Hundreds of Chinese immigrants contributed to the development of Yosemite National Park. Their history in the park has remained widely unknown, which has prompted advocates over the last several years to launch efforts to raise awareness about their role.
, a cook, to the establishment of Yosemite National Park and the National Park Service; the history of Ah You, who served as head chef of the Wawona Hotel in California for 47 years; the contributions of Chinese who worked in Yosemite’s hotels; and the history ofYenyen Chan, a Yosemite Park ranger who has conducted extensive research on the history of Chinese in Yosemite,in the journal The George Wright Forum that many Chinese were hired at Yosemite hotels because of their work ethic and...
These conditions led them to become stereotyped as industrious and servile, which affected how employers treated them.that Sing played an important role in cooking meals for a two-week wilderness expedition in 1915 that was intended to convince business and cultural leaders of the importance of a national park system.
Sing’s work appears to have been appreciated. Members of the group that embarked on the expedition recorded his meals in their notes — including how Sing was able to put together a “fabulous dinner” even though a supply mule carrying “delicacies” like cantaloupe and fresh lemonade had wandered off. The following year, the federal government established the National Park Service.
“It doesn’t mean that individual people at the parks system were attempting to keep Chinese out of this history,” she said. “But I think it’s more the choices they were making about how they portrayed the history of their park reflected their own biases over time over what should be celebrated and remembered.”