To Save China, to Save Ourselves: The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York

268 Pages·1992·40.59 MB·English

by  Renqiu Yu

To Save China, To Save Ourselves:
The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York
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In the series
Asian American History and Culture,
edited by Sucheng Chan
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Renqiu Yu
To Save China,
To Save Ourselves
The Chinese
Hand Laundry
Alliance
of New York
Temple University Press
Philadelphia
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Temple University Press, Philadelphia 19122
Copyright © 1992 by Temple University. All rights reserved
Published 1992
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-
1984
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yu, Renqiu, 1955-
To save China, to save ourselves: the Chinese Hand Laundry
Alliance of New York / Renqiu Yu.
p. cm. - (Asian American history and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87722-996-1 (alk. paper)
I. Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York- History.
2. Laundry industry-New York (N.Y.)-History. 3. Chinese
Americans in husiness-New York (N.Y.)-History. I. Title.
II. Series: Asian American history and culture series.
HD9999.L383U639 1992
338.4'76481 '097471- dc20 92-9205
.. Laundry Song" by Wen I-to, p. v, from Twentieth Century Chinese
Poetry by Kai-Yu Hsu. Copyright © 1963 by Kai-Yu Hsu. Used by
permission of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group, Inc.
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Laundry Song (1923)
By Wen I-to
(One piece, rwo pieces, three pieces,)
Washing must be clean.
(Four pieces, five pieces, six pieces,)
Ironing must be smooth.
I can wash handkerchiefs wet with sad tears;
I can wash shirts soiled in sinful crimes.
The grease of greed, the dirt of desire .. .
And all the filthy things at your house,
Give them to me to wash, give them to me.
Brass stinks so; blood smells evil.
Dirty things you have to wash.
Once washed, they will again be soiled.
How can you, men of patience, ignore them!
Wash them (for the Americans), wash them'
You say the laundry business is too base.
Only Chinamen are willing to stoop so low)
It was your preacher who once told me:
Christ's father used to be a carpenter.
Do you believe it? Don't you believe it)
There isn't much you can do with soap and water.
Washing clothes truly can't compare with building warships.
I, too, say what great prospect lies in this-
Washing the others' sweat with your own blood and sweat?
(But) do you want to do it? Do you want it)
Year in year out a drop of homesick tears;
Midnight, in the depth of night, a laundry lamp .. .
Menial or not, you need not bother,
Just see what is not clean, what is not smooth,
And ask the Chinaman, ask the Chinaman.
I can wash handkerchiefs wet with sad tears,
I can wash shirts soiled in sinful crimes.
The grease of greed, the dirt of desire ...
And all the filthy things at your house,
Give them to me-I'll wash them, give them to me!
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Contents
Acknowledgments IX
Chinese Names and Transliteration XI
Introduction 1
One Chinese Laundrymen in New York City 8
Two The Emergence of the CHLA 31
Three The Alliance Is for the Laundrymen 50
Four "To Save China, To Save Ourselves" 77
Five "The People's Diplomacy" 100
Six The Struggle Over a Penny 138
Seven Where Is the Gold Mountain? 165
Conclusion 198
Notes 205
Bibliography 237
Index 247
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Acknowledgments
I am especially grateful to the two dozen elderly Chinese laun
drymen I interviewed, some of them several times each, for sharing their
experiences with me and for giving me access to their documents, news
paper clippings, and pictures. I want to express my deep gratitude to Pro
fessor Marilyn B. Young, Professor David Reimers, and Mrs. Naomi B.
Levine for their constant encouragement and unfailing support from the
very inception of the research for my dissertation until the completion
of this book. I am also indebted to Professors Thomas Bender, Patricia
Bonomi, Vincent Carroso, Warren Dean, A. Tom Grunfeld, Molly Nolan,
Carl Prince, and other members of the History Department at New York
University, for their support, advice, and encouragement.
Special thanks are owed my friend John Kuo Wei Tchen, who intro
duced me to New York City and to the history of New York's Chinese
community. Actually, it was Jack who suggested this subject to me, and
his support and help were indispensable during the study. I wish to
express my profound appreciation to Professor Sucheng Chan and Kim
Vivier, whose superb editing made the publication of this book possible.
I am greatly indebted to Him Mark Lai, of the Chinese Historical Soci
ety of America; Wei Chi Poon, of the Asian American Studies Library,
University of California, Berkeley; and An Chen, of the C. V. Starr East
Asian Library, Columbia University, not only for helping me find many
valuable documents but also for providing this help in a timely manner. I
would like to thank Fay Chew, Charles Lai, Mei-li Lin, Mary Ting Yi
Lui, Judith Wingsiu Luk, and Dorothy Rony-the staff members of the
New York Chinatown History Museum (formerly the New York China
town History Project)-who were helpful whenever I showed up to ex
plore their archives. I also thank Phyllis Deutsch, Harriet Jackson, Lynn
Johnson, Annelise Orleck, Claire Potter, Nancy Robertson, and Suzanne
Wasserman-my cheerful friends of the dissertation writing group at
NYU-for reading the manuscript and for their insightful and construc-
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