Chinese Restaurants During the Era of Exclusion

Not only was Chinese cooking unfairly stereotyped, but Chinese immigrants were reduced to the foods they ate. In 1902, when the Chinese Exclusion Act was set to expire, the American Federation of Labor published a pamphlet, provocatively titled Meat vs. Rice, that advocated extending the law indefinitely. “Rice” in the title was shorthand for Chinese, and Chinese immigrants were threats to America, the authors asserted. Leaders in the anti-Chinese movement used the fact that the Chinese preferred different foods to justify the exclusion of Chinese immigrants.

How Chop Suey Changed Chinese Exclusion

Chinese exclusion, a series of federal immigration laws that barred Chinese laborers from immigrating, also deprived restaurant owners of the right of free and open travel. Following the passage of the McCreary Act of 1893, which enumerated more reasons for exclusion, immigration officials determined that restaurant owners should be classed as laborers who had no right of entry. This new policy trapped many Chinese restaurant owners in the United States. If they left, they could not return. They needed to be in the United States to make a living that could support their families in China. While Chinese restaurant owners reacted bitterly, there was little they could do. At the time, there were few Chinese restaurants, their businesses catered almost exclusively to Chinese immigrants, and Americans looked down on Chinese food.

While racism toward the Chinese persisted throughout the early twentieth century, Americans had a change of heart toward Chinese food during the visit of Li Hong Zhang, a high-level Chinese diplomat. In 1896, Li was the most important Chinese official to step foot in the United States, and his presence generated widespread enthusiasm for China. As he traveled the United States, thousands of curious Americans went to Chinatowns, urban areas where Chinese businesses and residences were concentrated, for the first time. Many of them came in search of “chop suey,” a simple stir fry of meat and vegetables in soy sauce gravy, because it was misreported that the diplomat had eaten this dish.

The “chop suey craze,” as newspapers dubbed the sudden interest in Chinese food, exposed many Americans to Chinese food. Women exchanged recipes and tips for making chop suey at home. Commercial tour companies in New York and Chicago ran tours through Chinatown, which concluded with dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Chinese immigrants opened hundreds of restaurants across the United States featuring this dish. Known as “chop suey joints,” these businesses made Chinese food accessible in most American cities.

Americans’ newfound appreciation for Chinese food empowered Chinese immigrants to challenge Chinese exclusion. Chinese restaurant owners believed that they were entitled to “merchant status,” a legal category under Chinese exclusion that extended the right of free and open travel to people in commerce. They argued in court, correspondences with immigration officials, testimonials to Congress, and complaints to the U.S. State Department that it was disingenuous to categorize them as laborers, as restaurants were places of business and they were businessmen. In 1915, immigration officials relented, conceding that Chinese restaurants were significant enterprises and giving them the merchant designation. Chinese immigrant activism had translated the commercial success of Chinese restaurants into a legal entitlement.

Using Merchant Status

After the policy change, the Chinese restaurant industry became even more attractive investments to Chinese immigrants. Groups of friends or relatives would pool their resources, since the overhead was often too high for one individual to shoulder. The partners then shared the duties of running the restaurant; one investor managed the staff, while another cooked, for example. Once every few years, one of the partners would apply for merchant status. Ahead of his departure, this individual filed paperwork, paid fees, provided names of witnesses, submitted documentation, and appeared for interviews. Known as “pre-investigation,” this process allowed Chinese restaurant owners to travel out of the United States with the peace of mind of knowing that they would be allowed to return.

Because many people wanted this designation, restaurant partners had to coordinate who would go up for merchant status next. Immigration officials typically only awarded merchant status to one partner at a time. If too many people claimed merchant status at once, all their applications might be rejected. Thus, Chinese restaurant owners had to negotiate an order that allowed investors to claim merchant status as quickly and fairly as possible.

Getting merchant status was worth the wait. Holders could not only visit China, they could also sponsor immediate relatives who wanted to come to the United States. Chinese restaurant owners brought back sons to help them run their businesses, as well as wives and daughters to live with them in the United States.

Chinese immigrants’ efforts to circumnavigate Chinese exclusion was one reason they opened so many Chinese restaurants during the early twentieth century. Investing and working in the Chinese restaurant industry provided a strategy for confronting legal barriers to their physical mobility. Chinese restaurants also powered the urban economy, becoming the largest employer of Chinese immigrants by midcentury and supporting lateral businesses like groceries, butchers, farmers, importers, delivery services, and landlords. Their owners served as community leaders, advocating and defending Chinese immigrant rights through mutual aid associations. Finally, Chinese restaurants also served as “urban anchors,” places where Chinese immigrants could eat and socialize beyond the scrutinizing gaze of Americans.

Reflection Questions

What stereotypes did Americans have of Chinese food and how did these perceptions reflect American attitudes towards Chinese people?

Why did Chinese immigrants turn to restaurants and food service for employment?

How did Chinese immigrants use the popularity of Chinese food to challenge Chinese exclusion?

How did Chinese restaurant owners navigate Chinese exclusion during the period when U.S. borders were closed to Chinese immigration?

Does eating new and different foods encourage diners to gain a better understanding of the cultures the cuisines represent?

Additional Reading

Heather Ruth Lee, Gastrodiplomacy: Chinese Exclusion and the Ascent of Chinese Restaurants in New York City, 1870–1943 (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming).

Renqiu Yu, “Chop Suey: From Chinese Food to Chinese American Food,” Chinese America: History and Perspectives (San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America,1987), 87–99.

Erica Peters, “A Path to Acceptance: Promoting Chinese Restaurants in San Francisco, 1849–1919,” Southern California Quarterly 97, no. 1 (2015): 5–28.

Yong Chen, Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014).

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