Tong War video-1875 san francisco

[hskwarrior]

since mandarin isn't really used that much in sf, i feel but don't know for sure that most came from southern china.

but don't quote me on that

[Mano Mano]

I had a feeling the guy in the photo was southern Chinese when I originally saw the butterfly knives.
It would be nice to think he was CLF however for that time frame he could be of any Southern system CLF, Hung Gar, White Crane or even some unknown family/clan fighting system.

[hskwarrior]

very true very true.

its nice to wonder.......but i wish someone could say, hey, thats my uncle....and he did do the ? style of gung fu.

but, yeah, i think southern too.

[CLFNole]

Yeah definately southern, northern styles don't use butterfly knives unless it was something added later during more modern times.

[WanderingMonk]

overwhelming majority early chinese immigrants to US were from southern China. That's where they got most of the "coolie" (which is a english transliteration of the Chinese term for bitter labor or people who do hard work) for the railroad construction.

In Iris Chang's book on early Chinese immigration into the states, she mentioned (If my memory serves) over 60% to 80% of the early immigrants were from Toishan of Guangdong, China. This was pre-wwII immigration. I think that's where I got that bit of info.

[Eddie]

in my country the term Coolie was used to refer to Indian (from India and pakistan) people. For pretty much similar reasons I guess. It was one of the things Ghandi stood up against.

Sadly, the term made itself into our language and culture, and has become pretty much an accepted term. Although some people now protest against it.

[htowndragon]

hey thats my uncle and he did the "slash you with my butterfly knives" style of hop gar.

[mok]

hey thats my uncle and he did the "slash you with my butterfly knives" style of hop gar.

Way up until the mid-80's, the majority of chinese immigrants in the U.S. and Canada were Cantonese, with some Toishan and Fukkienese.

This is also true for overseas chinese in general, as Canton and Hong Kong were the gateways to the West. In late 80's early 90's this changed as china opened-up its emigration policies. I remember way-up until the mid-eighties, no one even spoke mandarin in chinatown - it was cantonese everywhere.

Since the HK handover, the majority of chinese arriving to the States or Canada are now skilled immigration from the mainland. Most of these are highly educated and come from University centers such as BeiJing, Shanghai, etc.

[hasayfu]

This is bit of an interest for me.

Mok, I think up to the 50s, a majority of Chinese in North America were from "Say Yup" (The four counties) of which Toisan was a major contributor. In the 50's, there was some act of congress that enticed a lot of "Sam Yup" people to come over (mainly from Hong Kong) which is where the Cantonese is from. In the 80s, we got a large wave from Taiwan and this started the mandarin wave. They tended to be more affluent and moved into North American suburbs as opposed to the chinatowns. Now in 2000, there is an influx from Mainland and other asian chinese. These are both affluent and not.

The photo looks like a street performer. The lighting does look good but it's also day time. There were definitely kung fu people in SF way back. One of my Si-dai's grandfather had an article written up about him in the 30s. It was a "detective" magazine that was popular in the time. Plus, wasn't the way Lau Bun got to SF "by invitation?" Do you think he was the first? That's a question.

My grandparents came to SF from toisan in 1905. After the "Quake" they moved to Oakland. So I have a lot of interest in Chinese American history but little direct ties to SF.

[GeneChing]

It was in this rather nice book that was a collection of vintage photos of Chinatown. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what the title of the book was at all. That was the only martial pic in the book, and I thought about investing in it since it was such a nice photo, but didn't. It's hard to buy a photo book for just one photo. Plus it would have disappeared into my library, which I once again must trim soon. Of course, had I bought it, I would be super cool right now, if I could bust out the title of the book. It was not meant to be...

[hskwarrior]

let me clarify this.........in regards to Lau Bun and his arrival to the United States in the 1920's, there were NO gung fu SCHOOLS or it being taught to anyone here in america.

since the after the mid 1850's many chinese have come to our country, with gung fu being as old as it is, it would be a rediculous idea to believe Lau Bun was the first on american soil to know gung fu..........

but he was the first to begin teaching it here. There are NO other schools prior to Lau Bun's arrival.

in saying that, i believe that it was more southern, because my sigung is Say Yup.

Lau Bun was Toi San. and sorry, I don't believe Lau Bun was invited to come here.......




hsk

[hskwarrior]

in america during the early 1920 and the following decades, Lau Bun was the first in the US known to be teaching chinese gung fu.........Its a toss up but the next is either wong ark yuey or T.Y. Wong.............for many years it was just these three that were known then.......

but i will say this, TY wong made it to TV before Bruce Lee did.

anyways out here in sf......its either Say Yup or Sam Yup.

i forget, which is the dialect that slurs their words?

[TenTigers]

when and where wa sTY Wong in TV doing Gung-Fu? (this is cool)

[hskwarrior]

I have both of T.Y. Wongs books, and in one of the pics theres a reporter talking to him on a TV set....it gives the dates, either late 50's or early 60's but not much more is said about that.

[buddajoe]

the "sword dancer" is a photograph by Arnold Genthe cir. 1895-1906. it is part of his "Tradesman" portfolio. besides being in the California historical society it is also part of the Bancroft collection, Berkeley. when i first saw this picture in the 70's i was told that the subject was a bodyguard for Dr. Sun. i could never verify this. the knives are great but may have been common. attached is a police photo of confiscated weapons during that period.