Books by splitShops
A Willow Tree Becomes a Forest: The Story of Hop Lee - Paperback
$28.73
In stock
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Cindi Book items have a flat $9.99 shipping charge. Shopify Collective items use shipping rates set by the supplier. Orders containing items from different fulfillment sources may include more than one shipping charge. Your full shipping total is shown at checkout before payment.
Return eligibility is subject to the full policy. Opened, read, or unsealed books with broken seals or visible wear are final sale. Digital downloads, gift cards, and personalized products are non-refundable. Original shipping charges are not refunded for standard returns. Contact us within 7 days of delivery about damaged, defective, or incorrect items.
by Russell N. Low (Author)
Using source documents, including a 150-year-old fortune teller scroll, Hop Lee's hand-written journal, and a box of 100-year-old photographs, the story of this Chinese American pioneer turned businessman comes to life on the book's pages.
We watch him grow from arrival in Albany, Oregon's Chinatown, through a disastrous stint as a cook for a railroad gang run out of camp for burning the rice, through his days learning his ticket to the American dream as a Chinese laundryman. Along the way, the ever-ambitious and enterprising Hop Lee runs headlong into Anti-Chinse racism with the Chinese Exclusion Act and the massacre of Chinese miners at Deep Creek in Eastern Oregon. Hop befriends a young Nez Perce warrior in the last adventure by disguising him as a Cantonese. Yellow Fox and Hop have a friendship that transcends cultures and spans decades.
Hop's laundry business in Salem, Oregon, is squarely in the crosshairs of the White laundry owners who started a campaign called Bust the Trust to drive the Chinese out of the dirty clothes business.
Realizing the need to diversify their portfolios, Hop Lee and fellow immigrant merchant George Sun learn the art of hop farming in the fertile Willamette Valley. They participate in the Northwest's Rise of the Chinese Hop Men, a nearly forgotten chapter in our history. In their haste, they run into the Women's Temperance Union and Prohibition, depressing the price of hops.
After almost three decades as a bachelor in America, Hop decides to try to find an American-born Chinese wife, a tall order in a country where there are 20 Chinese men for every woman. So, Hop takes the train to San Francisco and uses a matchmaker to find the rare jewel - the American-born Chinese girl. What happens next is the journey and the tale of how this single Willow Tree became a Willow Forrest.
While seeking his elusive dream of citizenship, Hop Lee was, in his heart, a true American who believed in the spirit and possibilities of his adopted country. His story embodies the tale of the bold, bright, determined immigrants who proudly built America with their sweat, imagination, and ingenuity. Those who stayed created the ripples that gave us life as individuals and as a nation of nations.
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Cindi Book is the trade name of Cindi Book LLC, a Texas-registered online-only retailer. We provide clear contact, shipping, return, and checkout information so customers can make informed purchasing decisions.
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Cindi Book LLC
Administrative office only; no storefront or local pickup.
214-308-1733 · info@cindibook.com
Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM CT
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Orders ship within the United States. Cindi Book branded titles typically arrive in 5–9 business days, including 0–2 business days of handling and 5–7 business days in transit. Supplier-fulfilled items typically arrive in 8–11 business days, including 1–3 business days of handling and 7–8 business days in transit. Business days are Monday–Friday, excluding U.S. federal holidays. Delivery estimates are not guarantees. Cindi Book items have a flat $9.99 shipping charge. Shopify Collective items use shipping rates set by the supplier. Orders containing items from different fulfillment sources may include more than one shipping charge. Your full shipping total is shown at checkout before payment.
Returns & Refunds
Standard U.S. returns are accepted for eligible new, unopened items within 30 days of carrier delivery. Returns are by mail. Customers are responsible for standard return shipping, there is no restocking fee, and standard exchanges are not offered. Once an approved return is received and inspected, the refund is issued to the original payment method within 5 business days. Damaged, defective, or incorrect items are handled at no return-shipping cost to the customer.
Return eligibility is subject to the full policy. Opened, read, or unsealed books with broken seals or visible wear are final sale. Digital downloads, gift cards, and personalized products are non-refundable. Original shipping charges are not refunded for standard returns. Contact us within 7 days of delivery about damaged, defective, or incorrect items.
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Some items may ship from Cindi Book or U.S.-based publishing, manufacturing, or distribution suppliers that fulfill orders for Cindi Book. Cindi Book LLC remains the customer-service contact for order questions, delivery support, returns, and refunds.