Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 358 "Intermarriage"

On October 18, 1637, at 10 p.m., lead-gray clouds hung low like a curtain, and fine rain fell obliquely, shrouding Shixing Port in a hazy mist.

The mast of the "Pyeongchang" pierced the rain curtain, and the hull was shrouded in damp mist. Guided by the red tarpaulin flags waved by the port pilots, it slowly passed through the South Wharf.

The place was densely packed with all kinds of ships, their masts like a forest, their sails hanging low and swaying slightly in the drizzle, like a sleeping forest.

Twelve years ago, this was a desolate beach surrounded by dense forests, but today, Cincinnati has risen to become the most prosperous trade and industrial center on the west coast of North America, with bustling streets and numerous factories, resembling a vibrant new city.

At the dock, goods were piled up like mountains.

Porcelain, cotton cloth, silk, hemp rope, tung oil, pig bristles, and medicinal herbs from the Ming Dynasty, lacquerware and silver from Japan, and silver coins, sugar, cocoa, wool, cotton, livestock, and copper from New Spain (Mexico) all converged here.

The port's customs building—a magnificent brick and cement structure—stands beside the dock, where tax officials and port staff are verifying the goods brought in by merchant ships from all over the world against the cargo inventory.

After quickly tidying themselves up, the captain and sailors, their faces filled with excitement and anticipation, eagerly disembarked to board a horse-drawn carriage and head to the city to enjoy a sumptuous dinner.

Factory owners and merchants, dressed in fine woolen coats and holding ledgers, fiercely bid at the commodity exchange by the harbor, the air thick with the scents of tea, spices, and the salty sea breeze.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out at the immigrant reception point near the dock.

Hundreds of immigrants lined up in a long queue, shivering in the cold rain, dressed in thin, coarse clothes.

Many women were carrying crying babies in their arms, their steps faltering.

Ma Changshun squinted as he watched the immigrants board the ship that was about to set sail. He turned to the patrolman beside him and asked, "Oh, are those new immigrants?"

"Yes, immigrants who arrived at the beginning of the month." The patrolman pulled his wet cloak tighter around himself, his bronze badge gleaming coldly in the rain. "They're all Koreans, and we're going to send them to the Ziwu River (now Columbia River) region for colonization."

"North Koreans?" Ma Changshun looked over in surprise. "There are quite a few of them! ... Probably three or four hundred. Where did they all come from?"

Upon hearing this, the patrolman chuckled: "Where did you get this? This... naturally, it came from North Korea!"

"Uh, no..." Ma Changshun laughed too, "I mean, how come so many North Koreans have suddenly appeared? Could it be that our Xinhua has conquered North Korea?"

"Hmm, more or less!" The policeman nodded and said, "Didn't you read the newspaper? Last winter, the Jurchens amassed an army of 100,000 and invaded Korea, reaching the Korean capital of Seoul in one fell swoop. They even forced the entire Korean nation to surrender and become a vassal state of the Jurchens."

"Taking advantage of the gap, Xinhua occupied several pieces of territory in Korea. In early September, we joined forces with the Ming Dynasty's Dongjiang Town to defeat Dongnae Prefecture (now Busan) in Korea."

"With just a few moves, we managed to bring back a bunch of North Koreans! Hehe... about 2,500 people were brought back."

"Oh... no wonder so many of these immigrants have brought their families with them."

“It’s not just those with families!” The patrolman smiled knowingly. “There are also a lot of North Korean women who have been brought back.”

“Goryeo maids! ...How many are there?” Ma Changshun also revealed an expression that only men would have.

“Seventeen hundred people! And they are all... young women.”

"Yes, that's quite a lot. However, for the tens of thousands of men in Xinhua who can't find wives, the number is still far from enough!"

"Ha..." The patrolman sighed upon hearing this. "Who says otherwise! There aren't enough Han Chinese wives to marry, and the number of Korean and Japanese women isn't high either. Those who are eager to continue their lineage can only look for indigenous women! But these indigenous women..."

As he spoke, the patrolman let out a long sigh, seemingly depressed and resentful.

Well, most likely there's a country bumpkin wife in the family.

As the number of immigrants from Xinhua continues to increase, interracial marriages are also becoming more common.

With their advanced productivity and hardworking and honest character, Xinhua immigrants often accumulate a considerable fortune in a very short period of time.

Of course, this wealth may seem insignificant to factory owners or businessmen.

