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
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.
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
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
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.
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