Chinatown Elders Of San Francisco Are At Odds Over Taiwan
For years, the Chinese Six Companies has followed a time-honored inauguration rite for its president. At a headquarters ceremony, the incoming president of the powerful community group here in Chinatown sings the Taiwanese national anthem and, standing under a Taiwanese flag, swears an oath.
But not Daniel Hom. When he began his two-month term in the rotating presidency last month, the 66-year-old retired engineer refused to sing the anthem or to stand under the banner of Taiwan. Instead, he held a banquet for himself at a Chinese restaurant adorned with the red and yellow flag of China. The reason, he says, was simple: "It's not realistic to just pay blind allegiance to Taiwan and to ignore mainland China."
Now the nation's oldest Chinatown is seriously split. Many Six Companies elders boycotted Mr. Hom's inauguration in favor of a rival event at the organization's pagoda-like Chinatown headquarters, where portraits of nationalist heroes Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek line the walls. Three of the group's directors even filed an unsuccessful suit in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to remove Mr. Hom as president, alleging his snub of Taiwan "created chaos" in the community.
"If he doesn't do the ceremony, it means Communist China is taking over the Six Companies," observed Allen Leung, a Six Companies board member.
For years, San Francisco's Chinese community, one of the last bastions of Taiwanese influence overseas, has enjoyed millions of dollars of Taiwanese government largesse. The money has supported a high school and hospital that the Six Companies helps run in Chinatown, and it has made the organization politically powerful.
But China's rising economic clout has given Taiwan a run for its money. Taiwanese flags no longer dominate Chinatown's skyline. Local business and neighborhood associations have been switching sides, signaling their loyalty by joining pro-China trade groups.
"Chinatown is finally catching up to the geopolitical realities of the day," says David Lee, head of the nonprofit Chinese American Voter Education Committee.
The fight inside the Chinese Six Companies may hasten a showdown. In a series of dueling newspaper ads, more than 60 local Chinese organizations have thrown their weight behind one faction or the other. Mr. Hom claims to have the support of 45 local organizations, while the pro-Taiwan group has about 21. As local Chinese and English-language newspapers track the battle, everyone in Chinatown is keeping score. On the sidelines, so far, is San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who decided to sit out the Chinatown inaugurations.
Founded in the 1860s, the Six Companies was formed when groups representing six areas of southern China banded together to provide room, board and small cash loans to Chinese immigrants arriving in California. To prevent any one association or regional clan from gaining too much power, the group's presidency was -- and still is -- rotated every two months. A 55-member board of trustees was also created.
For years, the Six Companies practically ran Chinatown, an area of more than 50 city blocks, allocating money for community projects and the needy, while functioning as a de facto court for resolving disputes among local Chinese. Incorporated as a nonprofit, it amassed a large portfolio of real estate and other assets, augmented by holdings of the individual associations, which run the community's cemeteries. Every year, the Six Companies raises several hundred thousand dollars for charitable projects such as the restoration of local Buddhist temples.
For politicians, the Six Companies is the go-to place in Chinatown. Local and state politicians regularly visit the organization's monthly board meetings, and they are frequently feted at Chinatown banquets. After Mayor Newsom's election in December, for example, the group threw a party to celebrate and the mayor invited the organization's board members to City Hall. "Every politician in their right mind would like to get the individual support" of the Six Companies' members, says Leland Yee, a California state assemblyman. "They have tremendous influence."
The Six Companies' political ties to Taiwan run deep. The organization raised funds for Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang party, in the early 20th century. During World War II, it funneled money to the Kuomintang to fight the Japanese. In 1979, when the U.S. recognized People's Republic of China and severed ties with Taiwan, the Six Companies organized protest rallies. Past pro-China dignitaries have been barred by Six Companies elders from serving as the group's president, says local historian Him Mark Lai.
Taiwan's top representative in San Francisco often presides at Six Companies inaugurations. The island's San Francisco representative, Matthew Lee, did not return several messages seeking comment.
But the era of Taiwanese grandeur in San Francisco seems gone forever. The death knell may have been struck in 2000, when the Kuomintang party was voted out of power in Taiwan for the first time since the island's liberation from Japan in 1945. Upon taking office, Taiwan's second native-born president, Chen Shui-bian, officially downgraded overseas Chinese to "third-class citizens," stirring resentment among distant loyalists in San Francisco. Meanwhile, China itself was opening up, welcoming overseas Chinese to visit relatives, renew ties and conduct trade.
