The Richest Chinese in America: Joe Shoong and the National Dollar Stores

 Joe Shoong was the perfect immigrant to America. When Joe arrived in San Francisco just before the turn of the century around 1899,[1] Chinese immigrants typically took on false names, due to inadequacy of immigration officials to properly file immigrants. In 1850, Chinese were simply labeled as “China men” (where the slang comes from); later, officials used a semi-official prefix “Ah” before the family name to designate the immigrants as being from China.[2] Joe, however, took a different tact. Rather than following official procedures, he transcribed his Chinese name into English. Using his Chinese name, Zhōu Sōng 周崧,[3] he took the English name Joe Soong. While a minor detail, this was just the first choice he made when immigrating to transform himself into an American.

Soong started in the garment industry. By 1902, he had opened his first store in Vallejo, California with three partners, but in 1903 he bought out his partners and then some years later moved the store to San Francisco, renaming it China Toggery.[4] In the early 20th century after the earthquake, San Francisco’s Market Street was a paradise of glitz, glamour, lights, and high society, and Shoong had property directly across the street from the San Francisco City Center and Mint, making his shop front and center in the growing city. However, he made a few rookie mistakes in his first independent management of his company.

Even though he spent a significant fortune (around $127,408 in today's currency[5]) remodeling his San Francisco business by hiring an American firm to give his company a facelift to fit the style of one of the richest cities in the world,[6] in 1910 he allied himself with some of Chinatown’s more nefarious individuals, Lee Seut of the On Yick Tong, and paid around $160,585 dollars, in conjunction with several other merchants, to help Lee pay his bond for the crime of murdering two members of a rival gang. Lee was charged a bond of around $642,334[7] with sureties in the range of $1,284,669,[8] of which Shoong helped contribute the payments.[9] In 1915, Shoong’s alliances caught up to him when he was accused of smuggling opium through his China Toggery store, after a business partner of his, Archibald R. Gowan, was arrested by the police. Gowan, a college-educated accountant, had been attempting to smuggle opium back through his suitcase from El Centro, Mexico, and was caught by customs inspectors when he took a train back to Oakland.[10]  The same day as Gowan’s arrest, the “reputed head of the opium ring” Joe Schoong, gave himself up to police after being on the run for some time until he had the money in hand to pay bail for his arrest.[11]

Shoong appears to not only have turned over a new leaf after this dark period of his life but made a stunning new debut: one year later, Shoong married a wealthy Chinese heiress at the Fairmont Hotel in an American wedding officiated by an American clergyman.[12] After their wedding, they honeymooned at the luxurious Hotel Alexandria, a hotel reputed to cost more than $67,802,000 to build[13] and Los Angeles’ most elegant hotel at the time. Then, only 5 years later, Shoong made another fascinating pivot from the traditional model of Chinese business ownership in America: opening a series of chain stores at the cost of $17,045,195,[14] with eight other partners in San Francisco, Oakland, and Vallejo.[15] In 1928, Shoong rebranded his China Toggery stores as the National Dollar Stores, Ltd. (中興公司, or “Dynasty Resurgence Company”),[16] and by 1930 he had expanded his businesses beyond the Bay Area into Central California[17] and even down to Los Angeles.[18]

Miraculously, Shoong’s National Dollar stores not only survived the Great Depression but excelled despite the great period of economic turmoil. In 1937, Shoong was still manufacturing his own clothes at a factory in San Francisco, but after a strike by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, he merely sold the store to his foreman and moved on.[19] Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Shoong decided to send both his daughters to study in China, but in that same year (1937) he had to bring his daughters back to the United States after the Japanese attacked China and war broke out.[20] Nevertheless, after returning from China his daughters attended Columbia and Stanford,[21] and Soong himself became an even stronger proponent for the Chinese Nationalists, donating money to open an aviation school in Portland to train combat pilots for the Chinese Air Force,[22] contributing to the Chinese War Relief Association,[23] and orchestrating events commemorating Japan’s attack on the Marco Polo Bridge to drum up support for China in 1944,[24] even while serving as a Shriner and a 32-degree Mason in the United States.[25]

"Tribune Pictures of Oakland Area Weekend Events," Oakland Tribune 160, no. 53, February 22, 1954. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19540222.1.25

Joe Shoong was known as America’s richest Chinese man,[26] but his influence was immense on the American business landscape. He popularized the American variety chain store, mastered the art of duplication, and walked through a cultural landscape rife with prejudice, discrimination, and misunderstanding, but came out as not only an American pioneer in his field but a global phenomenon who took the concept of a dry goods store and transformed it into an American pastime.

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[1] This date is based on the reports that Shoong immigrated to the United States when he was 20 years old, and he was born in 1879. See Asianweek Staff, “Chinese American Philanthropist: Joe Schoong,” Asianweek, Features, July 22, 2009. Archived.

