I like both American Indian and Oriental cultures and I was watching ‘Shanghai Noon’ today. My favorite part of the movie is when Jackie encounters the Native Americans. I’m wondering when was the earliest the Chinese and the western tribes first laid eyes on each other. Both Chinese and Native Americans were hired to work on railroads, so I figured they must of met up at the time. Kind of silly but I wonder how they reacted to each other. Did they grow friendly, maybe marry into each other, or did they keep to themselves?
According to some theories they are more or less closely related, so way before the railroads.
See SD threads on “Are XXXXX Indians Polynesians?” and “1421 - The Year China Discovered the World”. Sorry too lazy to do your SD searches for you…if it is working of course.
I’ve heard that theory for quite some time but I meant actual Chinese and Native Americans, not the ancient ancestors they evolved from. The archives don’t have anything for me either, just that theory as well. Since I’ve posted, I was able to get a search engine to find some small article of interest. It says the Shoshone worked alongside the Chinese on the railroad, and told them stories about giant lizards living in the desert that would eat a man alive, which I guess the Chinese assumed where American dragons. I guess they did keep to themselves mostly.
Kung Fu starring David Carridine. 
In California, Ah Nam’s arrival in Monterey in 1815 to work as a cook for the Spanish governor is the first recorded instance of Chinese presence in the state.
In 1848 when the California Gold Rush started in earnest & Chinese poured into California, is the first time large numbers of Natives Americans would likely have seen Chinese. By 1870 10% of CA’s popultion was Chinese.
My guess is that there wasn’t more intermarriage (even given that Chinese women weren’t allowed in Country in any number) becuase the laws were designed to make the insular Chinese (Largely Cantonese) return home and they did. Also, Indian women had better pprospects in the male heavy west : The Chinese were losing rights- in 1882 by law Chinese were forbidden to Marry white women among other restrictions, by 1888 Indian Women who married white men were made citizens… so an Indian woman looking for a way out of poverty would see white men had more rights and tended to be richer than the Chinese who tended to perform menial labor …
I don’t have a cite on this, but in a talk about pidgins and creoles, I heard the claim that in the West, the Chinese and the Native Americans developed a shared English pidgin. I guess it makes sense–think of stereotypical phrases, “him no takee horse from barn.” Could be either Chinese or Native American.