Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance
Encyclopedia
The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance (CHLA) was a labor organization formed in 1933 to protect the civil rights
of overseas Chinese
living in North America
and "to help Chinese
laundry
workers break their isolation in American society." An openly left-wing organization, the CHLA used various means — including the slogan
s "To Save China, To Save Ourselves" and "Resist Japan and Save China” — to oppose the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
In the United States
and Canada
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the occupation of laundry worker was heavily identified with Chinese American
s to the extent that it became "the stereotypical
occupation of a whole ethnic group
." Racial discrimination, lack of English language
skills, and a deficit of economic capital
kept most Chinese Americans out of more desirable careers. Around the turn of the 20th century, one in four ethnic Chinese
men in the United States worked in a laundry. Conditions were hard and a typical launderer worked for ten to sixteen hours a day.
According to one description:
, New York City
had an approximately 3,550 Chinese laundries. According to a first hand account:
With the support of White people
in that same industry, in 1933 the New York City Board of Aldermen passed a law intended to drive the Chinese out of the business. Among other things, it limited ownership of laundries to United States citizens. When their efforts were unsuccessfully opposed by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, a "conservative Chinese social organization", the openly leftist
Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance was formed. Where the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association failed, the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance successfully challenged this provision of the law, thereby preserving the livelihood of thousands of Chinese laundry workers. In the wake of that success, the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance continued to advocate for the civil rights of Chinese in North America. For both members and non-members, the cost to engage the aid of the organization was twenty five cents.
. Like many overseas Chinese, organization members denounced the nonresistance of the China's ruling Kuomintang Party (KMT) led by Chiang Kai-shek
and actively engaged in "Save China" campaigns to raise money for the resistant efforts of the Manchurian Chinese. The CHLA sent letters and telegrams to American politicians urging them to support Chinese resistance and to take an anti-Japanese stance.
CHLA members also appealed directly to the customers of their New York area
laundries and published articles such as one (originally published in Chinese
) in a 1937 edition of the Chinese Vanguard which describes their efforts in some detail:
An article in the same publication the following year stated in part:
). The "only Chinese-language newspaper in the U.S. that was not pro-Nationalist
", it attracted negative attention from the United States Government and:
So great was the belief that the publication promoted Communism
, even the paper's 6500 subscribers were investigated by the government. The CHLA continued its political and social struggles "against institutionalized racism and class oppression, tied to the fight for China’s self-determination", but during the era of McCarthyism
, "the loyalties of over ten thousand American citizens of Chinese descent were questioned based on their ethnicity and alleged risk to national security
." Eventually, targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
during the Second Red Scare and faced with surveillance
and interrogation
s, membership in the China Hand Laundry Alliance sharply declined. In the 1980 documentary
The Chinatown Files:
in Chinatown, Manhattan
.
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
of overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
living in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and "to help Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
laundry
Laundry
Laundry is a noun that refers to the act of washing clothing and linens, the place where that washing is done, and/or that which needs to be, is being, or has been laundered...
workers break their isolation in American society." An openly left-wing organization, the CHLA used various means — including the slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
s "To Save China, To Save Ourselves" and "Resist Japan and Save China” — to oppose the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.
Background
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the occupation of laundry worker was heavily identified with Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
s to the extent that it became "the stereotypical
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
occupation of a whole ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
." Racial discrimination, lack of English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
skills, and a deficit of economic capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
kept most Chinese Americans out of more desirable careers. Around the turn of the 20th century, one in four ethnic Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
men in the United States worked in a laundry. Conditions were hard and a typical launderer worked for ten to sixteen hours a day.
According to one description:
Laundry work was especially wearisome, because it meant the soaking, scrubbing, and ironing of clothing solely by hand; moreover, prompt and high quality service was necessary to keep customers satisfied. Workers in laundries and groceries received the going wage of twenty-five dollars per month, and despite long hours the work-week was seven days. For the majority of the Chinese, then, the daily routine was almost solely working, eating, and sleeping. There were a few other occupations available to Chinese.
