Chin Chun Hock was the first Chinese man to settle in Seattle. He arrived in 1860 and was employed as a domestic worker. By 1868, Chin Hock had founded a general merchandising store, The Wa Chong Co., at the foot of Mill Street. He owned the Eastern Hotel which housed the first Asian workers in Seattle.

Well, that’s not very satisfying. There is more to be known, but how to find it? True, there is likely stuff at the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle and in the archives of the University of Washington, but it would be too much trouble to get at those for a lunchtime-project. Let’s just dig around.

The English sources on the internet are fairly useless, but they do point out that Chin Chun Hock got a fellow Toisan’er (Chin Gee Hee) as junior partner to run their Wa Chong Co. trading and contract labor operation in downtown Seattle. Actually they are related. I think Chin Chun Hock is Chin Gee Hee’s paternal first cousin once removed (族叔). It turns out that Chin Gee Hee later raised lots of money, went back to China, and built a railroad to his hometown – the first one built entirely with Chinese capital and engineering. Seems like this could be the thread to a lot more information about both of them, and so it was.

First of all, we learn of Chin Gee Hee’s Chinese name (陈宜禧), clearly written on this book. A search on Google in Chinese easily turns up 175 articles about the guy and of course, his partner Chin Chun Hock, the Wa Chong Co., and whatever else we might want to know. Well darn, that wasn’t terribly hard at all.

So, Chin Chun Hock’s Chinese name is 陈程学. The Wa Chong trading company in Seattle is 华昌, literally, Chinese Properity Co. The more interesting tidbits are from Chinese sources, and I will quote just one below…

１９０５年２月，陈宜禧自费去香港、旧金山、西雅图和温哥华等地，向华侨募集股金。他喊出了一个饱含着爱国激情、令侨胞们热血沸腾的招股口号：“以中国人之资本，筑中国人之铁路；以中国人之学力，建中国人之工程；以中国人之力量，创中国史之奇功！”无数华侨为这口号所感奋，他很快就募集了股金２７５８４１２元，超出原计划４倍。１９０５年２月１７日旧金山中文报纸《中西日报》发表社论《兴办新宁铁路之希望》指出：“合廿二行省之铁路计之，利权皆操之外人，唯新宁铁路之利权，则完全无缺。”当然，在广大侨胞大力支持的同时，陈宜禧也听到了反对的声音。他的族叔陈程学（１８４４－１９２７）就说他不自量力，“如果你能修成铁路，我决不坐你的车。”后来铁路告成，陈程学也回国担任粤汉铁路顾问和香港东华医院总理。每次回乡，他只好从香港乘船到江门，再雇船开回台山去。

Translation:

In February of 1905, Chin Gee Hee paid his own way to Hong Kong, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver among other places to raise funds from overseas Chinese. He used a patriotic fund-raising slogan that excited the overseas compatriots: “Using Chinese capital to build a Chinese railroad; using Chinese ingenuity to engineer a Chinese project; using the power of the Chinese people to create a miracle in Chinese history!” Countless overseas Chinese were moved by the slogan and quickly donated $2,758,412 (US Dollars?), four times that of the original plan. On February 17, 1905, the San Francisco Chinese newspaper Chinese-Western Daily printed an editorial titled “The hope of creating the Sun Ning Railroad” which read, “Looking over the railroads of all 22 administrative provinces, the rights to all of them are controlled by foreigners, except those of the Sun Ning Railroad, which are complete.” Of course, at the same time that the support poured in, Chin Gee Hee also heard an opposing voice. His first-cousin-once-removed Chin Chun Hock (1844-1927), for example, said he was in over his head, and made a bet, “If you actually finish the railroad, I promise not to ride your train.” Afterwards, the railroad was completed and Chin Chun Hock himself also returned to China to consult for the Canton-Wuchang Railroad and serve as the Director of the Tung Wah Hospital in Hong Kong. But every time he went back to his hometown, he had to take a boat from Hong Kong to Jiangmen, then take another boat from there to Toisan.

