How Chinese Migrants in Los Angeles’ Chinatown Achieved Self-Reliance

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, anti-Chinese sentiment was high in the United States, with the country’s working-class workers viewing Chinese workers as a threat.

Previous research has shown that during this period, approximately 400,000 Chinese migrants came to the United States, many of whom traveled to California to build the transcontinental railroad. After the project’s completion, competition for jobs intensified, and the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 prohibited Chinese workers from immigrating to the United States.

But in Los Angeles’ Chinatown, Chinese migrants have found a solution to racist policies, forging their own economy through raising and distributing pigs, according to recent research. The study, featured on the cover of the January 2024 issue of American antiquityreflects the resilience and autonomy of Chinese migrants “in the face of structural racism”.

“Our research revealed fundamental discrepancies between archaeological data and traditional historical accounts,” says lead author Jiajing Wang, assistant professor of anthropology at Dartmouth. “What was recorded in historical accounts was written by those in power, so the records don’t say much about the actual struggles of early Chinese migrants. »

“So archeology contributes to this picture because we recover material remains that provide evidence of the daily lives of people who normally would not have been able to express themselves in public records,” says Wang.

Wang co-authored the study with historical archaeologist Laura Wai Ng, assistant professor of anthropology at Grinnell College, whose research for the article focused on the historical and archaeological context of Los Angeles’ Chinatown, and Tamara Serrao-Leiva, chief deputy and curator of anthropology at the San Bernardino County Museum, who gave them access to the documents.

The study is the result of another project. The team had worked with artifacts from what is now known as Los Angeles’ Old Chinatown, obtained in the 1980s during an excavation led by Robert Greenwood as part of subway construction. from Los Angeles to Union Station.

While examining materials held at the county museum, they came across boxes of pig bones. Wang, an archaeological anthropologist whose research focuses on the origins of agriculture and ancient eating habits, noticed their dirty teeth and knew she could do something with them.

By analyzing dental calculus on the pigs’ teeth, which forms when food residue and saliva react with each other to form mineralized plaque, the team was able to obtain a good record of the pigs’ diet.

The analysis of tooth microfossils from 10 pig specimens revealed phytoliths, that is to say fossilized plant residues, and parasite eggs. Microfood particles showed that seven of the ten pigs had eaten a lot of rice – rice leaves and husks. Rice was predominant in the pigs’ diet, as only two pigs showed evidence of eating grasses such as barley or wheat.

Eggs of the roundworm Ascaris, a parasite that can enter a pig’s digestive tract through consumption of animal and human feces or soil containing the eggs, were also detected in the specimens. Additionally, the researchers analyzed two pork rib bones recovered from the same archaeological contexts, which served as controls to ensure the sample had not been contaminated.

As the study reports, the team knew from their research in old newspaper archives that white hog farmers in California used barley and wheat, not rice, to feed their pigs. . The pork also came from the Midwest; however, in Chicago, pigs were fed corn.

At least four Chinese-owned butcher shops have been documented in the area, according to Ng’s research into Chinese Exclusion Act records and other archival documents. Chinese butchers entered into partnerships with other workers to call themselves “merchants,” which exempted them from the Chinese Exclusion Act. Historical records also show that butchers provided banking and other services.

The team compared their results to what is known about pig farming practices in China, particularly in southern China where these immigrants originated, and found that the practices were quite similar.

In southern China, pigs were fed food scraps, rice bran (a by-product of rice) and rice leaves, as part of their diet. Archival records document that some Chinese were growing rice in Northern California in the early 1900s, illustrating that there may have been a network between Chinese who grew rice and raised pigs.

Previous research has shown that the majority of pork bones found in Los Angeles’ Chinatown came from the least prized part of the pig, demonstrating that the more expensive cuts were likely sold outside the area while the The cheapest cuts were consumed by Chinese migrants who were raising pigs.

“Archaeological data shows that Chinese migrants obtained their own food, grew rice and raised pigs, and maintained their traditions, despite the racist environment,” says Wang.

“With fresh pork, they had created a self-sustaining food system and network that provided jobs, banking, housing and immigration services to the community,” says Ng.

To further this work, the team has another project underway to analyze how dietary practices changed before, during and after immigration from China to the United States.