The Hidden Chinatown of San Francisco

As an amateur historian and tour guide, I gathered a lot of interesting bits of information about San Francisco Chinatown that most people are not generally aware of. I use them occasionally on my tour guide job. Here they are, in no particular order: San Francisco Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in the US (but not the Largest) San Francisco Chinatown was dubbed Chinatown by the local press in 1853 . Before then, it was known as little Canton. However, its growth is limited due to its size: only 24 square blocks, less than 1/8th of a square mile. Officially, the population is 35000 as per 2000 census, but the actual number is believed to be 100000.  By population and area, the Chinatown in Manhattan, New York, is larger : 40 square blocks, with about 150000 residents.  The Chinatown You See Today is a Rebranding Effort in 1906  After 1906 Earthquake and fire, the city asked Chinatown to undergo what we today would consider a "rebranding", to a more family-friendly versi...

Most Chinatown tours will likely mention the Tin How Temple on Waverly Pl as the oldest taoist temple in the US, first founded in 1852, and rebuilt in 1910 after the 1906 earthquake.  However, what you probably will NOT know is there is a second temple for the same goddess in Chinatown in an alley two blocks to the south, on Beckett. But let's first discuss who she is.  Mazu, also spelled Ma-tsu, is a Chinese sea goddess who is deified form of a real woman by the name of Lin Mo. The deified form Mazu 媽祖 literally means mother-ancestor (or grandma/granny), also goes by a dozen different names, one of which is 天后 (tianhou) which means Queen / Empress of Heaven.  Little was known about her life in history, as most of her alleged deeds were recorded two centuries after her "return to Heaven". But this is what we pass on today:  She is believed to have been born around 960AD, and her given name was Mo 默 which stands for silence. It was said that she did not cry during or ...