New York City and the formation of the CHLA
At the beginning of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
had an approximately 3,550 Chinese laundries. According to a first hand account:
Chinese laundrymen relied on their hands. On the door of every Chinese laundry were these two big words
in red paint, "Hand Laundry," meaning all ironingIroningIroning is the use of a heated tool to remove wrinkles from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180-220 °Celsius, depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the long-chain polymer molecules in the fibers of the material...
was done by hand. In New York, perhaps seven out of ten Chinese survived by working in Chinese Hand Laundries. At the end of almost every residential block or alley, there was always a Chinese laundry. A Chinese laundry was usually small — about the size of five dining tables, equipped only with an ironing board and a shelf to put cleaned, ironed clothes that were packaged and ready to go.
With the support of White people
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
in that same industry, in 1933 the New York City Board of Aldermen passed a law intended to drive the Chinese out of the business. Among other things, it limited ownership of laundries to United States citizens. When their efforts were unsuccessfully opposed by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, a "conservative Chinese social organization", the openly leftist
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance was formed. Where the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association failed, the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance successfully challenged this provision of the law, thereby preserving the livelihood of thousands of Chinese laundry workers. In the wake of that success, the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance continued to advocate for the civil rights of Chinese in North America. For both members and non-members, the cost to engage the aid of the organization was twenty five cents.
Opposition to invasion of Manchuria
The Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance also strongly opposed the 1931 Japanese invasion of ManchuriaManchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
. Like many overseas Chinese, organization members denounced the nonresistance of the China's ruling Kuomintang Party (KMT) led by Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
and actively engaged in "Save China" campaigns to raise money for the resistant efforts of the Manchurian Chinese. The CHLA sent letters and telegrams to American politicians urging them to support Chinese resistance and to take an anti-Japanese stance.
CHLA members also appealed directly to the customers of their New York area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
laundries and published articles such as one (originally published in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
) in a 1937 edition of the Chinese Vanguard which describes their efforts in some detail:
The New York Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance has been extremely dedicated to the work of resisting Japan to save our country. Immediately following the Marco Polo Bridge incident, the HLA began to organize a campaign to raise funds for China. Aside from the sum of around 4,300 Silver Dollars that the HLA collected during its first and second period of fund-raising and which was already sent to China, the Alliance has raised an additional 1,230 Silver Dollars and twenty-seven cents during its third fund-raising period. This sum was given to the two gentlemen Chen Yeh and Chen Chia, who wired it directly from the Bank of ChinaBank of ChinaBank of China Limited is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 1912 by the Government of the Republic of China, to replace the Government Bank of Imperial China. It is the oldest bank in China...
to the Treasury Department of the Chinese Central Government, so that the money could be used to supplement the government’s military funds....because the Alliance realizes that most Americans sympathize with our country, it has initiated a number of activities aimed at Americans, such as that of soliciting donations for medical supplies from American customers of hand laundries. It also contributed significantly by distributing English-language publicity material that called for the boycottBoycottA boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
of Japanese goods. With winter approaching, refugees and wounded soldiers in China will be in desperate need of relief, and even western customers of hand laundries have frequently suggested that the Alliance broaden its campaign to collect funds for medical supplies. In response to this situation, the Alliance decided last month to broaden its fund-raising activities. It has recently made ready the first 5,000 donation boxDonation boxIn Japanese, refers to money offered to the gods or bodhisattvas. It commonly refers to money put in a , a common item at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. Used to collect offerings, a saisen box is in essence a standard coin box, save for the fact that the top cover is a grate. This...
es, which will be distributed to hand laundries for the purpose of collecting funds from laundry customers. In addition, on October 31, at 4 PM, the Alliance will be sponsoring an anti-Japan publicity conference at its headquarters, to which Professor Chi Chao....China’s representative to the Pacific Scholars' Conference—has been invited as a speaker. The Mayor of New York has been eagerly assisting the work of the Alliance, and will be sending as his representative to the conference the President of the City CouncilCity councilA city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
, Mr. Esser. Undoubtedly, Mr. Esser will be offering an eloquent speech to celebrate the patriotismPatriotismPatriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
of Chinese living in America. It is said that the Alliance will especially welcome the participation in the conference of Chinese active in all sectors of Chinese-American society.
