[Chinese American Trade Cards]

A vibrant collection of business cards from Chinese-owned businesses in San Francisco at the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The majority of the cards present are for Chinese importers, wholesalers, and bazaars specializing in “Chinese and Japanese Fancy Goods” including, as the Quong Wing Tai Co. card describes it, “Curiosities, Bronze, and Ivory Toys" as well as Silk Handkerchiefs, Embroidered Screens, Ebony Wood Furniture, Satsuma and all kinds of Dress Patterns. Teas, Etc.”

The businesses, located on Grant Avenue, Jackson, Kearny, and Dupont Streets, include:
Chew Hing Lung & co.; Quong Wing Tai & co.; Fong Sang Lung & co.; Sing Chong Importing Co. Fook Woh & co.; Kong Chew Temple; Tai Chong & co.; Chin Lee & co.; Peking Bazaar co.; and Sing Fat Co., inc.

San Francisco’s Chinatown, established in 1848, is the oldest Chinatown in North America, and the largest Chinese enclave outside of China itself. Many of the businesses represented in this collection were located on Dupont Street, one of Chinatown’s two central thoroughfares; following the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, Dupont Street was rebuilt and renamed as Grant Avenue.