Have you followed the construction on the southeast corner of 1st and E Streets? It is the Eureka Chinatown Monument, which commemorates the story of Eureka Chinese residents who were violently driven out of their homes and businesses in February 1885. While a clear improvement from the site’s former cracked concrete and scraggly bushes, what do the monument elements mean?
Moon Gate arch. The moon gate is a common element in Asian landscape architecture and here represents the immigration and emigration of Chinese people. The leaf and wave motifs etched into the arch represent the land and water crossed by immigrants.
Poem walls and poem, the “Water Book of Questions.” The poem reflects how poet Daryl Ngee Chinn struggled with how to uncover and tell a story when a community is erased from history.
River timeline. From 1st to E Streets, a blue “river” represents time (starting around 1850 nearest to 1st Street) to our present day (closest to E Street).
Stone markers. The heights of the concrete “stone” markers symbolize the changing populations of Asian people in Eureka over time. Note that the population grew slowly from 1850 until 1885-86 when they were driven out of Eureka and Humboldt County. Few Chinese people remained and Asians were banished from the county for over 70 years, until the 1950s when Ben Chin opened the Canton Café in Eureka. The last two markers represent the growing populations of Asian Americans, Asian immigrants, and their allies, friends, and supporters .
Ginkgo tree. In the fall, simultaneous dropping of nearly all the yellow leaves from the tree within a short period is symbolic of the 1885 expulsion of most of the Chinese residents from the Eureka area. Tree leaves return in the spring, representing the resilience of Asian immigrants and residents. Also, herbal uses of the Ginkgo biloba include memory enhancement to remember this nearly erased history.
Stone marker words. Words in Chinese characters and English describe the journey of the Eureka Chinese people over time:
● Hope—optimism in traveling to a new land for a better life
● Gold Mountain—the 19th-century Chinese name for California that held the promise of opportunity and fortune
● Chinatown—the Chinese community owned stores, farms, boats, and laundries and worked in homes supporting the growth of the City of Eureka.
● Expulsion—in February 1885, over 300 Chinese residents from Eureka and nearby areas were forcibly detained and deported to San Francisco
● Resistance—Chinese people who remained resisted anti-Asian legislation and racism, and those driven out filed a reparations lawsuit and attempted to return.
● Resilience—the ability to adapt is demonstrated by Chinese people who remained and endured, and whose descendants live here today
● Rebirth—recognizing the connections between the Chinese people who remained and Indigenous people, and the return of Chinese and other Asian peoples, the renaissance of a new and diverse Asian community here
● Community—recognition, acceptance, and inclusion of all peoples of Eureka and the North Coast, welcoming their diverse cultures and histories, and engendering place and belonging for everyone.
● Hope—optimism for greater diversity, solidarity, and equity in our future
Landscaping. Except for the ginkgo tree, native plants represent the land that received the immigrants. The coastal habitats represented are those they would have encountered upon arrival – coastal dunes, meadows, and coastal forest woodlands.
Numerous organizations, agencies, businesses, and individuals supported the monument through monetary and in-kind donations. HAPI particularly thanks Deborah Lee Cooper, the City of Eureka, the Eureka Cultural Arts District, the California State Coastal Conservancy, the Ink People Center for the Arts and Culture, the Humboldt Area Foundation, and California Humanities. HAPI is a project of the Ink People Center for the Arts and Culture DreamMaker Program. Please visit hapihumboldt.org.
HAPI is a project of the Ink People Center for the Arts and Culture DreamMaker Program.
Beautiful… especially important and poignant in these anti immigrant times. Less greed = healthier planet = enough for all.