“Built for Food”: The History of Chinese Restaurants in SF’s Chinatown

Accounts on Chinese immigration history during the Exclusion Era have placed great emphasis on the mainstream society’s hostility towards Chinese people. But, how did the Chinese fight back? Where could we find the resilience of Chinese people? Can we still observe these imprints today?

As an architectural historian and material culture scholar, Hongyan Yang (Adjunct Professor and PhD candidate in Architecture, UW-Milwaukee) found answers to these questions primarily in the artifactual evidence. This talk aims to uncover the voices of Chinese restaurant owners that were materialized and revealed through the built environment and culinary practices in San Francisco’s Chinatown.