Chinese in San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley

Images of America: California

by Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, Gong-Guy, Gerrye Wong

The fertile Santa Clara Valley--once called the Valley of Heart's Delight and later Silicon Valley--has long been home to a substantial Chinese population. Like other immigrants, they arrived seeking opportunity and armed with survival instincts and the ability to persevere, but the struggles they faced were unique. From 1866 to 1931, five distinct Chinatowns existed in San Jose, each one devastated by mysterious fires or stifled by unjust laws. Early Chinese in the region labored relentlessly, building railroads and levees and toiling as laundrymen, grocers, cooks, servants, field hands, and factory workers. In the 20th century, new industries replaced agriculture, and an influx of Chinese invigorated the valley with innovative ideas, helping it emerge as a leader in technology.

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2007

Reviews

[Dirk]

Basically, this is a picture book with long captions. It includes about 250 black & white photographs from the 1870’s to the early 2000’s (the book was published in 2007). Each has a caption running around 50 to 100 words and after early pictures lists those who appear by name and role. The early pictures tend to show people at work, usually Chinese, or buildings. There are no pictures of Chinse in blatant troubles; for instance, pictures of the 1887 burning of a San Jose China town exist but do not appear. In the 19th century Chinese immigrants tended to be workers from the Canton area and there was a lot of resistance to them and some ugly incidents, similar to the present treatment of immigrants from Central America. Gradually the subject of pictures changes from manual labourers to farmers, notably flower farmers —the first president of the chrysanthemum-growers association appears —to small business owners, restaurants and markets, to knowledge workers, Stanford professors and technology stars and towards the end towards public leaders: mayors and heads of civic groups. Civic groups include both Chinese organizations like language schools and place in the wide society. In 2004 the mayor of Los Altos hills was born in Hong Kong. So, the underlying story is one of ever rising prosperity, integration with attention to identity, and prestige. The muted racism that has endured in a few incidents in recent years is ignored.
Whereas the first immigrants were from the Canton area, in the latter 20th an early 21st century many of the immigrants come from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or mainland China (as carefully specified in the captions) and the language taught in Chinese schools shifts from Cantonese to Mandarin. No hint of tension among people from these politically oppose locations appears. The earlier pictures tend to tell more of a story and give it more of a feeling of people’s fate and struggles. When you see someone in a suit with his hands folded over his stomach looking at the camera who is president of a high-tech start-up, you learn very little about what it means to him to be him.