Pearl of the Desert | "Pearl of the Desert" Episode 5 (Seventy-eight) Chinese Americans' Gold Rushing, Road-Building and Root-Seeking Journey in Western America (1)

Arizona Chinese Historical Association Zhang Zhaohong The seven-day and six-night "Chinese Western-American Gold Rush, Road-Building and Root-Seeking Journey" has come to a successful conclusion. This journey is 2,000 miles long...

Arizona Chinese Historical Association Zhang Zhaohong

The seven-day and six-night "Chinese Gold Rushing, Road-Building and Root-Seeking Journey in Western America" ​​has come to a successful end. The journey lasted 2,000 miles and passed through 17 towns and regions, visiting multiple Chinese history museums and Chinatown ruins, Wong On Grocery Store, Chinese Alley, Sanyi Guild Hall, Chinese Historical Village and Chinese Creek, Chinese Camp Chinese Labor Site, Bei Kie Temple, Saints Palace, Masonic Lodge, Goldfields Town ruins, Yunlin Temple, San Francisco Burlingame Statue, Angel Island Immigration Detention Center, and the Niles Canyon Railroad, etc. The whole process is compact and touching, with rich content and deep impression. You can see the hardships of our Chinese ancestors in digging for gold and building roads, and their huge contribution to the United States. It will be witnessed by heaven and earth and will be recorded in history forever!

>Travel route map

Chinese in Western America, gold mining, road building and root-seeking journey (Photography: Zhou Weichang)

This "gold rush trip" is led by President Zhang Sujiu, the daughter of General Zhang Zhizhong, a senior overseas Chinese leader in the United States who was known as the "Peace General" during the Kuomintang and Communist era, and carefully planned by Lin Xu, Chairman of the US-China Cultural Association Foundation , Founding President of the Cantonese Association of Southern California, Assistant to the famous overseas Chinese leader Chen Canpei, a group of historical scholars, writers, professors from prestigious universities, mainstream media reporters, Hollywood film and television screenwriters, directors, as well as musicians, photographers, antique collectors, freelance travelers, and Nasdaq listed companies A total of 26 people including CEOs, overseas Chinese leaders from chambers of commerce, and community elites participated in this study tour and trip. This trip was a gathering of people and cultures, with extensive exchanges and practical actions, and they benefited a lot!

Tsinghua University and University of Southern California bully Lin Xu is extremely talented and a god-level tour guide who is witty and humorous. He will either laugh you to death or amuse you to death! Driving Lin Dong is very knowledgeable about history, and he has memorized ancient and modern Chinese and foreign information, which made everyone's knowledge soaring. There were constant laughter and laughter during the journey, which was extremely enjoyable!

This "gold rush trip" requires a group photo at every scenic spot, and invites local museums, shop owners, post offices and other relevant people to sign the banners as a souvenir. The Chinese and English banners will be sent to the Chinese Museum in the United States and the Overseas Chinese Museum in China respectively. The photos and text descriptions will be submitted as attachments.

Zhang Zhaohong, president of the Arizona Chinese Historical Association, participated in this root-seeking trip. He sincerely thanked the organizers and participants of this event, and wrote a collection of articles and photos based on what he gained from this historical journey, and published them in the media in installments to share his feelings with you and me!

October 8th was the first day of the trip. We took our first group photo at Universal Studios Hollywood, and then drove the bus to San Luis Obispo, a city on the coast of Central California. In 1895, the Southern Pacific Railroad was built through the city. At that time, the town was more prosperous than San Francisco, while Los Angeles was still a desert area. At this time, there were more than 5,000 Chinese living in Chinatown in Shengcheng, most of whom were railway workers. Chinatown has restaurants, grocery stores, gambling halls, Chinese medicine shops, opium dens, brothels, etc. Later, with the completion of the railway project, most of the Chinese left, and Chinatown gradually fell into depression.

The first Chinatown site we visited was the "Wong On Kee Grocery Store" (which has been converted into a gift shop). Huang An, a native of Taishan, Guangdong, was a famous figure of that era. In 1874, Huang An established the "Huang An Ji" grocery store, which was the first Chinese store in the Holy City and provided food, clothing, housing and transportation services to thousands of Chinese workers. Until 2000, "Huang An Ji" was still hosted by Huang An's youngest son, Huang Quanzao, who was over 90 years old. San Luis Obosbo was the site of the world's first motel and is also home to California Polytechnic State University.

At lunch, Chen Canpei and his wife and I sat together. During the dinner, they learned that they met in this city half a century ago! During a meal during a trip, because the soup was not tasty enough, Mrs. Chen handed Mr. Chen a bottle of salt. As a result, they looked at each other like an electric shock, and they fell in love at first sight! From then on, Mr. Chen would drive from Los Angeles to Ms. Chen's home in San Francisco to meet and ask for "salt" as soon as he became indifferent. After traveling countless thousands of miles back and forth, I finally got the beauty back home. To this day, their love as a couple has not diminished. The author immediately clicked the shutter for this "salt wedding" that has not changed for fifty years, and the group members also stepped forward to send blessings. After one surprise, another surprise came. It turned out that President Chen had quietly paid for all the group members to celebrate! Since the beginning, the story of "people who have salt will eventually get married" has been widely circulated.

In the afternoon, we went to visit the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum (San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum).