Editing Tong (organization) (section)

== Tongs in the United States ==
After settling in [[San Francisco]] and other [[California]] cities, Chinese workers were willing to work for lower wages than their American counterparts. [[Labor unions in the United States|Labor unions]] and American workers discouraged undercutting wages, so many Chinese left and went east.<ref>Sucheng Chan and [[Madeline Y. Hsu]] (2008). ''Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture'', Temple University Press</ref> As a result, many Chinese immigrants moved to cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. Today these cities still have ethnic Chinese communities large enough to have developed Chinatowns. They have also been joined by new immigrants of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.{{r|chin|p=47}}

Many Chinese soon organized voluntary benevolent associations for support and protection. These are usually formed by people originating in their district in China, family name, or depending on what native dialect, for example in the case of [[Hakka]] speakers, or sworn brotherhoods.{{r|chin|p=53}} The ''tongs'' provided services for immigrants such as employment and housing opportunities. They also helped resolve individual and group disputes within the community.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zhang|first1=Sheldon|last2=Chin|first2=Ko-lin|date=2003|title=THE DECLINING SIGNIFICANCE OF TRIAD SOCIETIES IN TRANSNATIONAL ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES: A Structural Deficiency Perspective|jstor=23639037|journal=No. 3|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume= 43|issue=3|pages= 469–488}}</ref> Many of these volunteer societies did not have the financial ability to fund community events or look after their members, and those that did tended to focus inward and provide help only to their own members. As a result, many tongs with little or no hereditary financial value had to either disband or operate criminal activities such as gambling houses and  prostitution. This transformed them from benevolent associations to providers of illegal services.{{r|chin|p=51}} The term ''tong'' became unfavorably associated with the secret brotherhoods in Chinatowns, and they often battled with other associations in that area. ''Tongs'' were usually composed of young men, some with criminal backgrounds, or outcasts who had been expelled from their associations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Plague, Fear, and Politics in San Francisco's Chinatown|author=Risse, Guenter B.|date=2012|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=9781421405537|location=Baltimore|oclc=809317536}}</ref> Notably, many of the traditional ''tong'' activities, such as gambling, were legal in China, but not in North America.<ref>"Tong War (United States history)" - ''Britannica Online Encyclopedia'' [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/599143/tong-war] (accessed February 12, 2011).</ref>

Early Chinese populations in the United States and Canada were overwhelmingly male, especially after sex-restrictive immigration laws were passed in 1882 in the U.S. and 1923 in Canada, respectively (see [[Chinese Exclusion Act]] and [[Chinese Immigration Act, 1923]]). For this reason tongs participated heavily in importing women from China for both marriage and prostitution. Many of these women did not come to America by choice, and some were deceived and [[Forced prostitution|forced into prostitution]] by procurers. Tongs associated with importing women to America fought over territories and profits. This became known as the "[[Tong Wars]]", which were a series of violent attacks between two branches of the Tong Gang, the Hip Sing Tong and On Leong Tong. The reasons for this conflict vary, from struggles over territory to assassinations of members.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-05-31|title=ON LEONG TONG|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/o/leong-tong|access-date=2022-02-17|website=Encyclopedia of Cleveland History {{!}} Case Western Reserve University|language=en}}</ref> The "Tong Wars" of the 19th and early 20th centuries were often based on control of these women.<ref name="multiple"/> In the early years the ''tongs'' employed "hatchet men" or ''boo how doy'' ({{lang-zh|斧頭仔}}), also called ''highbinders'', as hired killers to fight the street battles that ensued over turf, business and women.<ref>Dillon, Richard H. ''The Hatchet Men: The Story of the Tong Wars in San Francisco's Chinatown''. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962, p. 18</ref>

=== San Francisco, California ===
San Francisco was the home of the first Tong in the United States; it formed in reaction to the hostility that Chinese immigrants faced from American workers upon their arrival to America. In [[Bill Lee (author)|Bill Lee]]'s memoirs in "The Chinese Playground", which recalls the activities of the Tong Gang in San Francisco, he states that the oppression Chinese immigrants faced led them to turn to the Tong for protection. While it is true that the Tong offered protection, it is unclear if this protection was forced as a means to gain control of territory for the distribution of the group's illicit activities.<ref>{{Cite web|title="CHINESE PLAYGROUND: A MEMOIR" By Bill Lee|url=http://www.chineseplayground.com/|access-date=2022-02-17|website=www.chineseplayground.com}}</ref> During the [[San Francisco plague of 1900–1904|plague outbreak]] in [[Chinatown, San Francisco|Chinatown of San Francisco]] in the 1900s, the [[Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association|Chinese Six Companies]] recommended the vaccination plan to their members and the tongs. Doubting the effectiveness of vaccinations, many Chinese residents of Chinatown refused inoculations. Several tongs went so far as to threaten harm to those who did get vaccinated, as well as the Chinese leadership that endorsed doing so.