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ucked away in a nondescript shopping center, next door to a Sherwin Williams paint store, Mai Little China regularly draws a bustling crowd for lunch. White and blue collar workers belly up to two buffet tables – one with the ubiquitous southern smorgasbord of fried chicken, black-eyed peas and the like and the other with egg rolls, stir fry and lo mein. Mai Little China is not the only Chinese buffet in town. What makes it unique is the story it tells. It is a tale of Chinese immigrants flocking to the Delta to plant new roots. And something else. A love story. The marriage of Cathy and Matthew Mai led to the marriage of their food cultures in a restaurant that gives new hope to Delta Chinese who for years have been watching their children leave the region for greener pastures. It begins with Cathy’s mother, who fled China at the age of 29 when Japan invaded during World War Two. She moved to America, where her best friend’s uncle ran a grocery store in the Mississippi Delta, a place where many Chinese had immigrated nearly a century ago — first to pick cotton, then, typically, to open grocery stores and send for relatives on the mainland. There were numerous Chinese groceries in Greenwood, though not nearly so many as the 52 once scattered across Greenville. Soon, despite the language barrier, Cathy’s mom opened her own grocery store, Mark’s Market, located right on the border between Greenwood’s black and white communities and determined to serve both. At first, she had to point to the items on the shelves but her customers eventually taught her English by telling her the names for each food item. Every night, she would ask Cathy what she wanted for dinner. “Whether she knew how to make it or not, we would do it,” Cathy says. “We would get flour all over the walls. She never fussed and never cared. And if it didn’t turn out we would just throw it out and start over.” It was her mom who first made her
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Customers see an English menu but in the kitchen, the menu is in Chinese. Photo by Katie Williamson
The idea behind Cantonese food is to use spices to enhance the natural flavors of the food. Photo by Katie Williamson
feel food was special. And it was her mom who introduced her to her husband. Matthew’s grandmother and Cathy’s mother were friends. Once, Cathy accompanied the grandmother to China for a visit. Cathy and Matthew met in Hong Kong and Cathy thought nothing of it. No sparks. Nothing. But Matthew was interested. He was living alone and there was something familiar about this Chinese-American girl from the Deep South. He started calling. “I was not interested in a long distance relationship but he kept calling, so I said
‘I’ll talk to him, I guess,’ but I definitely didn’t plan it or expect it,” laughs Cathy. Like most Chinese in the Delta, Cathy is a Christian. She sent Matthew, whose Chinese name is Weifu, a Chinese translation of the Bible, not realizing that if the communist government knew he had it, he could have been arrested. Taking pains to avoid detection, Matthew read it. He was impressed with the high moral tone of Christianity and realized that it said something good about Cathy as well. It changed his life. He quit smoking and believes it