Southern Fried Rice: Life in A Chinese Laundry in the Deep South - Softcover

Jung, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1411640349 ISBN 13: 9781411640344

Publisher: Lulu.com, 2005

Synopsis

This memoir conveys the experiences, first of my parents and subsequently of our family, the only Chinese people living in Macon, Georgia between 1928 and 1956. It describes our family's isolated existence running a laundry, enduring loneliness as well as racial prejudice for over 20 years, why and how it moved across the continent to live in a Chinese community, and how each family member adjusted to the challenges and opportunities of their new lives.

About this title

About the Author

I grew up in the only Chinese family in Macon, Georgia, where I was born in 1937. Our family owned and ran a laundry above which were our living quarters. We finally moved to San Francisco in the early 1950s because our parents wanted their children to live among Chinese people. I eventually earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Northwestern University and then had a 40 year career as a professor at California State University, Long Beach. In retirement, I began to study the life experiences of Chinese immigrants like my parents who endured harsh lives and suffered racial prejudices. My memoir, "Southern Fried Rice: Life in A Chinese Laundry in the Deep South" described what our family experienced living in the South during the Jim Crow era. The interest that this book generated led me to write three other books about the Chinese American experience. "Chinese Laundries: Tickets to Survival on Gold Mountain" is a social history of the important role that these businesses that once dotted the landscape held for the economic survival of Chinese immigrants. "Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers" examines the similar role of this family occupation for Chinese in the delta. My social history of Chinese family restaurants, "Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants"includes personal stories of children's role in helping parents run their restaurants. "A Chinese American Odyssey" is a writing memoir about the process and experience of how I, a psychology professor, reinvented myself in retirement to become a public historian of Chinese in America.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1411640349
• ISBN 13: 9781411640344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240