< Back to Articles | Subscribe to centerscene Newsletter | View PDF (Print Version)

Summer 2007

According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the universe and our bodies within it are in a constant state of change, and everything is interconnected. This emphasis on a holistic, integrated mind-body approach has steadily gained adherents in the United States and, here on the West Coast, TCM’s history is also entwined with that of the many Chinatowns that began to emerge some 150 years ago.

The second installment in the Center for Healthy Communities’ exhibition series on folk medicine, A Cure for All Diseases, looks at TCM’s central role in the creation and recreation of Los Angeles’ Chinese communities. From the “golden years” of Old Chinatown to today’s rapidly growing San Gabriel Valley, herbalists continue to shape community as they dispense remedies from this abundant pharmacy.

a history of growth and change

Chinese immigrants began settling in Los Angeles in the 1850s. By 1870, an identifiable “Chinatown” of some 200 inhabitants was established, directly adjacent to today’s California Endowment headquarters. These early Chinese settlers were primarily male and worked as laundrymen, market gardeners, agricultural and ranch workers, and road builders. Despite discrimination, the Chinese eventually came to dominate L.A.’s laundry and produce industries. Old Chinatown flourished and reached a population of over 3,000 by the 1880s. The Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882–1943 inhibited further growth for many years.

A century later, in the 1970s and ’80s, many businesses from Chinatown began opening stores in Monterey Park, east of Los Angeles, and new Chinese immigrants also began to settle there. By the 1990s, Monterey Park had the first Asian-descent majority population in the continental United States, and its TCM practitioners serve not only the Chinese communit but also many non-Chinese.

The exhibition will examine both historic Chinatown and other Chinese communities that emerged later, including Monterey Park.

popularization of chinese medicine

“Chinese medicine—like other aspects of Chinese culture, especially food and design—has entered the popular culture in significant ways,” says series curator and cultural anthropologist Sabrina Lynn Motley. “From herbs and acupuncture to massage, it’s not as ‘foreign’ or ‘exotic’ as some
other traditional medicine practices.” Indeed, TCM’s ancient concepts of harmony, balance, and flow have become contemporary catch phrases, representing not only an alternative medical model but suggesting an entire alternative way of life.

The exhibition will feature historical photographs, videotaped oral histories with Chinese herbalists, and objects one might find in an herbalist’s shop. Partners in organizing the exhibition include local museums, archives, and historical societies, along with local Chinese herbalists and civic leaders.

“Reflecting the mission of The Endowment itself, we are concerned with presenting the story of this community’s approach to health not as ‘medicine’ in isolation from everything else, but rather as integrated into a larger narrative about the social, cultural and economic conditions that have affected it over time,” states Jean Miao, program officer at the Center for Healthy Communities.

< Back to Articles | Back to Top ^

FROM THE ABUNDANT PHARMACY: TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
IN L.A.'S CHINATOWN OPENS OCTOBER 4, 2007
Center Exhibition Explores Histories of Chinese Communities Through Traditional Health Care Practices