The First Chinese American: The Remarkable Life of Wong Chin Foo

Glossary and Gazetteer

Glossary and Gazetteer Bai She Zhuan (白蛇傳). The Legend of the White Snake, a Song dynasty folktale about a snake demon that takes the form of a beautiful young woman. Wong retold the tale in 1888 as “Poh Yuin Ko, the Serpent Princess.” Beijing (北京). Capital of China during the Qing and several other dynasties. Traditionally rendered as Peking. Celestial. Archaic term for a Chinese or, more specifically, a Chinese immigrant. Chefoo (芝罘). See Zhifu. Chinese American (華美新報; pinyin: Hua Mei Xin Bao and 美華新報; pinyin: Mei Hua Xin Bao). New York’s first Chinese-language newspaper, which Wong published for several months in 1883. Wong also used this same English name again a decade later for an entirely different newspaper (華洋新報; pinyin: Hua Yang Xin Bao). chop suey (雜碎; pinyin: zasui). Described by Wong Chin Foo in 1884—for the first time in English—as the “national dish of China.” Dengzhou (登州). Village on the north side of the Shandong Promontory that became a treaty port in 1860, when foreigners were first permitted there. Traditionally rendered as Tengchow; known today as Penglai (蓬 萊). fan-tan (番攤). Chinese game of chance popular in America’s Chinatowns in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. fengshui (風水). Geomancy; ancient Chinese body of knowledge concerning harmony and balance in spatial relations. Translates literally as “wind and water.” Fujian (福建). Southern Chinese coastal province. Traditionally rendered as Fukien. 342 Glossary and Gazetteer Fuzhou (福州). Capital and largest city in Fujian Province. Traditionally rendered as Foochow. Guangdong (廣東). Coastal province in southeast China from which the majority of nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants to the United States originated. Traditionally rendered as Kwangtung; Wong spelled it Kwong Tung. Guangzhou (廣州). Large city in southern China, and the capital of Guangdong province. Traditionally rendered as Canton. Guomindang (國民黨). The Nationalist Party of China. Traditionally rendered as Kuomintang. highbinder. Gangster; archaic term used to describe a member of a ChineseAmerican triad. Hip Yee Tong (協義堂; pinyin: Xie Yi Tang). Chinese triad organization with branches in America that, among other things, was the key importer of sex workers for the brothels of San Francisco in the nineteenth century. Hong Kong (香港; pinyin: Xianggang). Deep-water port in south China that became a British crown colony in the nineteenth century. Hua Mei Xin Bao (華美新報). One of two Chinese names for Wong’s 1883 New York-based Chinese-language newspaper, the Chinese American. Hua Yang Xin Bao (華洋新報). The Illustrated Chinese Weekly News, a newspaper published by Wong in Chicago in 1893, also known as the Chinese American. Its name translates directly as the “New Chinese Overseas Newspaper.” The same Chinese name was used for Boston’s Chinese Monthly News. Jiangsu (江蘇). Chinese coastal province located north of Shanghai. Traditionally rendered as Kiangsu. Jimo (即墨). Town in Shandong Province located in the southwestern part of the Shandong Promontory. Traditionally rendered as Chimo. joss house. A Chinese folk temple in which various deities are worshipped. “Joss” is a corruption of the Portuguese deus, meaning “god.” Kiang Che Yah (姜子牙; pinyin: Jiang Ziya). Legendary sage and government official from the eleventh century BC who helped overthrow an evil emperor. Wong cited him in an 1885 essay to demonstrate that the Chinese were a moral people whose ethical system predated Jesus Christ. Also known as Jiang Taigong. Knee Hop Hong (probably 義合行; pinyin: Yi He Hang). A New York Chinatown association of Chinese merchants established in about 1888. Glossary and Gazetteer 343 ling (令). Chinese character meaning “order,” used in wartime on a battle flag to convey the fact that the bearer was conveying a command. Manchu (滿族; pinyin: Manzu). An ethnic group originally from Manchuria (today’s northeastern China) that ruled the Chinese Empire as the Qing dynasty from 1644 to 1911. Mei Hua Xin Bao (美華新報). One of two Chinese names for Wong’s 1883 New York-based Chinese-language newspaper, the Chinese American. Mei Yi Xin Bao (美義新報). Newspaper published by Wong in Chicago in 1896 under the English name Chinese News. Translates literally as the “New American Justice (or Righteousness) News.” Ming (明). Last native Chinese dynasty. Ruled China from 1368 to 1644. Nanjing (南京). Capital of Jiangsu Province, located about 186 miles up the Yangzi River from Shanghai. Traditionally rendered as Nanking. New York Chinese Weekly News (紐約新報; pinyin: Niu Yue Xin Bao). Weekly newspaper published for several months in New York by Wong in 1888. Omi Tofoo (阿彌陀佛; pinyin: Amituofo). Chinese Buddhist term for the creator. In Sanskrit, Amitabha. Peep of Day (訓兒真言; pinyin: Xun’er Zhenyan). Favell L. Mortimer’s popular Christian book for small children, translated into...