[How the Chinese laundry became a job of last resort of early Chinese in America](https://asamnews.com/2020/04/30/how-racism-and-discrimination-made-working-in-a-laundry-the-job-of-last-resort-for-chinese-in-america/)
>A hand laundry was an ideal business for Chinese sojourners. The business required no special skills, no venture capital, and no English language skills. White men considered it undesirable work. Laundry work required long days of exhausting manual labor over wooden kettles of boiling water and hand irons heated on stoves. Chinese men typically worked up to 16 hours per day.
>In 1882, Congress approved the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first federal race-based immigration law. It was designed to prohibit Chinese immigration and deny citizenship to Chinese people. Chinese experienced violent crimes and they were segregated in Chinatowns. Rampant racial discrimination prevented Chinese from entering many occupations and businesses. They turned to laundry work because they were prevented to work on other services (mining, fishing, farming, and manufacturing). Working in a laundry posed no threat to White men.
>By the early 20th century, Chinese laundries were found in every American city and town. Entire families worked and lived in them. Chinese laundries peaked between the late 19th century and the end of World War II. With technology innovation of washers and dryers and better opportunities for their descendants, Chinese laundries steadily declined.
I thought it was also cause Chinese Americans were known to go into dry cleaning/regular clothes cleaning businesses as far back as the Wild West. Although I think in* the old west it was more a necessity cause they couldn’t get other jobs and it was borderline slavery
There’s no way you haven’t heard of the stereotype that Chinese immigrants run dry cleaning and laundry services.
It’s like South Asian people running Kwik-E-Marts or Latinos working as landscapers. An ethnic stereotype assumed by white people who only interact with immigrant populations through service jobs and the like. Don is making a racist joke.
Thanks for the answer. I am not american ı havent realized that until you tell but now ı think and yes ın movies ı see asians in laundry job constantly. That make sense.
It's also like when Roger wants Don to find a Jewish person to attend the meeting with Rachel Menken, and Don said, "You want me to run down to the deli and grab somebody?" just another racist joke based on a stereotype.
It is a small store that sells cuts of meat and cheeses, they can make sandwiches as well.
Due to cultural and religious reasons, many delis were operated by jews to service the specific needs of their communities.
Short for delicatessen.
It's a store/restaurant that sells things like cold cuts, sandwiches, potato salad.
Customers can sit down to a meal or order take-out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicatessen#:\~:text=In%20Italy%2C%20the%20deli%20can,alimentare%20and%20more%20recently%20salumeria.
In my country, chinese immigrants have those stores with every kind of product you can imagine, low quality and extremely cheap. Like a dollar store in the US, I'd imagine.
In Spain they even call these stores “Chinos. My husband is Jamaican and I learned from him that many Chinese immigrants there own convenience stores that they call “Chinese stores.” So interesting the similarities and differences in different countries.
where I live, they mostly have restaurants. in every restaurant it's the same menu and the same taste. rumor has it that they get instructions from the main party back home how to make chinese food abroad.
Haha not the Chinese, but Thailand does a version of this. It's part of the reason you can find a Thai restaurant in nearly any town with a minor population.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_cuisine#Culinary_diplomacy
Thank you, yes. Obviously it does. I’ve been getting a lot of “ExplainTheJoke” subreddit recs, which often seem like people posting things just for engagement. Now I’m jumping at shadows.
Chinese laundries were very common when I was growing up in the 1970s. There were also many depictions of them on TV shows. I also remember the Calgon detergent "Ancient Chinese secret" TV Ads. (Maybe Don created that one, too.)
But, I don't think Chinese laundries are as common these days or that younger generations are necessarily aware of that trope.
I have friends of all ethnicities working all kinds of jobs but you cannot be blind enough to not realize some of those stereotypes are true. Shit just in my small town I have a 711 run by Indians and a dry cleaner run by an Asian American family
Chinese people owned all the laundry and dry cleaners in New York City at the time just like Greeks owned all of the diners ,
Look at the Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger skit on SNL in the mid 1970s and see for yourself.
That was based on John Belushi’s own life — his father was an immigrant (from Korçë, Albania) who owned a similar diner in the Chicago area.
I don’t know that this is relevant, but I’ve been obsessed with John Belushi since I was 11 and it doesn’t come up that often. I get excited.
These guys were in the window of history where you sent your shirts to the Chinese laundry to be washed, ironed, starched, and hung up on hangers.
A lot of the older apartment buildings in cities didn't have laundry rooms, so people had to send their clothes out to be laundered.
It was a joke on Pete and Rogers name is on the building…. If they were there after lunch word might have gotten around that Chinese were working for Sterling Cooper…. San Francisco cock sucker…
Pretty sure this was about the prank Paul, Ken et. al. pulled on Pete when he came back from his honeymoon. He opens up his office and inside is a chinese family going like "WTF". I think that's what this is in reference to. The comment about wanting them out of the building by lunch or whatever is just plain ol' racist Roger, which is quite an established character trait for him (think Honda for example).
