color scheme test #2
Brief Introduction
We defined religious life and faith institutions to refer to any religious or faith influence for residents of Chinatown—either from existing beliefs brought from China, or missionary activity and conversion attempts made in Los Angeles. We also wanted to examine how these beliefs manifested themselves in physical or ideological societal institutions in Chinatown. We began by primarily researching churches established in Chinatown, because Christian missionary activity appeared to be some of the most prominent religious actions of the time. Given that residents of Chinatown struggled with conformity and xenophobia, it seemed unlikely that accounts of Chinese religion and beliefs would be more salient than Christian conversion.Missionary Activity
We first started with the narratives of Christian missionaries who worked with residents of Chinatown; descriptions of conversion success and English tutoring demonstrated that missionaries had genuine, although somewhat patronizing intentions with Chinatown residents (Friends' 636). But these positive accounts subsequently framed this success within the Western mentality instilled into these Chinese immigrants—that English and Christianity are essential to civility, but also social acceptance (637). The apparent success of conversion from the perspective of these white missionaries also appears to be linked with a mentality of fear, or at the very least, intimidation. One Chinese immigrant writes to a friend in China, "if we learn to be good, many American people will like us Chinese. If we do not, then will many Americans dislike us. I, a thousand times, think it very important for our countrymen in California to learn English" (637). Although "successful" conversion attempts also produced a mentality that language and religious conformity was absolutely required for Chinese immigrants to reach a bare minimum threshold of tolerance. Despite the specific qualifications for Chinatown residents to become acceptable in the eyes of white society, Chinese immigrants seemed to expand their desire to remain in Los Angeles. From The Chinatown War: "Otis Gibson, a Methodist missionary who worked among the Chinese immigrants, reported that some were becoming so attached to American ways that they were no longer content to live in China and wanted to settle permanently in the United States. He also thought that their numbers were constantly increasing" (Zesch 9).