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The Chinese brought with them to the United States traditions and practices that were integral to their daily lives, including specific religious beliefs and rituals. The Chinese communities had temple for worship for Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. The community gathered together to celebrate traditional Chinese festivals. The Chinese in California continued to observe the Lunar New Year in the traditional manner. This important festival was celebrated with elaborate display and plenty of exuberance. Songs, music, and theater were regular leisure activities in the community. Chinese theater performances were important cultural events. In 1852, the first performance of Cantonese opera was held in the American Theatre on Sansome Street, and several months later, the first Chinese theater building was completed. Family relationships were integral to their society and by extension, things associated with family and family members such as food, education, marriage, and funeral customs.

Chinese Americans resisted and took action against the overt discrimination enacted against them. They brought legal cases to the courts--municipal, state, and federal--to combat discriminatory legislation and treatment. Many Chinese also worked with other governmental institutions to protect their rights. They also took their cases to the press. Ho Yow, Chinese Consul General in San Francisco published articles in magazines such as the Overland Monthly, responding publicly as a concerned individual to discrimination.

Chinese medicine fulfilled an important need in the nineteenth century for Chinese and non-Chinese alike. Western medicine had not yet developed the extensive drugs, anesthetics, vaccinations, or sophisticated surgical techniques to which we have become accustomed. Thus, the Chinese understanding of plants used for medicinal purposes was an important component of how injury and disease were handled in the nineteenth-century American West.

Materials in this section are drawn from the collections of The Bancroft Library, the Ethnic Studies Library, and the California Historical Society.

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