tasks that require push-through cuts (e.g., shaving, chopping, slicing). Many knives have holes in the blade for various uses. Holes are commonly drilled in blades to reduce friction while cutting, increase single-handed usability of pocket knives, and, for butchers' knives, allow hanging out of

3950-541: A whole and to the city government. The state legislature of California passed several measures to restrict the rights of Chinese immigrants, but these were largely superseded by the terms of the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. In 1880, the Burlingame Treaty was renegotiated and the United States ratified the Angell Treaty , which allowed federal restrictions on Chinese immigration and temporarily suspended

4108-589: Is Grant Avenue , with the Dragon Gate ("Chinatown Gate" on some maps) at the intersection of Bush Street and Grant Avenue, designed by landscape architects Melvin Lee and Joseph Yee and architect Clayton Lee; Saint Mary's Square with a statue of Sun Yat-sen by Benjamin Bufano ; a war memorial to Chinese war veterans; and stores, restaurants and mini-malls that cater mainly to tourists. The other, Stockton Street ,

4266-465: Is also the oldest and largest of the four notable Chinese enclaves within San Francisco . Since its establishment in the early 1850s, it has been important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America. Chinatown is an enclave that has retained its own customs, languages , places of worship , social clubs , and identity. The Chinatown district

4424-435: Is an OTF (out-the-front) switchblade, which only requires the push of a button or spring to cause the blade to slide out of the handle and lock into place. To retract the blade back into the handle, a release lever or button, usually the same control as to open, is pressed. A very common form of sliding knife is the sliding utility knife (commonly known as a stanley knife or boxcutter). The handles of knives can be made from

4582-418: Is at present, cannot be rendered sanitary except by total obliteration. It should be depopulated, its buildings leveled by fire and its tunnels and cellars laid bare. Its occupants should be colonized on some distant portion of the peninsula, where every building should be constructed under strict municipal regulation and where every violation of the sanitary laws could be at once detected. The day has passed when

4740-402: Is frequented less often by tourists, and it presents an authentic Chinese look and feel reminiscent of Hong Kong , with its produce and fish markets, stores, and restaurants. It is dominated by mixed-use buildings that are three to four stories high, with shops on the ground floor and residential apartments upstairs. A major focal point in Chinatown is Portsmouth Square . Since it is one of

4898-679: Is primarily Cantonese and Taishanese -speaking, both dialects originating in southern China. Most Chinatown residents have origins in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong ; albeit there are some Mandarin -speaking residents from Taiwan and central and Northern China, but lesser in comparison to Cantonese-speaking people, despite Cantonese being a minority language amongst people in China and ethnically Chinese people in Asia. There are two hospitals, several parks and squares, numerous churches,

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5056-466: Is transferred from the hook on the blade's tang to the hook on the rocker bar and thence to the small rocker pin. Excessive stress can shear one or both of these hooks rendering the knife effectively useless. Knife company Cold Steel uses a variant of the lock back called the Tri-Ad Lock which introduces a pin in front of the rocker bar to relieve stress on the rocker pin, has an elongated hole around

5214-412: Is used to mechanically strengthen the knife. Knife blades can be manufactured from a variety of materials, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. Carbon steel , an alloy of iron and carbon , can be very sharp. It holds its edge well, and remains easy to sharpen, but is vulnerable to rust and stains. Stainless steel is an alloy of iron, chromium , possibly nickel , and molybdenum , with only

5372-598: The California Gold Rush , and purportedly the first Chinese prostitute in San Francisco. Arriving from Hong Kong in 1848, she became the best-known Asian woman in the American frontier . When Ah Toy left China for the United States , she originally traveled with her husband, who died during the voyage. Toy became the mistress of the ship's captain, who showered gold upon her, so much so that by

5530-525: The Committee of Fifty and, within a week of the end of the Great Fire, on Saturday, April 27, 1906, formed an additional Subcommittee on Relocating the Chinese, because he felt the land was too valuable for Chinese. Opposition arose, however, from politicians who feared that the removal of the Chinese would affect San Francisco's lucrative trade with Asian countries. Moreover, the government of China

5688-729: The Geary Act passed as it was the one true occasion when the Companies pressured the whole community to protest it by not registering, as well as donating a dollar each for the employment of lawyers to fight for their rights. The leader of the opposition to the Geary Act was Chun Ti Chu, and when the Six Companies lost the battle against the Act and many U.S. officials pointed out that the Six Companies had informed their members to violate

5846-580: The San Francisco Bay Area , especially in Silicon Valley , such as Cupertino , Fremont , and Milpitas , where many Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese Americans settled. Despite these developments, many continue to commute in from these outer neighborhoods and cities to shop in Chinatown, causing gridlock on roads and delays in public transit, especially on weekends. To address this problem, the local public transit agency, Muni extended

6004-487: The San Francisco Planning Department , Chinatown is "the most densely populated urban area west of Manhattan ", with 15,000 residents living in 20 square blocks . In the 1970s, the population density in Chinatown was seven times the San Francisco average. During the time from 2009 to 2013, the median household income was $ 20,000 – compared to $ 76,000 citywide – with 29% of residents below

6162-713: The Tin How Temple (Queen of Heaven and Goddess of the Seven Seas) on Waverly Place is the oldest Chinese temple in the United States. It is dedicated to the goddess Tin How or Mazu , the Divine Protector of seafarers, much honored by Chinese immigrants, especially arriving by ship, to San Francisco. The original building was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, and it opened on the top floor of a four-story building at 125 Waverly Place in 1910. After closing in 1955,

6320-408: The liner lock , an L-shaped split in the liner allows part of the liner to move sideways from its resting position against the handle to the centre of the knife where it rests against the flat end of the tang. To disengage, this leaf spring is pushed so it again rests flush against the handle allowing the knife to rotate. A frame lock is functionally identical but instead of using a thin liner inside

6478-441: The national poverty threshold . The median age was 50 years, the oldest of any neighborhood. As of 2015, two thirds of the residents lived in one of Chinatown's 105 single room occupancy hotels (SRO), 96 of which had private owners and nine were owned by nonprofits. There are two public housing projects in Chinatown, Ping Yuen and North Ping Yuen. Most residents are monolingual speakers of mutually unintelligible dialects of

