Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's Chinatown

2. Guarding Life and the Way of Death

Wong’s Illness and Folk Religion Joyous New Year celebrations marking the arrival of 1900 failed to cheer Wong Chut King, in spite of the monotonous and ear-piercing sound resembling the “grinding of sleepless teeth” created by the Pan Ching Wo pipers on Portsmouth Square.1 For months, he had felt indisposed and frightened by the specter of illness, a sign of disharmony and divine displeasure. For the Chinese, the blessings of good fortune were fickle; they remained largely in the hands of a supernatural bureaucracy capable of inflicting swift punishments for past and current transgressions. During the late Qing dynasty, when immigrants like Wong headed for California, they brought with them a popular and elaborate system of beliefs, symbols, and rituals constructed over millennia. This folk religion guided their daily lives and reinforced their Chinese identity.2 Their cosmos was inhabited by the living and the dead, firmly bound together in a cyclical flux. The Chinese universe was conceived as a three-layered space with an upper yang world of heaven (tian), populated by gods and ancestors, a crowded middle chapter two Guarding Life and the Way of Death Chinese households with sick people resort to divination to find the guilty evil spirit; one needs to stretch the imagination to think that people who live in a cosmopolitan city away from China still embrace such preposterously absurd ideas. —proclamation, san francisco chinese six companies (1900) Guarding Life and the Way of Death 41 earthly domain (yang jian) where the living and gods interacted, and an underworld (yin jian) populated by ghosts and devils.3 Each region was hierarchically structured and considered a mirror image of traditional Chinese society, organized into an imperial court and state bureaucracies with magistrates, secretaries , and attendants.4 Instead of a centralized religious dogma, fluid relationships between these spheres generated a complicated set of beliefs and rites.5 In China, “religion” remained a complex web representing philosophical schools, or Three Teachings (san jiao), namely Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. All had been intimately entwined since the Song dynasty (960–1279) and pervaded all aspects of Chinese life, including imperial ideology and rule.6 Among key beliefs was the constant struggle between the yang forces of life and the yin forces of darkness.7 The yang forces were benign gods and demigods living in heaven, capable of delivering punishments as well as providing protection and good luck. Their evil, malevolent counterparts of the underworld, ghosts or demons, lived in darkness and were held responsible for most human misfortunes, including sickness and death.8 Given such a dynamic scenario, Chinatown residents constantly sought to protect themselves from all possible harm by appealing to the forces of benevolence and keeping at bay those capable of causing harm. Avoiding divine punishment and rebuffing underworld creatures was a perennial struggle, accomplished through a series of rituals. Such cults and rites had regional or local roots and significance.9 As in other cultures, religion brought hope and meaning to the lives of believers . A popular Cantonese expression, “if you worship your gods more often, they will certainly bless you in return,” suggested the need to include sacred elements in daily routines to achieve cosmic resonance. Gods (shen) and “saints”—deified individuals—were not transcendent creators of the world; their restricted powers only allowed for limited interventions. Many accomplished great feats, became famous mythological figures, or achieved a higher status endowed with magical powers.10 Others were associated with natural objects such as stars and mountains; some came to be intimately involved in everyday events, protecting key human objects such as doors and stoves. Like humans, these deities could express emotions; jealous of their prerogatives, they expressed anger with petitioners who violated moral rules. Gods were also capable of inflicting severe punishments, including sickness and death. Repentance and devotion to Confucian principles and religious beliefs was essential.11 Popular cults featured a pantheon of deified saints of local or regional signi ficance. Their special task in Chinatown and elsewhere was to manage the 42 Before Plague daily life of the residents, just as the emperor administered China’s civil and political affairs. In fact, gods often behaved like government officials by replying to requests in imperial form—edicts. Many functioned as mediators for petitioners and advocated before other divine judges. Their advice or opinion was sought for all of life’s decisions, including...