When walking around the sidewalks I had on my mind the mysteries of the meat markets that had never been exposed to me over the years I lived in Hawaii. While i did hear a few rumors about how it started from chinese immigrants from the 1700s as well as western development into the 1900s I really had no idea. The place that I had been searching to is a small meat shop called Nam Fong which was a historical butchery that my grandma took me years ago along with my mother who always had a urge to eat some freshly carved duck. I was looking forward to exploring a bit as I always went with someone, but never alone. I went to meet a friend who had some things to do with her families business before meeting me, so i had some time to kill.
There was a bit of difficulty in finding where the meat shops were, so I had sat down near the Maunakea Market on the road with a Manapua near a old chinese lady who had a hunch in her posture, running shoes, and a track jacket on with big eye glasses that were very round. She was counting her coins in her wallet and I asked the lady why she was counting her coins? She said she was counting her coins to see if she was given the right change for her produce and she said that coins were all you needed before to buy produce, but with today's prices you need green bills. I hesitantly asked if she wouldn’t mind talking about her experiences of how things were back in the day. She looked at me and then back at the pavement and said that it is not common to hear someone so young asking about things that are so old. She asked me a question of why I wanted to know things that I will never know? I was caught off guard to be given a question from a question, so I just told her what was on my mind at the time. I told her that I wondered how there was a Chinatown and how there were many store owners in Hawaii that were owned by the Chinese who moved to Hawaii. She responded with a twitch in her eye and asked really? She went down to my level on the side walk and sat with me in the hot sun and actually opened up to my surprise. The old lady said while many who moved here have seen the growth of the island the Chinese came much earlier when there was little in the ways of such development and luxury. She mentioned that the conditions of the starting farms were like being a slave and the hardships worked people almost if not to death. She also said that few people may know the land here for sugar cane and pineapples, but sandal wood is what was on the trade routes of long ago. Stores Away from the Plantation The housing and payment was handled by the plantations with the trains and the agriculture, but it was too much poverty and not enjoyed by the people. The plantation life would end with the birth of entrepreneur peddlers who had a stick that held containers of merchandise. These containers had vegetables, meats, and snacks that would later on bring enough money to make a shop as many did back in those days to settle in Chinatown. This unique town was a area that had celebrated chinese districts, different area, different chinese people all in one place to agree that they are in this together. Quickly the workers and shop owners knew that they were going to need to gather other Chinese no matter their hometowns so they could deal with only their own ethnicity. This was fastest way to get the money needed to go home. Back then there were stories that the streets were very dusty with abacus and no calculators with families barely making money to feed each other. To buy a house the whole family would all save up for one house at a time with brother, sister, cousin, grandma, all for one house at a time until everyone have place to live. It was a said understanding that there would be not enough money to go home, so many would numb themselves with opium, gambling, and prostitution that made the red light district of Chinatown. This time was not happy or good, but very sad and miserable of the Chinese people of generations past. She said she had heard of these stories from her father’s father who heard stories from his father’s father who moved to Hawaii. The Pains of the Past As the Chinese left back to China to help their towns and helped their villages there would be many who came to Hawaii and accomplished their goal of getting money back to their home. But, for those who decided to stay they would have to continue dealing with the past and the pain it brought. This pain would change into wisdom and not hurt as it was properly dealt with from seeing things from the inside. Clearing the sources of pain of death from disease, family members who vanished back to China, and dealing with the poverty and restriction of the United states that would later be lifted. It was too painful to remember, but it was necessary to move to the future by letting the mind breath. The chinese who had left had left a gift to us who stayed. What they have done for us have set the stones to walk and a path to follow with no carving on our own. There is a lot to be thankful for and we do not forget what they have done with their family names and their legacy will continue in Chinatown. With saying that the pain will remain as apart of the life that has lived in the past and be apart of what people who live in Chinatown will grow to know. The pain turn into secret lessons that passed down to the younger generation, so they would make better decisions on how to preserve the old ways in their own ways. But they must not forget tradition, even if they have their own way. Nothing should be overlooked as it could happen again if walked away from for too long. Passing on Knowledge Every generation teaches the next generation and when you learn a lesson you are now a teacher. A teacher can teach newcomers and goes to their master and then that master has a higher master. Everyone was once the student and then they become a teacher and train their hardest till they become the master. It is no easy thing to do to believe in yourself that you have passed the idea of a lower rank growing into a higher rank and having the responsibility and observation of what happens to students after they leave your training. Those you teach are always a reflection of yourself in abilities and short comings as each teacher can only teach what they have experienced to make us all better in mind and spirit. Nurturing the Generations is important, patience to learn is important, and dedication will bring rewards in one form or another. From our ancestors I am Chinese and always will be. I could pass judgement of those who enter the family and are not Chinese, but i can wish all I want, who ever our children fall in love with can be anyone. I could wish for a Pot of Tea or even a Pot of Honey Ginger, but if i end up with Macadamia Nut Coffee… it is the bland strong taste of coffee beans I will taste. Who ever they choose one can accept and move on or not accept and remain in pain of a choice that is not approved over. This most obvious when my daughter marry Japanese-Hawaiian boy who was not same as Chinese… But, somehow we moved past the place of arguing blood and began taking him through the trials of family that give him chance to understand chinese way and through respects i do not comment on his ways and my daughter chose to learn the Japanese way and the Hawaiian way. She calls it the Hapa way. Nurturing Hapa Respects and Acceptance The Family is created by love and acceptance as families marry other families. The nurturing is necessarily while the biology is not so necessary for a clear mind. In learning about the way of Hanai it was a powerful message that seems to have crossed over many race in Hawaii. Thinking too much about what someone is not can be distraction from right now. After everything we do we must think if it was what we wanted and how we wanted and communicated. Ask question of is this how i see myself and what i want of myself? Is this what we are in a way to have peace inside the heart? A adoptive family of making someone Hanai are real families, strong families of respect, and powerful when they come together. I only realize after many move away and only those in Hawaii are left. The family we make here is real family to somewhere spiritual even past blood. It is very much real real, because we care as if blood, because we are really close. No blood can make closeness or money. It is hard, because money can buy many things, but not this. After understanding this there was no doubt that mind has been made much more clear and not so full of doubt and irritation. Othe races had their own arguments on other races. Who was right and who was wrong, but it is island. No matter where you run you run into the same people. To us and our family we care about the respect the mind it is really important to us. It is who we are and what we are. No good to have only looking inside, but must look outside as well. Chinatown is old and tells a story as anywhere else have it be a western map or a Ahupuaa. To let go of the pain and accept the future for what it is will lead to peace. Never forget that in your journey in understanding the Chinese people and the businesses that remain here. You may see message on walls or the building it speak to you or even the place the actions of the butchery will connect with you in a way that only you understand. For my time here is done as there are hungry mouths to feed at home. Good luck in your search.
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