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6636-412: The "foreigner" lawyers and Americans if the need arose. Membership numbers varied from as few as 50 to as many as 1,500 members in 1887. It was common for a tong to splinter when it accumulated too many members. One problem that was common throughout the period that would aid in the breakout of wars between the tongs was that some members could be a member of six tongs at any one time, so that if that member

6794-514: The '60s and '70s much of this previous tolerance was cast off and Chinese found themselves scapegoats. The first real fires were ignited by groups such as the Knights of Labor , who believed that the Chinese were being used as cheap alternative labor, and began marching to demand the expulsion of Chinese from American soil. The Depression of 1873 intensified Anti-Asian feeling with various groups of hoodlums vandalizing Chinese-run facilities, and 1873

6952-419: The 1850s and the decade succeeding it, the criminal class in Chinatown was very small, with virtually no major type of crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery, or assault. Petty crime was frequent in the Chinese block, and could be divided into four categories: lotteries and gambling , opium smoking, prostitution , and minor thievery. The trade in slave-girls was not "big business" during these times, but it

7110-678: The 1850s to the 1900s. On August 28, 1850, at Portsmouth Square, San Francisco's first mayor , John Geary , officially welcomed 300 "China Boys" to San Francisco. By 1854, the Alta California , a local newspaper which had previously taken a supportive stance on Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, began attacking them, writing after a recent influx that "if the city continues to fill up with these people, it will be ere long become necessary to make them subject of special legislation". These early immigrants settled near Portsmouth Square and around Dupont Street (now called Grant Ave). As

7268-458: The 1850s, San Francisco "was all but submerged in Caucasian forms of gambling and prostitution and lewdness" . During the late period of the California Gold Rush , a few Chinese female prostitutes began their sexual businesses in Chinatown. In addition, the major prostitution enterprises had been raised by criminal gang group "Tong", importing unmarried Chinese women to San Francisco. During

7426-574: The 1850s. The original building was destroyed by the earthquake, and the present church building on 925 Stockton Street was built in 1907. Other Christian denominations followed, including the Methodist Church on Washington Street (founded 1870, rebuilt 1911) and the First Baptist Church (founded 1880, rebuilt 1908 on Waverly Place) as well as Catholic, Congregational, and Episcopal. The pattern these early missions followed

7584-450: The 1870s and further established in the 1880s and 1890s, Chinatown's exotic, infamous reputation began to attract tourists. Tour providers emphasized the vice-ridden elements of the area, strongly encouraging any curious visitors to take a professional guide or police escort with them to venture into Chinatown. These early tours often included staged reenactments of the "depravity of the locals" who were paid by tour operators to participate in

7742-416: The 1870s to 1880s, the population of Chinese sex workers in Chinatown grew rapidly to more than 1,800, accounting for 70% of the total Chinese female population. In the mid-19th century, police harassment reshaped the urban geography and the social life of Chinese prostitutes. Consequently, hundreds of Chinese prostitutes were expelled to side streets and alleys hidden from public traffic. From 1870 to 1874,

7900-441: The 1880s and 1890s, twenty to thirty tongs ran highly profitable gambling houses, brothels, opium dens, and slave trade enterprises in Chinatown. Overcrowding, segregation, graft, and the lack of governmental control contributed to conditions that sustained the criminal tongs until the early 1920s. Chinatown's isolation and compact geography intensified the criminal behavior that terrorized the community for decades despite efforts by

8058-587: The 1880s, Chinatown became a haven for later waves of emigrants from China in the 20th century. Working-class Hongkonger emigrants began arriving in large numbers in the late 1960s. Despite their status and professional qualifications in Hong Kong, many took low-paying employment in restaurants and garment factories in Chinatown because of limited English. An increase in Cantonese -speaking emigrants from Hong Kong and Mainland China has gradually led to

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8216-674: The Bo Sin Seer Tong, which ran many gambling dens but also had grocery stores under their ownership. The Wah Ting San Fong Tong and the On Yick Tong were said to specialize in the brothels, with the Kwong Duck Tong and On Leong Tong specializing in sex trafficking of women. Gambling dens were left to the Hip Sing Tong. Most initiation ceremonies were not as elaborate as the first known tong organizations had, as

8374-627: The California legislature formally criminalized the immigrant Asian women who were transported into California. In 1875, the U.S. Congress followed California's action and passed the Page Law , which was the first major legal restriction to prohibit the immigration of Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian women into America. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act declared that no more skilled or unskilled immigrants would be allowed to enter

8532-519: The Chee Kung Tong was quite traditional in this aspect, with accounts stating that the group still used many Triad symbols and signs. While it is uncertain whether or not other tongs adhered to this characteristic as well, the Chee Kung Tong headquarters would not observe any traditional Chinese holidays, and would only fly their flag full mast when it was a tong holiday, or when war was on the horizon. The hatchet men, also known to outsiders of

8690-582: The Chinatown Quarter. In the early 1850s, the state of California probably never had a population of more than 25,000 Chinese on any given day. The majority of Chinese held that their stay in America was temporary, solely to acquire money. They were termed sojourners , as most who made the journey were males, either with a family back in the old country awaiting their return, or young Chinese looking to make their fortune and retire easy back home. In

8848-405: The Chinatown as highbinders (so called as they would bind their queue on top of their heads to prevent them from being grabbed by an opponent), were the salaried soldiers of the tongs. These soldiers most likely were from the Chinese lower classes, as many were uneducated and less "motivated" to become a law-abiding citizen of any country. Allegedly, 20% of each of the tong's membership population

9006-569: The Chinese emigrated from, was subdivided into many distinct districts and some with distinct dialects. Several district associations, open to anyone emigrating from that district(s), were formed in the 1850s to act as a culture-shock absorber for newly arrived immigrants and to settle disputes among their members. Although there are some disagreements about which association formed first, by 1854, six such district associations were formed, of various size and influence, and disputes between members of different associations became more frequent. Thus, in 1862,

9164-579: The Chinese language: historically Hoisanese , now Cantonese and some Mandarin . In 2015, only 14% of households in the SROs were headed by a person that spoke English fluently. The areas of Stockton and Washington Streets and Jackson and Kearny Streets in Chinatown are almost entirely Chinese or Asian, with blocks ranging from 93% to 100% Asian. According to a study by the San Francisco Planning Department in 2018, 81% of

