Radio Television Hong Kong’s fourth episode from its Overseas Chinese series features a laundry in Toronto, and a restaurant in Ontario.
第四集 : 甜酸骨與洗衣店
John Jung’s (Prof. of Psychology Emeritus, California State University, Long Beach) blog posts about Chinese laundries and restaurants:
Chinese hand laundries used to be a fixture in every town and city. They were so common place that the occupation of “laundryman” became synonymous with the Chinese. They were socially isolated, and endured a life of drudgery and racial hostility. CBC producer Yvonne Gall explores the legacy of these Chinese pioneers through the stories of the children who grew up in their parents’ laundries.
Why did so many Chinese immigrants turn to owning and operating laundries?
They were first enticed to North America by the gold rush of the mid 1800′s and were later hired to build the railways in both Canada and the United States. But when the gold rush ended and the railways built, the Chinese immigrants were no longer wanted. They were socially isolated and struggled to deal with a growing tide of racism. They gravitated to jobs shunned by the white community, jobs like washing clothes. But hostility and racism persisted and was often expressed in violence and sanctioned by law.
Despite these obstacles, the Chinese laundryman persevered and they endured so that their children would have a better life.