As a child growing up in San Francisco in the 1950s, I was a big fan of Mad Magazine. San Francisco had—and still has—a large Chinese population and the largest Chinatown in the USA.

I

would often wander around there, buying Chinese food. I can still hear the clinks of the Mahjong tiles.

Mad Magazine was first published in comic book format in 1952 and cost 10 cents. Later, it became a magazine and cost 25 cents. It was published twice a month.

One story from one issue stayed with me. It was about “American Town,” located somewhere in China. I thought it was particularly funny that the Chinese characters in the story took their laundry to the American Laundry and ate American food at American restaurants. At that time, the Chinese economy was 1/7th the size of the USA’s, and per capita income in the USA was 37 times higher than in China. The idea of poor American immigrants living in China in 1955 was so absurd—but I found it hilarious. Now, it’s not so absurd.

We are thinking of visiting China soon. The last time I was there was in 2000, and I’m sure much has changed. I keep thinking how nice it would be to visit the 21st century—just as America seems to be sliding back into the 18th.

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