Occupation and Livelihood – Family in the Chinese American Takeout Restaurant

Tag: Occupation and Livelihood

Many Chinese immigrants who work in Chinese American Takeout restaurants explain that this is the most viable job option with their limited English fluency. Person A’s family preferred owning a Takeout restaurant to the politics and hardships of working in Garment factories. Many Chinese immigrants who work in food service, including Person A’s parents, Parent C, Person D’s parents, Parent’s E’s parents, and Mr. Sit in a New York Times article, do not wish to past their businesses to their children, instead wanting their offspring to pursue higher education and jobs that are not as physically-demanding. Today, additional job opportunities include operating Liquor stores, Japanese sushi restaurants, and working for Chinese bus transportation companies if one possess limited English speaking skills.

Lin, Su-Jit account highlighted the taxing labor that is Chinese American takeout restaurant work, where families do not have “freedom” because the restaurant is open 364 days a year, only closing on Christmas. This is also true for every interviewee in this project. In addition to the physically-demanding labor required in the small-scale, ready-to-be-consumed food business, restaurant workers are in highly vulnerable positions, facing “additional discrimination and amplified disrespect.. like second-class citizens.” Person C in one of her interviews mentioned before she became familiar with the neighborhood she works in, young customers who did drugs were the most difficult customers. With limited English and as new immigrants in an unfamiliar city, many restaurant workers feared physical and legal threats, but like Person C, were forced to tolerate unfair treatments. Through blood, sweat, and tears, Person C explained her family did not have another option and needed to provide a stable income for two sets of parents and her children. For Person A, any job that was not as physically tolling as restaurant work was godsend. Person A and all of her siblings and Person E did not inherit their parent’s restaurants.

Hilgers, Lauren. “The Kitchen Network.” The New Yorker. Annals of Immigration. October 13, 2014 Issue. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/cookas-tale.

Lin, Su-Jit. “The Last Generation: The Fadeaway of Chinese Takeout Kids.” Good Food Jobs. January 5, 2021. https://www.goodfoodjobs.com/blog/the-last-generation-the-fadeaway-of-chinese-takeout-kids/.

Nierenberg, Amelia, and Bui, Quoctrung. Chinese Restaurants Are Closing. That’s a Good Thing, the Owners Say. The New York Times, December 24, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/upshot/chinese-restaurants-closing-upward-mobility-second-generation.html.

Immigration to America – February 6th, 2023

Index: 0:00 – Background in rural China from a village of about 100 people, crops were taxes by government with the remaining not enough to feed Person C’s family of 5, during her grandfather’s generation men who left to work…

A Combined China-United States Upbringing Interview 2 – April 11th, 2022

Index: 00:40 – Limited opportunities and worldview 6:20 – Eldest child and females lack support 10:40 – Changing traditional family roles 12:20 – Dropping out of high school 14:45 – Chinese restaurant as secure business, money and self-fulfillment 20:00 –…

Person B Materials

Drawing Book – Person B shared a drawing book she has cherished since she was small. In the drawing book are pictures she draw, one on the back of a restaurant menu when she used to work in her parents’…

From Garment Factory to Chinese American Takeout Restaurant to College Graduate Interview – April 3rd, 2022

Index: 1:00 – Immigration and adjusting to life in America 7:20 – Illegal and legal immigration 10:35 – Arriving in America, Chinese Beijing Person in New York City CCTV Show 18:45 – Cook, Cashier, Kitchen Aid roles in Chinese American…

Peculiar Upbringing and Dynamic Chinese Identity Interview – June 15th, 2022

Index: 00:20 – Pressure to have kids, satellite upbringing, restaurant operations 3:30 – Covid restaurant shutdown 5:20 – Marriage reasons, satellite child trauma 9:30 – Expectations 11:15 – Satellite Child, change in lifestyle from China, food anxiety for the previous…

Generational and Cultural Trauma Interview 1 – June 12th, 2022

Index: 00:40 – Living arrangements 5:40 – Gender and age as factors growing up 8:20 – Restaurant roles, kids helping out in restaurants 10:30 – Restaurant as physical, menial labor, customer service labor 11:15 – Satellite Child, change in lifestyle…

Generational and Cultural Trauma Interview 2 – August 14th, 2022

To respect Person D’s privacy, please contact interviewer to access this interview.

A Combined China-United States Upbringing Interview 1 – April 4th, 2022

Index: 00:10 – Financial independence, new of American fortune in Chinese countryside 4:30 – American versus Chinese education and learning method 5:45 – Opening Chinese American takeout restaurant 8:45 – Kids helping in restaurant 9:45 – Restaurant neighborhood culture 15:45…