Chinese great grandpa from Guangdong immigration concerns

[blueberrymilk]

Hi everyone!

So a few months ago I made a thread were I asked some help in translating the grave in which my great grandpa Antonio Wong (Dong Seck Nui/鄧石女) was buried in. I was helped immensely by the people in here, and I am really grateful. 

Since then, I've done some more digging, and now new concerns have been raised. With the help of my dad, we were able to contact a Mexican historian who has done quite a lot of research on Mexican-Chinese immigration, and he was able to give us a picture of my great grandfather's Mexican naturalization document. After reading the document, everything fits except for one thing. In the document, it says that my great-grandpa arrived to Mexico on July 9, 1920 through the port of Tampico, Tamaulipas. The thing that is confusing however, is that the port of Tampico is on the East Coast (Atlantic Ocean) of Mexico, while China is west of Mexico. For me it just seems unreasonable for a Chinese boat to travel all the way to the East Coast when it could simply travel to one of the many ports on the West Coast (Pacific Ocean) in Mexico.

The only explanation I could come up with was that maybe my great-grandfather originally migrated to somewhere else (such as Europe) and afterwards took a boat to Mexico, but this also doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I would like to know what do you guys think might be the explanation for this, and if anybody here might know of document that has any information of a ship full of Chinese immigrants that arrived to Tampico, Tamaulipas from somewhere else.

Thanks in advance!

[seemex]

Hi,
     I just came on your recent post and I can say that it was not uncommon for passengers and/or crew on ships from Asia to land at ports the opposite side that you might expect. He may have worked as crew on a ship that did the canal or joined the crew of one of the connecting ships that travelled down the west coast and then through the canal. My grandfather often went from Shanghai to New Orleans by ship and I have relatives who made their first landing, as far as immigration, in Savannah Georgia, and they had come from Hong Kong. They did a lot of coastal trips once they were on the North American side of the ocean but made their formal declarations of intent to become US citizens in eastern USA cities. I would think the same might apply to those applying to stay permanently in Mexico. Probably the only real ports on that side of Mexico would have been Veracruz and Tampico. 

Yo can check passenger lists for that era on Ancestry and other sources but unfortunately many Chinese were just herded aboard and may not have even been listed by name. That said, I've seen passenger lists that DO have Chinese names listed. Having the date is a great start as at least it narrows the search. Now you just need to find the ship. Where did you grandfather come from; do you know where his voyage originated?

I'm always searching passenger lists so I'll watch out. What is his name or any other info.

Brian

[gckimm]

Hi blueberrymilk:

Just to add to what Brian says, in the 19th-early 20th century, there were many Chinese who traveled to the east coast of the U.S. rather than the west coast and, in fact, established sizable communities there. The Chinese went wherever they saw opportunities to make a better life for themselves. It might have also been that your ancestor traveled through Tampico because of some necessity or advantage, for example, he might have been traveling with someone or he was able to secure passage for a cheaper price. There are several possibilities.

Greg