With the influx of these high-level new immigrants, the image of Chinese Americans, who had been described as "smelling half of ginger and half of detergent" (because many of them earned a living by running restaurants or laundries), changed completely overnight.
這批水準高又整齊的新移民加入後，原本被形容為「半是薑味，半是洗衣粉味」的華人（因很多華人以開中國餐館或洗衣店維生），形象一夕巨變。