Who knows about Chinese Laundry during the 1849 gold rush?

Question

I'm prereading this children's book for my kids' homeschool. (historical fiction) The book takes place in 1849. It states that there were no laundry services in San Francisco during this time and the laundry was shipped to China to be cleaned and pressed and then shipped back to SF about 3 months later. It would take longer if there was a typhoon. I found on the internet where it states the first chinese laundry opened in SF in 1851. Could this be true? Could they really have sent the laundry all the way to China in the beginning?

Thank you soooo much for clarifying!

Answer 1

I can't prove a negative, but common sense dictates that no one would pay the cost to have their laundry shipped to a different continent to be washed and have to wait three months to get their clothes back.

I'm confident that before convenient and inexpensive laundry services were available, the miners washed their own clothes in streams and rivers, when they bothered to wash them at all.

Added: Still, BraxOwl, even if such a service were available to wealthy San Franciscans, it just doesn't make economic sense. Great answer, FallenA.

Answer 2

No.  It's a myth.

Answer 3

There was never a China laundry service.

   1. Chinese laundries are an American invention. China had no commercial laundry service until modern times--that is after Europeans appeared and wanted the service. Chinese did their own laundry within their homes.

   2. Laundries appeared here partly due to active discrimination against Chinese, and other "Asiatics." They were used as common labor, often on government contracts, starting with the railroad construction in the West. Jobs were scarce, and Chinese were disliked. Like restaurants, laundries were a cheap business for uneducated immigrants to start and run, and the absence of women and established domestic relationships, especially in the mining camps, made laundries  profitable. Remember laundry  was woman's work only.

3. The China trade by sea depended upon the "Clipper ships" and in the US that covers about 15 years, 1845-60. The fastest ships made a one-way trip in 90+ days. Thus it would have taken about 6 months to send and receive laundry. That would take about, what ,  24 separate wardrobes (week at a wearing) to keep clothed in the interim between services.

4. Space on the trading ships, most especially on the home-bound leg, was at a premium and only the most lucrative goods could afford the cost--tea, silk, camphor wood, etc.

http://www.globalindex.com/clippers/muse...

Answer 4

I would love it if you would email me (from my profile) the name of this book.  We homeschool, as well, and we love China and study it quite a bit in our lessons.

I did not know about this prior to reading your question, but it looks like it is indeed fact.  Here are a few links that came up in a quick Google search:

http://www.sdchm.org/exhibit_template.ph...

http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/...

http://www.pbs.org/kqed/chinatown/resour...

I hope this helps!

EDITED TO ADD: I am sure that the miners were not the ones shipping their laundry to China, but rather it was the wealthy people in San Francisco.