However, in the local indigenous tribes, it is a symbol of a man's "abundant assets." When they set their sights on the women of the indigenous tribes, few can resist this temptation.

However, behind the seemingly romantic "love story" of the Xinhua immigrants marrying local indigenous women lies a host of inconveniences and troubles.

These issues are deeply rooted in culture, customs, language, and even child-rearing, like a complex thorny tangle that entangles their lives.

Cultural differences are the primary obstacle between men and women.

Xinhua immigrants are deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture, emphasizing the order of seniority and hierarchy, having a strong sense of family, and valuing family inheritance and the continuation of bloodlines.

The indigenous tribes have a unique and primitive shamanistic belief, worship nature spirits, believe that all things have spirits, and their culture revolves around their reverence for and dependence on nature.

For example, when the new immigrants wanted to hold a grand sacrificial ceremony for their newborn in accordance with ancestral traditions and pray for the protection of their ancestors, the indigenous wife and her tribesmen were extremely indifferent to their ancestors. They also believed that ancestor worship was disrespectful to the spirits of nature and that the tribe's traditional "dialogue with nature" ceremony should be held, through "shamanic dance" and prayer to allow the child to obtain the power of nature.

Differences in understanding of ancestors, deities, and even rituals between the two parties often lead to heated arguments and even family conflicts.

Language barriers also bring many problems to intermarriage between different ethnic groups.

Xinhua immigrants, influenced by thousands of years of civilization, speak a complex pictographic language, which is quite different from the primitive languages ​​of the indigenous people, which are mostly simple syllables and have unique pronunciations. Moreover, many things described in Eastern languages ​​cannot be found in their vocabulary and concepts.

Misunderstandings often arise in daily communication between couples due to misunderstandings of language.

Even though the indigenous women can speak Mandarin relatively fluently, they still have many misunderstandings and doubts about the profound Eastern culture and language.

Language issues become even more prominent when educating children.

Before children start school, both parents want them to learn their mother tongue first (so they can communicate better with each other). This can cause confusion for children in the early stages of language learning, making it difficult for them to develop systematic language thinking.

It's important to understand that as the head of the household, men spend most of their energy outside the home, leaving them with less time to interact with their children. Consequently, many mixed-race children generally have lower language skills than those from Han Chinese families.

Once their children enter school, regardless of their previous background, all Xinhua immigrant parents share a common attitude towards the importance they place on cultural knowledge.

They hope that their children, through reading and learning to read, will be able to secure a respectable and well-paying job in society in the future, bringing honor to their ancestors.

The indigenous wife, however, wanted to teach her children survival skills, such as hunting, fishing, and identifying wild foods and herbs, hoping that her children would become warriors of the tribe and carry on the tribe's culture and traditions.

This led to the indigenous wives not valuing or understanding the importance of knowledge, and they were not very attentive to their children's studies.

This divergence in educational philosophies often leaves young children feeling lost and unsure of which approach to take in their development.

At the same time, children in both indigenous tribes and Han Chinese communities will face some identity difficulties to varying degrees, and may even be discriminated against and ridiculed by other Han Chinese children.

This could have a negative impact on their mental health and personal growth to some extent.

There are also some conflicts related to customs that should not be ignored.

For example, in their daily eating habits, Xinhua immigrants use chopsticks, and their cooking methods mainly involve frying, stir-frying, and boiling, emphasizing the color, aroma, and taste of their food.

The indigenous people have always lived by hunting and gathering, and their diet consists mainly of roasted meat, fish, and simply processed wild fruits and roots. They are accustomed to eating with their hands.

As for basic housework, well, they had no concept of it before.

In terms of funeral customs, people in the East believe that burial is the best way to ensure peace and will insist on worshipping ancestors' graves. In contrast, people from other regions may practice many primitive methods such as sky burial, wind burial (placing the body on a tree to dry), and cremation.

All these differences often require decades, or even a generation or two, of continuous influence and integration before they can align with the new immigrant community.

In the rain, the immigrant boat slowly sailed away from the dock. The North Korean immigrants on board looked at the receding Shixing Port with eyes full of confusion and unease.

Meanwhile, on the shore, the stories of intermarriage between Xinhua immigrants and indigenous people continue to unfold. The collision and integration of cultures, like the continuous autumn rain, is long and tortuous.

But amidst these contradictions and adjustments, new life is quietly growing, like tender green shoots emerging from the cracks in the harbor rocks, stubbornly stretching towards the sunlight.
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(End of this chapter)