Zhihua Mo is a good son. He cooks and cleans regularly for his 85-year-old father, Bao Qi Mo, who lives in a room not much bigger than a closet.
Today, Mo, 48, must get his bedridden father to a medical clinic, so he climbs the narrow staircase that leads to his father's 8-by-10-foot apartment on Powell Street near Broadway in a Chinatown single-room occupancy building. Because there is no elevator, Mo puts his father on his back and slowly negotiates the staircase.
"It is our tradition to take care of our parents," Mo says. "Someday my son will take care of me."
Three generations of Mos live in SROs within a block of each other in San Francisco, sharing cramped units that some say are barely suitable for individuals, let alone families. But like many immigrants in Chinatown, the Mos keep soldiering on - even when the situation seems backbreaking.
Chinese newcomers have endured a range of hardships, racial and economic, since first arriving in San Francisco about 1850, but their fortitude has helped subsequent generations improve their lot in life. It's a day-to-day resilience rarely seen by outsiders, most of whom view Chinatown as a tourist destination or an occasional place to eat out or shop.
But behind the scenes, families like the Mos are eking out an existence in a bustling, vibrant neighborhood that often belies the struggles of those who live there.
The Rev. Norman Fong, an advocate for Chinese tenants, saw his father suffer through the anti-Chinese laws of decades past. But now, as back then, he says, "the Chinese believe if you just put up with it, you will win. Don't cause trouble, and you will persevere."
Family life
Zhihua Mo and his father moved to San Francisco from New York City nearly 10 years ago, and Mo brought his wife and teenage son from Guangzhou, China, two years ago. Mo and his family live in an SRO about a block away from his father.
Mo is trained as a carpenter and plumber. He's employed by a construction company that sends him all over the state - that is, when there is work. But there's little of that these days.
Mo's wife, Lifen Deng, works nearby on the more touristy corners of Chinatown. She hands out leaflets for a dim sum restaurant. She is shy, but her easy smile convinces tourists to take the material. She shops for groceries almost every day because it's difficult to store food in the family's small apartment.
In one of the building's communal kitchens, she joins other women from her floor. There is a large sink on one side and a gas cooking area on the other. She cleans a red fish and washes vegetables for dinner.
The family's small apartment contains bunk beds: the bottom for Deng and Mo, the top for their 16-year-old son, Shao Cong.
Tonight, on the bottom bunk, the family will gather around a small computer screen to watch a Chinese television show they have downloaded.
It is their time together.
Stories of struggle
As he walks down Ross Alley, Fong, who helps run the Chinatown Community Development Center, a tenant advocacy group, listens to stories of struggle.
"People are living way below the poverty level," building owner Amy Chung tells him. "Many seniors have to move in with their families, which makes it even more crowded."
Fong blames the cramped living conditions for many tenant problems. "Mental health issues and suicide are rising," he said. "Our public library is the most utilized in the state because the students have no place to do homework (in the SROs)."
Fong's tenant group has gotten the city to start enforcing building codes in the neighborhood and has fought for individual mailboxes for all tenants. But at the end of the day, the families must fend for themselves.
Not far away, Mo manages to get down the stairs of his father's SRO, with Bao Qi still on his back. Next, Mo must get his father into a wheelchair just outside the front door.
"I wish he were a little lighter," Mo says.
Once he maneuvers his father into the wheelchair, Mo guides Bao Qi through the neighborhood, stopping at a bakery for breakfast. The elder Mo is greeted by longtime friends.
He smiles. His regular doctor's appointment is his big outing for the month. Without his son's help, he can't leave the room because of a back ailment.
The doctor's appointment turns out to be routine, and Bao Qi is free to leave. After a quick stop at the pharmacy, father and son head back to Powell Street - and an even more difficult climb back up the stairs to the second floor.
But Mo manages.
Months later, Mo is making new shelves for his family. The Mos are moving upstairs in their SRO to a larger room with almost double the floor space. There will be a small refrigerator and a large window that opens out to Stockton Street.
"I'm still not getting much work," Mo says, "but it is worth the hardship, so my son will have more room. The new room is more comfortable and has good ventilation, although it is noisier because of the street."
Shao Cong, or Scott as he calls himself, will finally have a place to do his homework. Mo's son is attending a San Francisco public high school, taking advanced-placement chemistry. He is also volunteering in Fong's program for youths to talk to SRO tenants about fire and earthquake safety.
The Mo family will be staying in Chinatown for the foreseeable future, although Mo maintains his dream of moving to a house somewhere else in the city.
As Scott sits at his new desk and fiddles with his computer, his father takes measurements for a new shelf and smiles. "Scott is a good son," he says.
By the numbers
San Francisco's densely populated Chinatown is the largest such enclave outside of Asia.
Population: 100,574, according to the 2000 census. That was about two-thirds of the overall Chinese American population in San Francisco.
Size: About 1 mile long by 1.34 miles wide, centered by Grant Street.
Age: About 160 years old, the oldest Chinatown in North America. The current configuration grew out of the total destruction in the 1906 earthquake and fire.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, sanfranciscochinatown.com
E-mail Brant Ward at bward@sfchronicle.com.
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