To save China, to save ourselves : the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance of New York /

The experiences of Chinese Americans differed markedly from those of other immigrants. Between 1882 and 1943, the US excluded them by name and barred them from naturalization. Within this milieu, the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance (CHLA) sought to serve the needs of New York City's Chinese laundrymen, to dismantle America's system of institutional discrimination, and to bring democratic reform to China. Rather than perpetuating Old World traditions, a common organizational function in other "transplanted" communities, the Alliance challenged Chinatown's established sources of power and leadership. The CHLA believed that these institutions "stood in the way of the Chinese struggle for equality in American society." Yu's work, well written and thoroughly researched, chronicles the CHLA's diverse successes and failures. To Save China is a good addition to the literature on Asian immigrants, especially as a companion to such general works as Roger Daniels's Asian America and Ronald Takaki's Strangers from a Different Shore. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty. R. F. Zeidel; University of Wisconsin-Stout