Hop Sing Bonanza World Character Bio by Short Shanks
The Cartwrights and Hop Sing in a Dutch Postcard, photo thanks to Miss Honey Bee
The Cartwright's cook, Hop Sing, originally came to the United States from Canton, China. He tells Jamie in
The Bucket Dog that when he was a small boy in Canton, he often wished for a butterfly kite but never got one. In
A Lonely Man, Hop Sing describes his journey to America in the hold of a sailing ship: "China boys sleep below. Ocean very rough...Hop Sing get very sick. One whole month..."
Becky Sims in her excellent writing advice for fanfic authors has this note about how Hop Sing came to live with the Cartwrights: "Thomas Thompson, in the profic novel "One Man With Courage" (which was approved by David Dortort) stated that Hop Sing was a young man when Ben and Marie first came across him – he was being beaten by some local toughs. Ben chased the other men off and took Hop Sing home with him until he got well, but Hop Sing never left." (quoted here with permission, thanks, Becky! For more of Becky's writing advice on the Best of the West site, see: "BONANZA BACKGROUND Part 1 – The World of 'Bonanza,'"
http://www.williamsmith.org/bonanzab...ackground.html )
Hop Sing runs the Cartwright household including cooking, cleaning, and ordering household supplies and food. In
The Bucket Dog we see him sweeping in the great room, and in
A Dollar's Worth of Trouble he tells off Hoss and Joe for not fetching all the supplies. He usually eats separately from the Cartwrights, as in
The Bucket Dog when we see Hop Sing eating a sandwich alone at the kitchen table, although there are episodes where Hop Sing is at the dining table being served by the Cartwright boys, such as
Mark of Guilt and
Stage Door Johnnies. Hop Sing also lives with the Cartwrights and during nighttime commotions is awakened with the rest of the family, emerging from a ranch house bedroom in his sleeping attire in episodes such as
Caution, Easter Bunny Crossing.
Hop Sing in
The Bucket Dog, photo thanks to GreyLupous
Hop Sing has all the fiery temper necessary to hold his own with the Cartwrights, and rules the kitchen with an iron fist. In various episodes when annoyed by the Cartwrights, Hop Sing threatens to quit. Also when angry or excited, Hop Sing may begin yelling in Chinese and sometimes emerges from his kitchen wielding a meat cleaver or kitchen knife. Hop Sing jokes about "running from enemies" (
A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay) but shows resilient courage in episodes such as
The Face of Fear in which he risks his life hurling a cooking pot lid at a gunman to protect Jamie.
Ben, talking about Hop Sing:
"He's an expert on minding other people's business."
(
A Bride for Buford)
Although small in stature (only 5'4"), Hop Sing doesn't hesitate to order the Cartwrights around. In
Day of the Dragon, Hop Sing puts a kitchen knife into Joe's hands and shoos him outside to help peel potatoes, where Hoss and Adam are already sitting peeling potatoes with Su Ling.
The Cartwright boys peeling potatoes for Hop Sing in
Day of The Dragon - photo thanks to GreyLupous
Hop Sing sometimes addresses Ben as "Boss" and often will scold Ben for worrying too much, or for keeping supper waiting. In
The Wormwood Cup, Hop Sing is sitting in Ben's chair at the dining room table and without moving looks up at Ben and says, "It's about time!" when his boss finally decides to come and eat supper. Hop Sing cooks hearty meals such as roast pork and sweet potatoes, rabbit stew, roast turkey, roast beef, steak and rice, and fried chicken with mashed potatoes as well as baked treats including donuts, cookies, angel cakes and apple pies. For breakfast, Hop Sing may serve fresh fruit, flapjacks, hot biscuits, eggs, ham, fried potatoes, grits, toast, and various sweeteners such as maple syrup, honey, crabapple jelly and apricot preserves.
Exchange between Ben and Hop Sing:
B: "HOP SING!"
HS, coming out of the kitchen: "What you yell for now?"
(
The Stillness Within)
Hop Sing is a first generation immigrant to the U.S. Many other men in his family also emigrated to California and Nevada - he has at least nine cousins, a father and two uncles in various towns in the West including San Francisco, Stockton, and Virginia City. Hop Sing's father, Hop Ling, lives in the Chinese shantytown in Virginia City where he operates a laundry and grows roses. In
A Rose for Lotta, Joe Cartwright goes to Hop Sing's father's house alone, and there is an easy familiarity between them as Hop Ling hides Joe from thugs, then yells at Joe and throws laundry at him afterwards while Joe laughs. Obviously this is not Joe's first visit to Hop Sing's father's house.
"He's got about a hundred relatives he wants to visit."
