Chinese Immigrant Survival Through Laundries, Grocery Stores, and Restaurants

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Laundries, Grocery Stores, and Restaurants: Keys to Chinese Immigrant Survival John Jung Foo’s Ho Ho Restaurant Vancouver, B. C. Canada May 27, 2010



Sam Lee Laundry Was in Downtown Macon


What A Difference A Day Makes


Uncle Joe Visits Us in Macon



No Tickee, No Washee?


Before Bruce Lee



What Gave Me Insights About Chinese Laundries


An Overlooked Reality





White Fear Chinese Men with White Women


Chinese Families and Laundries


White ‘Humor’




Cheap Labor for Cotton Fields


In A Plantation Commissary



Families Lived in Back of Stores


One Extreme Anti-Chinese View



Chinese Baptist Church School




Early Chow Chow or Fan Deem


Stereotype of What Chinese Eat


Another Negative Stereotype


Other White Conceptions


‘Chop Suey’ Mania Among Whites ca. 1900 Created Growth for Chinese Restaurants


Menus…. ca. 1920s


Chop Suey, Baseball, and Sex


Whites Even ‘Claim’ Chop Suey


Shanghai Low, Fresno, Ca. 1920s


Pan American CafĂŠ, Wichita 1930s


Interior Decor Could Be Somewhat Quirky


‘Recycled’ Exteriors


Menus of Chinese Restaurants Beyond Chinatowns



End of An Era


Valuing Chinese Restaurants  “Where ever I travel, I always look for Chinese

restaurants. I know that not only will I get delicious Chinese food, but inside every restaurant, I will discover a personal story, a unique story of courage, survival, and hope.”  Cheuk Kwan

“Chinese Restaurants” documentary



Some Reader Responses from an e-mail a Chinese sent to his brothers, Aug. 21, 2008: "Southern Fried Rice - Life in A Chinese Laundry in the Deep South”. It was G-R-E-A T!! His was the only Chinese family in Macon, Ga. It is incredible how his experiences exactly paralleled ours; -- the same prejudices and discriminations that we incurred... In fact, the building looked just like ours; -- laundry down stairs with living quarters upstairs.; -those same three windows looking down on the street below! from e-mail by a Delta Chinese “I recently finished reading your book and felt like I was right among the people you interviewed. It’s the best book written about the Chinese in the Mississippi Delta.” from e-mail received, May 19, 2010 “… my 4th grade son is learning about Gold Mountain in his Social Studies. I am sure (“Chinese Laundries”) will be very informative and interesting. I am the one reading home school him. His assignment is to choose a job that the Chinese immigrants and learn about it…” From e-mail March 3, 2010 … impressed with the way “Sweet and Sour” speaks and flows. You've outdone yourself with this one. The research and works cited is outstanding, taking us to places we might not have located otherwise. Thanks for doing this project and congratulations on the great result.

it it, I did


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