One of the assets of San Francisco's Chinatown as a tourist attraction is its ability to perpetuate ancient customs and traditions of China, some of them more than 2,000 years old. Included are the use of firecrackers and the provincial and sub provincial dialects spoken by most of the San Francisco Chinese.
Standard among the older generation are T'ai shan (台山) and Ssu Yip (四邑), which are major Kwangtung provincial dialects. Middle-aged Chinese as well as new arrivals usually speak standard Cantonese.
Dominance of these dialects has compelled Chinatown newspapers to use the Cantonese dialect in printed fonn. This both fascinates and perplexes the newcomer who speaks and reads only the Mandarin dialect of Peiping. Mandarin speakers and readers find reading San Francisco Chinese newspapers difficult or even incomprehensible, and sometimes downright ridiculous.
Yet it is through these provincial forms of the Chinese language that San Francisco "Chinatown culture" is partly reflected and preserved.
In the following illustrations of these linguistic peculiarities of Chinese culture, expressions are transliterated, in some cases, and their meanings given. The Chinese characters are in parentheses. Many include their Mandarin counterparts.
San Francisco Chinatown Chinese refer to themselves as the Hua people (華人) or the T'ang people (唐人). They speak T'ang language (唐話), referring in particular to Cantonese. Non-Cantonese or Mandarin speaking Chinese are "those T'ang people who do not understand the T'ang language," ie., Chinese people who do not really understand Chinese.
The character T'ang (唐), meaning Chinese or those of the T'ang dynasty, is combined with many other characters to form nouns peculiar to this Chinatown culture. A "T'ang person" (唐人, Chinese) living in the "City of Hua" (華埠, China town) works as a "T'ang cook" (唐廚, Chinese cook), and eats "T'ang meals" (唐餐, Chinese meals). Antonyms are the characters for "barbarian" (番) and ''Western'' (西) used to refer to things not Chinese. Often they refer specifically to Americans. Thus Americans are "barbarians" (番人), meaning outsiders and no insult intended, or "Westerners" (西人). A Western chef is a "barbarian cook" (番廚). Usually an experienced "T'ang fan cook" (唐番廚, Chinese and American chef) can be hired for $800 a month.
The Chinese have also given their own names to the streets of San Francisco. Although most of these are phoneticized, a few reflect historical circumstances. The main street of San Francisco's Chinatown is Grant Avenue. Formerly it was known as Du Pont Street. The Chinese refer to Grant Avenue even today as Do Pan Gai (都扳街), a phonetic representation of Du Pont. Transliteration is the rule for naming nearby streets with the exception of Sacramento Street, which is perpendicular to Grant Avenue. It is known to the Chinese as both Sacramento Street (沙加緬度街) and the "Street of the T'ang people," (唐人街). It is said that Chinatown grew out of the cluster of Chinese businesses and residences along Sacramento Street; thus the name "Street of the T'ang people."
Phonetic Chinese street names are confusing. Chinese newspapers use the classical vertical format and find it inconvenient to insert English words. The transliterations are not standardized. Readers have to figure out for themselves the English street names intended. Imagination often comes into play in discerning that Crab Street (蟹街) is Hyde Street, Sa Ga Mein Do Street (沙加緬度街) is Sacramento Street, Kay Lei Street (企利街) is Clay Street, Ssu Dok Dun Street (市德頓街) is Stockton Street, and Bo Lit Wei Street (布律威街) is Broadway. Broadway has a standard phonetic name in Mandarin (百老匯) but San Francisco Chinese do not use it. City maps in English are of little help and there is no map in Chinese.
Among the frequently mentioned streets is Clement (企利文街) near Golden Gate Park. It is also known as New Chinatown (新華埠). Many Mandarin restaurants and newcomers to San Francisco were unable to establish themselves within Chinatown proper and went to Clement Street, which has two rows of Chinese restaurants extending for seven to eight blocks.
Geographical names used by the Chinese in the United States, especially those over 60 years old, reflect historical origins. These names are virtually unknown outside American Chinese communities and are incomprehensible to those who do not know the places. Long usage by a majority of Chinese settlers usually established the name.
