The Wey Wong Story: A Family History

Chun Fon was born in China in 1878. Although he was the youngest, he was strong willed, assertive, enterprising, and destined to be the dominant member of his generation in his family. He provided strong leadership in all family matters and even disciplined his brother's sons when necessary. It was very difficult for Chinese to enter the United States at the time Chun Fon arrived. He came to the United States under a merchant status limited visa in 1895 at age seventeen. He became involved in the two family laundries in Los Angeles, one on Olive Street and the other on 9th Street, which was started by his brother Chun Fung.

Sing Kee Laundry, a wholesale laundry owned and operated by the Wong Family, was located on 9th and San Pedro ca. 1945. It employed 30 people and provided 2 meals a day to its staff. (Courtesy of the Wey Wong Family.)

The photograph records the employment of Latina and African-American women in Sing Kee Laundry ca. 1945. They were paid 2.5 cents for each shirt ironed. Most of the women could press 60 shirts an hour. (Courtesy of the Wey Wong Family.)

An example of both Chun Fon's self-confidence and a technique to circumvent shameful prejudices against the Chinese occurred after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. When the catastrophe destroyed the City's registry including the records of birth, a golden opportunity was presented. Not being one to ignore such an opportunity, Chun Fon, along with other Chinese in California, went to the reestablished hall of records in San Francisco requesting a copy of their birth certificates that would guarantee citizenship. Of course, no such document ever existed, but since the records had all been destroyed, the authorities found themselves in a dilemma. It was decided that if any person requesting a birth certificate could present a credible witness, such as their mother, then a certificate of birth would be created containing the information provided by the applicant and their witness.

Although the female Chinese population was in short supply, they were very cooperative. A Chinese of foreign birth along with a Chinese lady of appropriate age would present themselves to the authorities as mother and child. They would select a convenient date of birth and give verbal evidence that the applicant was born on that day and year. When questioned where did the birth take place, the answer would be, that little red house two blocks off Main Street in Chinatown.

The authorities became suspicious when the same woman appeared over and over again with a different applicant proclaiming, this is my son. Since there was no way to disprove the statements, the documents were issued and many Chinese born became instant citizens by birth in the United States. Chun Fon was one of these individuals, and that made all of his children and grandchildren citizens as well.

At age twenty-one, he returned to China and married Ng Shee who remained in China her entire life. She was born in 1878 and died in 1937, being buried on the same day that the Japanese bombed Shanghai. Chun Fon remained in China for a year fathering a son, Wing Wey, who was born in 1900. He then returned to the United States. He stayed in America for several years before again returning to China for a year and a half to manage and organize family affairs.

Chun Fon's only son Wing Wey, whose name meant great power, first came to America in 1916. He traveled with his father to San Francisco. Chun Fon wanted his son to be educated in English and planned to place Wing Wey in the home of a clergyman to serve as a houseboy, study English, and the learn customs of America. Unfortunately, Chun Fon became ill and returned to China where he died in 1918 never able to accomplish his plan for his son.

After his father's death, the responsibility for his mother and sister fell to Wing Wey. He returned to China at the age of twenty and married Lee Toy Hen, whose name meant whatever heaven will take care of or God's will. When he returned to the United States, he worked in the laundry owned by his uncle, Chun Fung. Shortly after, Wing Wey went into the produce business, and was the first family member to leave the laundry business. He built a delivery route that included the original McDonalds in Los Angeles. By 1938, he had two sons, Chuck Wong born in 1928 and Edward Wong born in 1930. Although he did not earn adequate funds to support a family in the United States, when the Japanese attacked China, Wing Wey pulled money together to bring his wife and children to the United States, and decided he would worry about housing once they arrived. In 1939, a third son, William was born. William was the first member of the family born in the United States. A fourth son, Jim, was born in 1941.

Young Jim Wong in a Red Cross cap with the laundry's truck. Jim is now a physician. (Courtesy of the Wey Wong Family.)

A laundry worker and young Jim Wong standing outside the family laundry. Jim and his brother, William, were the first family members to be born in the United States. Earlier family members gained citizenship through "birth" after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. (Courtesy of the Wey Wong Family.)

Wing Wey returned to the laundry on 9th Street in Los Angeles in 1942 and remained there until it was sold in 1952. He then opened a small hand laundry on Western Avenue and 37th Street that he operated until 1964. At that time, he sold the laundry and moved to Woodland Hills where he helped his son William and operated a restaurant until his death in 1978.

Wing Wey's second eldest son, Edward Wong, completed his education in electronics and a course in television repair in the United States. While attending school, he worked in the family laundry and later opened a T.V. repair shop located in the 9th Street laundry building. In 1951, Edward joined the Navy where he was assigned duties of deckhand. After some time and much persistence, he was allowed to transfer to the electronics section where he worked until his discharge in 1955. He found employment at Hughes Aircraft where he worked until his retirement from the technical staff in the Engineering Department of the Radar Systems Group in El Segundo in 1989. He and his wife of 45 years, Sylvia, live in Los Angeles. Their daughter Rhonda and her husband Anthony Gee, have three children--Jayne, Terry, and Daniel.

Edward Wong made a donation of objects and photographs from the family laundry and home to the Chinese American Museum in December 2000. In honor of his father and his extended family, he asked the donation be named Gift of the Wey Wong Family.

Burt Collette, an engineer and a friend of Edward's, became fascinated with his family history and subsequently wrote "The Wong Story." Mr. Collette interviewed him during a single afternoon and turned their taped conversation into this article, which has allowed Edward Wong to share his family story with his grandchildren and other relatives. It has also allowed Mr. Wong to add his own story to the collective history of Chinese Americans.

(This article was edited by assistant curator Estella Chung for Voices: Family Stories and FCAM's spring 2001 newsletter.)