Michener goes on to explain that these conservative attempts to control the epidemic did not work and that by January of 1900 a decision was made that virtually the entire area known as Chinatown would have to be burned.
Once the fire was ignited, high winds extended the fire much further than intended. Whether solely to control the epidemic or for more sordid economic reasons is a subject that will long be debated. Michener's characters discuss this very issue:
"'They destroyed all of Chinatown,' America explained with anguish in his voice.'They burned our stores on purpose because we wouldn't work on their sugar plantations.'
'No,' Nyuk Tsin reasoned, 'the wind came by accident'.
'That isn't so, Wu Chow's Auntie!' Europe cried, ugly with despair. 'The merchants wanted this done. Last week they threw all the food I had ordered from China into the bay. They were determined to wipe us out.'"
