Look Tin Eli

Look Tin Eli (Left) and his brother, Lee Eli (right)

Look Tin Eli (1870–1919)[1][2] was a Chinese businessman from Mendocino, California, the first Chinese person to graduate from Mendocino High School.[3] Born at the backside of a store in the south side of Mendocino Main Street,[2] he became a businessman in San Francisco, where he founded the Bank of Canton. Eli visited China prior to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.[2] Upon his return to San Francisco from his 1879 -1884 trip to China to learn the language, customs and culture, Eli faced a legal challenge and was temporarily prohibited from re-entering the United States. He challenged the decision at the federal level and eventually won his case.[2] After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, he was one of a group of merchants who hired American architects to rebuild San Francisco's Chinatown in a stereotypical "Oriental" style in order to promote tourism and social change.[4] His brother, Lee Eli, was also a wealthy banker.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Chinn, Thomas W. (1989), Bridging the Pacific, Chinese Historical Society of America, p. 54, ISBN 978-0-9614198-3-7 .
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cooper, Anne; Hee-Chorley, Lorraine (2 September 2017). "Discovering family ties at the Chinese temple in Mendocino". Daily Journal.
  3. 1 2 Hee-Chorley, Lorraine (2009), Chinese in Mendocino County, Images of America, Arcadia Publishing, p. 76, ISBN 978-0-7385-5913-1 .
  4. ↑ Ngai, Mae (April 17, 2006). "How Chinatown rose from the ashes". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
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