Migration involves both push and pull factors. For the Chinese who came to the Americas, the push factors included political turmoil and economic instability in China as well as increased population, natural disasters, the opium wars, and the corruption of the Ch’ing Dynasty. The initial pull factor was the California gold rush. Between 1850 and 1880 more than 300,000 Chinese came to the United States. Following the California gold rush, many went to other areas, including Montana.
Butte, Montana had a thriving Chinese community from the 1880s through the 1930s. Butte’s Chinatown, primarily a six-block area of the Uptown, contained dozens of businesses that included retail stores which sold Japanese and Chinese goods, noodle parlors, laundries, and gambling houses. The busiest store in Chinatown was the Wah Chong Tai Mercantile. By 1909 business had increased to the point where the two-story Mai Wah (“luxurious, beautiful) building was erected adjacent to the Wah Chang Tai building and the two buildings were interconnected. In 1992, the Mai Wah Society was formed to accept ownership of the two buildings and to use them as a museum which would preserve and interpret the history of Asians in the Rocky Mountain West. According to the museum:
“The Mai Wah and the Wah Chong Tai Company Buildings stand today as a testimony to Butte’s Chinatown.”
Shown above is a faded sign above one of the two small offices in the Mai Wah Building.
The Chinese Experience:
About half of the main floor in the Mai Wah building is dedicated to an exhibit on the Butte Chinese Experience. According to the museum:
“Butte is renowned for its mineral wealth, but was made even richer by its ethnic diversity. Adventurers worldwide were drawn to Butte, risking all to seek their fortunes. The Chinese helped the city to grow by mining gold claims, operating laundries and tailors shops, restaurants and noodle parlors. Butte’s Chinatown was a vibrant community within a cosmopolitan city.”
Shown below are photographs of some of these exhibits.
Some of the Chinese immigrants smoked opium (shown above is a drawing of an opium pipe) and gambled. The Chinese Lottery, known as Pak Kop Piu, was eventually converted into a gambling game today known as Keno.
Shown above are women’s shoes from the 1890s. In 19th century China, as in Europe, women were considered to be the property of their husbands and in the Americas, Chinese women were often confined to their homes to avoid contact with Euro-Americans and other Chinese men. In the American Chinatowns, women’s lives were similar to that in China: full of restrictions and limitations.
Chinese Religion:
Traditional Chinese religion was a blend of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and folk practices. The folk practices included divination and the worship of a variety of gods at local temples. When Chinese immigrants came to the United States they brought their religion with them. In Butte, one of the important institutions in Chinatown was the local temple, sometimes called the “joss house.”
Shown above is a drawing of Kuan Ti, the God of War. This was a popular deity in China and was worshiped and consulted in important decisions.
Shown above is a drawing of the Kitchen God which was revered in many Chinese homes. He was responsible for controlling the abundance or shortage of food. Offering to the Kitchen God included meat, fruit, wine, and paper money. At New Years, the Kitchen God would be thanked and asked for blessing in the year to come.
Shown above is the household god Kwan Gung (Guan Yu) which is now housed in one of the small rooms (offices) of the Mai Wah building.
Shown above is the Laughing Buddha (Pu-Tai). Figures of the Laughing Buddha embody the ideals of the good life—health, happiness, prosperity, and longevity. According to some scholars, the Laughing Buddha was modeled after an historical figure: a fat wandering Zen monk named Pu-tai. According to the museum display:
“Laughing Buddha is the ultimate symbol of happiness. He lays the role to take away your problems, worries, stress, anger, pressure and sadness. Laughing Buddha also brings wonderful fortune, prosperity and wealth to household, office and business.”
In 1842 China had opened its doors to missionaries and as a result both Catholic and Protestant missions had opened in many parts of the country. Some of the Chinese who came to the United States were already Christian and others converted to Christianity after their arrival.