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Tag: remittances

A vintage photograph of a Chinese restaurant storefront in a North American Chinatown, its proprietor posed outside — the overseas businesses that anchored diaspora community life.

Chinese Restaurant History: How Wuyi Immigrants Built America’s Chop Suey Houses

Chinese Restaurant History: How Wuyi Immigrants Built America's Chop Suey Houses The Storefront That Opened a Door The Siyi region of Guangdong sent more than two million people overseas between 1840 and 1940. Among the things they built in America — railroads, mines, laundries — the most enduring proved to be the corner restaurant. Chinese…

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Chinese residents of San Francisco's Old Chinatown, photographed by Arnold Genthe around 1900–1906 — the community that built the hand laundry trade

The Chinese Hand Laundry: How Wuyi Immigrants Built an American Icon (1850s–1940s)

The Chinese Hand Laundry: How Wuyi Immigrants Built an American Icon (1850s–1940s) The Signature Trade of Chinese America Of all the occupations that shaped Chinese America, none was more widespread — or more misunderstood — than the Chinese hand laundry (洗衣业, xǐyī yè). For a century it was the country's most iconic Chinese trade: born…

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World map of nineteenth-century Chinese emigration routes from Asia to the Americas and the Caribbean

The Coolie Trade and Early Migration Patterns (1840–1874)

The mid-19th century marked a dark yet transformative period in Chinese migration history, dominated by the global coolie trade (苦力贸易). Tens of thousands of laborers, predominantly from Guangdong’s Taishan, Xinhui, and Enping counties, were swept into this exploitative system. Between 1840 and 1874, over 200,000 Chinese workers were shipped to destinations such as Peru, Cuba,…

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Sunset view over the Tanjiang River, an important rivier in Wuyi, with a modern outdoor seating area.

Roots of Legacy: Wuyi Impact & Future Generations

rom the bustling streets of California during the Gold Rush to the ports of Southeast Asia, Wuyi emigrants left their mark on the world. Their journeys not only transformed their lives but also fueled economic resilience and cultural preservation in their hometowns—Kaiping, Xinhui, Enping, Heshan, and Taishan. Through hard work, philanthropy, and entrepreneurial spirit, these…

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