9322-462: The City granted 43 building permits to Chinese businesses. By the time of the first post-quake Chinese New Year in 1907, several dozen buildings were completed, using old bricks unburnt by the fire, and Chinatown was filled with happy people. The reconstruction of Chinatown was completed more or less in 1908, a year ahead of the rest of the city. While the city's proposals to relocate Chinatown failed,

9480-674: The Do On Tong and the Suey Sing Tong on top, while another stated by a Chinatown officer was that the top tongs were the Bing On and the Gee Sin Seer, led by Little Pete. But it should be said that never throughout the Tong Wars did a single tong gain supremacy over all others. As stated previously, there were cases of a war between two tongs widening due to the fact that any member could be a part of up to six tongs. An example

9638-528: The Great Fire, which ended on April 21, 1906, the City seized the chance to remove the Chinese from the old downtown business district. Certain city officials and real-estate developers made more formal plans to move Chinatown to the Hunters Point neighborhood at the southern edge of the city, or even further south to Daly City . Abe Ruef , the political boss widely considered to be the power behind Mayor Eugene Schmitz , invited himself to become part of

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9796-456: The Peace and Benevolence Society, possibly because many of these organizations' original intentions and goals were good. Many of the "traditional" tongs were formed to protect their countrymen from discrimination by others, as well as criminals in general. The criminal elements of the tongs eventually either found it more profitable to participate in illicit activities, or the criminal elements of

9954-568: The Quarter to drop, was denied by the United States. Many politicians in California viewed the Six Companies with dissatisfaction, believing that they had despotic powers which they did not, and that they usurped some of the very powers of the local government, such as the belief that the Six Companies held their own trials, had control in some of the less criminal activities such as gambling, as well as affected their own punishments against those who their courts deemed guilty. The Six Companies battled

10112-586: The San Francisco area those being the Chee Kung, Hip Yee, and the Kwong Duck. The Hip Yee and Kwong Duck Tongs were both reported to have had a morally decent and good organization, with the Hip Yee tong starting out to protect slave-girls from criminal activities (although the Hip Yee highbinders were said to have started the organized slave-girl importation in 1852 as well), and the Kwong Duck tong's creation

10270-474: The Sing Chong and Sing Fat bazaars on the west corners of Grant Ave (then Dupont St) and California St, which have become icons of San Francisco Chinatown. This design strategy leveraged the ethnic identity and exoticness that city planners used to justify the relocation of Chinatown to become the same forces that made the area an attractive tourist location. In constructing "Oriental" style architecture,

10428-522: The Six Companies and police/city officials to stem the tide. The San Francisco Police Department established its so-called Chinatown Squad in the 1880s, consisting of six patrolmen led by a sergeant. However, the Squad was ineffective largely by design. An investigation published in 1901 by the California state legislature found that Mayor James D. Phelan and Police Chief William P. Sullivan Jr. had knowingly tolerated gambling and prostitution in Chinatown in

10586-616: The Six Companies had was the exit visa power. The exit visa tax was a receipt, which was proof that they had repaid all their debts, and they could go home. This was later taken away by Chief of Police Patrick Crowley, who instead of focusing on the warring tongs, aided in the promulgation of the Felton Act, which removed the power of the exit visa from the Companies. The collapse of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association came about when

10744-459: The Six Companies was preoccupied with the Anti-Asian movements being forced upon them, the fighting tongs were rapidly growing. With the Six Companies busy fighting against the groups who wished for their people to be kicked out of the country, the Chinatown police squad, after many years of little to no violence, had grown quite lax, which had lulled them into failure to act upon the creation of

10902-477: The Suey Sing Tong. The Chinese population of the San Francisco Chinatown and of the United States dropped dramatically during this turbulent era, from as many as 25,000 to only 14,000 by the beginning of 1900, with the Chinese U.S. population dropping by 16% during this time. Some officials and scholars began to attempt to rank the tongs in terms of who was the bloodiest. One study came out with

11060-579: The Suey Sings' two dead, one wounded. This ongoing war was particularly bloody, as even though the truce was signed, they went back to war two more times, including one of a three-month duration in 1900, which produced even deadlier results: seven dead in total, eight wounded and not a single murderer captured by police. The other each killed one member of the other group, and the Hop Sings attempted to dynamite their rivals' headquarters. In other cases,

11218-468: The Tong Wars for another ten to twenty years, with a little bit of Chicago-style gangsterism, but they too died down. There were a few Tong Wars after 1906, but Inspector Jack Manion , leader of the Chinatown squad forced the last six tongs (Hop Sings, Suey Sings, Suey Dongs, Sen Suey Yings, Jun Yings and Bing Kong) to form a Peace Committee in 1913. Afterwards, the San Francisco Chinatown had quieted down, with its last tong related murder in 1921, and by 1925

11376-482: The United States and Qing China were normalized through the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. Among other terms, the treaty promised the right of free immigration and travel within the United States for Chinese. Business leaders saw China as a plentiful source of cheap labor, and celebrated the treaty's ratification. But this did not last for long. The mostly male Chinese immigrants came to the United States with

11534-543: The ability to rebuild in their old Chinatown quarters was the first significant victory for the Chinese community in Chinatown. Even when the Subcommittee was bringing its relocation attempt to an end, the Chinese were already rebuilding, albeit with temporary wooden buildings which did not require permits. By June 10, 1906, twelve Chinese businesses were opened in Chinatown, including a couple of cafes. The actual reconstruction did not begin until October 1, 1906, when

11692-477: The air they breathe) scarcely one degree above those under which the rats of our water-front and other vermin live, breathe and have their being. And this order of things seems inseparable from the very nature of the race, and probably must be accepted and borne with—must be endured, if it cannot be cured—restricted and looked after, so far as possible, with unceasing vigilance, so that, whatever of benefit, "of degree," even, that may be derived from such modification of

11850-453: The animal. The boo how doy used a variety of weapons to accomplish their bloody deeds, ranging from small knives to hatchets (by far their favorite melee weapon) in the close quarter department, and they seem to have taken a particular fondness to the Colt .45 revolver for their longer range needs. The hatchet that the highbinders used was somewhat modified from what one usually thinks of

