Reading the Tong proclamation, Chinatown, San Francisco: Library of Congress / mediadrumworld.com

By Timmy Odejimi

INCREDIBLE pictures reveal the famous Chinatown of San Francisco during the nineteenth century, where the largest Chinese community outside Asia lived.

 

Street scene, Chinatown, San Francisco: Library of Congress / mediadrumworld.com

From merchants at work to children walking with their parents, the stunning black and white images show the Chinese residents of Chinatown draped in their traditional clothing and going about their daily lives.

 

Family from the consulate, Chinatown, San Francisco: Library of Congress / mediadrumworld.com

One picture shows fishmongers and butchers at the well-known Fish Alley, an area also known as ‘Fisherman’s Wharf’, and a place where tourists today can watch fishermen hauling in their catch.

 

Booth, Fish Alley, Chinatown, San Francisco: Library of Congress / mediadrumworld.com

San Francisco has the oldest and second largest Chinatown in North America, with around 15,000 Chinese residents, many of whom do not speak English.

 

Their first photograph, Chinatown, San Francisco: Library of Congress / mediadrumworld.com

Chinatown is one of the Bay Area’s major tourist attraction, with over seventy-five per cent of San Francisco’s tourists visiting Chinatown, an approximately 2million visitors-a-year.

 

Street scene in Chinatown, San Francisco: Library of Congress / mediadrumworld.com

The iconic area was established in 1848 and has been incredibly significant and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in America.