The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes beginning in the late 19th century among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in the Chinatowns of various American cities, in particular San Francisco. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety of inter-gang grievances, from the public besmirching of another Tong's honor, to failure to make full payment for a "slave girl", to the murder of a rival Tong member. Each Tong had salaried soldiers, known as boo how doy, who fought in Chinatown alleys and streets over the control of opium, prostitution, gambling, and territory.
In San Francisco's Chinatown district, the Tong Wars lasted until 1921, with the various criminal Tongs estimated between nineteen and as many as thirty at the peak of the conflict, though the actual number is uncertain, with frequent splintering and mergers between the various Tongs. While a loose alliance, consisting of the Chinatown police, Donaldina Cameron, the courts, and the Chinese community itself tried to stem the tide of the fighting Tongs, it was the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires caused by the earthquake that was the death knell for the Tongs in San Francisco, as it destroyed the brothels, gambling dens, and opium houses that the criminal organizations had used for the majority of their revenue. Recovery was slow for most Tongs, so they abandoned the old Chinatown.
Tong structure While diverse, tongs had some similarities. Most tongs did not require new members to be from a specific clan, birthplace, or economic status, since tong members seem to have come from all different aspects of society. Also, while most tong members were Chinese, membership was not limited on the basis of nationality. Japanese, Filipino, and even Caucasians were known, albeit rarely, to join a tong organization. All tongs had harmless and peaceful sounding names, such as The Society of Pure Upright Spirits and the Peace and Benevolence Society,Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 118 possibly because many of these organizations' original intentions and goals were good. Many of the "traditional" tongs were formed to protect their countrymen from discrimination by others, as well as criminals in general.
The criminal elements of the tongs eventually either found it more profitable to participate in illicit activities, or the criminal elements of the tong wrestled power away. Tongs attempted to corner the market on criminal activities, especially anything that would bring in a nice profit, such as prostitution, opium, gambling, and forcing Chinese merchants to pay protection fees. One interesting aspect of the tongs was that each organization had two to three fluent English speakers, who served a variety of functions for the tong such as skimming local newspapers for mentions of their group, so they could inform their fellow members. They also dealt with the "foreigner" lawyers and Americans if the need arose. Membership numbers varied from as few as 50 to as many as 1,500 members in 1887.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 119 It was common for a tong to splinter when it accumulated too many members. One problem that was common throughout the period that would aid in the breakout of wars between the tongs was that some members could be a member of six tongs at any one time, so that if that member was killed by another tong in a war, one of the other tongs he was a member of would, and sometimes did, seek revenge by declaring war.
Only the Hip Sing Tong is known to have established their tong on the East coast, making it the only known bi-coastal tong. A unique aspect of the Chee Kung Tong was that their members used many euphemisms to direct their members, for example: to order a kill on somebody was to "wash his body" (i.e. in his own blood); a rifle was called a "dog"; and, a pistol was suitably nicknamed a "puppy", while bullets and ammo were called "dog feed."Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 123 When the leader wished for his men to fire, he shouted "let the dogs bark!" Usually, one tong specialized in a specific illegal activity, such as gambling, although some even had legitimate businesses, and some had both, such as the Bo Sin Seer Tong, which ran many gambling dens but also had grocery stores under their ownership. The Wah Ting San Fong Tong and the On Yick Tong were said to specialize in the brothels, with the Kwong Duck Tong and On Leong Tong specializing in sex trafficking of women. Gambling dens were left to the Hip Sing Tong. Most initiation ceremonies were not as elaborate as the first known tong organizations had, as the Chee Kung Tong was quite traditional in this aspect, with accounts stating that the group still used many Triad symbols and signs. While it is uncertain whether or not other tongs adhered to this characteristic as well, the Chee Kung Tong headquarters would not observe any traditional Chinese holidays, and would only fly their flag full mast when it was a tong holiday, or when war was on the horizon.
Soldiers The hatchet men, also known to outsiders of the Chinatown as highbinders (so called as they would bind their queue on top of their heads to prevent them from being grabbed by an opponent), were the salaried soldiers of the tongs. These soldiers most likely were from the Chinese lower classes, as many were uneducated and less "motivated" to become a law-abiding citizen of any country. Allegedly, 20% of each of the tong's membership population was said to be the professional soldiers.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 113 Known to Chinese as the boo how doy, these men formed the professional toughs of the tong, and usually carried out their missions with precision and fearlessness. It is said that many hatchet men just prior to an assassination mission or battle with a rival tong would consume wildcat meat, in hopes that they would temporarily acquire the reflexes and sight of the animal.