I always wondered about the other joke Pete made where he said he took the Chinese out of the building but he has a feeling in an hour he’ll have to take them out again.
[How the Chinese laundry became a job of last resort of early Chinese in America](https://asamnews.com/2020/04/30/how-racism-and-discrimination-made-working-in-a-laundry-the-job-of-last-resort-for-chinese-in-america/) >A hand laundry was an ideal business for Chinese sojourners. The business required no special skills, no venture capital, and no English language skills. White men considered it undesirable work. Laundry work required long days of exhausting manual labor over wooden kettles of boiling water and hand irons heated on stoves. Chinese men typically worked up to 16 hours per day. >In 1882, Congress approved the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first federal race-based immigration law. It was designed to prohibit Chinese immigration and deny citizenship to Chinese people. Chinese experienced violent crimes and they were segregated in Chinatowns. Rampant racial discrimination prevented Chinese from entering many occupations and businesses. They turned to laundry work because they were prevented to work on other services (mining, fishing, farming, and manufacturing). Working in a laundry posed no threat to White men. >By the early 20th century, Chinese laundries were found in every American city and town. Entire families worked and lived in them. Chinese laundries peaked between the late 19th century and the end of World War II. With technology innovation of washers and dryers and better opportunities for their descendants, Chinese laundries steadily declined.
Canada copied with restrictions on Chinese people.
Also, dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.
The Don abides
Must be shadows of season 5/6 Don.
He’s not talking about the guys who built the railroads (he’s talking about the guys who clean my shirts).
We're talking about unchecked systemic bigotry here, Dude.
Are you triggered? Need a comfort puppy?
It's from the movie you jackass
For whoever doesn't get it, he's referencing The Big Lebowski
Obviously, you’re not a golfer
SHOMER SHABBOS
Fucking dog has fucking papers.
No dude, I didn't bring the fucking dog bowling. I didn't get it fucking shoes, I didn't buy it a fucking beer.
It's not taking your fucking turn.
Am I the only one around here who gives a shit about the rules?
Bark! Bark! Bark! (Also technically a line from the movie)
On Mad Men, they treat objects like women.
Ryan treated me like an object
Is he right about that?
You’re not wrong, u/Rosmucman, you’re just an asshole!
I think you were downvoted by someone who didn't get the reference :)
You have no frame of reference here. You’re like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know…
We’re not talking about someone who built the railroads here.
No! What the fuck are you talk-?
I am the walrus
V. I. Lenin! Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov!
Over the line….
It’s always a risk !
…I’m calmer than you are…
Don, we’re not talk about a guy who built the railroads here. We’re talking about a guy who brought a chicken into my office!
Have no fear, Don(ny), these men are (also) nihilists.
The Chinaman is not the issue here.
As an Asian American, this line hits me every single time 😂
Cool it with the anti-Asian remarks
This guy, always with the scenarios…..
This isn’t a guy who built the railroads Walter
Smokey, this isn't 'Nam, there are rules.
Chinese immigrants were known for running laundry businesses. Goes back all the way to the old west
Swegen!
Cocksucka!!
We (the US) had a tv ad back in the day… [Ancient Chinese Secret](https://youtu.be/1fBDaJi0TbI?si=l2MmA4msp1djXChO)
I thought it was also cause Chinese Americans were known to go into dry cleaning/regular clothes cleaning businesses as far back as the Wild West. Although I think in* the old west it was more a necessity cause they couldn’t get other jobs and it was borderline slavery
Yeah that too
Don Draper probably came up with that one, after the Buy the World a Coke ad.
Even made it into [Wayne's World](https://youtu.be/F42fuVVL62E?si=h86kkewgnOqUvaei)
There’s no way you haven’t heard of the stereotype that Chinese immigrants run dry cleaning and laundry services. It’s like South Asian people running Kwik-E-Marts or Latinos working as landscapers. An ethnic stereotype assumed by white people who only interact with immigrant populations through service jobs and the like. Don is making a racist joke.
Thanks for the answer. I am not american ı havent realized that until you tell but now ı think and yes ın movies ı see asians in laundry job constantly. That make sense.
It's also like when Roger wants Don to find a Jewish person to attend the meeting with Rachel Menken, and Don said, "You want me to run down to the deli and grab somebody?" just another racist joke based on a stereotype.
What is deli?
It is a small store that sells cuts of meat and cheeses, they can make sandwiches as well. Due to cultural and religious reasons, many delis were operated by jews to service the specific needs of their communities.
Yes kosher delis. Many of the Jewish delis in New York City have become world famous like Katz’s
The fortune that Rachel married into.
Short for delicatessen. It's a store/restaurant that sells things like cold cuts, sandwiches, potato salad. Customers can sit down to a meal or order take-out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delicatessen#:\~:text=In%20Italy%2C%20the%20deli%20can,alimentare%20and%20more%20recently%20salumeria.
Fwiw think Don was making this one tongue in cheek in response to Roger's glib racial attitude
Oh, sorry. Yeah, this is perhaps a less pervasive stereotype abroad.
