Introduction: The Role of Huiguans in Chinese American Communities
The paper analyzes the history of Huiguans that represent the development of the organizational support of the Chinese citizens in the early Chinese American formations. The groupings were founded on the basis of both family and district organizations.
The first establishment of the foundations was traced in 1851 and can be aligned with the discovery of gold, which was sustained in San Francisco, and resulted in the attraction of the Chinese citizens to the US spaces (“Fallen Leaves Homecoming: Notes on the 1893 Gold Mountain Charity Cemetery in Xinhui” par. 2).
The initial aim of creating Huiguans concerned providing assistance to the immigrant laborers from China, in America, as well as aiding the consolidation of Chinese. Subsequently, the local support groupings were uniting their forces and shaping the huge regional unions, which, gradually, differentiated four major Huiguan clans.
Since the groupings were perceived as the powerful authority establishments and benefited from consolidating a big number of Chinese, Huiguans developed internal competitiveness, which targeted gaining social control over the Chinese citizens (Lai 17). The attempts of Huiguans to impose their power over the life of the immigrants, as well as adjusting the system of American legislature to the needs of the Chinese, played a critical role for the Chinese communities in the USA.
The Impact of Huiguans: Clan Formation and Politicization
Despite the history of Huiguans’ unions development contains the evidence of rivalry, the groupings revealed the potential for clan consolidation, which led to the improvement of the life level for the Chinese. The evidence of the fact is provided by the establishment of the CCBA-SF, which evolved as the joint resistance foundation that opposed anti-Chinese reforms in San Francisco, at the end of the 19th century (Kuah-Pearce and Du-Dehart 16).
As a result, an authoritative organization, which consisted of six Huiguan companies, evolved. The impact of the organ on the Chinese community life was huge: the leaders of the CCBA-SF managed to prevent the sustention of anti-Chinese reforms in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador (Farkas 121).
The regional Huiguan unions were not the only Chinese supporters, in America. The infrastructure of district clan associations played an essential role in the life of Chinese as well (Lee 342). Thus, the small assistance formations elaborated the level of medicine provision and social interaction, within the Chinese American communities as well as regulated the internal system of the electorate.
Finally, it has to be noted that the formation of both regional and district Huiguan organizations contributed to the extensive politicization of the Chinese American social groups. Specifically, in the first part of the 20th century, the Chinese citizens, who resided, in the USA, received enough power to influence the governmental processes in their homeland.
For instance, the Huiguans aided the Chinese political leaders in opposing the foreign encroachments as well as backed up the struggle of China against the authority of Yuan Shikai, in 1915 (McKeown 25).
Conclusion: Immigrant Consolidation as the Form of Ethnic Support
The discussed impact of Huiguans on the life of the early Chinese American communities reveals that the establishment of national unions in the immigration environment contributes to both the regional accommodation of the citizens to the new life conditions, in the country of immigration, as well as the direction of certain functional processes, in the country of origin.
Thus, the Huiguan communities, which extended in authoritative organs, demonstrated an optimal example of immigrants’ assistance. Furthermore, the analysis of the associations proved that it is possible for the immigrants to impact the life of their ethnic communities, in the homelands.
Works Cited
Fallen Leaves Homecoming: Notes on the 1893 Gold Mountain Charity Cemetery in Xinhui 2002. Web. <https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fallen+leaves’+homecoming%3A+Notes+on+the+1893+Gold+Mountain+Charity…-a0105160298>.
Farkas, Lani. Bury My Bones in America: The Saga of a Chinese Family in California, 1852-1996: From San Francisco to the Sierra Gold Mines, California: Carl Mautz Publishing, 1998. Print.
Kuah-Pearce, Khun, and Evelyn Du-Dehart. Voluntary Organizations in the Chinese Diaspora, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006. Print.
Lai, Him Mark. “Historical Development of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association/Huiguan System.” Chinese America: History and Perspective 21.1 (1987): 13-51. Print.
Lee, Jonathan. Chinese Americans: The History and Culture of a People, New York: ABC-CLIO, 2015. Print.
McKeown, Adam. Chinese Migrant Networks and Cultural Change, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Print.