When studying Tucson’s Chinese community, you will find many references to “Chinatown.” According to Lim (below) the term Chinatown refers to “a geographical area where a particular ethnic group is spatially clustered and socially and economically distinct from the majority group.” Tucson’s Chinese were not required by law to live in a specific area and, while there was prejudice against the Chinese in Tucson, they did not fear working/living in the Mexican barrios or the Anglo community either. There was a concentration of Chinese living in and around the Ying On Compound in the Mexican neighborhood Barrio Viejo but was it a “Chinatown”? I think the Chinese living in Barrio Viejo, including those around the Ying On Compound, more closely meets the definition of an “ethnoburb.” As defined by Wei Li (below “Ethnoburb vs Chinatown…”) “Ethnoburbs are suburban ethnic clusters of residential areas and business districts in large metropolitan areas. They are multiethnic communities, in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration, but does not necessarily comprise a majority.”
You can see in Kathe Kubish’s 1919 map of Barrio Viejo in her article on Barrio Viejo, how closely the Mexican and Chinese markets were located. There are even two Mexican markets across the street from the Ying On Compound, the area referred to as “Chinatown” by both the Anglo and Chinese communities. In the 1919 Sanborn Fire Map (image 3) on the northern edge of the Ying On Compound is the Occidental Hotel and Chinese occupied businesses are clearly marked and do not form the majority of the businesses around the compound. (You can see this on the east side of Meyer in image 8.) Another source for who was living and working around the Ying On Compound are old city directories. These directories reveal the same mix of Mexican/Chinese as do the maps. (Some directories are available from Family Search [with a free account] by searching “Books” for Tucson City Directory.) Barrio Viejo had significant concentration of Chinese, but they did not comprise a majority even around the Ying On Compound. Finally, the US censuses from 1920-1950 can also be searched. From the census you can see that, within the compound, which was used to provide housing for the poor in the Chinese community as well as for Chinese new to town, it was 100% Chinese.
The first area referred to as “Chinatown” was around Chan Tin Wo’s store at 102 and 104 N. Main. Chan was Tucson’s first prominent Chinese Tucsonan. He was wealthy, influential, and well known to Tucson’s Anglo community. It was natural that other Chinese would want to live near him, however, not all of Tucson’s Chinese lived in “Chinatown,” nor were Chinese businesses “economically distinct from the majority group” in the area around Chan’s store. Most Chinese businesses were in the greater Tucson community, with most businessmen using their stores as their homes. The area was the center for the community activities. Men came to socialize, attend Chee Kung Tong meetings, hold religious services and to celebrate holidays. However, it was not like the Chinatowns in San Francisco, New York City or in other cities around the U. S. where Chinese businesses and residents clustered.
Tucson’s Mexican and Chinese communities were pushed south of Congress into what is now known as Barrio Viejo. In 1911 the Hop Sing Tong Company, one of the first Chinese companies incorporated in Tucson, purchased the old Welisch Block, originally built in the late 1870s by Tucson Jewish merchant Theodore Welisch. It was to become the new hub for the Chinese community. This property was located where the Tucson Convention Center now sits. It was known by many names: Hop Sing Tong Co., Chee Kung Tong, Ying On Compound, Chinatown (by both Anglos and Chinese) as well as the Tong House. I prefer to use the term Tong House. The building had many functions. It provided office space for local fraternal organizations, the joss house was located there, as were the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. It is where community holidays, such as Chinese New Year, were celebrated. Most importantly, it housed the poorest of the poor in the Chinese community. It was a residential area for many elderly Chinese men. The 1930 census enumerated 38 people living there: one woman, listed as a widow with four children, including one daughter, lived there with 36 males whose ages ranged from age 2 to 82. Most of the Tucson Chinese lived and worked out in the greater community. The men might come to a meeting at the Tong House but would return to their own homes afterwards.
In the mid-1950s the Chinese Community Center opened on 6th Street. It took over many, but not all the community functions of the Tong House. When the building was torn down in the late 1960s, men were still living there. Tucson lost a significant building relating to both its Chinese and Jewish history with its demolition.
Unlike other Arizona Chinese communities, such as the ones in Prescott and Tombstone, Tucson’s Chinese community continues to exist after almost 150 years. I believe the community retained its cohesiveness through its many organizations not through a concentration of Chinese who lived in “Chinatown” i.e. the Ying On Compound. There were fraternal organizations such as the Chee Kung Tong, Suey Ying Tong and the Ying On Labor and Merchant Association. The Chinese Evangelical Church with its Chinese School provided religious as well as cultural unity to its parishioners. The Sino-American Club, which grew out of the 1931 Chinese Student’s Association, sponsored sports teams for Tucson’s younger Chinese as well as parties and other activities. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which at one time constituted 88% of Tucson’s Chinese businesses, provided a professional association its members and for many years the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), had a Tucson office.
In conclusion, what you think? Did Tucson have a traditional “Chinatown” or was Barrio Viejo an ethnoburb with a sizable Chinese population where some lived at the Ying On Compound or was it a unique community that doesn’t meet either definition?
Updated 4/9/2024
Resources
“Ethnoburb,” Wikipedia, last edited on 29 December 2023, at 22:15 (UTC), viewed on 2/16/2024 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnoburb
Li, Wei. “Ethnoburb versus Chinatown: Two Types of Urban Ethnic Communities in Los Angeles Conceptual Framework : Ethnoburb,” Cybergeo: European Journal of Geography, 1998, accessed in Open Edition Journals, viewed on 8/21/2023 https://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/1018 I used Google Translate to read the article from the original French.
Li, Wei and Yining Tang. “From Chinatowns to ethnoburbs and beyond, where Chinese people settle reflects changing wealth levels and political climates,” The Conversation, August 1, 2023, viewed on 8/21/2023 https://theconversation.com/from-chinatowns-to-ethnoburbs-and-beyond-where-chinese-people-settle-reflects-changing-wealth-levels-and-political-climates-206561
Lim, Sungwoo, et. al. “Defining Ethnic Enclave and its Associations with Self-Reported Health Outcomes Among Asian American Adults in New York City,” Journal of Immigration and Minority Health, February 2017, viewed online 9/9/2022 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4919243/ Definition of Chinatown taken from the introduction to the article.
Schweitzer, John Lewis. The Social Unity of Tucson’s Chinese Community, Master’s Degree Thesis, University of Arizona, viewed on 9/9/2022 https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/551194