Szeyap

The Sunning Railroad, connecting Peikai and Towshan, by way of Kongmoon and inland tawns of Szeyap districts, had to suspend operation again on March 12, because of lack of coal, for the import of which by way of Hongkong is still being interfered with by pickets of the Canton Strike Committee enforcing the “anti-imperialist” boycott.

These sojourners were quite a homogeneous group in language, culture, family, and socioeconomic status. Practically all of them were peasants from the arid Szeyap (i.e., "four districts") area southwest of Canton, the capital city of the province of Kwangtung.

Chinese immigrants, many of them from the Szeyap region of southern China, were actively recruited to take the place of slave labor. By 1880, just over 50 Chinese immigrants were living in Mississippi. However, the Chinese quickly learned that there was little money to be made as plantation workers and many turned to owning and operating grocery stores as a means of financial survival.