The Book That Taught Them to Survive

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My dad fled China as a stowaway in the bilge of a frieghter to escape the Japanese-Chinese conflicts in the late 1930s or 1940s, the date is unclear. He came to America with this book, which explains how to find work as a cook or domestic servant.

He went on to open multiple businesses and restaurants in Sonoma County, including a laundry on 3rd Street in Roseland in Santa Rosa in the 1950s, and Cafe Public in Petaluma which served Chinese food from the 1960s to the 1990s.

My folks did not want to talk much about their displacement, but I remember hearing about the story of this book as the main way they were able to survive. My dad did not know how to cook much before he got here, armed with this book.

To this day, I am amazed that all it can take is one book to teach you how to survive and thrive in an entirely new country.

Photo caption if needed.

Anne Sachs • Age 74 • Santa Rosa resident

Anne Sachs’ parents settled in Sonoma County in the 1940s, immigrating from China. I was born in Santa Rosa, and was raised there and in Petaluma, where I have now retired.