Institutionalization of the Chinese Tongs in Chicago's Chinatown

Page 6

With the Chinese placed in Chinatowns, the creation of the tongs took place. The word tong (or tang in Mandarin) translates to meeting hall. The tongs first started as community groups helping the Chinese immigrant in settling in America. Booth analyzes this even further in reporting:

What did the rituals of the tongs look like? Richard H. Dillon, author of The Hatchet Men: The Story of the Tong Wars in San Francisco’s Chinatown describes an initiation ceremony of the Chee Kong Tong, one of the first tongs in Chinatown. See the Appendix B to see the initiation ritual practice. Also in the Appendix, there is a picture of an initiation ceremony. The initiation ceremonies of the tongs are heavily influenced from Chinese culture. These specific rituals that the tong recruit goes through showcase the power and influence of the tongs on their members. They are joining a secret society through these various practices that are borrowed from the surrounding culture that is present in the Chinatown. These initiation ceremonies are just one facet that makes the tongs so unique from other criminal organizations.

The tongs are heavily influential in the Chinatowns because throughout their history they have been helping and at the same time oppressing the citizens of Chinatown. They become institutionalized in Chinatowns by providing services that help the Chinese immigrant to adapt and survive in the United States. With some legal services provided by the tongs, there are also illegal enterprises that are funded by the tongs. Booth describes some of the services by reporting:

The tongs brought illegal enterprises to the doorsteps of Chinatown. See the Appendix to see pictures of opium dens from the turn of the century. The tongs that prospered in violence and in vice were called “highbinder” tongs. These are the groups who used violence in wielding their power. Early on, these “highbinder” tongs were called “hatchet men” because they used a Chinese cleaver as a weapon. They would use cleavers in order to “chop” their victims. The wound resulting from a “chopping” would be a symbol that this attack was done by the tongs. This act of using cleavers was also borrowed from the Triads located in China. See the Appendix to see pictures taken of chopping and the weapon that did the damage.