To really understand Chock Chin, we must come to understand the world he lived in. His historical context helps us interpret the way he organized his family, the way he interacted with his community, his business practices, his dreams and ambitions, and ultimately the values he taught his children.

Since he was our family’s American pioneer — the figure in our family history who imagined and then performed the migration from China — he occupies a unique position of honor in our story. His life marks a profound demarcation in the family history: all the pages before him are written in Chinese, all the pages after are written in English.

Language

Most immigrants who came to America during that period were adamant that their families would learn and quickly adopt the language of their new country.

Chock Chin’s daughters did not learn to read and write Chinese — even Dorothy, who spent four years in China as a young girl, quickly forgot Chinese when she returned to her home in Hanalei.  The children could understand spoken Chinese and speak it to some degree — which was important in communicating with customers in the restaurant and store — but it was not a focus of their education in the family home.

Obviously, Chock Chin retained fluency in Chinese, and Chun Shi (3rd Chinese wife) was fluent in Chinese and eventually learned several languages that were used by the residents of Kauai.  But it is telling that they did not consider it important that their children learn to read and write Chinese.  This is emblematic of Chock Chin’s vision of the new world as the permanent home of the family.  He had not just turned his face toward the West temporarily to earn money to send home to support the Chinese household.  This was forever.

The Chinese Subculture

The fortunes of Chinese immigrants in early Hawaii were heavily influenced by their financial status when they arrived.  During the period when Chock Chin arrived on Ka’u, a large percentage of the Chinese in Hawaii were contract laborers who did the backbreaking work required by sugar plantations and sugar mills.  [insert info about that]

Fortunately, our ancestor did not have to subject himself to that kind of work to earn a living.  Despite his youth, at age 18 he had the means to equip himself with the gear required to be a paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy).  He worked as a young paniolo on the ranches of Ka’u, herding and handling the cattle that were so plentiful on the Big Island, and mastering a number of skills that would stand him in good stead in his future life on Hanalei.

It is likely that this is when he learned to play the ukulele and sing in the paniolo style.  He always had a taste for classical Chinese opera, but embraced the music of his new home with the same zeal with which he adopted the language, foods, and new ideas he would encounter.