COVID is still looming over the world, now into the third year with no end in sight. The WWW states that historically, pandemics last 3 years, and then fade into more manageable strains. Let’s hope and pray.
Thanks to my friends Anita and Irene for driving their car. Away from our TVs and couches, an outing to these northern California towns was sensational! We had fabulous food (Crow’s Nest, Mosaic, Zoccoli’s, Salinas City BBQ, Rosine’s, Coniglio Brothers Italian Deli, The Butter House, Ambrosia, Goodies Delicatessen, Sweet Reba, Crossroad BBQ, Paris Bakery, Old Fisherman’s Grotto), and saw plenty of dramatic coastal sceneries. We were happy to have met individual folks who had just stopped to chat with us like old friends. A street vendor with whom we talked about world traveling gave me a string of mini Tibetan prayer flags.
 |
| Point Lobos Chinese building 1850's |
During the time of 光復香港 時代革命 (Hong Kong 2016-2020), I happened to speak with a young man freshly from Hong Kong. I asked him, what if China was taken up by other countries, such that China was gone from the world's map? The young man did not hesitate for even 2 seconds. He replied that it would be fine with him.
It almost happened in the early 1900s. 八國聯軍(Great Britain, United States of America, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Austria-Hungary, Italy) by justification of protecting their ambassadors from 義和團 (The Boxers) , plundered and pillaged in a grab-a-thon frenzy. Some of the loots are still in The British Museum. To amass territory, countries even battled each other on China’s grounds. The loser, China, signed away land, leases, and debts.
Chinamen were only tolerated as a source of cheap and reliable labor. In spite of the Anti Coolie Act, but because few white men were stupid enough to get themselves killed dynamiting tunnels and shoveling 20 pounds of rock over 400 times a day to build the transcontinental railroad, in 1864 the Central Pacific Railroad Company went to Canton. The brave, the hopeful, the desperate, signed up, but to find out too late that they could not bring family members, that white women were off limits, that they get half of white men's pay, that it was a one-way ticket, that they were deemed less than an animal in America.
Until the awakening of minorities in the spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, and Rainbow Coalition in the 1960s, Chinese immigrants' sacrifices, contributions, even existence, were mostly annihilated in American history.
It was Easter Sunday 4/17/22. Our first stop in the morning was the Evergreen Cemetery. Kate, a volunteer who came to clean tombstones, was so kind as to show us the Chinese memorial area and told us a bit of history. There were more than 150 Chinamen buried there. Many died from poisonous gas or explosions from building 6 railway tunnels. This small cemetery built in 1850 was the only option in Santa Cruz for anyone non-Catholic. A plot cost $7. By now most of the Chinamen’s remains were transported back to their homeland. RIP. In 2014, Mr. George Ow, Jr. funded a memorial to honor those early Chinese immigrants–fishermen, railroad workers, servants, and farm laborers. The least we could do was go pay our respect.
Amid segregation, hostilities, and all kinds of outrageous impositions, the Chinamen survived by offering services that were too cheap to refuse. The Chinese laundry was a lifeline that became an American icon; in fact, there were no Chinese laundry in China. If they were bullied out of gold mining or fishing, they turned homegrown bean sprouts into “gold” by inventing American chop suey. On this visit, my friends and I sought to pay homage to those folks whose struggle and suffering gallantly paved the way for future Chinese Americans.
All Lives Matter 🇺🇲
Peace and Joy 🌎
