The History of San Francisco's Chinatown
- San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in the United States.
- It was established in 1848 and has been very influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America.
- San Francisco’s Chinatown was the port of entry for early Chinese immigration from Southern China between the 1850’s to the 1900’s.
- It was one of the only areas, which allowed Chinese persons to own, inherit and live in homes within the city.
- With national unemployment during the Panic of 1873 racial anti-immigration sentiment began leading to the enactment of the first anti-immigration law called The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
- Acts such as this and others limited the number of Chinese immigrants allowed to enter the country and the city.
- These laws were later repealed after WWII in recognition of the important role China played as an ally to the US.
- In 1906 most of the neighbourhood was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake ruining many Chinese businesses and family homes.
- The 1906 San Francisco earthquake allowed a critical change to Chinese immigration patterns. The practice known as "Paper Sons" and "Paper Daughters" was allegedly introduced. Chinese would declare themselves to be United States citizens whose records were lost in the earthquake.
San Francisco's Chinatown in the Early 1900's
- In the 1960’s the changes in immigration quotas resulted in the increase of immigrants from China.
- The population in Chinatown as of 2000 was 100,574 people. It has the largest Chinese community outside of Asia.
- Chinatown has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America.
- It is an enclave that continues to retain its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity.
Visitors can easily become immersed in a microcosmic Asian world, filled with herbal shops, temples, pagoda roofs and dragon parades.
San Francisco's Chinatown in the Early 1960's