(Ben about Hop Sing,
San Francisco)
Soo Chin, Hop Sing's uncle, also lives in Virginia City and is a cook. In
Found Child, Soo Chin is cooking for the Cartwrights while Hop Sing is away. Another of Hop Sing's uncles, Lee Chang, is an importer in Virginia City and has a scholarly son, Jimmy Chang, who is another of Hop Sing's cousins. Since Hop Sing has so many cousins, he numbers them off for quick reference. Hop Sing's "Number One" cousin lives in Virginia City and appears in the episode
Badge Without Honor, and at least five other cousins of Hop Sing's live in San Francisco, including #6 cousin who works on the docks, #7 cousin who is in the silk business, and #9 cousin who is a cook in a hotel dining room (
San Francisco). Cousins #3 and #5 also live in San Francisco, while another cousin lives in Stockton (
A Matter of Circumstance). Hop Sing may also have relatives in Hong Kong, since he's described as having traveled there in
Badge Without Honor.
Joe and Hop Sing in
Mark of Guilt, photo thanks to GreyLupous
Exchange between Joe and Hop Sing:
HS: "You be good boy, Little Joe!"
J: "Don't worry, say hello to your cousin for me!"
(
A Matter of Circumstance)
Hop Sing's long history with the family is reflected in the way he addresses the Cartwrights - he calls Ben "Mr. Cartwright" and the older sons "Mr. Adam" and "Mr. Hoss," but he usually addresses Joe, the son he has known since childhood, as "Little Joe." Hop Sing often jokes around with the family, such as complaining about losing his shirt betting on Joe in horse races (
The Sure Thing). In
A Lonely Man, he mentions losing his money gambling at the "fantan house" each year after the roundup for three years straight, and in
A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay Ben remarks on giving Hop Sing "free trips to San Francisco, squaring those fantan losses, and giving him extra money at New Year's (both American and Chinese)." We also see him burning incense in the ranch house in
Maestro Hoss. Hop Sing has a pleasant singing voice which we hear in both
A Lonely Man and
Stage Door Johnnies.
"It's a miner named Hop Sing, gonna find gold, maybe become the Blister King."
(Hop Sing singing a made-up a ditty as he rides along in
The Lonely Man; he also sings "My Darling Clementine" with the verses in Chinese)
Hop Sing describes himself as "a good Baptist" (
Mark of Guilt). He is not married and has had little opportunity - in
A Lonely Man he says,"been here long time, never have seen one China girl." He is also involved with the Chinese community in Virginia City - in
Mark of Guilt when his queue is cut off, Hop Sing speaks of being shamed before "the elders" as well as his ancestors, and in
The Fear Merchants we see him speaking to the elders of the local tong including his uncle Lee Chang, a local importer. (The local tong is identified in
A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay as the "Feiling Foy Tong.") Hop Sing faces anti-Chinese discrimination in Virginia City in a number of episodes. He is roughed up in
The Fear Merchants and
Mark of Guilt, and in
A Lonely Man when Hop Sing falls in love with "Missy" (Miss Hamilton), a white woman, anti-miscegenation laws prevent them from marrying and Hop Sing is again beaten by townsfolk. These
Bonanza storylines reflected the real-life discrimination and hostility that Chinese Americans faced in the historic Virginia City.
Hop Sing in
The Fear Merchants, photo thanks to Candyfan
Hop Sing Quotes: "There are times in the streets of Virginia City when I question the use of the word 'civilization.'" - (Hop Sing speaking to the Tong elders,
The Fear Merchants)
HS (to Ben): "Hop Sing just as good as any ranch hand!"
(
A Lonely Man)
Exchange between Hop Sing and Jamie:
HS: "Very wise man say, 'never lend money to boy with freckles.'"
J: "Aw c'mon, Hop Sing, what wise man said that?"
HS: "Hop Sing!"
(from
The Bucket Dog, moments before Hop Sing reaches into a cookie jar and
gives his money to Jamie)
HS: "What can I do for Number One Boss of Ponderosa?"
Ben: "Just a cup of your good coffee."
HS: "Cup in cupboard, coffee on stove. Help yourself!"
(
A Lonely Man)
Ben (about the boys): "I think they might have run into some trouble..."
HS: "Always do! How you help by not eat?"
(
The Rescue)
Interested in learning about Victor Sen Yung, the actor who played Hop Sing? Here's a link to Sneddy's Bonanza World Biography on Victor Sen Yung:
http://bonanzaworld.net/forums/showt...&threadid=4305 Edited to add: a note of thanks here to Thompson who helped me out on the research of counting Hop Sing's many cousins, and also again thanks to Becky for that info on how Ben met Hop Sing - I haven't seen it anywhere else. I hope this is helpful for fanfic writers to have all this Hop Sing info gathered in one place!
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That was awesome Short Shanks!!! I loved learning about Hop Sing, his character was way underused in Bonanza. Hop Sing could get away with stuff no one else could, who else would be able to boss the Cartwrights around and get away with it? What a man!
...Hop Sing did say that he had never seen a China girl, but what about "Day of the Dragon" and "A Pink Cloud Comes form Old Cathay"? Of course, perhaps he realized the latter was not Chinese! 
Excellent! I agree with dd, Hop Sing should have been used more 
