Chinese Laundry Site Artifacts Galley

Sharing food is very important in Chinese culture. The laundry contained many pieces of Chinese bowls, cups, and spoons, and food remains such as pork bones. This tells us that eating in traditional Chinese ways was very important to the laundry workers.

Tea

Drinking tea was important in many Chinese households. The tea was made in teapots and drunk out of small, porcelain cups without handles that were brought from China. Tea drinking was also very important to Euroamericans in the 19th century, who

sometimes used fancy teapots and matching cups and saucers.  Teapots like the ones found at the laundry were sometimes also used to brew traditional Chinese medicine from herbs.

Medicine

 These little vials (right) once contained Chinese medicine. Bottles for both Chinese and Euroamerican medicines were found at the laundry site. 

One of the artifacts was a bottle stuffed with preserved herbs and the remains of five crows. This bottle would have been filled with alcohol to make a type of traditional Chinese medicine used by the laundry workers.

Traditional Chinese medicine was very different from Euroamerican medicine in the 19th century. The artifacts tell us that the laundry workers tried Euroamerican medicine, but that they also liked to use familiar remedies from China.

Toys

Children in the 19th century played with toys, including dolls, marbles, and cast-metal figures. The heads, legs, arms, and dolls were often sold separately in the 19th century. 

Then they were sewn on to a cloth body to be formed into a doll. 

In the latter part of the century, more and more people bought toys from stores or catalogs, rather than making them themselves.  The toys above are from families who lived near the laundry. We didn’t find very many toys at the Chinese laundry which may suggest that children did not live at the Chinese laundry site.

Writing

On the right hand side of the photo below are parts of Chinese inkstones. Chinese workers at the laundry made ink by rubbing water into the stone. In the U.S. in the 19th century, most people wrote using bottles of ink and pens with nibs.

Paper was expensive so children wrote their lessons on slate boards with slate “pencils.” Afterwards, the boards could be wiped clean and used again.

The artifacts told us that the Chinese laundry workers wrote with Euroamerican inks and pens, but also liked to use traditional Chinese ink and brushes

.

Lighting

Archaeologists found part of a traditional Chinese oil lamp. They also found the glass base of an oil lamp that was common in non-Chinese American homes

in the 19th century.

The oil lamps burned sperm-whale oil, other animal fat, and kerosene. They became covered in soot and had to be cleaned almost every day. When gas and (later) electricity were introduced, lighting the laundry became much easier.

Finding these lamps tells us that Chinese workers at the laundry used both traditional and Euroamerican technology to light their home.

Bones

 Bones from archaeological sites tell us what people ate. At the Chinese laundry we found a great many bones from meat that had been butchered or cut up. Some of the meat came cows, pigs and sheep, or from birds like chickens. We also found the bones of both freshwater and saltwater fish.

Most of the meat came from pork, which was traditionally very popular in China. The fact that the laundry workers ate so much pork tells us that they probably liked to eat food similar to what they did at home in China.

Bones don’t only tell us about the food people ate.  The bones found  on archaeological sites could also

be from pets, farm animals, vermin like rats, or even from medicines.  At the laundry we found a bottle that contained the bones of cut-up crows.  The crows together with medicinal herbs were probably steeped in alcohol to make a type of traditional Chinese medicine.

Bottles

We found many bottles that contained foods, medicines, or alcohol drinks used by the Chinese laundry workers

.

Some of the bottles contained either Chinese or Euroamerican wines or liquors. The workers at the laundry may have used them for cooking, or for relaxing with friends after work.

Many of the bottles found at the laundry site originally contained medicines called bitters that helped with kidney or liver problems. Once the medicine was taken, the workers reused the bottles to store bluing dye. This was a type of dye that was often added to washing to make clothes look whiter and cleaner.

Chinese factories in the U.S. used glass bottles to ship their products to Chinese communities throughout the country. At the laundry, a bottle was found with Chinese writing on its label, which once contained ginger beer made in San Francisco.

For More Information

Details of the excavation have been provided for school children on the City’s web site in an interactive program called, “City Beneath Your Feet.” The web site has been so popular that students asked for something they could experience by seeing the artifacts themselves. The exhibit brings the web site to life for the entire community.  To view the interactive web pages and learn more about this excavation, please visit the "City Beneath Your Feet."

Visit the Sing Lee Chinese Laundry Exhibit!

Archeologists from Sonoma State University completed an exhibit of selected artifacts from the Chinese Laundry site. The exhibit is located in the lobby of The (Hotel) Stockton and is open to the public.

The (Hotel) Stockton
133 E. Weber Avenue, Downtown Stockton

Lobby Hours: 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Contact:  Richard Faryl  209/463-4381