![ming shee ming shee](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5048f125e4b0bd178ab3741a/1593442409038-98G2ZK0447JJXBN3CWY4/3.+window_6-29-20.jpg)
One year later, in 1899, Chew Yook returned to China from San Francisco using the U.S. Wong Kim Ark established birthright citizenship in the US and eased the way for Chinese American citizens to leave and return the United States. It is also possible that Hong was a paper name. Family members arriving more recently from China likely use the Mandarin Zeng. Chew Yook's descendants who's families arrived in the US before 1965 have used the surname Hong.
![ming shee ming shee](https://i.pinimg.com/600x315/53/7a/60/537a6068e1f0622c75f320d44bfb65b5.jpg)
According to family lore, Yin Ming came to use the name HONG because American authorities in the 1800's confused Dong with the Cantonese word Tong which they recorded as the character " 湯," and which was transliterated back to "Hong" in Toisanese. Our family name in Chinese is 曾, which is pronounced Dong in Toisanese, Tsang in Cantonese, and Zeng in Mandarin. While the records refer to his birth in 1873, we do not have his birth certificate or information about his parents. These court records are the first documented evidence of the Hong Family in the United States. 6514, that HONG Yin Ming was a native-born American citizen and allowed to land. District Court of the Northern District of California ruled “In the Matter of Hong Yin Ming on Habeas Corpus,” case no. This was six years after the Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882 prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers, with exceptions for diplomats, teachers, students, merchants, and travelers. At that time, he sued in court to be allowed to land. Hong Yin Ming returned to China with his mother when he was very young and returned to U.S. My great-grandfather, HONG Yin Ming 湯恩明, was born in San Francisco, CA in 1873.