China Dog: And Other Tales from a Chinese Laundry [Paperback]

Judy Fong Bates (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 13, 2002

A chorus of immigrant voices populates Judy Fong Bates's graceful and poignant first collection. Denizens of the ubiquitous small towns around Ontario, as far from their native land as can be imagined yet united by their proximity to the local Chinese laundry, her characters have in common their driving desire to assimilate, to fit in, to belong to a "majority" culture. But they are also people trapped by a certain cultural pride in confronting a world that may feign acceptance while at the same time reminding them that they are "other." In the words of the Toronto Globe and Mail, Judy Fong Bates's "deceptively simple narratives expose the hopes and hardships that define her characters' lives." Her graceful writing is full of compassion, insight, and honesty; it opens our eyes to the commonality of what it is to be human.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Judy Fong Bates came to Canada from China as a young child and grew up above several Chinese laundries. She lives with her family in Toronto.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (June 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582431884
• ISBN-13: 978-1582431888
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,407,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chna Dog and other laundry tales, June 29, 2005

By 

kips bay "kip" (new york, new york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: China Dog: And Other Tales from a Chinese Laundry (Paperback)

After many years as a book discussion leader, I was pleased with
the accessibilty of this book. It reflects not only the Chines-
Canadian culture but one of universalities of the total immigrant experience. Ms. Bates has an excellent way of describing the general tone of those who must endure meager living and working conditions but are able to endure and find some personal resolutions.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful portrayal of a closeted community, December 9, 2002

By 

stackofbooks "stackofbooks" (Walpole, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: China Dog: And Other Tales from a Chinese Laundry (Paperback)

Judy Fong Bates is a talented writer-someone who was born in China but moved to Canada as a young child.

Her keen eyes expertly capture the immigrant experience in the collection of short stories: China Dog and other Stories from a Chinese Laundry. Bates has done a brilliant job here in describing the closeted lives of the Chinese communities living in and around Ontario. Her short stories tackle ground that will seem familiar to many immigrants. Marriage outside the community to a lo fon (non-Chinese Canadian), aging elders and their place in an increasingly rushed life, the relevance of superstitions in modern-day life-these are but some of the issues addressed in Bates' collection.

In "The Lucky Wedding", the protagonist, Sandra, has to break the news of her wedding to a lo fon, to her family. Sandra can do nothing right it seems. She has chosen Victor, whose "livelihood was suspiciously unreliable. He was an artist, a painter, someone who worked with his hands, like a laborer." In addition, Sandra makes out reception invitations on cards with just one bird on the front-a definite ill omen for the Chinese. The fine line that Sandra has to tread between the Chinese and mainstream Canadian worlds is done very well here.

The immigrants lead extremely claustrophobic lives. In "The Good Luck Café" for example, a newly wed Chinese wife talks to nobody but her husband and brother-in-law all day long. Despite this, many of the characters in Bates' stories worry that they or their offspring are becoming "too Canadian." "Our lives in Canada are overrun by gwei, ghosts", is a strong complaint, "gwei men, gwei women, gwei children. We served food to gwei customers, bought from gwei shopkeepers, were treated by gwei doctors and taught by gwei teachers."

Bates' stories are a compassionate look at people still very much on the fringes of mainstream Canadian society. Theirs is a world where cultures collide, where the old meets the new, and something has to give. China Dog is an incisive look at the immigrant experience up close. Its insights are valuable to us all.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, December 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: China Dog: And Other Tales from a Chinese Laundry (Paperback)

I was looking forward to this book, hoping to see a fresh Asian American novel. I was pretty disappointed with the characters and storyline. They were both uninteresting and superficial. The stories left little to think about and I felt like they were an attempt at a Canadian "Joy Luck Club" (which I also did not like). We do not get a sense of life in Canada aside from the fact that it is cold and there are a lot of Caucasians. There is nothing special about this book.