Part 11 (Second of two parts)

Chinese New Year:

An American Tradition? To become accepted, American-Chinese were forced to

change the shape and focus of their traditional celebration. What we see today is a far cry from what native Chinese

had in mind. By Lou Illar

etween Jan. 10 and Feb. 20 in nearly every major city in the United States, crowds of American-Chinese and myriad others gather amid fireworks' clatter to see lion and dragon dances and to exchange strange slogans such as "gung he fat choy." Television interviewers and

cameramen hurriedly banter about attempting to bring some sensibility to the apprent disorder of the event. What first appears as a disorganized and meaningless gathering, upon closer inspection, however, reveals a sense of unity between friends and family. Whether family, friend or teacher, that interrelationship within an American- Chinese family will be acknowledged and validated during the New Year holidays. Chinese New Year has become an American phenomenon.

To become "acceptable," American-Chinese changed the shape of their traditional celebrations. They created an event that included Americans. Gradually, in their patient quest for acceptance, they slowly rearranged their traditional objectives. The celebrations held during the New Year festivities in Louisiana today are a sign of that alteration. The accent and focus of these festivities are as uniquely American-Chinese as the original festival was Chinese. The explanation behind these modifications are an extension of those wonderful tales that have harbored the ritual and tradition of Chinese New Year. This American legacy is not one of magic or myth, but one of human strength, ambition and patience.

Engineering records reveal that Chinese have been present in Louisiana since 1815. Nearly all other records of their presence prior to the end of the Civil War were destroyed. The Chinese were generally brought in after the Civil War to replace slave labor within the plantation systems of Louisiana. They cleared sugar cane fields, or brush, and dug the levees. Correspondence between plantation owners indicated that these rented or "coolie" laborers actually demanded within their modest contracts one day of rest for the New Year

In 1873 a Chinese businessman from San Francisco developed a Chinese colony off Barataria Island. Through his unique efforts to process dried shrimp he changed Americans' eating habits and his colony of Chinese shrimpers helped bring the celebration of New Year's to Louisiana. The holiday did not begin to involve Americans until 1890. Suddenly what was once referred to by Louisiana's whites as a "heathen spectacle" was given Christian approval. This change in attitude was brought about primarily by two factors: An awareness of the honesty and the hard-working nature of the Chinese, and a sincere sympathy for the plight of the Chinese in America. Having served as language schools for anxious Chinese immigrants, the churches in New Orleans attempted to Americanize Chinese New Year in hopes of granting the Chinese the necessary support to repeal the suppressive exclusionary laws. Following their mistreatment on the plantations the Chinese had fled to the city of New Orleans

to run shrimp markets, restaurants and laundries. They formed a :

small Chinatown on Tulane Avenue, and there within the securitt of their own community they ran their private Chinese New 1 ezv 1 celebrations. Early newspaper reports suggest that the non-Chr~ecc segment of New Orleans was fascinated with the d~spla\ -' firecrackers. As difficult as it is for us to believe, few in N ~ M Or'cs-x had ever seen such devices. Old Chinatown usually rece~ved mC3-z mention in the States Item at New Year because of the a p - - . 1

grandeur of the spectacle; inevitably some fascinated cit~zen u pick up a lighted firecracker, and have it explode in his hand. I

The churches' efforts were not only to Americanize the m~ but the Chinese as well. The female faculty began to organize dl*-- . at New Year to induce public support for the repeal of the retT7:* --q 1

surrounding Chinese immigrants. Government efforts to contw . -*

number of Chinese working and living in the United State h! - turned the first Chinese immigrants living in Louisiana into a cbll" - generation. Women were not authorized to be exported from C - - - Thus, New Year's gatherings throughout Louis~ana ur-• 1

fundamentally different than those in China. They seldom had u 0 . n ~

or children in participation or the lavish banquets that were so .ov2: - of the traditional family celebrations of China. The early e"r- .- celebrating Chinese New Year in Louisiana were sad affal- .b-.

' often reflected the Chinese hunger for home, but the church?. 7;- I

to turn the remorse into hope. It was the Presbyterian and P3- 1

missions that used the holiday as a chance to ce1ebra.c - * I Americanization of the Chinese. The food served at these _gaf?e--ce 1

was American, and the language used throughout the progr3- I English. The churches invited various politicians who spoke nb- * 1

repealing the exclusionary laws. The effort obviouslv wac Q P ~ - + 1

to offer hope of a better life, and to give meaning to the~r ex!\*-'- .- I

in America. Initially, there was an imbalance within the top-: 1

the New Year celebrations in Louisiana. A public celebran~on 3. *'- 1

churches' meeting halls seemed to offer little aside from roasr tu-kr-. I

to stimulate public support as compared to the "private" x e u ' e?- ' celebration in Chinatown that seemed to gather huge .Arnenc3n crowds as it illuminated the night sky with previously unseen fire\\ P-. displays. It was only a matter of time before the PresbyterIan c + u ~ - realized the public attention firecrackers offered to the Chlnee 3";