San Francisco is known as San Fan Ssu (三藩市) instead of Old Gold Mountain (舊金山) in Mandarin. Seattle is She Lo (舍路) instead of its phonetic Mandarin name Hsi Ya T'u (西雅圖). Hollywood is Hou Lei Wuo (荷里活) instead of the Mandarin name Hao Lai Wu (好萊塢). Los Angeles is Lo Sang (羅省), not Lo San Chi (洛杉磯) of Mandarin. San Antonio, Texas, is San Tan Tuan (山旦寸) a T'aishan dialectical phonetic representation. Salt Lake City is So Le (所叻) instead of the transliterated Mandarin name "Salt Lake City" (塩湖城).
American place names that have been phonet icized include San Tuo Hsieh (山多些) or San Jose, San Chieh Gu (山姐古) or San Diego, and New Him She (紐謙舍) or New Hampshire. Florida is "the province of flowers" (花省), compared with its Mandarin phoneticized name (佛羅里達). Texas is as Dik Ssu (忒士) instead of its Mandarin phoneticized name (德克薩斯). Vancouver is Wen Kao Wa (雲高華) or Wen Fo (雲埠).
The cities of San Francisco and Sacramento are known by their phonetic names and also as the "Big City" (大埠) and the "Second City" (二埠), respectively. During the 1890s, when many Chinese traveled from San Francisco up the Sacramento River to the state capital, San Francisco was the bigger, as it still is. Hence the two names. Smaller California towns became known by their Chinese names: Napa (粒罷), Weaverville (雲林) and Marysville (尾利允).
Other San Francisco differences involve proper names. Chinatown newspapers referred to President Kennedy as Guien Nei Dei (堅尼地) instead of the Mandarin Kan Nai Ti (甘迺迪), Vice President Rockefeller as Lock Gai Fa Le (洛技化罅) instead of the Mandarin Lo K'e Fei Le (洛技斐勒) and Senator Jackson as Jik Sen (積臣) instead of Chieh K'e Sun (傑克遜) in Mandarin. All are phonetic approximations.
Of special interest is the phonetic representation of the name Patricia Hearst. She is known as Pak Tei Sa (柏蒂莎) to readers of the Chinese Times. To readers of Young China she is Bai Chu Sa (白屈沙). Both newspapers are published in San Francisco's Chinatown. Both are in Chinese. Their offices are, in fact, only three blocks apart. Young China began publication in 1910, the Chinese Times in 1924. Readers have become accustomed to such differences and there are no efforts of reconciliation.
Due to limitations of Cantonese as a provincial dialect, the written language of Chinatown contains many phoneticized terms not known to readers of modem Chinese. At the same time, many modern English expressions which have meaningful equivalents in Mandarin or modern Cantonese as spoken in Hongkong are unknown to Chinatown readers. The result is an adaptation of the provincial dialect by using peculiar expressions and strange phonetics.
It is not unusual to read in San Francisco newspapers something like this:
"A woman was mugged on Hyde Street last night by four Oriental youths while her husband was being held by the Symbionese Liberation Army for ransom. The woman was mugged in front of her apartment and her handbag and personal checks taken away."
The Chinese press report, translated literally, would go like this:
"A woman was mugged on Crab Street last night by four youths of Asian ancestry while her husband was being held by the Seven Headed Cobra Party for beating out the bills (a Cantonese expression meaning to demand a ransom). The woman was mugged in front of her pak mun (apartment), her silver bag (handbag) and red papers (checks) taken away."
The dialectical expression "beating out the bills" (打單) was used to express the idea of "ransom" instead of the common Mandarin and modem Cantonese term (勒索). The terms employed are not recognized by modem Chinese readers. Furthermore, phoneticizing of the English words "apartment" (柏文) and "check" (赤), which have equivalent terms in modern written Chinese (公寓and支票, respectively) does not register with younger readers.
Another group of expressions used by San Francisco Chinese includes invented or adapted terms, many rooted in dialectical context and local history. One such is "paper" (紙).
Most Chinese who came to the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s as immigrants carried a piece of paper on which their name, place of birth and other personal information were recorded. Although most of these papers were false, they served as documents for admission to the United States. The document became known as "the paper" (紙). In the 1900s, the term came to mean any kind of certificate, identification paper or license.
Since most immigrants did not read or write English, they found it difficult to deal with the bureaucracy. This gave Chinese lawyers a big market for their services in the filing of legal documents and overseeing of business transactions. Such lawyers came to be known as "professional petitioners" (狀師). They helped their clients file papers and gave legal advice for a "skin fee" (皮費).
