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| Story of our laundry in Macon, Ga. |
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| where we were the ONLY Chinese in town |
How The Chinese Got To The Deep South
Whenever people discover that I, a Chinese American living in California, was born and grew
up in the middle of Georgia, they frequently ask something like, how did you ever end up living in Georgia?
Most
people, even other Chinese, simply assume that because I am Chinese I was born or at least grew up in San Francisco or some
other place in California where there are large Chinese populations since. The simplest answer is that when my parents immigrated
from a small village near Canton, China to the United States in the 1920s they did not know anyone who could help them get
settled except some Chinese from their village who was already living in the Deep South. But that answer only leads to the
next question about how that Chinese person got to be in the South.
Upon further analysis, it is not surprising that many of the Chinese laundries scattered throughout the South in cities
such as Chattanooga,Charleston, Birmingham, and Augusta, Atlanta, and Macon, Georgia were operated by Chinese immigrants who
came from the same villages in the rural areas of Guangdong province in southeastern China. As each new immigrant, like my
parents, was highly dependent on the assistance of earlier immigrants from their village upon their arrival in this land so
strange to them, it is reasonable that they would end up more or less in the same region of the country.
Click Here To Learn About Guangdong, the province in southeastern China from where, until 1965, most overseas Chinese in the
world came.
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The fronts of Chinese laundries were often painted in bright red and used black lettering on signs,
but Sam Lee Laundry used atypical colors, blue and yellow. It also had a wider store front than most of the Chinese
laundries I've seen. It did not have protective metal bars at the counter separating customers from the laundryman, perhaps
because the laundry was located in the middle of a main street in a safe neighborhood.
In contrast, Uncle Joe's brightly painted laundry in Atlanta was located in a poorer part of town.
Note the steel gate used to secure the front door when the laundry closed. This picture was taken in 2003 as the laundry is
still operated by Uncle's oldest son, Hoi Lam, and is probably one of the last, if not the very last, Chinese laundries in
America, still doing business.
Click Here to see why the book came about and how many people across the U. S. helped me develop and promote the book on the
web and at book signings.
Clik here for Book Audience and Reader Reactions
Click here to see reviews of Southern Fried Rice by prominent scholars and readers.
Read any page in "Southern Fried Rice" by clicking to Google Print
| Our laundry in Macon, Georgia |
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If it is more convenient, signed copies are available at these locations:
Chinese Historical Society of America Museum, 965 Clay St. San Francisco
Museum of Chinese in the Americas, 70 Mulberry St. New York
World Journal Chinese Bookstore, 5391 New Peachtree, Chamblee, Ga.
San Diego Chinese History Museum, 404 Third Ave. San Diego
Chinese Cultural Shop On Main Street in Historic Locke, Ca. 916-776-1661 http://www.locketown.com/chinese_cultural_shop.htm
Asian American Curriculum Project 529 East Third Ave.
San Mateo, CA 94401 (650)375-8286
| Click On Image Belo to See My Promotional Fantasy |
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| Southern Fried Rice Goes to the Great Wall (in my dreams) |
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