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4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chinese_laundry_1881.png]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:Two Wongs will make it white.]]
6
7->"''The Chinese laundryman does not learn his trade in China; there are no laundries in China. The women there do the washing in tubs and have no washboards or flat irons. All the Chinese laundrymen here were taught in the first place by American women just as I was taught....The reason why so many Chinese go into the laundry business in this country is because it requires little capital and is one of the few opportunities that are open.''"
8-->-- Lee Chew, Chinese American businessman, 1903
9
10Prior to the invention and mass production of modern laundry machines, doing laundry was a lengthy, hot, dirty and tiring chore. Naturally, many people turned to professional launderers to get the job done. In TheWildWest, many of these launderers were Chinese in origin. Since they were barred by law or custom from most other occupations, and they were willing to do hard work for low pay, this was seen as a good opportunity by the immigrants. Indeed, at one point, Chinese immigrants operated 89% of the laundries in San Francisco, and had a strong presence in other cities and towns.
11
12[[TextileWorkIsFeminine Laundry was also seen as "women's work"]] and thus Chinese men were viewed as less threatening to white American masculinity if they took up this line of work. However, the association of Chinese men and laundry contributed to the emasculation of East Asian men. Even though the vast majority of Chinese-Americans today do not work in laundries -- a stereotype of East Asians being more "feminine" than other races remains.[[note]]Black people have to deal with the opposite problem where white people viewed them as being more "masculine" than other races.[[/note]] By the 1930s, [[BigApplesauce New York City]] had around 3550 Chinese-run laundries, proudly displaying "Hand Laundry" signs to show their commitment to [[GoodOldWays traditional methods]].
13
14Thus this trope was born: Chinese characters in Western media (when they show up at all) would often work in laundering services. This trope also exists in the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, and is often associated with the London district of Limehouse, which was home to many Chinese immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (there is little sign of this today, with London's Chinatown having moved elsewhere).
15
16Perhaps the most famous real-life Chinese launderer is Yick Wo, of the U.S. Supreme Court case [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yick_Wo_v._Hopkins Yick Wo vs. Hopkins,]] which held that a law that on its face was racially neutral, but was applied in a racially discriminatory fashion, violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which the court maintained applied to resident aliens as well as full citizens. It's an important precedent.
17
18Unfortunately, in an effort to drive the [[YellowPeril "dangerous foreigners"]] out of the city, laws were passed in 1933 to, among other things, restrict ownership of laundries to American citizens. (The laws of the time prevented Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens, though many laundries remained in Chinese American hands as another precedent, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Wong_Kim_Ark United States v. Wong Kim Ark,]] established that people of Chinese descent born in the US are natural-born citizens of the US.) After negotiations by the traditional Chinese social organizations failed, the openly leftist Chinese Hand Laundry Association was formed to fight this discrimination. They did a very good job of it, and of supporting [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar the Guomindang's defense]] [[UsefulNotes/NoMoreEmperors of China]] against UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan with invaluable medical personnel and aid to reduce the appallingly high number of troop-deaths from wounds and disease. Despite ongoing support for the Guomindang, once [[RedChina the Communists]] [[UsefulNotes/ChineseWithChopperSupport destroyed the Guomindang]] in the Chinese Civil War in 1950 the RedScare somewhat inexplicably saw the CHLA denounced as a "Communist" organisation and its membership sharply declined.
19
20Subsequent technological and social developments like the [[TropeBreaker advent of the at-home washing machine]] have seen the [[DiscreditedTrope decline in the trope]], though it does continue on with Chinese characters (and Asian characters more broadly) owning and operating their own laundromats and dry cleaners. Characters who live in metropolitan areas, where small apartments don't typically have a washer/dryer included, will still be shown heading to their city's FriendlyLocalChinatown to drop-off and pick up their laundry or dry cleaning, for example.
21
22In most fiction, the Chinese launderer is a FunnyForeigner, spouting [[AsianSpeekeeEngrish pidgin English]] (occasionally including the {{stock phrase|s}} "no tickee, no shirtee") and clashing with customers over the amount of starch in shirts with AsianRudeness. They sometimes have bit parts in mysteries set in the appropriate time period, due to the use of laundry marks to identify where a piece of clothing has been.
23
24Subtrope of EthnicMenialLabor. Not to be confused with [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Chinese money laundering]]; That's more of a thing that TheTriadsAndTheTongs do.
