The immigrants are much influenced by local traditions and those from different sections keep much to themselves. They establish separate shops when their numbers warrant it, as well as assembly-rooms and guild-halls. The Six Companies in San Francisco, under which nearly all of the Chinese in the United States are enrolled, are the guilds formed in this manner by the emigrants from different parts of the province.
The ties of kindred, preserved with so much care in China, are recognized here, and many of the immigrants claim relationship. People of the same village naturally drift together, and as all the inhabitants of a Chinese village frequently belong to the same clan and bear the same name, it happens that many members of the same family are often found associated here, the numbers of any particular family varying much, however, in different localities. Some thirty or forty of these clans only are represented among the Chinese in our Eastern cities. A Chinese storekeeper in Philadelphia has furnished me with the following list of the names and numbers of each clan among some four hundred and fifty of his acquaintances in that city. It will be observed that the _Lí_ clan outnumbers any other. In New York city, the Chiús predominate, numbering some five hundred souls.
[Chinese: Au] _Au_, 4 or 5. [Chinese: Chan] _Ch'an_, 30. [Chinese: Chau] _Chau_, 15. [Chinese: Chang] _Chéung_, 20. [Chinese: Cheng] _Ching_, 2 or 3. [Chinese: Chiu] _Chiu_, 10. [Chinese: Zhong] _Chung_, 30. [Chinese: Feng] _Fung_, 10. [Chinese: He] _Ho_, 20. [Chinese: Lam] _Lam_, 10. [Chinese: Lee] _Lí_, 120. [Chinese: Law] _Lo_, 2 or 3. [Chinese: Lu] _Lü_, 10. [Chinese: Ma] _Má_, 4 or 5. [Chinese: Mack] _Mak_, 15. [Chinese: Mei] _Múi_, 80. [Chinese: Ng] _'Ng_, 4 or 5. [Chinese: Eng] _'Ng_, 4 or 5. [Chinese: Tan] _T'ám_, 6. [Chinese: Dang] _Tang_, 6. [Chinese: Hu] _Ú_, 4 or 5. [Chinese: Yee] _Ü_, 10. [Chinese: Wang] _Wong_, 10. [Chinese: Wong] _Wong_, 20. [Chinese: Ngan] _Yan_, 1 or 2. [Chinese: Yang] _Yéung_, 4 or 5. [Chinese: Yik] _Yik_, 1 or 2.
The members of a clan unite when necessary for mutual defense or to redress a wrong done to one of their number; the ties and obligations of the clan, however, are much stronger among the Sinning people than those of the northern districts. Very slight disagreements between individuals among them are frequently taken up by their respective families and made the subjects of long and bitter quarrels--meetings are held, large sums of money subscribed, and feuds perpetuated that may have been carried on for ages at home.