Samfow: The San Joaquin Chinese Legacy

by Sylvia Sun Minnick

The book is a revealing portrait of the Chinese émigrés of western America, a people laughing, crying, fighting and loving in the Chinatown community of Stockton, California, the gateway to the Mother Lode and the San Joaquin Valley. Using a historical perspective, the author reviews why the Chinese left their native land and looks at the City of Stockton in which the Chinese settled. Being the third stop on the way to the gold fields, the development of a Chinese community within its township was a significant event. The author also discusses social and economic issues and the role of Chinese women and marriage in the culturally changing environment.

Genres: Nonfiction, China

333 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1987

Reviews

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been researching a great deal into the history of the Chinese in California over the past two years, and read several books on the subject. Most mentions tend to be in a more negative regard--through the lens of San Francisco, and the tong wars, and the years of plague. Samfow was refreshingly different and informative. Foremost, the book is from the Chinese perspective and is an intimate portrait of the city of Stockton and San Joaquin county. It doesn't shy away from the negative--the issues with tongs, gambling, and prostitution are documented--but it's much more balanced on the issues that immigrants faced.

For the sake of my research, I really liked the information on business structures (complete with floor plans!) and matters of doctoring and how bodies were handled after death. I knew from other books that, ideally, the dead were sent to China for their final rest, but I couldn't find anymore information on that subject until now. Books succeed were Google fails.

I also appreciated the emphasis on Stockton. I'm from Hanford in the nearby San Joaquin Valley. The dynamics of the places were/are different--Stockton being on the delta and a major port--but there were also similarities. Hanford was even mentioned throughout, including a citation from the local paper (still in print) from the 1890s that implored young women to learn to cook so they wouldn't rely on Chinese labor. Ouch. That, quite literally, hits close to home.

I purchased my copy of this book from the Taoist Temple Museum Gift Shop in Hanford. I should obviously go there more often on my trips home--this book is a definite keeper.

[Zack]

Really excellent book about Chinese immigrants in Stockton and San Joaquin County; informative, well written, easy to read, good graphics as well. You'll learn a lot about these places and the people that inhabited them starting around 1850--both Chinese and non-Chinese.