Fujianese
The Chinese Restaurant Workers’ View of America: Through Area Codes. Chinatown Bus Ads
Monday, February 2nd, 2009These two are Chinatown bus advertisements for routes that go to the more obscure regions of the eastern United States. (Chinatown bus goes all over, not just Boston, NYC, Philly and Washington). Notice how they emphasize the area codes. That is because many Fujianese restaurant workers are not educated and thus don’t really read and […]
Sneaking in on Google’s top search page for “fortune cookie”
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008I noticed a few weeks ago that people were landing at my blog with search of just “fortune cookie” so I was curious where the book was on Google’s search results. It looks like I snuck onto the front page of results. I don’t even sell fortune cookies.
My galley, still on world tour, in Istanbul
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007My galleys continue their world tour, I guess. This is in front of the Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. I guess it goes to say that anyone who wants to send me a picture of my book in a weird place, please send it in.
No justice! No noodles! Restaurant workers stand up for their rights
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007I did a blog post on City Room on Wednesday about Chinese restaurant workers organizing for City Room. With chants of “No Justice! No Noodles!†(you got to love that) Chinese restaurant workers called for a boycott of Ollie’s Noodle Shop and Grill restaurants yesterday, claiming that the president of the popular restaurant chain was […]
Stuck Elevator: The Super-Heroic Stationary Journey of Ming Kuang Chen (in Opera!)
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007Ming Kuang Chen — the Chinese deliveryman who was stuck in an elevator for more than three days in 2005 — has apparently become quite the muse for creative artists. A movie script is in development, I’ve heard. I have a whole chapter in my book wrapped around him. And he also has been the […]
The leading cause of death in the Chinese restaurant industry is homicide
Monday, August 6th, 2007Peggy Lim of The News and Observer in North Carolina has put together a touching profile of Song Ni, 34, a Chinese restaurant owner who was fatally shot at the end of July in Stantonsburg, N.C. (population 800) during a robbery in his home. His wife and two daughters were in the other room. In […]