The Chinese Six Companies
Clip: Season 34 Episode 4 | 5m 36s
On May 28, 1900, San Francisco policemen formed a perimeter around Chinatown.
On May 28, 1900, San Francisco policemen formed a perimeter around Chinatown, and set about building an eight-foot high wall around the district using cement blocks and barbed wire. Officials diagnosed bubonic plague in the neighborhood and wanted to quarantine the nearly 20,000 residents. As tensions flared, an influential group of merchants known as the Chinese Six Companies sprang into action.
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Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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The Chinese Six Companies
Clip: Season 34 Episode 4 | 5m 36s
On May 28, 1900, San Francisco policemen formed a perimeter around Chinatown, and set about building an eight-foot high wall around the district using cement blocks and barbed wire. Officials diagnosed bubonic plague in the neighborhood and wanted to quarantine the nearly 20,000 residents. As tensions flared, an influential group of merchants known as the Chinese Six Companies sprang into action.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Chapter 1 | Plague at the Golden Gate
Video has Closed Captions
Watch a preview of Plague at the Golden Gate. (8m 50s)
Dr. Joseph Kinyoun was a leader in the diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases. (44s)
Ng Poon Chew was a writer, a publisher and an advocate for Chinese American civil rights. (44s)
In 1901, Rupert Blue launched a health campaign that ended a deadly bubonic plague. (44s)
San Francisco’s Bubonic Plague Cover-up
Word spreads of a bubonic plague outbreak in San Francisco’s Chinatown. (3m 58s)
Trailer | Plague at the Golden Gate
How the bubonic plague in 1900 set off fear and anti-Asian sentiment in San Francisco. (1m 46s)
The war against rats helped end the bubonic plague outbreak in San Francisco. (1m 41s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.