Census: out of 5,728 citizens in Los Angeles, 172 are Chinese.
A Chinese cemetery is established at Fort Moore Hill near the
current headquarters of the Los Angeles School District.
||"Chinese Massacre" leaves 18 Chinese dead in Los Angeles.
||Sixty seven Chinese arrive in Los Angeles to work on construction
of Los Angeles & Independence Railroad.
||The Southern Pacific Railroad connecting San Francisco
and Los Angeles is completed by Chinese laborers; work includes 1.25-mile San Fernando tunnel.
Chinese vegetable peddlers are required to acquire licenses.
||Chinese Methodist Mission is established. Successful bidders for irrigation
projects are not allowed to use Chinese laborers.
||Chinese vegetable peddlers strike when the city passes a new
ordinance aimed at the Chinese. The attempt to drive Chinese
labor out of Los Angeles is unsuccessful.
||The Chinese Exclusion Act is passed by Congress. Further
immigration of Chinese laborers is suspended. Chinese
residents are denied the right to become naturalized U.S. Citizens.
||Part of the Chinese quarter is burned by arsonists. Los Angeles
Trade & Labor Council and Knights of Labor move to boycott
Chinese goods and labor in Los Angeles.
||Los Angeles Congregational Mission for Chinese is established.
||Population figure decreases. Way Leung Kung Saw is formed to protect the
welfare of Chinese in Los Angeles.|
||Los Angeles Chinese market gardeners, recruited to raise celery in the area
between Westminster and Huntington Beach, are harassed and attacked.
||Chinese resident laborers must register under the Geary Act and must obtain
resident certificate. First Chinese deportee in U.S. is from Los Angeles.
||Chinese are invited to participate in Los Angeles's La Fiesta de las Flores,
a new annual tradition in this multicultural city.
||First Chinese newspaper, Wah Mei Sun Po (Chinese American News) is
founded in Los Angeles by Mg Poon Chew.
||An estimated 3,200 Chinese are believed to reside in Los Angeles. The Chinese
in Los Angeles renounce the Boxer Rebellion, a movement in China aimed at
destabilizing the increasingly weak Qing rulers. Chinese attempting to
re-enter the United States during this period of unrest back in China
encounter greater difficulties.|
||Sun Yat-Sen, an American educated doctor and one of the leaders of a
campaign to establish a republic in China, pays
a visit to Los Angeles.
||Louie Gwan and other Chinese (along with Caucasian and Japanese vegetable
growers) build the City Market Wholesale Produce Terminal, located at 9th and
San Pedro Streets in modern day downtown Los Angeles. Two hundred thousand
shares of stock were sold at a dollar a share to finance the start of the market.
||China's last dynastic emperor abdicates in Beijing. The Republic
of China is established with Sun Yat-Sen as its first President.
||Native Sons of the Golden State establishes a lodge in Los Angeles
Chinatown. Its members are American born Chinese in California. The Lodge's
main purpose is to defend the civil rights
of Chinese Americans. In 1914, its name is changed to the Chinese
Americans Citizens Alliance (C.A.C.A.).|
|Entering a New Era|
||Chinese Americans travel to Europe to fight in World War I.
||Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association establishes a cemetery at
First and Evergreen Streets in Boyle Heights.
||Mei Wah Club, a social and athletic organization for Chinese American
women, is founded in Los Angeles.
||Sino-Japanese War starts with troops of the Japanese Imperial Army
invading Manchuria, a resource rich region of northern China. Chinese
Americans in Los Angeles hold a Moon Festival to raise relief funds for
China. In San Pedro Harbor, Chinese Americans march to protest the United
States' sending scrap metal to Japan despite the Chinese government's request
for an immediate embargo against Tokyo.|
|The War Years|
||New Chinatown and China City open in Los Angeles. Chinese populations in
Los Angeles districts of City Market, East Adams, and Spring Street near China
City increase due to destruction of Old Chinatown site to make room for
construction of Union Station.
||Still officially neutral, the United States declares an embargo against
American made war supplies being sold and sent to Japan.
||In July, Washington declares a total economic embargo against Japan and
freezes its assets. This and other policies triggers Japan's December 7th
attack on Pearl Harbor in the U.S. territory of Hawaii. Washington declares
its entry into World War II. The Flying Tigers, a volunteer troop of aviators
led by American Clare Chennault, is formed in China to combat Japanese
||Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the wife of China's leader, delivers an address
at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. During the East Coast leg of her American tour,
the American educated Chinese First Lady asks Congress to repeal Chinese
Exclusion laws. Her wish is granted.|
|A New World Order|
||World War II ends with the Allied powers led by the United States,
Britain, the Soviet Union, and China victorious over
the Axis faction of Germany, Italy and Japan. Nationalistic sentiments
among the peoples of Asia leads to calls for independence, gradually
forcing out the British, French and Dutch colonial regimes that had
ruled in the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), French Indochina
(Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), British Malaya (Malaysia) and British India
(India, Burma, Pakistan and Bangladesh). Periods of violence and unrest
grip most of the region as its leaders struggle to build their own nations.
In subsequent decades, this would lead to influxes of refugees (including
ethnic Chinese and their descendants who had migrated to other parts of Asia)
seeking safety in the shores of countries such as the United States, Canada,
Australia, Britain and France.
||The number of Chinese women entering the United States increases largely
due to the passage of the 1945 War Brides Act and the 1946 Fiance Act.