25----
26!!Examples:
27
28[[foldercontrol]]
29
30[[folder:Advertising]]
31* In a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjNRXfRXnoc famous Calgon water softener commercial,]] a Caucasian customer would ask laundry owner Mr. Lee how he got shirts so ''white,'' to which he would respond "Ancient Chinese secret." Then his wife would address the camera in a ''beautifully'' American accent:
32-->'''Mrs. Lee:''' My husband -- some hotshot! Here's his ancient Chinese secret...
33:::At the end of the ad, she blows his cover[=:=]
34-->'''Mrs. Lee:''' ''(shouting)'' We need more Calgon!\
35'''Customer:''' "Ancient Chinese secret," huh?
36** Deliciously spoofed on an episode of ''Series/MadTV1995'', with Creator/JackieChan as the laundry owner. When the customer learns the "ancient Chinese secret", Jackie leaps over the counter, beats the stuffing out of him, and says "You tell anyone, you're a dead man!"
37* One of the infamous Asian stereotype t-shirts made by Abercrombie and Fitch in 2002 had [[https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/ABERCROMBIE-GLITCH-Asian-Americans-rip-2850702.php two stereotypical Chinese cartoon men]] with the slogan "Two Wongs can Make it White".
38** A reference to a racist political slogan of yesteryear, which was used to promote barring Asian immigration to the US and Canada: "Two Wongs don't make White".
39* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW3TQpz64rA This commercial for Jawbone headsets]] involves a character citing the stereotype of a Chinese Laundry at length [[spoiler:and getting curb stomped in revenge]].
40* A Brazilian ad for washing powder had a ''Japanese'' launderer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbVoTsHHQcw advertising his own place]] (the phone he lifts is that of the manufacturer).
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:Comic Books]]
44* In ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'', Chinese people are either launderers or restaurant owners, but the launderers are really ubiquitous. They are the focus of the story once or twice but are mainly peaceful background characters who only want to mind their own business, although they are somewhat obsessed with the cleanliness of people's clothes (just as undertakers are obsessed with people's measurements).
45** One short story features a Chinese man moving to Shanghai Gulch - a town where only Chinese people live - only to find out that he can't work as a launderer as he'd like to, since the town already consists of nothing but 182 launderers and 182 restaurants. The town is on the brink of economic collapse since the money just goes back and forth between the two groups, until the main character comes up with a solution.
46** One of the {{Visual Pun}}s involved the construction of a BoomTown. All the buildings had horizontal signs on their fronts, and the tiny space between a general store and a saloon is taken by a very narrow building, with its sign only fitting vertically... so a Chinese man takes it over as a laundry, filling the sign with Chinese characters.
47** The most important example is Ming Lee Foo, a minor supporting character and a friend of Lucky Luke.
48[[/folder]]
49
50[[folder:Films – Animation]]
51* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailTheMysteryOfTheNightMonster'': A Chinese laundry gets attacked by the titular "monster".
52* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': According to his backstory, [[MadBomber Vinny]] actually became obsessed with explosives after witnessing the Chinese laundromat next door to his family's flower shop exploding due to a faulty gas line.
53-->'''Vinny:''' Blew me right through the front window. It was like a sign from God. I ''found'' myself in that boom.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Films – Live-Action]]
57* Subverted in the 1943 ''Film/{{The Batman|Serial}}'' serial. Due to it being set in World War II, the main villain was a Japanese spy. Thus, one of the clues found is a handkerchief with a ''Japanese'' laundry mark. Robin quips that he's never heard of a Japanese laundry mark.
58* A Chinese launderer in ''Film/BrokenTrail'' becomes the interpreter between the two {{cowboy}} heroes and the five Chinese girls they have rescued from indentured prostitution.
59* A StealthPun in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': Lau, a member of [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs the Chinese mob]], works for Gotham criminals as a money launderer. Interestingly, coin laundromats have been recognized as an effective means to launder money due to them being cash based businesses.
60* Referenced by Creator/JackNicholson in his most racist scene in ''Film/TheDeparted''.
61* ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'': Evelyn and Waymond run a laundromat together. The film's plot begins as the pair are about to visit the IRS due to a problem with paying taxes on the business. [[spoiler:[[BookEnds The film ends with Evelyn back in the laundromat a week later]], though things are ultimately going better for her this time around.]]
62* Subversion in the western comedy ''Film/TheGreatBankRobbery'', where the town's example of this trope (played by Creator/{{Mako}}) turns out to be an undercover Secret Service agent.
63* Sid Caesar and Edie Adams accidentally broke through a hardware store wall into a Chinese laundry in ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld''.
64* In ''Film/MissMend'', Vivian Mend gets a job working at a Chinese laundry after a lockout at the factory leaves her out of work.
