The Laundryman’s Boy
Lee, Edward Y. C. Fall 1913, St. Catharines, Ontario: thirteen-year-old Hoi Wing Woo, the son of a scholar, is forced to give up his dream of an education when he is sent to work in a Chinese laundry in Canada. Hoi Wing is immediately thrust into relentless, mind-numbing toil, washing clothes by hand for sixteen hours a day, six days a week. Without knowledge of English or western societal customs, he faces a daily onslaught of insults, taunts and physical viol...