12008-403: The area gratified Western fascination with and perception of a stereotyped Chinese identity. Opportunistic individuals from within the Chinese community and from outside the Chinese community made entrepreneurial gains from this "ethnic tourism" as it emerged in the early 1900s and boosted local business. In November 1907, an article extolling the virtues of the "new Chinatown of San Francisco"

12166-405: The blade is not released by means of a button or catch on the handle; rather, the blade itself is the actuator. Most assisted openers use flippers as their opening mechanism. Assisted opening knives can be as fast or faster than automatic knives to deploy. In the lock back , as in many folding knives, a stop pin acting on the top (or behind) the blade prevents it from rotating clockwise. A hook on

12324-636: The building of the first transcontinental railroad , and settling in Chinatown for refuge from the hostilities in the West. The main dialect spoken in Chinatown then was Hoisan-wa (aka Hoisanese; Toisanese in Cantonese and Taishanese in Mandarin), native to the emigrants from Hoisan (aka Toisan in Cantonese and Taishan in Mandarin), Sze Yup , in the Pearl River Delta. Surviving the ravages of

12482-561: The cases of bigotry, violence, or decrees they deemed infringing upon their rights. The Six Companies were at first known as the Kong Chow Company. The six were: the Sam Yup Company, See Yup Company, Ning Yuen Company, Yeung Wo Company, Hop Wo Company, and Hip Kat Company. The Six Companies could be divided into two groups based on dialects as well. The Sam Yups spoke the Cantonese dialect; the more numerous See Yups, spoke

12640-431: The centuries, in step with improvements in both metallurgy and manufacturing, knife blades have been made from copper , bronze , iron , steel , ceramic , and titanium . Most modern knives have either fixed or folding blades; blade patterns and styles vary by maker and country of origin. Knives can serve various purposes. Hunters use a hunting knife , soldiers use the combat knife , scouts, campers, and hikers carry

12798-479: The city's subway network to the neighborhood via the new Central Subway . Unlike in most Chinatowns in the United States , ethnic Chinese refugees from Vietnam have not established businesses in San Francisco's Chinatown district, due to high property values and rents. Instead, many Chinese-Vietnamese – as opposed to ethnic Vietnamese who tended to congregate in larger numbers in San Jose – have established

12956-721: The country, which meant that many Chinese and Chinese Americans could not have families in America, because their wives and children were prohibited to immigrate. Simultaneously, the public discourse began to accuse Chinese prostitutes of transmitting venereal diseases. Dr. Hugh Huger Toland , a member of the San Francisco Board of Health, reported that white boys and men contracted diseases when they visited "Chinese houses of prostitution" in Chinatown, in order to warn white citizens to stay away; Toland asserted that nine-tenths of his patients had patronized Chinese prostitutes. "When these persons come to me I ask them where they got

13114-422: The criminal element of the Chinese finally burst its seams and the tong wars erupted onto the streets and alleys of Chinatown, as well as the newspapers of the country. The Tong Wars flourished during this period. But one more blow to the Six Companies would come, after the death of Fung Jing Toy, also known as Little Pete . The last major blow to the Six Companies was a boycott of See Yup products and stores after

13272-461: The directive of rebuilding Chinatown into an attractive district along orientalized and stereotyped conceptions still gained traction. A group of Chinese merchants, including Mendocino -born Look Tin Eli , hired American architects to design in a Chinese-motif " Oriental " style in order to promote tourism in the rebuilt Chinatown. The results of this design strategy were the pagoda-topped buildings of

13430-556: The disease, and they generally tell me that they have been with Chinawomen."     All great cities have their slums and localities where filth, disease, crime and misery abound; but in the very best aspect which "Chinatown" can be made to present, it must stand apart, conspicuous and beyond them all in the extreme degree of all these horrible attributes, the rankest outgrowth of human degradation that can be found upon this continent. Here it may truly be said that human beings exist under conditions (as regards their mode of life and

13588-440: The east, Broadway in the north, Powell in the west, and Bush Street in the south. Owing to a combination of multifactorial issues, some more generally tied to socioeconomic difficulties afflicting downtown San Francisco itself, while other factors are more specific to this neighborhood, San Francisco's Chinatown faces a struggle for survival and is shrinking. Within Chinatown there are two major north–south thoroughfares . One

13746-559: The elegant new "parlour house" of madame Belle Cora, and the cottage of Fanny Perrier, mistress of Judge Edward (Ned) McGowan. In 1857, Ah Toy returned to China a wealthy woman to live the rest of her days in comfort, but came back to California in 1859. From 1868 until her death in 1928, she lived a largely quiet life in Santa Clara County , returning to public attention only upon dying at age 98 in San Jose , three months short of her ninety ninth birthday. Relations between

13904-620: The evil of their presence among us, may at least be attained, not daring to hope that there can be any radical remedy for the great, overshadowing evil which Chinese immigration has inflicted upon this people. The Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter of that City (1885) By the end of the 19th century, Chinatown's assumed reputation as

14062-552: The existence of underground tunnels connecting Chinese homes and businesses in Chinatown. Chinatown, San Francisco The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco , California , ( Chinese : 唐人街 ; pinyin : tángrénjiē ; Jyutping : tong4 jan4 gaai1 ) is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia . It

14220-535: The few open spaces in Chinatown and sits above a large underground parking lot, Portsmouth Square is used by people such as tai chi practitioners and old men playing Chinese chess . A replica of the Goddess of Democracy used in the Tiananmen Square protest was built in 1999 by Thomas Marsh and stands in the square. It is made of bronze and weighs approximately 600 lb (270 kg). According to

14378-404: The forging and stock removal processes. Forging tends to be reserved for manufacturers' more expensive product lines, and can often be distinguished from stock removal product lines by the presence of an integral bolster, though integral bolsters can be crafted through either shaping method. Knives are sharpened in various ways. Flat ground blades have a profile that tapers from the thick spine to

14536-429: The form of protection money from the various Chinese merchants, store owners and shopkeepers in the Chinese Quarter. The Six Companies attempted to fight the rising power of the tongs with little overall success, but held them in check until the 1880s. One incident in which the Six Companies met with success in occurred in 1862. They fought against illegal prostitution and made efforts to send abandoned slave-girls back to

