Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, Set

RELIGIONS OF CHINESE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES AND CHINESE RELIGIONS PRACTICED IN NORTH AMERICA BY NON-CHINESE PEOPLE

673 l Chinese Religions RELIGIONS OF CHINESE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES AND CHINESE RELIGIONS PRACTICED IN NORTH AMERICA BY NON-CHINESE PEOPLE Vivian-Lee Nyitray RECORDS DOCUMENT CHINESE immigration to the United States as early as the 1780s, but the first great wave of Chinese immigration occurred during the California gold rush of the 1840s. Mining companies required a steady supply of reliable, cheap labor, resulting in the mass transport of contract laborers—“coolies” (ku li, or “bitter labor”)—from China. By 1851, there were 25,000 Chinese in California, most of them having come from the southeast coastal provinces of China. By the end of that decade, demand for cheap labor had shifted to the transcontinental railroad companies, for whom the Chinese constructed the most difficult and dangerous portions of track. Chinese labor subsequently turned to agricultural development in California’s Central Valley, to salmon canning in the Pacific Northwest, and to textile mills and the garment industry across the country. By 1875, there were more than 100,000 Chinese workers in the West, accounting for almost 25 percent of the workforce in California. Under pressure from white laborers who had traveled west in search of jobs during the recession of the 1870s—and who found themselves undercut by cheaper Chinese labor—Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, barring all immigration of Chinese laborers. One significant effect of the act was the perpetuation of the already large sex ratio imbalance in Chinese communities in America. During the first period of immigration , few Chinese women accompanied their husbands to the States. In the aftermath of the Exclusion Act, the court system classified all Chinese women as laborers, thus automatically denying their entry—an exclusion that extended even to the wives of resident Chinese Americans. By 1890 the male-to-female ratio of Chinese in America was twenty-seven to one. The earliest Chinese temples in America were founded in California in the 1850s; by 1880, there were dozens of temples throughout the western states. Enshrined deities almost always included Tianhou (also known as Mazu), the Empress of Heaven. As the patron goddess of seafarers and inhabitants of coastal and riverain communities, Tianhou figures prominently in the religious history of Chinese migrants worldwide. Other significant dieties were Guangong (also known as Guandi), the god of both warfare and literature; the Jade Emperor, highest ranking of the gods; Chenghuang and Tudi, the gods of cities and of the earth, respectively; 674 l ASIAN RELIGIONS—CHINESE RELIGIONS and the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin (Kuan Yin), the Goddess of Mercy pledged to the support and salvation of all beings. Of economic necessity, a local temple would house multiple deities of both Buddhist and Taoist origin, their combined presence on the altar illustrating the diverse religious interests of the heterogenous immigrant community. A prime example is the Bok Kai Temple in Marysville , California, originally constructed in 1854 at the entrance to this historic placer gold mining town located about thirty-five miles north of Sacramento. The principal god is Bok Kai, associated with water and the cardinal direction north; he is here flanked by six other deities including Tianhou and Guanyin, both of whom are focal devotional figures for Chinese women. The temple also holds a religious tablet dedicated to Jinfa, or Gold Flower Lady, a midwife-goddess whose presence demonstrates attention to the needs of the women of Marysville’s early Chinatown. The initial Chinese Exclusion Act was augmented by the 1892 Act, which added Chinese doctors and priests to the excluded category; later acts and amendments continued to tighten immigration rules until the 1924 Immigration Act essentially closed the doors to Chinese immigration. The 1892 professional exclusionary provisions adversely affected the flow of immigrant Buddhist priests to replace ill or aging priests in America. In contrast, Taoist priests, who could hold other jobs and marry, were able to train others (often family members ) to carry on temple operations with relative ease. For this reason, primarily family-run Taoist institutions such as the Bok Kai Temple survived to provide religious services throughout the period of exclusion. Traditionally , temple caretakers were older men, but necessity sometimes propelled women into this capacity. They cleaned the temple grounds, maintained the incense burners, instructed worshippers and provided offering goods for them, organized feasts, and generally kept an eye on the premises. Today, female caretakers, generally elderly new immigrants who might otherwise not find employment, continue to perform these tasks in temples such as the...