It was very Chinese in appearance, with pastel-colored paper curtaining the windows, bamboo furniture, and narrow gardens paralleling the rails. The Chinese residents lived in relative peace with white Tacomans throughout the s and in the early s because of their labor and willingness to do work that was unpalatable to white residents. However, health and safety ordinances and claims of unsanitary conditions was commonly used to legally undermine the presence of Chinese residents.
As a result, it is difficult to separate fact from racist exaggeration. The Chinese community in Tacoma was not limited to the bare essentials of survival. The Chinese residents had a rich cultural life as evidenced by the presence of three Joss Houses, Chinese temples, and the accounts of a Chinese New Year celebration that Chinese merchants shared with white merchants in February of Some Chinese merchants in Tacoma attempted to create connections between the Chinese and the white populations.
Sing Lee, Kwok Sue, and How Lung were all merchants and labor contractors who anglicized aspects of their professional and personal lives by wearing suits, keeping books, paying taxes, and learning English, with some even attending Christian church services.
Clarke, , Puget Sound P, ] Map. Accessed May 10, Background map in biography section: Glover, E. S, and A. Portland, Or, Little Canton. Mapping Anti-Chinese Violence.