in turn supplemented their New Year dinners with mammoth fires or. displays. The holiday took on an entirely different nature. Ratye. than decorating the banquet hall with pictures of door guardr3-c and Kwan Gung, the church printed biblical quotations on red paw. and trimmed the hall with the traditional red color of New \I t.37. The public celebration of Chinese New Year at the Mission on Tulane Avenue introduced the city to firework displays that broueht the entire city to its doorstep to observe. The Christian dinners broug?! mayors and politicians arm-to-arm with Chinese and they made g d positive news copy that stimulated interest in Chinese and !he~r

Photos courtesy of Lou IT!=

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customs. Although the news coverage of Chinatown was all too often

demeaning, cynical, and condescendingly racist, it did reveal the Chinese to be peaceful and honest.

Reporters began to slide around the cultural barriers of the New Orleans Chinatown and project descriptions of the Chinese that merely verified stereotyped profiles that had already been published. Their having little understanding of the nature of the Chinese language began to equate Chinese spiritual reverence with religion. Never accepting the lack of equivalency in both language and cultural Christian concepts, they equated Chinese culture with biblical concepts of idol worship, or polytheistic "heathen" practices. The net effect was that there was little curiosity about the actual meaning of Chinese New Year, and newspapers began projecting the English- speaking, Christianized Chinese as intelligent and civilized while all other practices were classified as barbaric.

Thus the joss houses became secret establishments and private home ceremonies became even more private. The urgency for secret orders and organizations extended well past the storefronts of New Orleans' Chinatown.

The Gee Gung Tong only seemed to become visible during the Ye\!. Year period. The group was a male organization that appeared in Sew Orleans as early as 1892. They were a "knights-of-the-round- table" organization that believed in the chivalrous exploits of Kwan Gun?. a legendary hero and saint of China's Three Kingdom period !hat existed at the end of the Han dynasty. Like Kwan Gung, the group believed in secrecy, benevolence, and respect for order. They maintained throughout the 19th century the joss houses in New Orleans and a constant flow of money to overthrow the Ching dynasty a.nd to lobby against the exclusionary laws. In 1898 the group began !o in\,ite American businessmen and politicians to its dinners to manage public support for their causes. Their merging of customs ?o become American was an extension of the original efforts of the Chinese mission's celebrations on Liberty Street.

Perhaps the most apparent distinction between the changes the .Americanization of New Year was incurring on the holiday itself \+-as revealed in 1905. The consulate for the Ching dynasty had arrived in New Orleans to make an apparent expression of his authority. The Gee Gung Tong had managed to support Dr. Sun's cause to the degree that his revolution was almost entirely funded " American-Chinese. The minister's presence was a strategic move !o force the New Orleans Chinese back into a traditional frame of mind and his presence was intended to have a dulling effect on any further Gee Gung Tong fundraisers during the New Year period. Protocol for Chinese was a kowtow, bowing three times touching the forehead to the floor before the minister. Whenever New Orleans Chinese confronted minister Wu they followed proper protocol. The cultural regulation was particularly difficult not to follow because

of the superstitious nature of Chinese during New Year. They did not want to "stir" trouble. However, the Chinese mission on Liberty Street evidently took its location seriously, and invited minister Wu to their New Year banquet. There, no special seat of honor was awarded Wu, nor was there any kowtow allowed. Wu was seated next to laundrymen and shrimp cleaners and cooks. America had begun to distinguish its Chinese from the Ching dynasty, and traditional custom.

In 191 1 New Year brought a new kind of American-Chinese New Year celebration. The rise of Dr. Sun's government had brought a sense of final independence to American-Chinese. They cut their ques and began to style their clothing and hair with a Western look. The liberation of China induced a new sense of freedom to Chinese living in America. They could now consider a wife, a family, and a real life in the United States.

New Orleans Chinese supposedly celebrated their last Chinese New Year in 1912. It was the first year of government for the Republic of China. and with the national change to a Westernized calendar, the New Orleans Chinese community saw this as their last opportunity to celebrate New Year.

They also celebrated the development of a new organization. No longer was the secret organization like the Gee Gung Tong neces- sary. They reordered their purpose and kept the same tenets.but be- came the "On Leon" or the Chinese business league. Their locations are still usually .well-marked in most Chinatowns.

