"It wasn't until after World War II that my father was able to bring my mother over, because in this country there was something called the Chinese Exclusion Act. This was basically an anti-Chinese immigration law that stated there were four categories of people who could not immigrate to this country: imbeciles, prostitutes, Chinese, and one more I can't remember . . . we were in great company! My grandfather was able to stay because all immigration records were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire. There was no one to dispute his claim to citizenship, and so he and his offspring were allowed to stay, but not their wives."

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The whole story began in our family when my grandfather Chin came around the turn of the century. He was one of those early imports. He came to the United States as an adult and opened a laundry. His storefront was up on Republican and Broadway, and it is still there. There was the business up front, and then in the back was the drying room. But also at night it became the bedroom. Sometimes the people would sleep on the huge ironing table. I can still remember my grandfather heating up the irons over the gas fire.

For me it really started when I arrived at the immigration building in Seattle in 1934. I was ten years old. I knew A, B, C, and D, but I didn’t really know that there were a lot of letters behind that! It was a tough go; they put me in the first grade, and I could hardly fit into the desks. By that time my father had a restaurant in Aberdeen. It was a mom-and-pop restaurant, except there was no mom.

It wasn’t until after World War II that my father was able to bring my mother over, because in this country there was something called the Chinese Exclusion Act. This was basically an anti-Chinese immigration law that stated there were four categories of people who could not immigrate to this country: imbeciles, prostitutes, Chinese, and one more I can’t remember . . . we were in great company! My grandfather was able to stay because all immigration records were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake and fire. There was no one to dispute his claim to citizenship, and so he and his offspring were allowed to stay, but not their wives.

So after I had finished school, fought in World War II, and entered the University of Washington, my father asked me to take my grandpa home to China. Now, in those days you had to travel by steamer. He sent a letter along with me to my mother to say that under no circumstances was she to allow me to get married! He knew I wanted to finish school and establish myself first.

As soon as I got to the village, my grandmother sent for the matchmakers. I tried to put her off by telling her my conditions: number one, she had to have a high school education, and number two, she had to be very attractive! The matchmakers did their best, but it wasn’t until I went back to Hong Kong that a distant uncle convinced me to meet Winnie. She was from a very wealthy family and wasn’t supposed to marry into a poor family like mine. In China there is a saying: “The wooden door matches the wooden door, the bamboo door matches the bamboo door, etc.” I took her back to the village, and she caused a sensation in her silk stockings!

Winnie and I have had a very adventurous life. For many years I’ve had a successful engineering firm here in town. We built this house in the Rainier Valley in 1953, and we’ve been here ever since. We raised six children here, and my parents lived with us for eighteen years. Many people who have helped me succeed in my life from the earliest days have remained close friends.

We have also maintained very close ties with China. We have After the Cultural Revolution and the reopening, we have made a pilgrimage every two years or so. Because we have done well, we have tried to help after so much there was destroyed. . When we first returned, we met a cousin who said, “I know how badly you must feel about your grandparents. Look forward, don’t look back, or else it will destroy you too.”

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