An article in the same publication the following year stated in part:
Not only was the HLA the first organization in New York to advocate raising funds to assist Chinese military resistance against Japan after the occurrence of the Marco Polo Bridge incident, the Alliance also initiated the movement to collect donations from westerners by placing relief boxes in hand laundries. At the same times, the Alliance distributed English-language leaflets calling on westernersWestern worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
to aid China. The HLA used the money it collected to buy ambulanceAmbulanceAn ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
s. Bringing together Chinese and western associations, the Alliance organized—in support of the “Resist Japan and Save China” campaign—a demonstration which paraded at its head the ambulances purchased by the Alliance, and which was followed by a mass rally. What is the significance of these mass gatherings? First, most Americans sympathize with our country and are willing to help us, but many do not know how. The sight of the ambulances reminded Americans of the bestial acts committed by Japanese thieves who cruelly murdered our women and children, and these Americans reacted in anger against such acts. The ambulances also reminded them of how desperately our refugees and brave soldiers needed material assistance, a reminder that caused them to think about how they could emulate the actions of the HLA. When they saw the orderly manner in which the demonstration and rally proceeded, and the excitement of all the participants, they understood that the unyielding spirit and organizational capacity of the Chinese people guaranteed that the final victory will belong to China. When the ambulances were displayed before the headquarters of the HLA, many western spectators were moved to tears. Some said, “I put money into the donation box of the HLA, I have to see the ambulances.” From this reaction one can see the HLA’s campaign allowed westerners to feel themselves included in the movement to save China, and encouraged them to assist us with still greater enthusiasm.
China Daily News and the Red Scare
In 1940, China Hand Laundry Alliance members begin publishing their own newspaper, the China Daily News (a different publication from the China Daily News, a modern Traditional Chinese-language newspaper published in Tainan City, TaiwanRepublic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
). The "only Chinese-language newspaper in the U.S. that was not pro-Nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
", it attracted negative attention from the United States Government and:
In 1952 it was tried for violating the Trading with the Enemy ActTrading with the Enemy ActThe Trading with the Enemy Act, sometimes abbreviated as TWEA, is a United States federal law, , enacted in 1917 to restrict trade with countries hostile to the United States. The law gives the President the power to oversee or restrict any and all trade between the U.S. and its enemies in times of...
, because employees continued to send remittances to China. Its editor and three officers of the paper were sent to prison for running an advertisement, posted by a mainland-Chinese bank, urging Overseas Chinese to repatriate money to relatives.
So great was the belief that the publication promoted Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, even the paper's 6500 subscribers were investigated by the government. The CHLA continued its political and social struggles "against institutionalized racism and class oppression, tied to the fight for China’s self-determination", but during the era of McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
, "the loyalties of over ten thousand American citizens of Chinese descent were questioned based on their ethnicity and alleged risk to national security
National security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...
." Eventually, targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
during the Second Red Scare and faced with surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
and interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
s, membership in the China Hand Laundry Alliance sharply declined. In the 1980 documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
The Chinatown Files:
Henry Chin, a laundry worker and president of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance and the China Daily News, describes how Chinese immigrants came to America for a better life for themselves and the loved ones they left behind in their impoverished villages. Yet for sending money home, his friends were charged by the U.S. government for trading with the enemy and his life was shattered by constant FBI surveillance and harassment.
Later history
The 1993 musical The Last Hand Laundry In Chinatown was in part "an homage to the struggles of the pioneering NYC Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance." While the nature of the organization has changed, and Chinese laundries have effectively "vanished into history, made obsolete by social and technological changes", the CHLA survives into the 21st century and is headquartered on Canal StreetCanal Street (Manhattan)
Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west to Brooklyn in the east . It forms the main spine of Chinatown, and separates it from Little Italy...
in Chinatown, Manhattan
Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
.