A social history of the role of the Chinese laundry on the survival of early Chinese immigrants in the U.S.during the Chinese Exclusion law period, 1882-1943, and in Canada during the years of the Head Tax, 1885-1923, and exclusion law, 1923-1947. Why and how Chinese got into the laundry business and how they had to fight discriminatory laws and competition from white-owned laundries to survive. Description of their lives, work demands, and living conditions. Reflections by a sample of children who grew up living in the backs of their laundries provide vivid first-person glimpses of the difficult lives of Chinese laundrymen and their families. Excerpts From Reviews .. a comprehensive historical study of the Chinese laundries in the United States, a profound analysis of the psychological experiences of the Chinese laundrymen in America and their families in China; and above all, written by someone who has intimate experiences with the Chinese laundry...Renqiu Yu, Director, Asian Studies Program, SUNY, Purchase College Prof. Jung's book has made a significant contribution to the history of Chinese laundries in America. The story is best told by someone like Jung who experienced a laundry life, ' and understands its psychological impact on the Chinese laundrymen and their families. Murray K. Lee, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum ... An academically solid effort that is much enhanced by several personal narratives from other "Children of the Laundries." This rewarding study ... is a long overdue analysis of a familiar experience hidden in plain sight. Mel Brown, Chinese Heart of Texas, The San Antonio Chinese Community, 1875-1975 ...The personal life stories, with their inner thought, feeling, values, attitudes, work experiences and survival hardships, are skillfully presented with penetrating insights and observations. These perspectives present an overall picture of the history and the life and work of the laundrymen. ... BanSeng Hoe, Ph.D. Curator of Asian Studies
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