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Enduring Hardship: The Chinese Laundry in Canada (Mercury Series)
Enduring Hardship The Chinese Laundry in Canada - Mercury Series Author:Ban Seng Hoe 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 traditi... more »onal 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--as poignantly evoked in this important new work.« less