and Immigration Station in the San Francisco Bay.The immigrants coming to California claiming to be family members of Chinese here were held at Angel Island. They were asked a series of questions to test their knowledge about their so-called families. “To prepare for these examinations, they studied crib sheets during their voyage across the Pacific Ocean from China” (Takaki 32). They were named “paper sons” because there was nothing proving that they were actually family members of the people they were claiming to be related to. “They were asked names and birthdays of everyone in the family, as well as details about marriages, deaths, and family history” (Takaki 33). The newcomers were detained in barracks while they were awaiting interrogation. The barracks were overcrowded and unsanitary. Once interrogated, they were some would be immigrants that didn’t fare so well. “About in ten was sent back to China” (Takaki 36).A decision reached by the United States congress in 1924 totally banned all immigration from Asian countries. The ban lasted for almost twenty years before being lifted in 1943.By the 1920’s laundry was the largest industry for Chinese workers in the U.S. This was a sharp increase from 1860 where only 2.6 percent of Chinese workers were in the laundry industry. “Chinese Laundry was invented America, there were no commercial laundries in China” (Takaki 41). Many Chinese were almost forced into this industry because it was one of the few jobs that presented them an opportunity. As the years passed, the number of Chinese laundries rapidly increased. Chinese laundry spread out to Chicago, New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and other cities where Chinese laundry hadn’t existed. The Chinese faced opposition in the laundry industry. In New York, larger laundries owned by whites were making attempts to drive the Chinese out of busine...