Today's clients are usually concerned about getting a "driving paper" (駛車紙) meaning a driver's license, a loan to buy a car or a pak mun lao (柏文樓) or apartment building. Those who rent dwellings usually live in a fu liet (夫列), a flat, within or on the outskirts of Chinatown so that they can take the "street car" (街車) which runs every 15 to 30 minutes according to a "car period" (車期, bus schedule in Mandarin). Local residents ride the buses often to avoid the hassle of finding a "seat for the car" (車位, parking space) and "docking the car" (泊車, parking the car).
Those who earn their living inside Chinatown are mostly small merchants who own and operate their own "do business shop" (辦庄). This does not refer to a retail store but rather to a wholesale firm. Retail stores are referred to as "shop faces" (舖面), or store fronts, meaning the entire store rather than just the show windows. Another profitable occupation is that of "table stander" (企枱, waiter) because diners usually leave handsome "tip si" (貼士, tips) or a "flowery benefit" (花利).
For convenience, most working bachelors live inside Chinatown in single "bright and ferocious" (光猛) rooms for $80 a month or less. These rooms may not have a private bath but usually are equipped with a "hot water throat" (熱水喉, hot water faucet). Some rooms have a "frost closet" (霜櫃, ice box) and "stove head" (爐頭, stove). Larger pak mun (柏文, apartments) provide "earth storage space" (土庫, basements). Others provide a "warehouse" (棧房) for tenants.
Personal wealth of Chinatown residents is often measured by ownership of such real property as houses or apartment buildings. An "interest entering building" (入息樓, income earning building) is usually a rundown apartment to be rented out in units. Market value will depend on the distance from schools and the ma guit (孖結, market). This is a unique phoneticized term familiar only to San Francisco Chinatown residents. Its Mandarin counterpart (市場) is used in Hongkong where Cantonese is spoken. On the other hand, the Cantonese in Hongkong have phoneticized the English word "store" as ssu do (士多), which is not used in San Francisco's Chinatown nor in Mandarin.
A Chinese retailer in Chinatown may have a sale when he is "selling at level" (平賣). This expression is Cantonese. His merchandise may include "raw fruits" (生菓, fruits, 水果 in Mandarin); cheap "ear buttons" (耳扣 ,earrings, 耳環 in Mandarin); "barbarian soap" (番梘, soap, 肥皂 in Mandarin); "fei lum" (菲林, film, 軟片 in Mandarin); and clothes for "bi bi tsai" (比比仔, babies).
Around Chinatown, people still use "present silver" or "present gold" (現銀 or 現金 , cash) more than they use "red paper" (赤紙 , checks, 支票 in Mandarin and modem Cantonese) to make purchases. The use of the Chinese character 7Jf;, meaning red, for the English word "check" is a grave abuse of the character.
Semantic abuses are due to dominance of the spoken vernacular and are reflected on San Francisco Chinese newsprint. Readers have to accept these misused terms and learn what they' mean. "Ministry of foreign affairs" (外交部) refers to the State Department (國務院 in Mandarin). Henry Kissinger is the "foreign minister" (外長) rather than the "minister of the state department" (國務卿), his proper title in Mandarin. Readers must know that the "big order court" (大理院) is the Supreme Court of the United States instead of "supreme court" (最高法院) as transliterated in Mandarin. The "federal investigators' bureau" (聯邦偵探局) refers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (聯邦調查局 in Mandarin). The Senate and the House of Representatives are referred to as the Upper House (上院) and the Lower House (下院), instead of the Mandarin terms of Senate (參議院) and House of Representatives (眾議院). A sheriff is referred to as "the official who shoulders the law" (承法吏) instead of the Mandarin term "legal police" (法警).
One of the most flagrant misuses of words is reference to a state (州) as a "province" (省). Further confusion arises when the character "province" (省) is used to designate the city of Los Angeles (羅省). Another strange usage is that of the term "tribal village" (部落) to phoneticize the English word "block."
Such distortions demonstrate a lack of linguistic sophistication and limited knowledge of written Chinese. One San Francisco Chinatown resident commented: ''We (overseas Chinese) must realize that the World Journal (a Chinese-language newspaper in San Francisco) aims at 'educating' the local readership." But this is only one paper among 13 involved in strenuous competition.
Since the earliest San Francisco Chinatown newspaper still in existence began publication in 1910, journalism has remained an independent, tradition-bound enterprise catering to political pressures and the directives of Chinatown leaders. The Chinese influence has given the American language such words as lichee, kumquat, longan and wok. But the immigrant who arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown has not only to adapt to the American way of life, but also to Chinatown's way of life, including provincial customs and a dialectical spoken and written language.