Investigating the Origins of Philadelphia’s Chinatown
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Abstract
In Philadelphia at 913 Race Street a historical marker stands in front of a building where a Chinese migrant named Lee Fong opened a laundromat in 1870. It reads simply, “Philadelphia, Chinatown, Founded in the 1870s by Chinese immigrants, it is the only ‘Chinatown’ in Pennsylvania. This unique neighborhood includes businesses and residences owned by, and serving, Chinese Americans. Here, Asian cultural traditions are preserved, and ethnic identity perpetuated.” Yet the marker, and often conventional history, leaves out significant details regarding Philadelphia’s early contact with China which dates to the period before American independence from Britain. Early trade with China included opium which destabilized that country and led to the migration of thousands to the western hemisphere. As for the founder of Chinatown, Lee Fong, surprisingly little is known. The purpose of this research is to tell the story, as best as possible, of Lee Fong and the struggles of other Chinese immigrants who came to the United States in the latter half of the 19th century using books, scholarly and newspaper articles, and the City of Philadelphia archives. This research implicates white supremacist ideology in the persecution of Chinese immigrants. White supremacist attitudes towards Chinese people were clearly expressed in legislation which institutionalized anti-Asian racism in the laws which governed immigration, naturalization, the right to vote, and the right to serve on juries. In answering the related question of the origins of Chinatown, this research centers the accomplishments of Lee Fong and his fellow immigrants who successfully resisted efforts to exclude and expel them to establish an ethnic enclave that survives today.
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References
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Beth Lew-Williams, The Chinese Must Go: Violence,
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The war also had impacts for Philadelphia merchants. First,
many Philadelphia shipping firms closed because of the enormous amount capital required to relocate as the primary
axis of American trade shifted from Philadelphia and Canton
to New York and Hong Kong. Second, San Francisco emerged
as a major transshipment center for Chinese goods. The
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steamship service would only increase the prominence of that
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One of the Chinese immigrants we know about, Huie Kin, hailed
from the Taishan District of Canton Province. This was the same
region devastated by the Opium Wars. In 1868, 14-year-old Huie
travelled via a small junk to Hong Kong and boarded a steamship
bound for America. His family had borrowed the money for his
ticket from a wealthy acquaintance. By the time he arrived in
America, the Gold Rush was long over, so Huie took a job as a
domestic servant in a White household in San Francisco. He
earned a salary unimaginable in Taishan, about thirty dollars
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City of Philadelphia. Registry Office, Deed Indexes 1867-1880.
Box 2-N8-169, City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, City
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In Chinese culture, the last name is usually spoken first as a
matter of custom. Therefore, when asking a Chinese person
what their name is, they may answer Lee Fong. In the European
style their first name would be Fong and the last name would
be Lee. This fact somewhat complicated my research and
required careful examination of sources using both forms: Lee
Fong and Fong Lee when searching, James Gopsill, Gopsill’s
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Perhaps the broader term of “Asian” had not entered the
American racial lexicon. It is also interesting that although race
dominated so much of White discourse, this simple document
used instead the category “Color.” It suggests a White Black
binary which Asians challenged as a new category, Certificate
of Death: Lee Fong. Filed 6 Mar 1897, City of Philadelphia, Health
Office. Original Document, Box DEA-547, City of Philadelphia,
Department of Records, City Archives, RG81, Department of
Public Health and Charities.
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