What Is the Origin of "Chop Suey" or "Wonton" Font, Often Associated with Chinese Food?

I am sure you have seen this font before, on Chinese takeout boxes, in Chinatowns, on Chinese restaurant signs or menus, or something that was supposed to be "Asian". It goes by a variety of names, such as Wonton, Chop Suey, Kung-fu, and so on.  

But did you ever wonder HOW this font came to be? And how did it become the face of Chinatown? 

The first appearance of this font family was registered in 1883 by Henry H Thorp of the Cleveland Type Foundry as "Chinese", though later it was changed to "Mandarin". However, it is unknown if he personally designed it, as there are many design patents filed in his name even when he was unlikely to be directly involved. 

This type of font was known in typography as an "ethnic font", trying to evoke a particular culture or ethnic group, and there are hundreds of them. Some are actually based somewhat on the language's original writing, like those pseudo-Greek or pseudo-Cyrillic fonts, then there are these deliberately caricatured ethnic fonts, such as the Wonton font. And there are plenty more. Nowadays, there are "African" fonts, "Mexican" fonts, "Sci-fi" fonts, etc. 

But to explain the font's popularity, we have to reach back to a seldom talked-about period of American intolerance, from the 1870s until the 1940s. 

As the Intercontinental railroad construction is coming to an end in 1869, the US economy entered a bit of recession. And the 80000 Chinese laborers recruited from China over the last 20 years for the railroads, plus the thousands more who came over independently to explore the opportunities here in the "Land of the Free", were suddenly seen as a threat to domestic jobs. This eventually resulted in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, where Congress, for the ONLY time in American history, singled out a specific ethnic group to not only be disallowed entry into the US but also prevent them from becoming citizens. Those who lived here, but went back for a visit, are prevented from coming back unless they have siblings, parents, children, or greater than $1000 in assets in the US. 

Elsewhere in the world, in the 1895-1900 series of posters was published in France, known as _Maîtres de l'Affiche_ (Masters of the Poster), and one of them was called "A Trip to Chinatown" that featured the Mandarin font, making it extremely influential on all "Asian" designs to come. 

The Chinese Exclusion Act was supposed to be renewed every ten years in case the situation changed, but after the 2nd renewal in 1902, it was made permanent in 1904. 

In 1906, the great San Francisco earthquake a fire destroyed much of San Francisco and all of Chinatown. The subsequent rebuild was somewhat modeled after China's Sung Dynasty architecture, by a Scottish architect who had never been to China. However, the redesign of Chinatown made it middle-class-friendly. Think of Chinatown as an amusement park like "Medieval Land", and you would not be far off. It was advertised as the "next best thing to actually visiting the Orient."  The success of San Francisco Chinatown served as a template for all Chinatowns to come.

In 1915, Congress allowed the immigration of highly skilled workers not available in America. This prompted many Chinese entrepreneurs, with the help of benevolent associations, to hire "chefs" from China, and to spread through the US. It is sometimes after this, that the "Chinese Restaurant Menu" of typical takeout food (broccoli and beef, chicken chow mien, chop suey, etc.) was created and refined to be relatively easy to make and distinctive. The benevolent associations also collaborated to help locate optimal markets so the new restaurants would not compete with each other, ensuring success. 

During this time, the signage and menu for Chinese restaurants were also standardized, and there's no doubt that the French poster mentioned was very influential, and many of the Chinese menus and signage started to use the Wonton font family. The associations probably created a standard "template", and this "success formula" was replicated throughout the major American cities. And that's how the Wonton font family became associated with Chinese, and for people who can't tell the difference, everything Asian.  

The Chinese Exclusion Act was not repeated until 1943, two years AFTER US joined China in fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. But US joining the Chinese side also further popularize Chinese food throughout America, and lead to the fortune cookie being associated with Chinese food. 

Decades later, you can't avoid the Wonton font. It's everywhere, even on Japanese and Korean items.