Showing posts with label china men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label china men. Show all posts

4.30.2014

Literary Chicago - Maxine Hong Kingston 'China Men'

Literary Chicago is series where I try to capture the essence of the city by how it is described in fiction, primarily from books that don't take place in Chicago.  

"Ed's legs ached. At about eleven o'clock, he spoke the bitter verses of "The Laundry Song" by Wen I-to of Chicago:

          A piece, two pieces, three pieces - 
         Wash them clean, 
         Four pieces, fives pieces, six - 
         Iron them smooth, "

pg 63. China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston (1977)