The Bamboo Pens of Chinese Registration
Deputy collectors report on the process of registering Chinese residents under the restrictive McCreary law in Western Washington.
Nearly 700 Chinese residents in Western Washington have applied for certificates of registration under the McCreary law. As there are few Chinese in Pierce County, Deputy L. P. Kingsbury has been traveling from town to town to meet applicants. In Seattle, Maj. Harlan has processed applications for 350 residents. An interesting feature of the examination is the affixing of a signature. Because standard steel pens are not suitable for Chinese characters, deputies have provided Chinese pens—bamboo sticks frayed at the end like a brush. Applicants use these with India ink, holding the pen perpendicular to the paper. While those who are better educated use less ink, all are able to create characters that serve as their legal signatures.
“The Chinaman holds this pen so that it is exactly perpendicular to the paper, and without resting his arm, except to support the elbow with his other hand, makes the complex characters quickly and neatly.”
The McCreary Law was an expansion of the Chinese Exclusion Act, requiring Chinese residents to carry registration papers at all times or face deportation. This account captures the cold, bureaucratic indignity forced upon the Chinese community during an era of state-sponsored systematic exclusion.
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