Contact us and tell us your legal story as a Chinese American women
Contact us and tell us your legal story as a Chinese American women
HERSTORY
SAVE OUR HISTORY
護 衛 中 國 城 史 蹟 , 珍 惜 華 人 歷 史
林格聖 GE-SHENG / 陳界仁 CHIEH-JEN CHEN
/ JACOB REKEDAL
1868年左右,中國人就到了加州的河邊市。
1885年河邊市通過法律,不准中國人經商,他們只好搬出市中心,到附近的地方買房子,沒幾年當地的中國城就開始繁榮了,但因為排華法案,中國城最後還是沒落了。
1940年代,小城剩下最後一位華人居民黃河亮,他於1974年過世,他在中國城的房地產被一家開發公司買下,決定在現址開發。中國城內最後一個建築物於1977年被拆除。所有的遺物及史蹟,現在都被埋在地下了。
1980年河邊市政府的教育部門買下這塊地。當他們對這塊地做有限度的挖掘後,發現許多被埋在地下的古文化遺跡及上千件遺物,對於美國華人歷史的研究有極大的貢獻。但因為各部門溝通不良,教育部門在1990年決定將中國城摧毀,2008年10月河邊市議會決定在該遺址上建立一個醫學大樓。
維護中國古蹟的人成立「拯救中國城委員會(Save Our Chinatown Committee)」,並開始對河邊市教育部門提告,阻止在中國城史蹟上建設。他們成立網站、臉書網頁,並不停的組織抗爭活動。
2012年3月,上訴法庭認為河邊市並未考慮到所有合理的可能性,就想摧毀中國城的史蹟是不對的。河邊市終於將興建第一個「中國城史蹟公園」了。
By 1868, many Chinese were living in Riverside, California.
In 1885, after Riverside passed a law forbidding Chinese to run businesses there, Chinese were forced to move out of the city and settle nearby. In 1940, Wang Ho Leung was the only Chinese resident left in Chinatown.
He passed away in 1974 and his property was bought by a development company.
The last building in Chinatown was torn down in 1977 and all the historical relics were buried underground.
In 1980, the Education Department of Riverside County bought this property and some partial digging discovered significant historical relics.
In 2008, Riverside City Council decided to build a medical building on the site, and the "Save our Chinatown Committee" was formed to stop the development.
In March 2012, the Appellate Court decided that Riverside County had not considered all the reasonable alternatives before it would build on the old Chinatown site.
Today, the Riverside people are looking forward to the first Chinatown Heritage Park which will be built on the old Chinatown site.