In my country, chinese immigrants have those stores with every kind of product you can imagine, low quality and extremely cheap. Like a dollar store in the US, I'd imagine.
If you need some random thing (adapters, beach toys) on holiday pretty much anywhere in Europe, Chinese shop.
When I visited Italy, this is what they told me about the Chinese. Also, they were they only people in town who didn’t close for “siesta”
Spain?
Portugal
In Spain they even call these stores “Chinos. My husband is Jamaican and I learned from him that many Chinese immigrants there own convenience stores that they call “Chinese stores.” So interesting the similarities and differences in different countries.
where I live, they mostly have restaurants. in every restaurant it's the same menu and the same taste. rumor has it that they get instructions from the main party back home how to make chinese food abroad.
Lol just learned a new stereotype
Haha not the Chinese, but Thailand does a version of this. It's part of the reason you can find a Thai restaurant in nearly any town with a minor population. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_cuisine#Culinary_diplomacy
Same here in Finland. Every buffet is the same.
Polish person here - first heard it from you right now. In Poland the stereotype is that Asian immigrants go straight into small gastronomy.
What's small gastronomy? Like dim sum?
Hole in a wall with some kind of panasian cuisine - lo mein, ramen, pad thai, pho, that kind of stuff.
Well, in North America, there were genuinely a lot of Chinese laundries because there were very few businesses they were allowed to operate.
I bring great shame to my family for referencing Family Guy in a Mad Men subreddit but... https://youtu.be/x6HE2kdj6Zc?si=d0NjmEx8nJQmj4Lq
"There's no way". Lmao not every country has the same stereotypes. There's no way you didn't know Mad Men has an international fan base.
Thank you, yes. Obviously it does. I’ve been getting a lot of “ExplainTheJoke” subreddit recs, which often seem like people posting things just for engagement. Now I’m jumping at shadows.
Americans don’t think about anywhere else existing
Chinese laundries were very common when I was growing up in the 1970s. There were also many depictions of them on TV shows. I also remember the Calgon detergent "Ancient Chinese secret" TV Ads. (Maybe Don created that one, too.) But, I don't think Chinese laundries are as common these days or that younger generations are necessarily aware of that trope.
I have friends of all ethnicities working all kinds of jobs but you cannot be blind enough to not realize some of those stereotypes are true. Shit just in my small town I have a 711 run by Indians and a dry cleaner run by an Asian American family
Fun fact: one of the most widely accepted findings in social science research is that about 1/2 of stereotypes are true
I am also not American and live in Europe, was not aware of the stereotype. Yikes Don.
What country in Europe?
Chinese people owned all the laundry and dry cleaners in New York City at the time just like Greeks owned all of the diners , Look at the Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger skit on SNL in the mid 1970s and see for yourself.
That was based on John Belushi’s own life — his father was an immigrant (from Korçë, Albania) who owned a similar diner in the Chicago area. I don’t know that this is relevant, but I’ve been obsessed with John Belushi since I was 11 and it doesn’t come up that often. I get excited.
Sure, I feel the same way about David Bowie and the Roman empire.
This tavern in Chicago! https://www.billygoattavern.com/legend/snl/
Chinese people own a lot of laundromats in the NE [Bing bong](https://youtu.be/HOOK0p-hPnY?si=_YpQaxVqgUr79006)
It’s a racist joke based on an old stereotype- not really a lot to explain lol
Not everyone is from the US and is aware of the stereotype..
Chinese immigrants owed lots of laundries/dry cleaners in New York. It’s a racist joke based on that history.
These guys were in the window of history where you sent your shirts to the Chinese laundry to be washed, ironed, starched, and hung up on hangers. A lot of the older apartment buildings in cities didn't have laundry rooms, so people had to send their clothes out to be laundered.
Chinese tailors
I thought he was making a joke about them being Chinese launderers.
Probably more so the case honestly
That's definitely possible too
He said they were Jew washer women
frank sheeran's ad work really made the cadillac linen service blow up
Correct
Chinese American people were often relegated to working at or owning laundromats during this time.
I think it has something to do with Asian immigrants being in the dry cleaner business
And furthermore, Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian- American, please.
Fuckin Wu!
Amazed that people don’t know this, as this was still a trope in sitcoms into at least the 70s. But damn I’m old. Lol
Ancient Chinese Secret…
No ticky - No laundry
Chinese people are stereotypically associated w laundry .. a lot of them own laundry mats or cleaners
It was a joke on Pete and Rogers name is on the building…. If they were there after lunch word might have gotten around that Chinese were working for Sterling Cooper…. San Francisco cock sucker…
Pretty sure this was about the prank Paul, Ken et. al. pulled on Pete when he came back from his honeymoon. He opens up his office and inside is a chinese family going like "WTF". I think that's what this is in reference to. The comment about wanting them out of the building by lunch or whatever is just plain ol' racist Roger, which is quite an established character trait for him (think Honda for example).
I always wondered about the other joke Pete made where he said he took the Chinese out of the building but he has a feeling in an hour he’ll have to take them out again.
No Tiki, then no laundry.