Early Chinese Fishermen

Early Chinese Fishermen. settled, struggled, and persevered while raising their families here. , You are in the center of what used to be one of the largest Chinese fishing villages on the West Coast. From 1853 to 1906, this was the region's Chinese cultural capital., The village was unique among Chinese settlements of the time, because it housed not just single men but whole families with children. Pioneering women had sailed with men in seagoing junks directly from southern China., The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 continued to prevent Chinese immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens. But the villagers' children were born citizens. They became some of the nation's first Chinese Americans., The villagers created Monterey Bay's first commercial fishing industry. They dried fish products and shipped them to San Francisco and China. When competition for daytime fisheries threatened them, residents of this village began night-time fishing in what is now one of California's largest fisheries: market squid., Quock Tuck Lee collected rare marine specimens for Stanford scientists. Quock was also the last man to leave the village after a fire of suspicious origin raced through it in 1906. For a year afterward, he argued for villagers' legal rights to stay on the land. Negotiations led to a site nearby on McAbee Beach., Despite injustices, the Chinese families persevered. Their descendants continue to live in the region and make ongoing contributions to our communities., Visit the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History to see more about the village.