14694-488: The full length of the handle, often visible on top and bottom). There is also the enterçado construction method present in antique knives from Brazil, such as the Sorocaban Knife , which consists in riveting a repurposed blade to the ricasso of a bladeless handle. The handle may include a bolster, a piece of heavy material (usually metal) situated at the front or rear of the handle. The bolster, as its name suggests,

14852-425: The handle material uses a thicker piece of metal as the handle and the same split in it allows a section of the frame to press against the tang. A sliding knife is a knife that can be opened by sliding the knife blade out the front of the handle. One method of opening is where the blade exits out the front of the handle point-first and then is locked into place (an example of this is the gravity knife ). Another form

15010-470: The handle of the knife on both sides allowing the user to slide the bolt backward freeing the knife to close. The Axis Lock used by knife maker Benchmade is functionally identical to the bolt lock except that it uses a cylinder rather than a rectangle to trap the blade. The Arc Lock by knife maker SOG is similar to the Axis Lock except the cylinder follows a curved path rather than a straight path. In

15168-565: The immigration of unskilled laborers. Anti-immigrant sentiment became federal law once the United States Government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: the first immigration restriction law aimed at a single ethnic group. This law, along with other immigration restriction laws such as the Geary Act , greatly reduced the numbers of Chinese allowed into the country and the city, and in theory limited Chinese immigration to single males only. Exceptions were in fact granted to

15326-500: The increasing prostitution in Chinatown. The problem was that the ratio of Chinese men to Chinese women throughout this period was vastly disproportionate, with even moderate estimates of the population stating that nine out of every 10 people in the Quarter were male. The tongs would use this social dilemma to make an immense amount of money through prostitution. The Six Companies, representing practically all Chinese in California, tried to work with local governments in attempts to quell

15484-710: The intent of sending money home to support their families; coupled with the high cost of repaying their loans for travel, they often had to take any work that was available. Fears began to arise among non-Chinese workers that they could be replaced, and resentment towards Chinese immigrants rose. With extensive nationwide unemployment in the wake of the Panic of 1873 , racial tensions in the city boiled over into full blown race riots. The two-day San Francisco riot of 1877 raged through Chinatown in July; four were killed and US$ 100,000 (equivalent to $ 2,860,000 in 2023) in property damage

15642-504: The interest of bolstering municipal revenue, calling the police department "so apathetic in putting down the horrible system of slavery existing in Chinatown as to justify your committee in believing it criminally negligent." Phelan and Sullivan testified it would take between 180 and 400 policemen to enforce the laws against gambling and prostitution, which was contradicted by the ex-Chief of Police William J. Biggy , who said 30 "earnestly directed" policemen would suffice. Chinatown, as it

15800-573: The last of the slave-girl raids occurred. In New York City , the Fourth Tong War ended only in 1933, although for the last decade the conflicts had been unofficial. Cinemax produced a television series inspired by a Bruce Lee creation titled Warrior . The series focused on the San Francisco Tongs in the late 1800's. In the fictional DC character Superman 's city, Metropolis , the Tong Wars are given as an explanation for

15958-418: The laws of the United States, both Chun Ti Chu and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association had taken a huge loss of face to their society. Quickly, the tongs published that they would pay $ 300 for Chun's head. Chun Ti Chu was not deterred, and continued his fight against the tongs. Immediately after the severe loss of face and prestige for the Six Companies in their protest of the Geary Act in 1893–1894,

16116-409: The more common tongue of Mandarin. By the 1890s, the leaders of the Companies only served a single term, as prior to the term limit to one term there was an unlimited amount of time one could serve, and corruption had slowly found its way in. Many times, both the police and politicians put unwarranted blame on the Six Companies, as the organization to outsiders was shrouded in mystery. One such instance

16274-466: The movements against Asians. The Six Companies were formed to help the Chinese come from and return to China, to take care of the sick and the starving, and to return corpses to China for burial. Later, they tried to protect their people from the abuses San Francisco's Chinese suffered at the hands of racist hoodlums. They were run by the richer and better educated among the immigrants, in the paternalistic manner typical of 19th-century Chinese society. While

16432-490: The murder of Fung Jing Toy (Little Pete) in January 1897, which ground the economy of the whole Quarter to a halt. A neutral Chinese Consul General, Ho Yow , who knew that the boycott was a serious feature in the strength of the tongs, attempted to bring the two sides to the peace table and nearly succeeded. Ho persistently sought an end to the boycott, and throughout his Consulship fought the tongs. The internal fighting between

16590-447: The name of "White Devil" to the tongs, as he used the squad to raid tong headquarters, and immediately went on the offensive and destroyed the Bing On and Suey On tong headquarters in the early 1890s, and would continue to do so until his retirement in 1905, on the eve of the earthquake. The earthquake, on April 18, 1906, killed about 3,000 people, and its subsequent fires destroyed the Chinatown ghettos, gambling halls, and brothels. This

16748-492: The needs of people with disabilities. For example, knife handles may be made thicker or with more cushioning for people with arthritis in their hands. A non-slip handle accommodates people with palmar hyperhidrosis . As a weapon, the knife is universally adopted as an essential tool. It is the essential element of a knife fight . For example: A primary aspect of the knife as a tool includes dining, used either in food preparation or as cutlery . Examples of this include: As

16906-521: The neighborhood to an all-time low in the 1920s. Many early Chinese immigrants to San Francisco and beyond were processed at Angel Island , in the San Francisco Bay , which is now a state park. Unlike Ellis Island on the east coast where prospective European immigrants might be held for up to a week, Angel Island typically detained Chinese immigrants for months while they were interrogated closely to validate their papers. The detention facility

17064-557: The old country. Their success was noticed and praised by the state legislature. But attempts to send back these girls sometimes were thwarted by American businessmen with vested interests in the Chinatown Red Light District. In such failure, they tried on numerous occasions for the United States and China to work on an extradition treaty that would send many of the criminal boo how doy back to China upon criminal offense, which would have caused illegal activities in

