Pearl of the Desert | Chinese History in Arizona, USA (36) The earliest Chinese family in Flagstaff (4)

Arizona Chinese Historical Association: Zhang Zhaohong In 1924, a Flagstaff cafe called the "Mandarin" closed down due to lack of business and the owner's gambling debts...

Arizona Chinese Historical Association: Zhang Zhaohong

In 1924, a Flagstaff cafe called the "Mandarin" closed down due to lack of business and the owner's gambling debts. Huang Shizhi assumed the mortgage and took over the business, while the original owner Woo Hop Bing continued to serve as the chef while Huang Shizhi paid off his gambling debts. At this time the name of the restaurant was changed to "The American Kitchen".

Huang Shizhi gave his son Wong Ben Jun (Wong Ben Jun) to run the restaurant. At the grand opening ceremony, Huang Shizhi invited more than 300 guests and distinguished guests to attend such an exquisite dinner that they had never seen before, which impressed everyone. Huang Shizhi is a law-abiding citizen of China and a very successful real estate agent, and now he is seen as someone who knows how to throw a great party.

The restaurant has been booming for several years. Everything went smoothly. However, the original store owner HooHop Bing was unhappy with this. He slowly paid off his gambling debts, but didn't enjoy working for anyone else. He continued gambling and incurred new debts, eventually quitting the restaurant and leaving town. Because Hoo Hop Bing is an excellent chef, Huang Shizhi failed to find reliable people to provide customers with the best food. After a few years, as the number of customers dwindled, Huang closed the restaurant. But not to be discouraged, he reopened the Rose Tree Café, a bar and billiards hall, which he and his wife successfully ran for decades.

Because the laundry room is very close to the Santa Fe Railway, it will be troubled by homeless people. Unlike today's homeless, tramps were actually traveling workers who often used trains to get around in search of work. After they were caught and kicked out of the car, many came to the restaurant door seeking food and shelter. Surprisingly, many old tramps later became famous movie stars and authors, boxing heavyweight champions, and American folk singers.

>Huang Shizhi will provide discipline training for everyone, including employees and family members to do their best. He always ensured that the laundry was running smoothly and had supplies available and maintained the machinery, and that their customers received the best possible service, even through the Depression when many suffered.

Huang Shizhi's policy towards him and his family is to keep a low profile in the community in order to integrate into the American way of life despite social prejudice and discrimination. He earned the respect of his citizens by requiring his family and employees to work hard, behave well, and most importantly obey the law, becoming a model citizen through hard work.

Among some Chinese goods shipped from San Francisco, he received a wine made from the fermentation of five different melons, which had healthful properties, in a small round clay pot resembling a bomb. This Chinese-made liquor is popular in Flagstaff. Huang Shizhi also once brewed a wine using his own recipe and then stored it in a large clay vat. The wine was kept there for nearly 70 years before being destroyed.

>Chinese herbal medicine is Huang Shizhi's main hobby. The experience he gained while wandering the herb shops of San Francisco's Chinatown allowed him to maintain a large repertoire of herbs and ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat almost any ailment. If someone is uncomfortable, they will almost never complain about their health after seeing Huang Shizhi.

However, Huang Shizhi eventually fell ill. He decided to use Chinese herbal medicine to help him recover. He learned about opium for pain relief and traveled to San Francisco to receive treatment at the Chinese Hospital in Chinatown. In addition to herbal formulas, the hospital also used acupuncture and other methods not used in American hospitals to treat his illness.

Regarding Huang Shizhi's illness, the author Huang Binghai wrote in the book:

"One night in June 1941, suddenly, the phone rang in the laundry room. Apparently, the bad news was that my father was about to die of illness and he wanted to see his family for the last time. My mother, eldest brother, sister-in-law and I immediately drove to San Francisco.

However, as the car was traveling down the road and making a sharp right turn to cross the tracks, another car appeared from the other end of the tracks and we hit its rear end. Fortunately, no one was injured, but items from the car were scattered across the road and the car was damaged and rendered inoperable. We had to return to Barstow and take the train to San Francisco, wasting precious time.

When we finally arrived at the hospital, my father came to. He signed some laundry checks and then died. My mother insisted on Buddhist rituals for the funeral rather than the usual Christian ones. In Buddhism, death marks the deceased's transition from this life to the next.

Since Dad did not leave a proper will, his estate must go through probate so that the mother can take control. However, immigration laws at the time prohibited Chinese immigrants from becoming citizens, and she could not legally own the inheritance.

A Chinese foreign woman who married a U.S. citizen before September 22, 1922 will not be able to obtain the inheritance because she was not racially qualified as a citizen at the time. The court decided to be lenient, and on July 22, 1941, my mother was allowed to appoint one of my eldest brothers as the administrator of the estate. My mother and tried to apply for citizenship by passing the citizenship test. One of the main requirements of the exam was to recite orally the Preamble to the United States Constitution, and we tried to help her study, but she had a lot of trouble speaking the English words. 'For...we the people of the United States,' she never recited more than the first ten words of the preface. Soon she gave up on the idea and asked my brother Jun to serve as administrator of her estate. "(to be continued)