Research Catalog

Enduring hardship : the Chinese laundry in Canada

Title
Enduring hardship : the Chinese laundry in Canada / Ban Seng Hoe.
Author
Hoe, Ban Seng
Publication
Gatineau, Québec : Canadian Museum of Civilization, c2003.

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Details

Additional Authors
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Description
86 p. : ill.; 25 cm.
Summary
"Faced with systematic discrimination in Canada, early Chinese immigrants had little choice but to create their own economic niche. From the turn of the twentieth century through the Second World War, a majority of Canada's Chinese immigrants were laundry workers in towns and cities from coast to coast. Although the hand laundry was not a traditional trade in China, laundry work required little capital, and could be performed despite a lack of familiarity with Western languages and financial systems. The hours were long, the work was physically demanding, and most Chinese laundry workers lived a marginal existence." "With the advent of modern laundry equipment and synthetic fibres in the 1950s, and the ageing of the laundrymen themselves, the Chinese hand laundry came to an end. To generations of Chinese-Canadians, however, it remains a symbol of hard work, sacrifice and enduring hardship."--BOOK JACKET.
Series Statement
  • Mercury series, 0316-1854
  • Cultural studies paper ; 76
Uniform Title
  • Cultural studies paper (Canadian Museum of Civilization) ; 76.
  • Mercury series.
Alternative Title
Chinese laundry in Canada
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. [85]-86).
Language (note)
  • Includes abstract in French.
Contents
I. Historical context -- II. Laundry operation : toil and drudgery -- III. An isolated and monotonous world : reflections on life experiences -- IV. Laundries and Canadian society -- V. Conclusion : an unforgettable page in history -- App. I. Telling the story of Chinese laundries -- App. II. List of interviews.
ISBN
0660190788
LCCN
2004396729
OCLC
  • ocm53460989
  • SCSB-5055940
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries