THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504010178
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
There were probably no Chinese in Norfolk before 1885. Now hundreds of those who were born in the Celestial Empire or whose ancestors emigrated from Asia live here and contribute toward making the city a multicultural community.
Norfolk's first known Chinese citizen was Lee Sing. According to the 1885 city directory, he operated a laundry at 52 Bank St. By 1890, Sing had been joined by two compatriots, Lee Hing, whose laundry was at 226 Main St., and Wo Quong, who operated at 18812 Church St. In 1900, Sing opened a second laundry on Park Avenue in Brambleton.
By 1922, there were 30 Chinese laundries in Norfolk. With the rise of white-operated home-delivery cleaning and pressing establishments, however, neighborhood Chinese laundries gradually became a part of the city's past. Now, according to the latest city directory, there is only one left. Located on 35th Street, it caters mainly to Park Place and Colonial Place.
Although many of the original Chinese immigrants to this country became laundrymen, that chore is almost exclusively performed by women in China. Once the first Chinese arrived in this country, primarily during the 1849 California gold rush and later during the building of the transcontinental railroads, an Asian could only make a living as a laundryman, cook, field worker or member of a railroad construction gang.
In Norfolk, there was no demand for the last two types of labor. But once the Chinese had established themselves as laundrymen, it was not long before others began opening small restaurants. The first of these were operated by Sam Wong at 308 Queen St., and J. Wong at 69 Avon St. From those two humble eateries, which turned up for the first time in the 1906 city directory, the hundreds of Chinese restaurants now operating throughout the area descend.
Originally, Norfolk's first Chinese community - including the On Leon (Peace and Mutual Aid) Chinese Merchants Association - was housed in a warren of small shops and living quarters in the East Main and lower Church Street areas.
When I began taking music lessons in downtown Norfolk in the early 1920s, my mother gave me a quarter weekly to get from Berkley to Norfolk and back. I soon learned I could walk back and forth across the Berkley Bridge for 5 cents, leaving me 20 cents to squander on candy and hot roasted peanuts. My comings and goings required that I pass through what was then Norfolk's Chinatown, a vastly different quarter from the rest of downtown.
I saw mostly middle-aged or older men in black hats and loose-fitting clothing. Tantalizing odors emanated from their dark, small-windowed shops where brightly packaged teas, straw-covered jars of preserved ginger and kumquats, dried fish, Chinese melons, exotic vegetables and porcelains were displayed.
By midcentury, the city's Chinese-born population, many of whom had sent money home to encourage relatives to join them here, had laid the foundation through education and assimilation for Norfolk's current American-born Chinese community. This element, while still paying homage to the Confucian precepts of their ancestors, now plays an important role in the city's civic and cultural life.
There's a Chinese Community Association supported by about 300 families, where a blending of traditional Asian and American ethical values is stressed. There's an extensive, well-kept burial compound in Forest Lawn Cemetery. On the professional level, Norfolk also includes any number of Chinese doctors, teachers and entrepreneurs among its most respected citizens, while Old Dominion University offers courses in Chinese and Oriental culture.
Much of the groundwork for this development was spearheaded by the Rev. Sidney W. Quong, pastor of Norfolk Chinese Baptist Church for many years. Born in Canton, China, Quong was a penniless teenager when he came to California in 1916. Later, when he decided to come to Norfolk, he sold the cornet he had been playing in a junior band to raise his train fare. Once here, Quong's abilities were recognized by Norfolk Baptist leaders who had established a mission for the city's Chinese population in 1916. From then on, Quong's progress was steady. In 1936, he became the first Chinese minister to be ordained in the South; the rite was held at Freemason Street Baptist Church.
Until his death in 1983 at age 86, Quong constantly encouraged Norfolk's Chinese residents to be strong contributors to the city's religious, educational, cultural and business life. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
FILE
The late Rev. Sidney W. Quong served as pastor of Norfolk Chinese
Baptist Church.
by CNB