[2] Yong Cheng, Chinese San Francisco: 1850-1943: A Trans-Pacific Community, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000: 53.

[3] Him Mark Lai, “English-Chinese Glossary of Personal Names, Corporate Names, and Garment Industry Terms,” in Chinese America: History & Perspectives, January 1, 2008: 91.

[4] There is some discrepancy in the reporting. Asianweek claims that Shoong bought out his partners in 1903, Time Magazine claims in a 1938 article that he only moved to San Francisco permanently after the 1906 earthquake, while Michael Colbruno wrote an obituary stating that Shoong bought out his partners in 1907. This is an important distinction, because if Shoong moved to San Francisco after the earthquake, he chose a location (929 Market Street) that would have been impacted heavily by the earthquake and subsequent fires. “Toggery Trouble,” Time Magazine, March 29, 1938. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,759404,00.html.  See Michael Colbruno, “Joe Shoong (1879-1910: Founder of National Dollar Stores,” Lives of the Dead: Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Blogspot, September 2, 2007. https://mountainviewpeople.blogspot.com/2007/09/joe-shoong-1879-1961.html Also See Dennis Smith, San Francisco is Burning: The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires, New York: Viking Penguin, 2005: 190.

[5] $3,800 in 1909.

[6] “Building Contracts: San Francisco,” Organized Labor 10, no. 18, May 1, 1909. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OLSF19090501.2.4

[7] $20,000 in 1910.

[8] $40,000 in 1910.

[9] “Lee Seut, Accused of Murder, Out on Bail: Nine Chinese Merchants Go on Indited Man’s Bond,” San Francisco Call 107, no. 110, March 20, 1915. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19100320.2.202

[10] “A.R. Gowan in Serious Trouble: Was a Former Resident of This City, Where News Creates Surprise, Is Accused by Government Officials of Smuggling Opium into Country,” Petaluma Daily Morning Courier 58, no. 21, January 14, 1915. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=PDC19150114.1.1

[11] “Opium Suspect Held; Other is Tried,” San Francisco Call 97, no. 14, January 14, 1915. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19150114.2.35

[12] “Chinese Couple to Use U.S. Marriage Custom,” San Francisco Call 99, no. 149, June 22, 1916. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19160622.2.72

[13] More than $2,000,000 in 1909, when the hotel was built.

[14] $1,000,000 in 1921.

[15] “Chinese Corporation to Open Chain Stores,” San Diego Union and Daily Bee, January 25, 1921. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDDU19210125.2.44

[16] Asianweek.

[17] “Dollar Store Files Incorporation Papers,” Press Democrat 74, no. 147, June 20, 1930. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD19300620.1.9

[18] Laura Sue and Raymond Douglas Chong, “Godfather of Los Angeles Chinatown: Dr. Julius Fooyee Sue 蕭甫怡,” Chinese America: History & Perspectives, January 1, 2021: 58.

[19] Him Mark Lai and Russell Jeung, “Guilds, Unions, and Garment Factories: Notes on Chinese in the Apparel Industry,” Chinese America: History & Perspectives, January 1, 2008: 5-6.

[20] There are discrepancies in the universities his daughters attended. One source, Lisa Arth, “Generations of Success: A Landmark Gift is Shaping the Future of the Lee Business School. Learn About the Family Members Behind the $15 Million Gift and Their Commitment to Southern Nevada,” News Center, Las Vegas: University of Nevada, April 9, 2012. https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/generations-success states that his daughters began to attend Lingnan University (today known as Lingnan Sun Yat-Sen University, in Hong Kong), while another source from the Calexico Chronicle claims that both daughters went to university in Beijing. “Japan Feels Secure in Attack on China, Says Recent Oriental Visitor,” Calexico Chronicle 34, no. 9, August 24, 1937. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CC19370824.2.16

[21] “Toggery Trouble,” Time Magazine, March 28, 1938. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,759404,00.html

[22] “’I think I am Going to Fly’: Chinese Pilots Trained in Portland During the 1930s,” Oregon Historical Quarterly 122, no. 4 (2021): 532-545.

[23] K. Scott Wang, “Parades, Pickets, and Protests: Chinese Americans on the Home Front,” Humanities; Washington 28, no. 4 (July/August 2007): 16-19.

[24] Him Mark Lai, “Chinese Guilds in the Apparel Industry of San Francisco,” Chinese America: History & Perspectives, January 1, 2008: 22.

[25] “Toggery Trouble.” See also, “Delegates Return from Grand Lodge,” Calexico Chronicle 34, no. 53, October 18, 1937. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CC19371018.2.14.

[26] “Daughter of Richest Chinese Weds,” San Pedro News Pilot 11, no. 101, July 4, 1938. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19380704.2.123