Chinese in Canada Before the Head Tax: BC Gold Rush, Victoria, and the Road to 1885
For roughly a quarter-century — from the spring of 1858 until the summer of 1885 — a Chinese migrant could walk off a ship in British Columbia and simply enter. No tax at the door, no certificate to carry,…
Cuban Chinese: The Coolie Ships, Havana's Chinatown, and the Caribbean Diaspora
When the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended, the world's plantations did not suddenly go quiet. Sugar still had to be cut, cane still had to be milled, and the price of a cup of coffee in London or a bowl of sugar in Boston still…
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…
The Han (韩) Surname: From the Warring States to the Wuyi Diaspora
The Han (韩) surname descends from the royal house of a kingdom of the Warring States — the State of Han (韩国, Hánguó), founded when Han Wan (韩万, Hán Wàn), grandson of Duke Wu of Quwo, was enfeoffed at Hanyuan (韩原, Hányuán) in…
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…
Angel Island Chinese Immigration: The Wooden House and the Carved Poems of the Excluded (1910–1940)
The Wooden House on the Pacific Gate
Between January 21, 1910, and October 1940, a wooded island in San Francisco Bay served as the Pacific gate of the Chinese Exclusion Act (排華法案, Pái Huá Fǎ'àn). Angel Island Chinese immigration was…
The Tang (唐) Surname: From the Sage Emperor Yao to the Wuyi Diaspora
The Sage Emperor and the Multi-Origin Name
The Tang (唐, Táng) surname traces its origins to the sage emperor Yao and the ancient State of Tang — a name carried from the legendary dawn of Chinese history through the archaeology of the…
The Song (宋) Surname: From Weizi's State of Song to the Wuyi Diaspora
A Name That Outlived Every Dynasty
The Song (宋, Sòng) surname descends from 微子启 (Wēizǐ Qǐ, Weizi), a prince of the Shang royal house whose fief — the State of Song (宋国, Sòng guó), founded at Shangqiu (商丘, Shāngqiū) after the Zhou…
Gao (高) Surname: From the State of Gao to the Wuyi Diaspora
A Thousand Years on One Page
One surname. One village. One book that claims a thousand years.
The register in question — the genealogy of the Gao (高, Gāo) family of Nafu Village (那伏村, Nàfú Cūn) in Shadui Township, Xinhui District (沙堆镇, 新会区),…
Ghost Month 2026: A Guide to Zhongyuan for Diaspora Families
The Gates Open: A Month When the Living Remember
In Chinese cosmology, the seventh month of the lunar calendar belongs to the dead. The gates of the underworld open on the first day, and for the next month the ancestors return to the homes they…