A challenge here was that many members of this group were not fluent in English, and the question was whether a coherent presentation could be made using a translator, which would mean that I had to condense my material for the allotted time.
Fortunately, a wonderful Mandarin speaker helped immensely. She stopped me every 5 to 10 minutes, and summarized the gist of my comments in 2 or 3 minutes. The audience was attentive, and felt they learned much of value. At the end, a delicious ad nutritious Chinese meal was enjoyed by everyone.
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When I started writing, I made it clear that I was only giving my own experiences and did not presume to be speaking for other Chinese from laundry families or for other Chinese from the Deep South I was worried that other Chinese would have experiences that differed widely from mine. It has been most reassuring, in one sense, that I have received numerous e-mails and in-person conversations with Chinese who share very common experiences with me. For example, other Southerners are quick to confirm my reflections just as Chinese who grew up in laundries report very similar feelings and experiences about their lives. I get interesting e-mails from readers from time to time who are kind enough to share their experiences. One of the more unusual ones involved compliments on the Chinese Laundry book but it also asked about some Chinese characters on the book cover. Specifically, the reader, a person who obviously knew how to read Chinese, wondered if his rendering of the tiny barely legible Chinese characters next to "OVERALLS" on laundry check list, which he translated to be 'greasy clothes,' was correct. Growing up in a laundry was not something that I felt like bragging about or disclosing to acquaintances. However, after doing research for writing "Southern Fried Rice," I discovered much to be proud about the significant role that these 'unsung heroes' running Chinese laundries had on the future success of their children and later generations. Of course, the Chinese laundry has almost completely vanished into history so that newer generations of whatever ethnicity have no knowledge about how important they were for Chinese in North America. I decided to pay tribute to these pioneers by writing their history. I was fortunate to recruit 8 or 9 other Chinese who also grew up in laundries to write about their own experiences and memories of what it was like to have a family laundry business. Each person wrote independently of the others and none of them were even acquainted with each other. I was amazed at how similar their experiences were, even though they came from widely different parts of the U. S. and Canada. Since the book came out, I have met many other "children of Chinese laundries" who have shared their similar experiences. |
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