Meanings
- UShistoricalA loophole in early-1900s American immigration law that allowed Chinese people to enter the country if they managed a Chinese restaurant, resulting in a greater-than-average increase of those establishments over several decades.
1 more example
"Lo Mein Loophole: How U.S. Immigration Law Fueled A Chinese Restaurant Boom [...] Some Chinese business owners in the U.S. could get special merchant visas that allowed them to travel to China, and bring back employees. Only a few types of businesses qualified for this status. In 1915, a federal court added restaurants to that list. Voila! A restaurant boom was born."
2016 February 22, “Lo Mein Loophole: How U.S. Immigration Law Fueled A Chinese Restaurant Boom”, in National Public Radio, retrieved 18 Jun 2023
Cite this entry
lo mein loophole. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lo%20mein%20loophole
“lo mein loophole.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lo%20mein%20loophole. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lo mein loophole,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lo%20mein%20loophole.
Source: lo mein loophole on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.