The boo how doy used a variety of weapons to accomplish their bloody deeds, ranging from small knives to hatchets (by far their favorite melee weapon) in the close quarter department, and they seem to have taken a particular fondness to the Colt .45 revolver for their longer range needs. The hatchet that the highbinders used was somewhat modified from what one usually thinks of a hatchet, as they would cut much of the handle off just enough to have a good grip, and cut a hole into it.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 107 The hatchet men were also known to use many different materials as body armor, with varying success.
San Francisco before the Tong Wars (1850–1860) San Francisco's Chinatown prior to the Tong Wars of the 1880s was relatively peaceful. Chinatown's boundaries ran from Broadway, California, Kearny, and Stockton Streets with about a dozen blocks making up the Chinatown Quarter.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 147 In the early 1850s, the state of California probably never had a population of more than 25,000 Chinese on any given day. The majority of Chinese held that their stay in America was temporary, solely to acquire money. They were termed sojourners, as most who made the journey were males, either with a family back in the old country awaiting their return, or young Chinese looking to make their fortune and retire easy back home.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. xi
In the 1850s and the decade succeeding it, the criminal class in Chinatown was very small, with virtually no major type of crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery, or assault. Petty crime was frequent in the Chinese block, and could be divided into four categories: lotteries and gambling, opium smoking, prostitution, and minor thievery.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 13 The trade in slave-girls was not "big business" during these times, but it was present. Opium was brought to San Francisco on the clipper Ocean Pearl in 1861, and use of the depressant increased gradually, with estimates ranging from 16%–40% of the total Chinese population being opium users, and 10%–20% of the total Chinese population being termed "far gone addicts."Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 28
Anti-Asian movement (1862–1877) Anti-Asian sentiment began in the early 1860s, and lasted until the late 1870s. Prior to this, the Chinese were generally tolerated within society, and some groups even formed to protect them. One such group was called the Chinese Protective Society, a group that protected Asians from hoodlums, and in its first and only year of operation, it spent about six thousand dollars doing its duty.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 15 However, many Chinese were unsure and cautious, and only donated what would amount to about a tenth of their first year operation costs, and it was quickly forced to dissolve due to lack of funds. In California during the 1860s and 1870s, much of this previous tolerance was cast off and Chinese found themselves scapegoats. The first real fires were ignited by groups such as the Knights of Labor, who believed that the Chinese were being used as cheap alternative labor, and began marching to demand the expulsion of Chinese from American soil.
The Depression of 1873 intensified anti-Asian feeling with various groups of hoodlums vandalizing Chinese-run facilities, and 1873 was also the year of the Queue Ordinance, where if one was arrested for any crime, the authorities would then cut off the offender's queue.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 58 This did not affect the Chinese population as much as the Disinterment Ordinance did. This ordinance slapped on a heavy penalty for shipping the remains of the dead back to China, anywhere from $100–$150 per offense. It was not only parties and groups of marauding hoodlums who took advantage of the vulnerable Chinese, as even many politicians, to increase their public audience, joined in. Two scares also occurred in the 1870s pertaining to Chinatown, both dealing with the false rumor of leprosy and then smallpox epidemics breaking out within the block. Anti-Asian parties began to spring up, with the inception of the People's Protective Alliance, People's Reform Party, and the straightforward Anti-Chinese Party during this period.Dillon, Hatchet Men, p. 61 People with anti-Asian tendencies also liked to point out the increasing prostitution in Chinatown. The ratio of Chinese men to Chinese women throughout this period was vastly disproportionate, with even moderate estimates of the population stating that nine out of every 10 people in the Quarter were male. The tongs would use this social dilemma to make an immense amount of money through prostitution.
The Six Companies, representing practically all Chinese in California, tried to work with local governments in attempts to quell the movements against Asians. The Six Companies were formed to help the Chinese come from and return to China, to take care of the sick and the starving, and to return corpses to China for burial. Later, they tried to protect their people from the abuses San Francisco's Chinese suffered at the hands of racist hoodlums. They were run by the richer and better educated among the immigrants, in the paternalistic manner typical of 19th-century Chinese society. While the Six Companies was preoccupied with the Anti-Asian movements being forced upon them, the fighting tongs were rapidly growing. With the Six Companies busy fighting against the groups who wished for their people to be kicked out of the country, the Chinatown police squad, after many years of little to no violence, had grown quite lax, which had lulled them into failure to act upon the creation of the tongs and their subsequent rise.
Rise of the Tongs