65* Film/{{Payback}}: The Triad is using a big, industrial laundry located in the Chinatown as a front for their [[StealthPun money laundry]] - the heist Porter and Val performed together was about stealing the cash shipment.
66* ''Film/TheSevenYearItch'': Richard Sherman's dress shirt was torn once when he sent it to a Chinese laundry service.
67* In the Creator/HaroldLloyd film ''Film/{{Speedy}}'', during a big brawl between a bunch of thugs hired to rough up Lloyd's character and the locals who come to his defense, an elderly Chinese man comes out of his laundry store and casually [[RumpRoast burns the ass]] of every thug in his vicinity with his clothing iron.
68* At one point in ''Film/ThoroughlyModernMillie'', [[spoiler:Mrs. Meers]] disguises herself as a Chinese laundress.
69* ''Film/TheWarriorsWay'': Yang takes over the laundry when he arrives in Lode, mainly because that's what everyone assumes he'll be good at. He actually has to learn how to do it from Lynne, the white woman who had befriended the ''previous'' Chinese launderer.
70* Yen Sun, the girl Doc falls in love with in ''Film/YoungGuns'' is the daughter of a Chinese launderer.
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Literature]]
74* Patrick Bateman, the titular ''Literature/AmericanPsycho,'' takes his blood-stained clothes to a local Chinese dry-cleaner.
75* In non-fiction travel memoir ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInSeventyTwoDays'', Nellie Bly praises "what Orientals can do in the washing line," and notes that six hours is enough for one to get a load of laundry back.
76* The business directory in ''The Compleat [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork]] City Guide'' includes the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Agatean]] Soft Soap and Laundry Company.
77* One ''The Dana Girls'' novel involved a Chinese launderer.
78* The title character of the story "The Deed of the Deft-Footed Dragon" by Creator/AvramDavidson.
79* In ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'', The Laundry takes its name from the fact that it was run out of the apartments above a Chinese laundry during World War II.
80* In the Colleen [=McCullough=] novel ''The Touch'', upon emigrating to Australia from Scotland and being given a tour of her wealthy new husband's home, Elizabeth Kinross is embarrassed at the idea that men will be tending to her laundry--there was a substantial Chinese immigrant population in Australia at the time of the book's setting--but agrees after she's assured that the practice is very common.
81* Francie Nolan takes her father's shirts to a Chinese laundryman in ''Literature/ATreeGrowsInBrooklyn''.
82[[/folder]]
83
84[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
85* Rare modern example: Used in an episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', where the Chinese woman who owns the laundromat is able to confirm a vital piece of evidence. Oh, and Monk, [[DefectiveDetective being Monk]], complains about the way she sews on buttons.
86* On one episode of ''Series/ThePractice'', Eugene Young argues with his Chinese dry cleaner over a shirt that he thinks has been shrunken. As the exchange heats up, he starts mimicking the man's Pidgin English. As Eugene is black and [[ScaryBlackMan frequently seen as scary]], there's an unsettling "shoe on the other foot" sensation around his perceived racism.
87* There was an episode of ''Series/TheLoneRanger'' where a Chinese launderer not only had to deal with prejudice from the locals, but some bandits who kidnapped his wife.
88* The pilot episode of ''Series/TheATeam'' had a scene in which Hannibal disguises himself as a "Mr. Lee" and meets with a prospective client at a laundry. Clients in later episodes [[ContinuityNod would mention also having met]] Mr. Lee.
89** Amusingly subverted in that while Hannibal plays Mr. Lee as a stereotypical Chinese launderer, the episode reveals that the real Mr. Lee is not in fact Chinese.
90* ''Series/RedDwarf'': Curiously, despite being a corporation-owned mining vessel, the ''Dwarf'' still has a Chinese laundry.
91* ''Series/GetSmart'' seems to have a weird obsession with {{Chinese Launderer}}s and fits them in wherever possible, even if it is just in the background.
92** The Craw’s, er, CLAW’S sidekick says “The spy ring is just a front. It’s the laundry that brings in the real money.”
93* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang The Talons of Weng-Chiang]]" features a Chinese Laundry, justified by being set in VictorianLondon. At one point, a villain is smuggled inside a house by being hidden in a laundry basket.
94* Farnum from ''Series/{{Deadwood}}'' tries to disguise delivery of a corpse in a wheelbarrow full of laundry to Chinese pig-farmer Wu.
