Product Description

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, explains why and how it moved across the continent to live in San Francisco near a Chinese community, and relates how each family member adjusted to the challenges and opportunities of their new lives.Some Review Excerpts"..fascinating and insightful account of Chinese-American family life...charming and information..." Paul Rosenblatt, U. of Minnesota "..woven with genuine scholarship...masterful bit of storytelling..."Ronald Gallimore, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UCLA"...a unique view of ethnic identity.. fascinating insights...what it means to be Chinese when there is no Chinese community... and the way subsequent experiences in__and out__ of a Chinese community futher shape this process." Jean Phinney, Author, Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure....an intriguing and unique perspective on American immigration. Based on his experience as a child in the only Chinese family in Macon, Georgia in the mid-20th century, Jung's story is a fascinating account of the negotiation of personal and ethnic identity in a foreign environment. His narrative highlights many of the features of the larger society, including both government policy and situational practice, that shape the lives of immigrants, both then and now." Kay Deaux, City University of N.Y. Grad Center, Author, "To Be An Immigrant"... delightful book opens a window providing a glimpse into the lives of one family born to Chinese immigrants in a small town in the South in the 1930s and 1940s. Being the only Chinese in town in a segregated society, their lives were certainly not mint julep and magnolias... Sylvia Sun Minnick, Samfow, The San Joaquin Chinese Experience Reader Comments... It has a beautiful flow to it and an enriching quality that is easier to feel than it is to describe. Couched in humor, it deals with the painful and serious matter of day-to-day struggles of existence of a couple who came here with hardly anything more than faith in their hearts and steel in their spines. K. Saxena, Kensington, Ca Your book is the one that I had promised myself that I would write one day, but you went ahead and wrote it. You did a wonderful job! Henry Tom, Frederick, MD. Thank you for telling your story in such an engaging manner. ...While your story is personal it is also universal because of its working class foundation laced with layers of Chinese ethnicity, family structure and dynamics, and the specificity of the South. Flo Oy Wong, Sunnyvale, CA. Enjoyed very much reading your family history revealing a unique experience yet sharing many of the same problems of families in Chinese laundries. ...Yours is one of the few written accounts of the many family-run laundries in the U. S. Thank you for the careful documentation of this history, which would be otherwise forgotten. Tunney Lee, Boston, Mass.... gave me insight into the lives of Chinese in the South, especially those living where there were no other Chinese... Your move to San Francisco must have been as much of a cultural shock for you as it was for me, an African American moving to the Bay Area from Memphis. Leatha Ruppert, Cotati, CA. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I learned much that will hopefully give me some leads in searching for information on my paternal grandfather... your book has allowed me to gain some insight into what his life might have been life, what he might have experienced as the only Chinese in St. Augustine, FL. C. M. "Riveting - couldn't put the book down until it was finished - it mirrored many of my own childhood experiences growing up in New Zealand in the 50s. The Chinese immigrant experience must have been the same the world over." Helen Wong, Auckland, New Zealand