Here’s another one of the same incident:

新宁铁路的建成，全县人民皆大欢喜，唯独陈宜禧的叔父、美国铁路工程师陈程学深感内疚。因为早在陈宜禧行动回乡筑路之前，曾诚邀陈程学协助。陈程学蔑视陈宜禧的能力，不仅不允，反嘲笑说：“有尾狗亦跳，冇尾狗亦跳。你如果筑得成铁路，我永远不坐你的火车!”如今铁路筑成了，陈程学无颜以对，每次返乡都只好乘船或坐轿。

Translation:

With the completion of the Sun Ning Railroad, the people of the entire county were overjoyed, except for Chin Gee Hee’s ‘uncle’, the American railroad engineer Chin Chun Hock, who felt regretful. Because even before Chin Gee Hee went home to build his railroad, he had invited Chin Chun Hock to help. Chin Chun Hock looked unfavorably on Chin Gee Hee’s capability, however – not only did he disapprove, but he even ridiculed with, “A dog with a tail jumps, and a dog without a tail also jumps. If you build this railroad, I promise never to ride your train!” Now that the railroad had been completed, Chin Chun Hock felt he had lost face, so he resigned himself to taking a boat or carriage when he went home.

Here is something on the Wa Chong Co. There is a bit of disagreement on the business partner relationship

西雅图唐人街的开拓者陈程学1868年开设的华昌公司就是最老而且人人熟知的批发零售兼而有之的商号。它既经营茶叶、爆竹、葵扇等杂货，又制造雪茄，兼营缝纫服务，还办理中美间的进出口业务。陈程学曾经一次就运送4000袋美国面粉到香港，通过香港将中国茶叶输往美国更是经常性的业务。陈程学的华昌公司后来的合作伙伴陈观也是新宁人。1860年陈程学的堂侄陈宜禧来到西雅图，他先在陈程学的华昌公司打工。1888年他离开华昌公司与人合伙在华盛顿街开设了广德公司，开展劳务中介和承揽西雅图市镇建设业务，自任总经理，成为一名商家。

Translation:

The Wa Chong Co. started in 1868 by the pioneer of Seattle’s Chinatown, Chin Chun Hock, is the oldest and very well known wholesale and retail business (in Chinese American history). It traded tea, firecrackers, Chinese fans, etc., and also sold cigars, provided tailoring services, and engaged in import/export trade between the US and China. Chin Chun Hock once sent 4000 bags of American flour to Hong Kong in a single shipment. Importing Chinese tea through Hong Kong to the US was an even more frequent business. Chin Chun Hock’s partner Chen Guan Ye is also a Toisan’er. In 1860, Chin Chun Hock’s ‘nephew’ Chin Gee Hee also came to Seattle, and he learned his trade at Wa Chong. In 1888, he left Wa Chong and started Quong Tuck Co. (lit. Broad Virtue Co.) with some people at Washington Street, and began engaging in labor contracting and construction (note: the labor and construction went to the Northern Pacific Railway and Seattle’s trolley system). He took the title of manager and became a proprietor himself.

It is said that Chin Gee Hee left Wa Chong because Chin Chun Hock wanted to focus on the merchandise trade and not on labor contracting (of Toisan’ers shipped to the US).

For something different, this article says that in 1900, Chin Chun Hock started some sort of ‘Shun’ ancestral worship society to promote ancestral virtues, piety, and Confucian social mores. (‘Shun’ is a mythical emperor and one of two progenitors of the Chinese race, apparently.)

Interesting. Perhaps some day, somebody will take interest and inject this into Wikipedia.

Although Chin Chun Hock holds the title of “first” in Seattle (and was one of the first non-indigenous people to settle in the area, making the Seattle Chinatown as old as the city itself), it is Chin Gee Hee who gets most of the PR and historic notes, including some that claim he had good rapport with the Chinook Indians (e.g., speaking their language) and with a number of influential white businessmen and technologists of the day. Chin Gee Hee is also the one with his photos all over the internet, but so far I haven’t been able to find one of Chin Chun Hock. Just from these sources, it seems that between Chin Chun Hock and Chin Gee Hee, the former was the more traditional and conservative of the two in business and life…

By the way, the postulated relationship between Chin Chun Hock and Chin Gee Hee is probably correct, because according to this genealogical survey on the Toisan Chin/Chan/Chen’s, the generation names for the clan that Chin Gee Hee belongs to (六村 – Six Villages) are as follows:

祖德赐光裕，明廷擢茂良；学宜宗孔孟，华国以文章

In Mandarin, this is:
Zu De Ci Guang Yu, Ming Ting Zhuo Mao Liang, Xue Yi Zong Kong Meng, Hua Guo Yi Wen Zhang.

Xue is the Hock in Chin Chun Hock.
Yi is the Gee in Chin Gee Hee.

So there you have it, Chin Chun Hock in a nutshell.