95* The entrance to Series/SpecialUnit2 underground headquarters is located in a dry cleaners run by an Asian man. Then a punk with a revolver runs in demanding all the money in the cash register. Every employee (including the Asian guy) then reveal themselves to be undercover cops by pointing their {{Hand Cannon}}s at him.
96* An episode of 1920s-set detective series ''Series/TheMindOfMrJGReeder'' features a white slavery ring that has its base of operations in a Chinese laundry (though it's actually run by an English aristocrat, who's counting on the authorities, if they trace him that far, to assume that obviously it was the shifty-looking foreigners who dun it).
97* In ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', Holmes sends Watson to pick up his clothes from a Chinese dry cleaner. [[spoiler:He wants to see how long it will take her to figure out that it's actually a front for a drug operation.]]
98* ''Series/PeakyBlinders'' starts with a from inside a Chinese laundry shop. The owner is on good terms with Tommy Shelby, helping him arrange a publicity stunt in that scene. The shop is visited a couple more times in that season, one time it's shown that they cater to the richest and most powerful men in Birmingham and then it's revealed that they run a brothel in the back.
99* ''Series/Daredevil2015''. In ".380", Daredevil goes looking for Madame Gao's drug operation and finds her operating out of an industrial laundry in Chinatown. Given the amount of YellowPeril tropes she's based on, the reference is likely deliberate.
100* An episode of ''Series/CallTheMidwife'' features the immigrant family whose business handles the maternity home’s linens, as part of the show’s general pattern of showing how the patients of the week fit into the interconnected community of the East End.
101* ''Series/InLivingColor'' In the "Wrath of Farrakhan" skit, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan beams aboard the [[WhereNoParodyHasGoneBefore starship Enterprise]] and claims its crew are suffering from racial discrimination. When Captain Kirk denies this, Farrakhan asks Mr. Sulu an ArmorPiercingQuestion. "Who does the laundry around here?"
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:Music]]
105* 1930s-40s British ukelele whiz Music/GeorgeFormby had an entire series of songs about a Mr. Wu, who started his career in a laundry ("Chinese Laundry Blues") but later moved on (thanks to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII) to being an air raid warden, and then being in the military.
106* Touched on in Matthew Wilder's "Break My Stride":
107-->I sailed away to China\
108In a little row boat to find ya\
109And you said you had to get your laundry clean
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:New Media]]
113* Parodied by ''Website/TheOnion'' with [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/chinese-laundry-owner-blasted-for-reinforcing-nega,1563/ "Chinese Laundry Owner Blasted For Reinforcing Negative Ethnic Stereotypes,"]] about a second-generation laundry owner with somewhat fractured English who is [[StopBeingStereotypical constantly hounded and persecuted by his community]], despite his attempts to make peace.
114[[/folder]]
115
116[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
117* Mock Duck from ''ComicStrip/KrazyKat''. (He also does a sideline in fortune-telling.)
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder:Radio]]
121* In ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' episode "The [=McReekie=] Rising of '74", Seagoon poses as a Chinese laundryman in order to infiltrate the Scottish camp and steal their kilts.
122[[/folder]]
123
124[[folder:Stand Up Comedy]]
125* John Pinette jokes about the reaction of stereotypical Chinese buffet owners to his large appetite. He recounts one owner claiming their business has changed to a laundry to try and get rid of him.
126-->"No buffet here! We dry clean now. I take jacket, be ready on Tuesday. Now go!
127[[/folder]]
128
129[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
130* The ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' CCG ''Doomtown'' includes "Fu Leng's Laundry and Tailoring" (the name is a ShoutOut to ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'').
131[[/folder]]
132
133[[folder:Theater]]
134* The 1993 [[TheMusical musical]] ''The Last Hand Laundry In Chinatown'' was in part "an homage to the struggles of the pioneering NYC Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance."
135* The 1876 play ''Two Men of Sandy Bar'' by Bret Harte featured a Chinese launderer named Hop Sing, who appears to have been the TropeMaker for the stereotypes associated with the character, including the notorious "No tickee, no shirtee" line.
136* This referenced in an inversion in ''Hairspray'': the heroine's mother has a laundry business which is called something like ''Occidental Laundry'' (to set it apart from all of the "Oriental" ones).
137* ''Thoroughly Modern Millie''.
138* Widow Twankey from various {{Pantomime}} versions of ''Aladdin''.
139* One of the scenes in ''Sheer Luck Holmes'' takes place in a Chinese Laundry, with its own song-and-dance number.