17222-444: The pool of cheap labor with them. On July 8, 1906, after 25 committee meetings and considering various alternative sites in the city, the subcommittee submitted a final report stating their inability to drive the Chinese from their old Chinatown quarters. Ironically, plans to relocate Chinatown failed in the end because restrictive housing covenants in other areas of the city prohibited Chinese from settling elsewhere. In any event,

17380-467: The quake. Knife A knife ( pl. : knives ; from Old Norse knifr 'knife, dirk' ) is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade , usually attached to a handle or hilt . One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago , as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of wood, bone, and stone (such as flint and obsidian ), over

17538-456: The reenactments. Such reenactments exacerbated the perceptions of Chinatown as a problematic, vice-ridden location among San Francisco visitors and San Franciscans. The emphasis on the danger and depravity of the community ignored deeper issues of poverty, racial discrimination, and problems of overcrowding with overtaxed infrastructure. Ah Toy (18 May 1829 – 1 February 1928) was a Cantonese prostitute and madam in San Francisco during

17696-425: The remainder elsewhere. The area was the one geographical region deeded by the city government and private property owners which allowed Chinese persons to inherit and inhabit dwellings within the city. The majority of these Chinese shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and hired workers in San Francisco Chinatown were predominantly Hoisanese and male. For example, in 1851, the reported Chinese population in California

17854-421: The removal of which many a scheme has been devised, is but a memory." Oakland Tribune, April 1906. Plans to relocate Chinatown predated the earthquake several years. At the 1901 Chinese Exclusion Convention held in San Francisco, A. Sbarboro called Chinatown "synonymous with disease, dirt and unlawful deeds" that "give[s] us nothing but evil habits and noxious stenches". With Chinatown completely demolished by

18012-625: The replacement in Chinatown of the Hoisanese dialect by the standard Cantonese dialect. Due to such overcrowding and poverty, other Chinese areas have been established within the city of San Francisco proper, including one in its Richmond and three more in its Sunset districts, as well as a recently established one in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood. These outer neighborhoods have been settled largely by Chinese from Southeast Asia. There are also many suburban Chinese communities in

18170-543: The residents in the neighborhood were Asian. Many of the Chinese immigrants who managed to accumulate wealth while living in Chinatown move to the Richmond District , the Sunset District , or the suburbs. In the 1850s, Chinese pioneers, mainly from villages in the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong , began immigrating in large numbers to San Francisco, initially drawn by the California Gold Rush and

18328-428: The rocker pin to allow the mechanism to wear over time without losing strength and angles the hooks so that the faces no longer meet vertically. The bolt in the bolt lock is a rectangle of metal that is constrained to slide only back and forward. When the knife is open a spring biases the bolt to the forward position where it rests above the tang of the blade preventing the blade from closing. Small knobs extend through

18486-652: The rooftops in a deadly guerrilla warfare . Often, a tong war began over a woman, whether the failure of one tong to fully pay another tong for a slave-girl (as in the case of the Bing On Tong–Wah Sin San Fan Tong War) or simply because of limited number of Chinese women in the area during the time (Hop Sing Tong–Suey Sing Tong War). Other tong wars started due to issues from defamation of a rival tong's "face" to attempting to take another tong's business. The Bing On Tong–Wah Sin San Fan Tong War

18644-475: The settlement grew in the early 1850s, Chinese shops opened on Sacramento St, which the Guangdong pioneers called " Tang people street" ( 唐人街 ); and the settlement became known as " Tang people town" ( 唐人埠 ), which in Cantonese is Tong Yun Fow . By the 1870s, the economic center of Chinatown moved from Sacramento St to Dupont St; e.g., in 1878, out of 423 Chinese firms in Chinatown, 121 were located on Dupont St, 60 on Sacramento St, 60 on Jackson St, and

18802-489: The sharp edge in a straight or convex line. Seen in cross section, the blade would form a long, thin triangle, or where the taper does not extend to the back of the blade, a long thin rectangle with one peaked side. Hollow ground blades have concave , beveled edges. The resulting blade has a thinner edge, so it may have better cutting ability for shallow cuts, but it is lighter and less durable than flat ground blades and will tend to bind in deep cuts. Serrated blade knives have

18960-702: The site of the Chinese consulate was the property of Imperial China, it could not be reassigned by the city. On May 10, 1906, the subcommittee met with representatives from the Chinese community, the Chinese Six Companies , who said that they would either rebuild in their old Chinatown quarters or move across the bay to Oakland, where most of the Chinatown refugees had fled. Other community leaders pointed out that displaced residents may not stop to resettle in Hunters Point, moving further to other West Coast cities like Seattle or Los Angeles, taking

19118-539: The six district associations (commonly called the Chinese Six Companies, even though the number of member associations varied through the years) banded together to resolve inter-district disputes. This was made formal in 1882 and incorporated in 1901 as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (on Stockton Street) to look after the general interest of the Chinese people living in a hostile western world. Founded purportedly in roughly 1852 or 1853,

19276-410: The stock is manipulated to create patterns in the steel. Titanium is a metal that has a better strength-to-weight ratio, is more wear resistant, and more flexible than steel. Although less hard and unable to take as sharp an edge, carbides in the titanium alloy allow them to be heat-treated to a sufficient hardness. Ceramic blades are hard, brittle, lightweight, and do not corrode: they may maintain

19434-476: The stored energy from a spring that is released when the user presses a button or lever or other actuator built into the handle of the knife. Automatic knives are severely restricted by law in the UK and most American states. Increasingly common are assisted opening knives which use springs to propel the blade once the user has moved it past a certain angle. These differ from automatic or switchblade knives in that

19592-405: The tang of the blade engages with a hook on the rocker bar which prevents the blade from rotating counter-clockwise. The rocker bar is held in position by a torsion bar. To release the knife the rocker bar is pushed downwards as indicated and pivots around the rocker pin, lifting the hook and freeing the blade. When negative pressure (pushing down on the spine) is applied to the blade all the stress

19750-555: The temple reopened in 1975, due to a resurgence of interest from a new immigrant population following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 . Another Mazu temple, known as Ma-Tsu Temple was established in 1986 by Taiwanese American community and affiliated to Chaotian Temple in Taiwan. The Chinese Presbyterian Church on Stockton Street can trace its roots to October 1852, when Cantonese-speaking Rev. William Speer ,

