Tong Wars

Okay kiddo, so imagine you have a lot of friends who live in your neighborhood, and they all really like each other and want to hang out together. But sometimes, some of your friends don't get along with other friends.

Now, imagine that instead of just playing together, these friends all own different businesses in the same area. Like maybe one friend owns a store that sells food, and another friend owns a store that sells toys. They all want customers to come to their store, but sometimes they get into arguments about how to do that.

So, the tong wars were like big fights that happened between different groups of friends who owned different businesses in the same area. These fights were usually between groups of Chinese immigrants who had come to America to start a new life, and they wanted to protect their businesses and make sure they were making enough money.

Sometimes, these fights got really violent and people got hurt or even killed. The fights were usually over things like territory (which group of friends gets to have their store on which street), or money (which group of friends gets to make the most money from their business).

But eventually, the tong wars ended and people were able to work together and share the neighborhood peacefully. That's kind of like learning how to share your toys and play nice with your friends, even if you don't always agree with each other.