““Southern Fried Rice” and “Chinese Laundries”
Reader &
Audience Reactions
Click This Link for Book Talk and Signing
Scenes
Your book is a joy to read.
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. Krishan Saxena, Kensington, California
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,
Artist, Sunnyvale, California
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, Maryland
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,
Southern
Fried Rice is a well-written and factually
documented memoir that gave me insight into the lives of Chinese in the South,
especially those living where there were no other Chinese, as you did in Macon.
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 really
enjoyed your presentation at NAAAP. Southern Fried Rice tells a very unique and interesting story. Everyone in my
family (my wife, my 9-year-old daughter, and myself) really enjoyed reading the
book. J. F.
Thank
you for a wonderful evening as a speaker at the Chi-Am Circle dinner. Your
speech and life in the South typify some of the members in our group. My
husband went through a lot when he was a child in Mississippi. C.
F.
I was pleased to be in your
audience in Phoenix, and purchased both books from you. I thoroughly enjoyed
reading So. Fried Rice and to know Chinese-Americans all over the US of our
generation all felt the same about ourselves, no matter the parents’ occupation
or our lifestyles. J. Y
Thank you again for coming
to Houston last weekend and for giving us such an interesting talk. I
enjoyed reading your first book, "Southern Fried Rice", before the
talk and am now reading your second book on "Chinese
Laundries". I understand that you are working on your third book
"Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton".… I like your writing
style. It is clear and easy to read. J. T.
We were honored to have
you visit (Chinese American Museum of Chicago). Everyone really enjoyed
your presentation and company-one of the best comments was “he was so down to
earth and engaging.” We thank you for sharing your family story and spending
time with us. S. M.
You have an easygoing
style of presentation, which let people warm up to you even though they don't
know you from before. I read your story with interest. My parents also owned a
laundry …Thank you for writing about a subject that is not a popular topic. D.
L.
Your lecture yesterday was
most interesting and with the most attendance for us so far...I hope that you
were well pleased and will grant us future visits. We certainly were delighted
to have you. M. L.
You have a
very unique Chinese surname and a very nice name. Your Chinese romanization
should be Lao Si-Yuan, and, of course, you would put last name (Lao) first in
English. Your surname means "labor" or "to work." You first
name (Si) means "to think" or " to reflect." Your middle
name 源 means "origin." It has three drops of water on
the left, indicating that it originally meant for the water origin. The
combination of your first name and middle name reminds you to think of your
root or origin. What a nice and scholarly name! J. W.
It reminded me so
much of growing up in Augusta. Though we grew up in different times, the
situations were similar, and I enjoyed reading very much your book. I
thought it was very interesting what you wrote about the music and art lessons
that you had in public school since I can also remember these subjects….
Georgia has changed a
lot from the times that we both grew up there, and I see more acceptance of
Chinese and inter-marriages. It was interesting to hear of your
experiences in California as opposed to growing up in Georgia. I wonder
now whether Asians from California feel closer to their "roots" or
whether assimilation into the society has made them feel more American and the
Chinese heritage and customs are being forgotten.
I appreciated that you wrote
this book, because it has given me a deeper perspective in what it means to be
a second generation Chinese American of emigrant parents who operated a Chinese
laundry. I understand that all minorities that emigrated to the United States
in search of a better life had their struggles with survival and
discrimination, this makes me not only value and respect my parents, but for
other emigrant parents who desired their children to be prosperous.
I have just finished reading
Your book "Southern Fried Rice..." and thank you
for your work and for publishing this information. My Father worked
as a radio repairman at the Guy White Radio Shop on Mulberry Street across from
the Grand Theater from 1940 to 1952. Having been born in Macon in 1940, my
memories of Macon are similar to yours. I managed to escape in 1964 (A
white person who was not a segregationist was not really acceptable to the
society.) and finally settled in Portland, Oregon in 1974. My
Daughter's high school was about 20% Asian students. I gave a copy of
your book to a Chinese friend since several times we had discussed your
family, and what it may have been like as the only Chinese in middle
Georgia.
Your book
was recommended to my by the Macon-Bibb County Public Library while in search
of a relative(s) of Chinese ancestry who lived in Georgia.I truly appreciate
your sharing your personal story. It gave me a window into what life
might have been like for my own family even though my relative most likely
arrived in the 1870s. I devoured your book with great
interest! I was reading with fingers crossed that perhaps a resource
might pop up that might aid me in finding additional documentation of my
ancestor(s).
