Following the historic path of the First Transcontinental Railroad is just one part of a larger project to document sites connected to the history of the Chinese in California. The idea originated in 1980, when Cheng was working in San Francisco. His then-girlfriend, now his wife, was living in Sacramento, the capital city of California, and every weekend Cheng would travel north to meet her.
“We visited some places in the Sacramento area, specifically the gold rush-era sites, and learned that they all have Chinese involvement,” says Cheng. One of the sites that caught Cheng’s attention during the couple’s day trips was Locke, a small town that was built by Chinese merchants for themselves in 1915 and retains many of its original buildings.
“I liked this town so much. Its photographic and historical texture really attracted me deeply. I started to photograph [Locke] and thought to go beyond and do more old Chinese sites,” says Cheng. He put aside the idea to focus on work and family obligations, but picked it up again in 2005, when he was back in the area visiting his wife’s ailing father. After his father-in-law passed away, Cheng made the decision to start photographing historic sites connected to Chinese immigrants at every opportunity he got. Walking the Grade was born out of the project, which Cheng says he expects to spend the rest of his life on.
“When I started 29 years ago, there was not much information to gather but a few books. Now, through the Internet, I have too much information. There are always too many places and too little time,” says Cheng.
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