Even though Chica moved to a Westernized calendar. and encouraged Western attitudes. the elder Chinese attached to On Leon found a proper reason to continue the celebration of New Year. It happened to be the anniversary of the first democratic government of China. It became the Chinese Fourth of Jul!. 35 well as the center focus of their traditional culture. Prior to this F!R! the Keu- Orieanc press mocked the event as a "heathen" holida!. :7u: !+:c net! <'?re on the holiday even found the U.S. Marine eng:.lw-c ce ' c%x:n~ the event with the On Leon organization in ! 91 i. Ivi-!;3 \ ! ~ ~ i l

itself as the founder of all democrat~c re~ub!in . C!17~e Keu !.-2- became just another extension of Amencan ~dealq.

Although Americans may have been pro!ect~ng !heir i,!p3'< ! ? - 7 t l ~ k

their Chinese friends' celebration. fetv .4menc3?-C'-.-se - t.-: actually feeling those blessings of liberty. The! u.e7e cr.:. 4.n~ subjugated by the exclusionary laws. They found ?+rrr?cfl*.pc '-:..?:

in detention centers at immigration points for in~&!'r\ :r ~ m f i 2 ; pC

time. One trip back to Hong Kong was risking. uwn re-e~t? :r!:, the U.S., a six-month-to-six-year stay in an ~mrnigratlon osce. Even though China had now permitted the passage of uomer! !nto the United States. U.S. government restrictions made a family presence here in the U.S. nearly impossible.

Chinese New Year celebrations prior to World War I1 in the U.S. continued to lack the presence of Chinese women and children.

Although the Chinese were always optimistic, their gatherings tended to be sad because of those restrictive factors.

Today, American celebrations of Chinese New Year differ greatly from classical tradition. They represent a victory of patience and the pride of being free American-Chinese. It is, in fact, a kind of Fourth of July. Old superstitions are still upheld but from a different cultural perspective. Instead of actually believing in the shamanistic premises that support various New Year activities, they are performed because it is "Chinese" to perform them. As one third-generation, American-born Chinese expressed it, "Chinese New Year was the only thing that I knew that was really Chinese." Although reshaped by its emergence in America, Chinese New Year maintains its orig~nal intent. It serves as a point of identity for Chinese, their family members and friends.

New Orleans and Baton Rouge no longer have Chinatowns, but they do carry an unusual number of successful Chinese restaurants. At anywhere from nine-to-I2 restaurants there will be special family festivities and public celebrations. The city newspaper and Baton Rouge television stations and news networks will carry the event. All too often they still project an air of cynicism or satire about the celebrations, but more recently they are starting to understand it for what it is - a celebration of freedom. The measure of success that Chinese businesses have found in the area is often reflected in the amount of joy expressed at New Year. Having lion danced in the area for 15 years, I am aware of the differences in the nature of these local celebrations.

There are still private special celebrations that occur at a local Buddhist temple. There at the very last hour of the old year lion dancers will gather in darkness, rain, and even snow. The lion will perform in front of the gate and within the temple itself. Usually this dance is one of the more taxing, because it is long and the dancers never rest. Starting well is still viewed as an important facet of Chinese culture. and once in a while a new home is left vacant until the New Year festival. At that time, in as much as a loud drum and symbol can maintain a low profile in an American neighborhood, the lion dancers will perform a similar private lion dance for the new owners. As the lion dancers perform kung-fu and their dance rituals in front of restaurants, firecrackers from all angles are tossed at their feet. There are times when the jubilation becomes so loud that onlookers wonder why so many firecrackers are used. At some gatherings, however, the actual history of China is revealed by a narrator as he explains the meaning of each kung-fu form performed and the symbolism associated with the lion dance. Crowds gather and the pyrotechnic displavs are suspended until the end of ;he show. ~ h i n k s e organizations still manage their special gatherings and dinners at New Year, but for the most part Chinese New Year is still a private family custom in Baton Rouge.

Families like the Chen family will congregate in Baton Rouge at the home of its oldest members. Together they'll paint small banners, bearing good wishes for the New Year, prepare and dine on special dishes and, of course, shoot firecrackers at their restaurant while they welcome the New Year lion dancers. All of the efforts made to make New Year are done to remind every member of the family of how far they have come. They privately exchange gifts and support their friends. Often the restaurant is vacated so that the lion may provide a special private performance for family members. Some restaurants like the Chen restaurant provide free dinners for their friends as well as a lion dance and kung-fu displays. When asked by one reporter why he. Mr. Chen, bothered to maintain such an expensive tradition. he replied, "I like my friends."

Thus. it goes on as it always has. American-Chinese New Year may appear different with Americans performing kung-fu and lion dances, but as that New Year lion annually dances through the halls and kitchens of the restaurants in Louisiana, he often sees on a special candlelit altar the chivalrous red face and black beard of an old freedom-loving friend. Kwan Gung. He quietly stops there and solemnly bows three times in memory of his ancient and loyal friend. Afterall. the struggle for good friends is what American-Chinese New Year has always been about. s

'4 bout the Author: Lou Illar is a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based white crane instructor. .