I have just finished reading "Southern
Fried Rice," and thoroughly enjoyed this book! I have learned much
that hopefully will give me some leads in searching for information on my
paternal grandfather. I am particularly interested in searching out the
Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York, since my ancestor eventually
migrated there from Florida and worked as a laundryman in Upper Manhattan, as
he did in St. Augustine, FL. However, even if I never find out anything,
your book has allowed me to gain some insight into what his life might have
been like, what he might have experienced as the only Chinese in St. Augustine,
FL, and how he came to be there.
I stumbled upon your book
"Southern Fried Rice" while beginning a genealogy project for my
family. My husband is African American, from Bainbridge, GA and his great
grandfather was Chinese. I am just beginning to document the oral
history, but I have been told that the Chinese family owned a laundry in
Bainbridge, GA most likely between 1920-1930. One son (my husbands
great grandfather) married an African American woman and had 3 children.
Unfortunately, he was killed by the KKK and the Chinese family moved
west. They offered to take the wife and children with them, but she
declined, and remained in Bainbridge GA to raise the children with her
family.
I was so excited to find your
book and I am looking forward to reading it. My goal is to document the
family history in context with American history. Your book will be a
valuable missing link. Thank you for all your hard work.
Trina S. Pyron, M.A.
Health
Education Specialist
Office on Smoking and Health
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention
I stayed up last night and read your Southern
Fried Rice; life in a Chinese laundry in the deep South. It was so
fascinating; I couldn’t put it down; you definitely have a skill for
writing. Even though your family’s situation was unique, being the only
Chinese in town vs. our having Chinese families up and down the MS Delta; the
descriptions you gave of your family life was so typical of Chinese life that
we experienced here. Your family must have immigrated from the same area
as the families in MS. Your style is very readable and I could identify
with all the Chinese customs that you mentioned (your Mother is to be commended
for keeping the Chinese traditions). I especially appreciate your
approach to the White, Black, Chinese relationships, an honest statement of how
it was rather than totally making it a race issue. F. Q.
The
fascination is that I too am Chinese American born in the deep south of Miami,
Florida where my mother & father started out with a Chinese Laundry ending
up with a grocery store. Margaret
I think your book has
been circulating around our church, and everyone that reads it can't put it
down. I'm one of the few southern Chinese in my church, so when one of my
friends discovered your book Southern Fried Rice, he insisted that I read
it. Honestly I couldn't put it down. Thank you for writing and
documenting that time period. Many of the things that you and your family
went through I could relate and was reminded of how things were. F.W.
Thank
you for sharing your personal story with your readers. You seem to have an
easygoing style of presentation which lets people warm up to you even though
they don't know you from before.I read your story with interest. My parents
also owned a laundry in the city of Newark, California from 1963 to 1972.
However, our laundry is not the traditional "Chinese owned" laundry
that you may have described in your book, it was a coin operated laundromat in
a rural town (population 12,000 at the time)...Thank you for writing about a
subject that is not a popular topic. Diana L.
I enjoyed it very
much! I can really relate because your family’s history parallels mine,
especially with the migration to San Francisco. That’s why I bought
several – to give to each of my siblings. Like my mother used to say, “always remember your
roots.” And your memoir helps us do that! Florence L.
My husband and I are
Caucasian and we adopted our daughter from China. She is in third grade
now and has been learning about Martin Luther King. Yesterday, after
seeing a video in school about Dr. King, she asked me a question I couldn’t
answer: “If there were black drinking fountains and white drinking
fountains, which one would I go to?” She held out her forearm to show me
that her skin was darker than mine. I’ve been trying to find
out the answer to this question, and haven’t come up with any good leads. When
I saw the information about you and your book, I hoped you might be able to
help us, either based on your own experience or research.
I have to
admit, I was fascinated with both books…the text, and particularly the
pictures, brought back memories of my younger days and my parents. I grew
up knowing only the few Chinese laundries in the Washington DC area, and some
of our cousins’ in New York. But I never thought much about the common
threads until I started looking through your books. Thanks for the
education and the enlightenment! I would certainly like to hear about
your future works and other Chinese American heritage pursuits that you believe
are of interest. Get M.
On behalf of Chinese
American Museum Of Chicago and myself, I want to thank you very much for
spending so much of your time with us while you were attending the AAAS
conference here the past week. Your lecture yesterday was most
interesting and with the most attendance for us so far. I know that there
would be more exchanges if time permitted. I hope that you were well pleased
and will grant us future visits. We certainly were delighted to have you.
I have been away most of
today, but sat down and read thru "Southern Fried Rice" in one sitting
this evening. That says a lot about your book.
