picThe Chinese first came to these shores from mainland China in the early days of our country.  Although this statement sounds vague, the truth is that after researching the topic I have found that the chinese have been sited as early as 1600 on the west coasts of this country.  The first documented Chinese people to reach our lovely shores were three sailors who were abandoned by there captain.  No it was not done on purpose (some like to use this as a racial epithet), simply that the captain decided to settle down and marry a local woman.  Although this is not an actuall strandee as we will call them they may have dressed the same way.
  The early Chinese who immigrated to this country suffered from home sickness.  They were used to a  whole different lifestyle.  There homes were shaped different and there mode of dress very different.  Here you see a typical building in china.  Notice that the roofs are curved something that you never see in our country.  This longing for "home" caused several people to save some money and actually copy the architecture of their home country by building their own type of house.
After researching the topic, I found that the documentation of chinese in New York City was extremely slim.  What I did find was a pictorial of modern day New York's China Town.  Here are a few of the pictures on display.  Clicking on the picture should enlarge them.
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