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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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Click To Read About Origins and Significance of Chinese Laundries
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The story of our family's life as the only Chinese in Macon, Georgia from 1928-1956 is now available in the book, "Southern
Fried Rice."
Click here to see reviews of the book by prominent scholars and everyday readers.
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.
Read any page in "Southern Fried Rice" by clicking to Google Print
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
=========================================================The Chinese Laundryman
by Paul C. P. Siu
This is the definitive scholarly study of the difficult and lonely life of the Chinese who operated laundries.
The research was based on interviews during the 1930s with Chinese who ran laundries in Chicago, leading to a Ph.D. thesis
in sociology. The Chinese Laundryman provides detailed accurate descriptions of the physical arrangements of equipment
and living conditions in the typical Chinese laundry.
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| This Chinese Laundryman Could Be Any Chinese Laundryman |
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| Our laundry in Macon, Georgia |
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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.
"Chinese Laundries: Tickets to Survival on Gold Mountain"
This book examines how the laundry became the “ticket” into mainstream society for the Chinese immigrants
from about the 1850s to 1950s that enabled them to overcome and survive many obstacles. It will examine the origins of Chinese
laundries and their role in the economic, social, and psychological status of earlier Chinese immigrants and their families
here and in China. First- and second-hand accounts of the experiences of immigrants and their families who worked, and often
lived close to, or in, above, below, or behind, their laundries provide an understanding of how much the laundry men and women
achieved despite poverty, racial discrimination, and cultural isolation.
To Order Chinese Laundries: Tickets to Survival on Gold Mountain
Click Here for more laundry history ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
| Click Picture to See My Promotional Fantasy |
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| Southern Fried Rice Goes to the Great Wall (in my dreams) |
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