19908-534: The tide of the fighting Tongs, it was the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires caused by the earthquake that was the death knell for the Tongs in San Francisco, as it destroyed the brothels, gambling dens, and opium houses that the criminal organizations had used for the majority of their revenue. Recovery was slow for most Tongs, so they abandoned the old Chinatown. While diverse, tongs had some similarities. Most tongs did not require new members to be from

20066-609: The time she arrived in San Francisco in the 1840s, Toy had a fair bit of money. Noticing the looks she drew from the men in her new town, she figured they would pay for a closer look. Her peep shows became quite successful, and she eventually became a high-priced prostitute. In 1850, Toy opened a chain of brothels at 34 and 36 Waverly Place (then called Pike Street), importing girls from China in their teens, 20s and 30s, as well as some as young as eleven years old, to work in them. Her neighbors on Pike Street—conveniently linked to San Francisco's business district by Commercial Street—included

20224-525: The tong wrestled power away. Tongs attempted to corner the market on criminal activities, especially anything that would bring in a nice profit, such as prostitution , opium , gambling , and forcing Chinese merchants to pay protection fees . One interesting aspect of the tongs was that each organization had two to three fluent English speakers, who served a variety of functions for the tong such as skimming local newspapers for mentions of their group, so they could inform their fellow members. They also dealt with

20382-518: The tongs and their activities through posters, and Chun Ti Chu, while leader of the Six Companies, forbid any tong member from joining the Company. William B. Farwell's report of 1885 on Chinatown detailed a building by building survey of Chinatown, color-coded to show the geography of crime in Chinatown. This report, coupled with Officer Price's transformation of the Chinatown squad into a flying squad (flying squads usually dealt with riots), earned Price

20540-616: The tongs and their subsequent rise. The first tong known to be created was the Chee Kung Tong, the founder of which was Low Yet, a Cantonese leader in the Reds Turban Rebellion (1854–1856) who had to flee China before the rebellion was crushed, and went on to create the Chee Kungs. Quickly the Chee Kung Tong had reaped the rewards of its activities, so much so that it was able to remove the unhappy portions of their membership base. Many of those members who left came to form

20698-410: The tongs for fifty years, and while moderately successful from 1850 to the 1870s, the criminal elements began to grow exponentially around 1880. The Six Companies was a paternal order that set up the rules and regulations of their society without consenting to the will of their people, in exchange for security and protection. They grouped together to be able to form a single cohesive group to fight against

20856-417: The tongs that would rival that of their previous one. One reason previously theorized as to why the Tong Wars did not begin earlier was in the 1850s and 1860s there were not enough soldiers for them to fight and run the tong the way it was in the later years, and because most of the Chinese gangs founded in the United States were full-fledged ABCs (American-Born Chinese). An interesting note to the Chee Kung Tong

21014-738: The tongs went to war with one another and brought their allies with them. Such was the case in the Bo Leong Tong–Bo On Tong War, with the Bo Leong's supporters being the On Yick Tong and Hop Sing Tong, to do battle against the Bo On as well as their supporters, the Suey Sing Tong and Hip Sing Tong. Another example would be the Wah Ting San Fong Tong and the Sen Suey Ying Tong allying with the Hop Sings to fight

21172-403: The two major groups of the Six Companies would last until 1899 at least, with various tongs encouraging the fight so that the Companies would remain weak. Many people, in the face of the escalating tong wars, emigrated away from San Francisco and the United States altogether after the Six Companies was defeated. Tong wars were fought not only on the streets and alleys of the Chinatown, but also on

21330-449: The user's hand, folding knives typically have a locking mechanism. Different locking mechanisms are favored by various individuals for reasons such as perceived strength (lock safety), legality, and ease of use. Popular locking mechanisms include: Another prominent feature of many folding knives is the opening mechanism. Traditional pocket knives and Swiss Army knives commonly employ the nail nick, while modern folding knives more often use

21488-558: The vulnerable Chinese, as even many politicians, to increase their public audience, joined in. Two scares also occurred in the 1870s pertaining to Chinatown, both dealing with the false rumor of leprosy and then smallpox epidemics breaking out within the block. Anti-Asian parties began to spring up, with the inception of the People's Protective Alliance, People's Reform Party, and the straightforward Anti-Chinese Party during this period. People with anti-Asian tendencies also liked to point out

21646-411: The way when not in use. A fixed blade knife, sometimes called a sheath knife , does not fold or slide, and is typically stronger due to the tang, the extension of the blade into the handle, and lack of moving parts. A folding knife connects the blade to the handle through a pivot , allowing the blade to fold into the handle. To prevent injury to the knife user through the blade accidentally closing on

21804-475: The wives and minor children of wealthy merchants; immigrants would purchase or partner in businesses to declare themselves merchants in order to bring their families to America. Alternatively, prospective immigrants could become " paper sons " by purchasing the identity of Americans whose citizenship had been established by birthright. However, the Exclusion Act was credited with reducing the population of

21962-578: Was about 12,000 men and fewer than ten women. Some of the early immigrants worked as mine workers or independent prospectors hoping to strike it rich during the 1849 Gold Rush . Many Chinese found jobs working for large companies seeking a source of labor, most famously as part of the Central Pacific on the Transcontinental Railroad , from 1865 to 1869. The west side of the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong, where most of

22120-633: Was also opposed, and soon after the earthquake, Tsi Chi Chow, the first secretary of the Chinese legation in Washington, DC, arrived in San Francisco, conveying to California governor George Pardee the opposition of China's Empress Dowager Cixi to the plan. The representatives, "acting unofficially", stated "the only way to remove the Chinese from the old Chinatown would be to give them a place elsewhere that would be acceptable for their purpose, when they might be willing to move." The San Francisco Call reported it as "a vigorous protest" and noted that as

22278-579: Was also the year of the Queue Ordinance , where if one was arrested for any crime, the authorities would then cut off the offender's queue . This did not affect the Chinese population as much as the Disinterment Ordinance did. This ordinance slapped on a heavy penalty for shipping the remains of the dead back to China, anywhere from $ 100–$ 150 per offense. It was not only parties and groups of marauding hoodlums who took advantage of