140[[/folder]]
141
142[[folder:Video Games]]
143* ''[[VideoGame/LauraBow The Dagger of Amon Ra]]'' features a Chinese laundryman named [[PunnyName Lo Fat]] in the game's first act, from whom you get a few clues and a dress.
144* ''VideoGame/EighteenSixtySixAMountAndBladeWestern'' includes Frankie Luong, a Chinese former laundryman, as a possible party member. In keeping with the common stereotypical portrayal of Chinese laundrymen in Western films, [[NoIndoorVoice he can't end a sentence without an exclamation point]].
145* Mr. Wong's Laundrette ("If It Ain't Wong, It Ain't White!") of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII''. The laundromat plays a minor role in the plot, as its transition from the established [[TheMafia Mafia]] protection racket to a [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad]] one sparks a mob war between the two sides.
146* An Asian, presumably Chinese, laundry owner appears in one mission of VideoGame/LANoire.
147* One mission in ''VideoGame/RetroCityRampage'' has you rob a "Hon's Launder House".
148* Spoofed in ''VideoGame/BarkleyShutUpAndJamGaiden'', in which the laundromat in Neo New York is run by an elderly Chinese man.
149* A Chinese man with a poor grasp of English does laundry in ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge''. In the UpdatedRerelease, he's [[ValuesDissonance replaced by a hard-of-hearing white guy]].
150* The player character in the platformer ''Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry'' is a Chinese laundryman, who's drawn with a traditional conical hat.
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:Western Animation]]
154* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': The entrance to ISIS is in an Indian laundry that features the same sort of employees and jokes as a Chinese laundry.
155* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'': In the five-part pilot, Fat Cat goes to a laundromat to see a pair of Siamese cats about a fighting fish.
156* WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts: In the 1932 short ''The Mad Dog'', one of the townspeople that panics over the "rabid" Pluto is a stereotypical Chinese duck who carries a laundry basket on his head. He drops the basket as he runs inside for cover, [[AnimateInanimateObject and the laundry runs in after him]].
157* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': The episode "Tiegs for Two" has Peter getting into a bitter feud with a Chinese laundryman, inappropriately named Mr. Washee-Washee, by accusing him of losing one of his shirts.
158* ''WesternAnimation/GeorgeOfTheJungle'': A ''Super Chicken'' segment featured a villain called Shrimp Chop Phooey, who ran a literal money laundering business.
159* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': In the WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck short ''China Jones'', the character Charlie Chung (played by WesternAnimation/PorkyPig) is believed by China Jones (Daffy) to be a plainclothes detective. He turns out to be a laundryman, and he wants Jones to settle a "small matter of large bill", the picture ending with him wielding a club as Jones is forced to WorkOffTheDebt.
160-->'''Daffy:''' Confucius say, "Can't squeeze blood from turnip."\
161'''Porky:''' Oh, yes. Also say, "B-B-Better you press shirt than press luck."
162* ''WesternAnimation/{{Minoriteam}}'': Dr. Wang runs the team from a laundromat.
163* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'': In "Mystery Mask Mix-Up", the gang borrows a steam press from a Chinese laundry to create a steam screen against Zin Tuo's minions.
164* ''Series/TVFunhouse'': The second "Wonderman" short has him facing off against a launderer named Mr. Wong. Wonderman kills him and takes over the dry cleaner so that his alias can have sex with a woman he rescued.
165* ''WesternAnimation/WheelSquad'': Sheeba is a Chinese launderer, but he doesn't show the typical stereotypes that come with the trope. He once taught martial arts on the side.
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder:Real Life]]
169* The [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy]] still uses Chinese laundrymen on their vessels.
170* For some reason, there's a women's shoe company called Chinese Laundry.
171* As stated at the top this has a strong historic basis and is not entirely uncommon to see even today. Further keep in mind that in many cities where renting an apartment is more common than owning a single-family home wash-and-fold service is still prevalent at many dry cleaners as an alternative to doing your own laundry at a laundromat.
172** Laundries are also run by Koreans or Vietnamese; Korean-run laundries are particularly common on the U.S. East Coast (e.g. UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} as well as New York...to say nothing of northern UsefulNotes/NewJersey, where there are so many Koreans in southern Bergen County that a common insulting nickname for Fort Lee is "Fort Rhee").
173** There also appear to be an inexplicable number of "French Laundries"... not just the well-known restaurant.
174* A leftover of the era where Chinese-manned Laundries were common is the Venezuelan saying "Más caliente que plancha de chino", "Hotter than a Chinese man's iron". The "caliente" in the saying refers to angry hot-headness instead of physical hotness, though.
175[[/folder]]

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