Margaret
I FINALLY read Southern fried
rice. in fact, I started the book at about 2:30am this morning and finished it
just now...at 6am. I loved it. Every part of what Dr. Jung
wrote is true; the customs, values, mannerisms, and ways of thought mentioned
throughout the book are almost cookie-cutter to those of my parents. the one
difference is that my parents came directly to LA and they owned a restaurant
instead of a laundry business. thanks so much for referring the book to
me!
Thank you so much for a
wonderful presentation. It was a great evening for all of us. Our MCCA
members and friends all enjoyed learning about Chinese American history and
your life in Macon, GA. Lots of luck on your talk in Berkeley
tomorrow.
Jean Bee Chan, Marin Chinese Cultural Association
Your story telling is
great. And the struggles of your parents to make a living doing hard work under
harsh conditions in an alien society, as well as raise a family with dignity
and values under those circumstances, is a remarkable one. It consoles
the reader and even inspires him/her to continue. It is the story of
every family that no body writes about. It has a quality of saying it is
"my story." Not an easy thing to achieve as a writer.
It was very nice to
meet you at Assn Asian American Studies. I have now finished SOUTHERN FRIED
RICE. I think it is fascinating and very revealing. You have a fine
talent as a storyteller. I look forward to the publication of your new book.
Greg Robinson, Associate Professor of History, Université du Québec
À Montréal
Jung traces about one hundred
years of Chinese-American history in an excellent memoir that is inspiring yet
told with a great underlying sense of humor. Students of Chinese language
and culture will find the Cantonese references and photos spread throughout to
be fascinating easter eggs. For example, one of the more interesting, subtle
things I noticed was the picture of a homework exercise from the author's
mother's English composition book on p191 where various English words were
"sounded out" using Chinese characters as a Cantonese phonetic basis
which is precisely what someone learning such a different and unfamiliar
writing system as the Latin alphabet would do. Regardless of one's background
with Chinese, fans of history will find this a fascinating, fun read that is
hard to put down: I myself read it in one sitting. Jung bats a 1.000 with this
one, bravo!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and haven't come across such an
interesting and well-researched book on American Chinese history since
"The Mississippi Chinese" by Loewen. Well done! One question I do
have deals strangely enough with the cover which shows various images of the
price list from Joe's Laundry. Some of those words (such as yau4saam1
oil+clothing for "overalls") I've never seen before though
semantically they make sense. Are some of those words from another Cantonese
dialect (e.g., Sei Yap rather than HK/GZ) or are they special two character
laundry jargon or shorthand?
Southern Fried Rice
I started reading it last night and
couldn't put it down. So I have just finished reading it. It's an
excellent book. All of us raised in the south can relate to things you
have written about in your book. A.S.
The Berkeley Chinese Community
Church Senior Center have been twice blessed with your presentations, last year
on "Chinese Laundries" and this year on "Southern Fried
Rice." You have a way of telling your stories that bring back so many
memories of our own lives as we all grew up as 2nd generation Chinese
Americans. We look forward to a presentation on your 3rd book "Chopsticks
in the Land of Cotton" with great anticipation. Thank you again. W.
C
I have just finished your
book. It was so intriguing, that, had it not been for a colleague
dropping by to remind me that it was past noon, I would have read right through
lunch. Your book has probably inspired me to consider what my family has been
asking (nagging) me to do: To write my autobiography. (“Since you
have retired, you will have nothing better to do . . .”). Hmmm -- I’m not
sure that a scientist will possess the literary skills as someone schooled in
the Humanities.
At certain points, I simply
had to stop and laugh: jook-sing!! What?! – you too?? I feel like I
could (should) highlight, and add marginal notes!! I will certainly have to
tell my brothers that they should obtain copies of your book. Since we
all spent years working in the laundry, they will be able to relate to your
experiences as well.
I have just
finished reading John R. Jung's book, "Southern Fried Rice - Life in A
Chinese Laundry in the Deep South". It was G-R-E-A-T!! His was the only
Chinese family in Macon, Georgia. It is incredible how his experiences exactly
paralleled ours; -- the same prejudices and discriminations that we incurred in
Kannapolis. In fact, the building looked just like ours; -- laundry down stairs
with living quarters upstairs.; -- those same three windows looking down on the
street below.
It was a
pleasure meeting you today @ Delta State U & well worth the 2-hr drive … I
am look'g forward to read'g your books and will share them among our 3
college-age daughters. Your time and patience in document'g grow'g up in
America in the early years will help visualize to the younger generation what
our ancestors went through. My humble thanks, Linda
Thank
you for agreeing to come to the Mississippi Delta and sharing your stories with
us. It was such a pleasure meeting you. We are all anxiously awaiting the
release of CHOPSTICKS and your return to the Delta. … please know
that you have a strong fan base here in the Mississippi Delta, and at Delta
State University. Georgene