22436-513: Was called the Chinese Protective Society, a group that protected Asians from hoodlums, and in its first and only year of operation, it spent about six thousand dollars doing its duty. But many Chinese were unsure and cautious, and only donated what would amount to about a tenth of their first year operation costs, and it was quickly forced to dissolve due to lack of funds. But during the Anti-Asian movement in California during

22594-518: Was caused when Bing On sold the girl to a Wah Ting member but he did not pay the full amount specified, and the Bing Ons demanded that the bill be paid. The Wah Tings replied that the girl was not even worth $ 500 and if they wanted to do something about it they were welcome to try at their own risk. The Hop Sing Tong– Suey Sing Tong War was particularly bloody. By the time a truce was signed, four Hop Sings lay dead and four more were wounded compared to

22752-409: Was done to Chinese-owned businesses. In response to the violence, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association , also known as the Chinese Six Companies , which evolved out of the labor recruiting organizations for different areas of Guangdong, was created to provide the community with a unified voice. The heads of these companies advocated for the Chinese community to the wider business community as

22910-491: Was in 1876, when the state legislature put total blame on the Six Companies after an investigation mistakenly blamed them for controlling the criminal elements of their society, including the fighting tong. But the Six Companies truthfully had no power over the tongs, and attempted to end the tongs criminal acts at every opportunity, even posting the information of delinquents and offering rewards for more information as to their whereabouts leading to their capture. The one true power

23068-590: Was killed by another tong in a war, one of the other tongs he was a member of would, and sometimes did, seek revenge by declaring war. Only the Hip Sing Tong is known to have established their tong on the East coast, making it the only known bi-coastal tong. A unique aspect of the Chee Kung Tong was that their members used many euphemisms to direct their members, for example: to order a kill on somebody

23226-400: Was lifted but the burning and fumigating continued. A federal court ruled that public health officials could not close off Chinatown without any proof that Chinese Americans were anymore susceptible to plague than Anglo Americans. The Chinatown neighborhood was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire that leveled most of the city. "The fire had full sway, and Chinatown, for

23384-529: Was motivated by originally good men to fight the illegal activities of the Hip Yee Tong. Regardless, both tongs and for that matter every tong created during this period eventually turned to criminal activities. The major markets that brought such a rapid rise in the tongs were, as mentioned before, the fan-tan gambling halls and lotteries, opium dens, and the most important to the tongs, the slave-girl (prostitution) houses. The tongs were said to have collected

23542-507: Was present. Opium was brought to San Francisco on the clipper Ocean Pearl in 1861, and use of the depressant increased gradually, with estimates ranging from 16%-40% of the total Chinese population being opium users, and 10%-20% of the total Chinese population being termed "far gone addicts." Anti-Asian sentiment began in the early 1860s, and lasted until the late 1870s. Prior to this, the Chinese were generally tolerated within society, and some groups even formed to protect them. One such group

23700-506: Was quarantined, with policemen preventing "Asiatics" (people of Asian heritage) from either entering or leaving. The San Francisco Board of Health began looking for more cases of plague and began burning personal property and sanitizing buildings, streets and sewers within Chinatown. Chinese Americans protested and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association threatened lawsuits. The quarantine

23858-436: Was renovated in 2005 and 2006 under a federal grant. As in much of San Francisco, a period of criminality existed during the late 19th century; many tongs arose, trafficking in smuggling, gambling, and prostitution. From the mid-1870s, turf battles sprang up over competing criminal enterprises. By the early 1880s, the term tong war was being popularly used to describe these periods of violence in Chinatown. At their height in

24016-406: Was said to be the professional soldiers. Known to Chinese as the boo how doy , these men formed the professional toughs of the tong, and usually carried out their missions with precision and fearlessness. It is said that many hatchet men just prior to an assassination mission or battle with a rival tong would consume wildcat meat, in hopes that they would temporarily acquire the reflexes and sight of

24174-708: Was that in June, 1885, they welcomed an eighteen-year-old Chinese to their headquarters during his three-month stay in the United States. This man, named Sun Tai Cheon, better known as Sun Yat-Sen (Sun Zhongshan (孫中山)), the founder of the Chinese Republic, learned of the American democratic system as well as accepted the first part of the Chee Kung Tong's "Down with the Manchus!" and set about to bring these ideals to China. By 1854, three tongs had begun to flourish in

24332-532: Was the Hip Sing Tong–Hop Sing Tong War, in which a Hop Sing killed a member of the Hip Sings, but he also turned out to be a prominent member of the Sen Suey Ying Tong, so they then joined the fray. Later in that same war, a Sen Suey Ying member went to go curse a Hop Sing member, then was ambushed in a temple and mortally wounded, which then brought the Chee Kung Tong into the mix as that man was

24490-658: Was the death knell for the warring tongs, as many of their staple sources of income never were able to come back. Recovery was slow, most tongs just simply went away with the old Chinatown. The Kwong Duck tong, boasted its one-member after the earthquake, Wong Sing, who held the tong seal, books, flag, and all offices. The hatchet men were already aging by this time. Some of the boo how doy were extradited, some were dead, and some left for other cities such as Chicago , New York , Seattle , Portland , Oakland , and Los Angeles . The ones in New York City and Chicago kept up

24648-400: Was to "wash his body" (i.e. in his own blood); a rifle was called a "dog"; and, a pistol was suitably nicknamed a "puppy", while bullets and ammo were called "dog feed." When the leader wished for his men to fire, he shouted "let the dogs bark!" Usually, one tong specialized in a specific illegal activity, such as gambling, although some even had legitimate businesses, and some had both, such as

24806-440: Was to first conduct English language classes and Sunday schools. In these decades, the only English classes available to Chinese immigrants were those offered by these Christian missions. Some added rescue homes (e.g., from prostitution), and social services for the sick and protection from racial discrimination. With such tactics, the early Christian missions and churches in Chinatown gained widespread respect and new converts. In

24964-409: Was written, praising the new "substantial, modern, fireproof buildings of brick and stone ... following the Oriental style of architecture" and declaring "[n]o more picturesque squalor, no more gambling dens, opium joints or public haunts of vice" would be tolerated, at the command of the Chinese Six Companies. By then, 5,000 residents had returned, of the estimated 30,000 that lived in Chinatown prior to

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