BONUS: The Curiously Obscure Origin of Bing Cherries

NOTE: This is not related to Chinatown, but it was a part of Chinese-American history, so I decided to include it as a bonus post. 

If you eat fruit, you may have heard of Bing cherries. They have darker skin than your typical cherries, almost purple-ish. This is the most popular cherry variety cultivated in the US. But did you ever wonder where that name came from?

photo of Bing cherry, courtesy Wikicommons

The Bing cherry was named after a Chinese farm foreman who was only recorded in history as "Ah Bing". But to explain things, we have to go all the way back to the 1850s, and a Quaker family. 

The Lewellings were a Quaker farming family who believed in human rights. Before the Civil War, one of the brothers built an Underground Railroad stop in their house that was riddled with secret passages and doors (and it still stands today). In the mid-1800s, they decided to head out West, and the two brothers, Henderson and Seth settled in Milwaukie, Oregon, and started the first nursery on the West Coast with several hundred fruit trees they brought along. Henderson later left for South America on one of his ventures, but Seth stayed and cultivated the farm, with help of many Chinese laborers. 

Like in California, the Chinese were initially welcomed as a cheap labor force, but when the transcontinental railroad was finished, they were seen as competitors, and many politicians decided to use the "Yellow peril" as their political platform, promising to run the Chinese out of town. This eventually lead to the Chinese Exclusionary Act of 1882, which barred the immigration of Chinese laborers for a decade. It was renewed, renewed again, then made permanent... and was not repealed until 1943 when the US needed Chinese help to defeat Japan in the Pacific. 

Subsequently, anti-Chinese sentiments rose all over the Western US. On September 4, 1885, Rock Springs Massacre in Wyoming territories saw a mob of coal miners descend upon a group of hundreds of Chinese miners, killing at least 28.  On November 3rd, 1885, prominent citizens of Tacoma Washington lead a mob, who then force-marched all Chinese in town to the railroad station and forced them to board the train for Portland, then all of the Chinese buildings in town were razed, in what became known as the Tacoma riot of 1885. Similar actions were done later all over the West in what became known as the "Tacoma Method". Oregon itself suffered Hells Canyon Massacre in 1887, where 34 Chinese gold miners were ambushed and killed over two days, some died by hand. 

Seth Lewelling at this time has employed over 30 men, including a probably Manchu foreman by the name of Ah Bing. Ah Bing was described as being "well over" 6 ft tall and very different from the smaller Chinese workers that were also employed there, most of whom were from the Guangdong province from the south. Most of our information came from records kept by Florence Olson Ledding, whose mother married Seth Lewelling later. The full name of "Ah Bing" was never recorded by the Lewellings: he was simply always known as "Ah Bing", in his 35 years of employment with the family. 

Cultural note: "Ah Bing" is clearly a Cantonese-style nickname by adding "Ah" to a portion of either the given name or the surname of the individual. 

The story differs on how much input Ah Bing had in the creation of Bing cherries. Some versions claimed that Seth had created the variant, but chose to name it after his foreman, while other versions claimed Ah Bing was the one that created it by crossbreeding two strains of cherries he was caring for. But the result was the variety was named after Ah Bing, and became known as Bing cherries. The cherry went on to win many different prizes, and at its height was fetching one dollar per pound, which was a princely sum in the late 1800s. 

During the worst times of anti-Chinese riots, Seth kept his Chinese workers, including Ah Bing, safe, by keeping them in his home rather than separate laborer's quarters. 

Unfortunately, Ah Bing didn't get to enjoy the fruits of his labor (no pun intended) much. He had always been able to return to China for a visit every few years. Feeling very homesick and mortal, he chose to return to China in 1889 for a visit... And from there, we have no further information on what happened to Ah Bing. It was believed that he tried to return but was denied, but it is equally probable that he felt safer back in China and chose to spend his later years there, being no longer safe in America. All we have today is the cherry that still bears his name today. 

Source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/bing-cherry

Source: https://www.meccagrade.com/fieldnotes/2017/6/23/the-curious-lost-history-of-ah-bing-and-his-namesake-cherry