The reversal drove a wedge through the Six Companies. Last year, three of its now seven associations yanked their Taiwanese flags and formally switched allegiance to China.
In late February, Mr. Hom, whose Yeong Wo Association was one of those that had switched loyalties to China, decided it would be hypocritical to sing Taiwan's anthem at his inauguration. Instead, he proposed to the group's board that he bow three times to a portrait of Sun Yat-sen to pay his respects.
Pro-Taiwan board members excoriated the move and put forward a motion to compel incoming presidents to abide by traditional rituals. The ensuing debate grew so hot that many of the 55 board members walked out. Ultimately, the motion to comply with the conventional ceremony passed by a vote of 24 to 3. With two competing inaugurations in the offing, many members sat out the event altogether.
"I purposely didn't go to either," says Melvin Lee, 65, a Six Companies board member who advised Mayor Newsom's office to skip both affairs.
On March 2, the day of Mr. Hom's inauguration, traditionalists packed Six Companies headquarters, waiting in vain for Mr. Hom to appear. A few blocks away, Mr. Hom held his own party at a restaurant draped in American and Chinese flags. He sang the American and Chinese national anthems, but not the Taiwanese.
Three directors sued to remove Mr. Hom from the presidency. But last week, a San Francisco Superior Court judge told the Six Companies to resolve the matter itself. Passions are expected to cool when Mr. Hom's term expires at the end of April, as his scheduled successor is pro-Taiwan and is expected to follow protocol.
Still, Steven Lee, who heads the pro-Taiwan Lee family association, says the writing is on the wall. "I give it two years," the 66-year-old says. "By then, everybody here will change over to being pro-China. And that will be good. In the end, there's just no use in having two Chinas."
旧金山华人组织倒向大陆
中国六大公司（Chinese Six Companies，现名：金山中华总会馆或旧金山中华总会馆）是旧金山华人区一个有影响力的社区组织。历年来，会馆的轮值主席上任时都要在会馆总部举行一个传统的就职仪式：唱台湾"中华民国"国歌，并在"中华民国"的国旗下宣誓。
但黄惠喜(Daniel Hom)没有这么做。上个月，当这位66岁的退休工程师开始自己为期两个月轮值主席任期时，他拒绝唱台湾"国歌"以及在台湾"国旗"下宣誓。相反，他选择在一家挂有五星红旗的中国餐馆内举行宴会。他解释说，原因很简单，盲目地效忠于台湾而忽略中国大陆是很不现实的。 如今，美国这个最古老的华人区陷入了严重的分裂。许多金山中华总会馆的老人抵制黄惠喜的就职仪式，支持在会馆总部就职，会馆的墙上还挂著国民党领袖孙中山(Sun Yat-sen)和蒋介石(Chiang Kai-shek)的画像。该会馆的3名理事甚至向旧金山高级法庭(San Francisco Superior Court)提起诉讼，指控黄惠喜的做法在社区内制造混乱，请求撤销他轮值主席的职务，但诉讼未获法院受理。金山中华总会馆的理事会成员Allen Leung认为，如果黄惠喜不举行传统仪式，那就意味著共产主义中国正在控制金山中华总会馆。
