Back when I was a mother of two, I met a Chinese couple newly arrived on our shores. They spoke little English so despite the fact that she had formally been an accountant and he in tech, their US employment was that of a seamstress and a deli worker at the local grocery store.
They rented a 1 bedrm apartment which they shared w their teenage son they brought over a couple years after their arrival. Both worked as many hours as possible, often 60 or 70 hrs/week. They owned a few pairs of pants & shoes, some mismatch dishes & 2 bikes for transportation.
We were in Spokane at the time so there weren’t a lot of Chinese speakers, native or otherwise. I would stop by their apartment every week or so and Liang, the wife, and I would walk and chat. I would ask how she was doing, she would answer “tired” but always with a smile.
I asked how America was treating them. “So much opportunity” she replied, noting her son was thriving at the community college. Sometimes I would ask about life in China. Usually she would shake her head. “What did you think about Tiananmen Square?” “Only rumors” she would say.
The official Chinese story was protestors had killed some police. Media censorship meant only those who lived through the massacre knew the truth. Failure to conform to the official narrative meant job loss/imprisonment, which ensured eye witnesses kept the truth to themselves.
Watching me push my girls in the double stroller, Liang once mentioned she wished she had more children. I wondered if she was one of the hundreds of millions of women forced to undergo sterilization/abortion by a government that determined every aspect of their citizens lives.
Liangs familys Bhuddist shrine was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution b/c it was part of the “four olds” and therefore a hindrance to the Maoist utopia. Any history/religion/statue outside CCP dogma was targeted. Tho small, Liang delighted in her living room’s statue of Buddha.
Before we left Spokane, we helped them move into a brand new 4bs/2ba house paid for w cash. Their son was in his first year of graduate school and was driving a bright red Jeep fresh off the car lot. They had all applied for citizenship.
On one of our last nights together, we made Chinese dumplings and played mah-jongg. I said “Liang, your family has come such a long way in seven years.” She told me, “only in America, only in America.”
Happy #IndependenceDay, my friends. I’m so grateful to belong to a country where freedom of expression, freedom of worship, and unlimited opportunity is available at all.
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