Why did the early Chinese immigrants go into the laundry business? It was their meal ticket in the environment of anti-Chinese hostility. What was it like to run a laundry for them and their children? From about 1850 to 1950 Chinese laundries operated in large cities and sometimes small cities. They served the Chinese laborers as well as Anglos during the Gold Rush and the construction of railroads. Today you will be hard pressed to find a Chinese laundry anywhere in the U.S. Read about this fascinating topic in John Jung's blog, http://chineselaundry.wordpress.com/ . He also has a facebook page on other Chinese American home-based businesses, notably restaurants and grocery stores. You will find it at https://www.facebook.com/YinandYangPress.
John is the son of Chinese immigrants who operated the only Chinese laundry in Macon, Georgia. He was a professor of psychology at California State University at Long Beach from 1962 until 2007. He has authored the following books on Chinese laundries, restaurants and grocers (as of October 22, 2012):
Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers, 2011
Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants, 2011
Southern Fry Rice: Life in a Chinese Laundry in the Deep South, 2006
Chinese Laundries: Ticket to Survival on Gold Mountain, 2011
John is the son of Chinese immigrants who operated the only Chinese laundry in Macon, Georgia. He was a professor of psychology at California State University at Long Beach from 1962 until 2007. He has authored the following books on Chinese laundries, restaurants and grocers (as of October 22, 2012):
Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers, 2011
Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants, 2011
Southern Fry Rice: Life in a Chinese Laundry in the Deep South, 2006
Chinese Laundries: Ticket to Survival on Gold Mountain, 2011
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