多年来，旧金山的华人区一直是台湾在海外的最后堡垒之一，享受著台湾政府数百万美元的赠予。这笔钱扶持了一个由金山中华总会馆帮助管理的华人区高中和医院，也让这个组织变得很有政治影响力。 但中国经济的迅速崛起对台湾的金钱政策产生了影响。"中华民国"的旗帜不再独霸华人区的天空。当地企业和社区组织已经开始倒戈，他们通过加入支持中国的贸易组织来表明忠心。
非盈利性组织美国华人选举教育委员会(Chinese American Voter Education Committee)的主管David Lee表示，华人区最终还是逐渐倒向了当今的地缘政治现实。
金山中华总会馆内部的斗争可能会让最后的摊牌时刻提前到来。在一系列互相攻击的报纸广告中，当地的60多个华人会馆已经表明了自己的立场。黄惠喜声称，他得到了45个当地华人组织的支持，而支持台湾的派别则得到大约21个组织的支持。由于当地的华语和英语报纸都在追踪这场纷争，所以华人区的每个人几乎都卷入其中。迄今为止，中立方只有旧金山市市长加文?纽松(Gavin Newsom)，他决定在就职仪式纷争的问题上袖手旁观。
金山中华总会馆成立于19世纪60年代，当时来自中国南方6个地区的会馆联合在一起成立了这个组织，为抵达加利福尼亚的中国移民提供住房、膳食和小额的现金贷款。为了防止任何一个会馆或地方集团获得绝对的权力，这个组织的主席职位每两个月轮换一次，到目前仍是如此。另外，该组织还成立了一个由55人组成的信托理事会。
多年来，基本上都是金山中华总会馆在管理华人区（整个华人区超过50个街区），分配社区项目及贫困人口所需的资金，并实际上承担著解决当地华人纠纷的法庭的功能。
尽管该组织注册为非盈利性的，但由于经营社区墓地的个别会馆的财富增加了，所以它还是聚集了一大笔地产及其他财产。每年，金山中华总会馆都会筹集到几十万美元，用于修缮当地佛教寺庙之类的慈善项目。
对于政坛上的人来说，金山中华总会馆是华人区一个必须造访的场所。当地和全国的政要会经常参加该组织每月举行的理事会，也可以经常看到他们参加华人区的宴会。举例来说，在旧金山市长纽松于去年12月当选后，会馆就举办了一个庆祝晚会，市长把会馆理事会的人请去了市政厅。加州议员Leland Yee表示，每个政治家在心底里都想得到金山中华总会馆成员的个人支持。他们这些人的影响力是相当巨大的。
金山中华总会馆在政治方面与台湾的联系源远流长。在20世纪初期，这个组织曾经为中国国民党的创始人孙中山筹集资金。在第二次世界大战期间，该组织曾向国民党援助资金，帮助他们抗日。1979年，美国承认了中华人民共和国的合法地位，并与台湾断绝关系，金山中华总会馆当时组织了抗议集会。据当地的历史学家Him Mark Lai称，过去支持大陆的显要人物都曾经因为金山中华总会馆的年长者阻挠而未能担任主席。
台湾在旧金山的高级代表通常都会主持金山中华总会馆的轮值主席就职仪式。台湾在旧金山的代表Matthew Lee对记者的询问没有置评。
但看来台湾在旧金山的辉煌时代已经一去不返了。甚至在2000年，丧钟可能就已经敲响了，当时国民党首次在竞选中失败，这是自台湾1945年从日本人手中收复以来未发生过的。
台湾第二位本土出生的总统陈水扁(Chen Shui-bian)上任之后公然把海外的华人贬低为"三等公民"，这激起了远在旧金山的台湾追随者的憎恶。同时，大陆也正在对外开放，欢迎海外华人回乡探亲、重续联系和进行贸易。
这种对比使金山中华总会馆发生了分化。去年，会馆现有的7个团体中有3个降下了"中华民国"国旗，正式表示了对大陆的忠心。
由于黄惠喜所在的团体──阳和总会馆(Yeong Wo Association)是已经对大陆表示忠诚的团体之一，因此他在2月底决定，如果在自己的就职仪式上唱"中华民国"国歌就是阳奉阴违，他向理事会提出自己将在就职仪式上对孙中山的画像三鞠躬以示尊敬。
支持台湾的理事会成员批评了黄惠喜的举动，并提出一项议案，要求强迫新上任的主席遵守传统的就职仪式。随后的争论愈演愈烈，以至于55名理事会成员中有多人中途退席。最后，这项要求遵守传统仪式的议案以24比3的投票结果获得通过。在两种就职仪式相互较力的时候，许多会馆成员一起选择了对整个事件袖手旁观。
六十五岁的金山中华总会馆理事会成员Melvin Lee表示，他曾向旧金山市长办公室提出两不相帮、袖手旁观的建议。
黄惠喜3月2日就职当天，传统主义者聚集到金山中华总会馆的总部，等待黄惠喜的出现，但空等一场。而在几个街区之外，黄惠喜在一家挂著中华人民共和国和美国国旗的饭馆内举行了自己的晚会。他唱了美国和中国的国歌，但没有唱台湾的"国歌"。
三名理事提起诉讼，要求罢免黄惠喜的主席职务。但上周，旧金山高级法庭的一位法官要求金山中华总会馆通过内部协商解决问题。预计等到黄惠喜的任期在4月底结束后，会馆成员的激动情绪才能逐渐平息，因为预定的继任者支持台湾，应该会按照传统办事。
然而，支持台湾的李氏家族会馆的领袖Steven Lee表示，问题仍然是显而易见的。这位66岁的老人说，他认为只需要2年，到时候社区的每个人都会转而支持大陆，这是很好的。归根结底，制造两个中国徒劳无益。
