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"Professor 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. It is hard to imagine the difficulties that the laundrymen encountered in making a living in a harsh and hostile environment. Bachelor laundrymen, like those with families back in China, suffered lonely lives. Those who had families with them worked hard to ensure that their children would have advantages that the laundrymen could never attain here.

Murray K. Lee, Curator of Chinese American History,... More > San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, and also the son of a Chinese laundryman and restaurateur

SCHOLARS PRAISE For "CHINESE LAUNDRIES"

…important window into the history of the early Chinese immigrants. . . The laundrymen faced struggles, challenges, and even disappointments; yet, the Chinese laundry became a valued and necessary enterprise …
Sylvia Sun Minnick, SamFow: The San Joaquin Chinese Legacy and Stockton's Chinese Community

… a significant contribution to the history of Chinese laundries … 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, Curator of Chinese American History, San Diego Chinese Historical Museum

… rewarding study... More > of an era marked by invention born of dire necessity, an unforgiving host society that demanded Chinese laundrymen’s services but then punished them for being too good at it, … 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.

… a welcome contribution to Chinese American studies that depicts the plight of early generations of Chinese caught in the predicament of operating laundries to provide for their families, ... while enduring extreme hardship and loneliness ... inclusion of historic documents, photographs, newspaper article excerpts, and revealing personal stories and insider observations from a few of the many who, like the author, grew up and worked in their family laundries. The subject deserves attention and further exploration in view of the significant impact that the laundry had not only on the Chinese American experience, but also in the social and cultural histories of the U.S. and Canada
Joan S. Wang, Race, Gender, and Laundry Work: The Roles of Chinese Laundrymen and American Women in the United States, 1850–1950, Journal of American Ethnic History

… a remarkable book...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, it is a tribute to those Chinese immigrants whose labor and sacrifice laid the foundation of the Chinese American community, and a testimony of the Chinese laundrymen’s resilience, resourcefulness, and humanity.
Renqiu Yu, To Save China, To Save Ourselves, The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York.

From the Foreword:

What is remarkable is the combination of this historical perspective with his social psychological descriptions and analyses of laundrymen and their descendants. 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.
Ban Seng Hoe, Curator of Asian Studies, Canadian Museum of Civilization < Less

"John Jung's book on Chinese laundries" I have read both books by John Jung about Chinese Laundries. The first was about his growing up in a Chinese Laundry in Macon, GA, my hometown. I was several years younger than John, and did not know him. What a fascinating story about being the only Chinese family in a town of 80,000 people and the struggles and discrimination the family went through. The second book is a thoroughly researched book about Chinese Laundries in the US and Canada as well as about early Chinese Restaurants. If you want to know about how emigrants to this country who spoke little or no Chinese fared, this is the book for you. If you are Chinese, it should make you very proud of your heritage.

Charles Brittain, Macon, GA

"John Jung's book on Chinese laundries" was full of interesting facts and stories that gave me a brand new comprehension of a part of U.S. history. The personal stories of the "laundrey children" were quite touching.