These bills allowed Chinese American returning servicemen to bring back
their China born brides, most of whom they had met while
fighting the war in Asia.|
|Life in the Mainstream|
||Chinese Communists win the bitter civil war that had plagued China since
the defeat of Japan four years earlier. Mao Tse-tung and the Communists
declare the establishment of the People's Republic of China on October 1st.
The Nationalist Chinese government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, moves its republic
to the island of Taiwan.
||Passage of a number of laws contributes to a surge in Los Angeles's Chinese
population. The McCarran-Walter Act removes racial barriers to immigration
and the Refugee Relief Act approves admission of many refugees above ordinary
||Military experience and greater access to college educations, made
possible by various G.I. bills, and the passage of a number of laws,
including the McCarran-Walter Act help propel Chinese Americans into
the mainstream of American life.|
|"Keeping Up With the Lees"|
||The Chinese Chamber of Commerce is established to promote and encourage
the development of the Chinese American business community.
||Judge Delbert Wong of Los Angeles is the first Chinese American appointed
as judge in the continental United States. The appointment is recognized as a
historic event, receiving national media attention. Later, Judge Wong helps
form the Chinatown Democratic Club.
||"Confession Program" pardons undocumented Chinese immigrants, including
the so-called "paper sons," whose personal histories in the United States are
difficult to trace and verify.
||Kennedy Emergency Immigration Act leads to the acceptance of 5,000
Chinese immigrants into the United States during the period of "The Great
Leap Forward" in the People's Republic of China. Cathay Bank, the first
Chinese American bank in Southern California, is founded to provide and
promote economic development of the Los Angeles Chinatown community.
||Discriminatory immigration laws end, opening up thousands of slots for
migrants from Asian countries. The new law sets a new quota of 20,000 persons
from any country. The U.S. Immigration Act of 1965 opens the door to a wave of
Chinese migration from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Subsequent immigration leads to
a revitalization of the New Chinatown area of Los Angeles.
||New contingents of Chinese arrivals settle outside of New
Chinatown in Los Angeles, favoring instead to purchase homes in communities
such as nearby Monterey Park. Meanwhile, the Chinatown Service Center, which
offers referral services and social aid to the community, is established in
Los Angeles Chinatown.
||President Richard Nixon's trip to the People's Republic of China opens
up diplomatic relations. The Nationalist party in Taiwan, who had previously been
recognized by Washington as the legitimate government of China, is marginalized.
Taiwan eventually loses its seat as a standing member of the United Nations.
The perception of "two Chinas" impacts community life among Chinese living
overseas, Los Angeles being no exception.
Look Forward, Preserve the Past
||Chinese Historical Society of
Southern California is established to foster
greater understanding of the experience of Chinese Americans in this region.
End of large scale U.S. involvement in the war in the former French Indochina
results in the migration of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Cambodia,
Laos and Vietnam. Many of these new migrants to the U.S. are ethnic Chinese,
some of whom eventually relocate to Los Angeles Chinatown.
||The Chinatown branch of Los Angeles
Public Library opens.
||California State Legislature passes the Chinese Roast Duck Bill, AB2603,
which stemmed from concerns about Chinese roast ducks and other protein items
prepared in the restaurants of Los Angeles Chinatown. The bill ensures that
Chinese culinary traditions be maintained despite some concerns at the time
that meat and other protein items were not being handled in manners that were
in compliance with Los Angeles County health codes.
||Lily Lee Chen of Monterey Park becomes the first Chinese American female
to serve as Mayor of an American City.|
||Cathay Manor, a large senior citizen, low-income housing project, is built.
The Chinatown Service Center is relocated into the Cathay Manor.
||Monterey Park is identified as the first suburban Chinatown in the U.S.
Center of activity for Chinese Americans shifts to San Gabriel Valley.
||The Friends of the Museum of Chinese American History is founded with
representatives from El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, the
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California and the local community.
||U.S. executive order allows students from the People's Republic of China
to stay in the United States following the Chinese government's crackdown on
demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The several week-long stand-off
between masses of mostly students and soldiers from China People's Liberation
Army revolved around calls for China's Communist Party to reform.|
|A New Era|
||The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California restores a historic
burial shrine at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights, where many Chinese
American pioneers now rest. It is still used for Ching Ming ceremonies.
||The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California purchases two historic
houses at 411 and 415 Bernard Street as a permanent site for $375,000 with
a seller-financed note due 2001 which the Society pays off that year with the
donations from many supporters.
||Wen Ho Lee, a Taiwan-born scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory,
is hauled away by FBI agents on charges of leaking sensitive defense secrets
to China. His case sparks protests by Chinese American civil rights groups,
including the Organization of Chinese Americans Greater Los Angeles Chapter.
After 278 days in solitary detention, the charges against Lee were dropped in 2000.|
|Into the 21st Century|
||The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California (CHSSC) pays off its
mortgage on its Bernard Street houses.
|| The Chinatown Library opens on February 6, 2003 at 639 North Hill Street. A few months later, the Chinese American Museum opens on December 18, 2003 on the site of the historic Garnier Building between Los Angeles Street and Sanchez Alley.
References: Gum Saan Journal, July 1978 - "The Chinese in Los Angeles," by
David Chan; Los Angeles Chinese Chamber of Commerce 1997 Year Book;
"Chinese Americans in Los Angeles" by Suellen Cheng; Asian American Almanac, 1995.
This timeline, which is intended to give an overview of the history of the
Chinese in Greater Los Angeles, was compiled through the efforts of Ann Lau,
Eugene Moy, Peter Wong, Linda Chong and Gilbert Hom. Exhibit arranged by
Joanne Yee, later rearranged by Yvonne Chang in 2006.