Part 1: Immigrant Story by Jesse Cheung
As the daughter of a first-generation Chinese Americans, I have directly and indirectly witnessed the struggles of the immigrants and the next generation. My grandparents and parents were originally from a small village in the Fuzhou province of China, which is on the southeast coast. My family first arrived in America in the early 1980s and originally settled in New York City and eventually to Key West, Florida by working hard, creating a family, and building and calling this new world, home.
Conditions in that village in Fuzhou was very poor when my family left. My parents are coincidentally from the same poor village in China, however, my dad’s family moved to Hong Kong at a very young age. In Hong Kong, my dad’s family still lived in poverty. Starting at age seven, he and his brother made and sold pencil sharpeners to make ends meet. My mom’s family, on the other hand, was one of the first families that had relatives that escaped to America that was able to send home money, so her family was able to buy a rice cooker and some cooking wares that she shared with her neighbors.
Our marquis story is the one that we are currently living right now. Like most immigrants, my family also left poverty for more poverty with the added exclusion and rejection from new culture and world. The escape to America was difficult and came with a lot of hardships and struggles. My grandpa was the first to come to America. He started by working as a chef at a Chinese-American restaurant for 5 years. He would send his hard-worked money back to China for his family who lived in a one-bedroom home with six people. After not seeing his family for five long years, with only the occasional phone calls, my father and his family finally made their way to America only to find themselves constantly working at Chinese restaurants working various jobs of being the host, waiter, or chef. My dad had to drop out of school when he was 16 when my grandpa was able to open up his own Chinese American restaurant in New York City. He dropped out so his younger brother was able to finish high school and hopefully go to college. The restaurant business was time-consuming, laborious, and exhausting, as it was opened every day for 12 hours with no breaks.
My family from my mother’s side of the family is similar where they also opened a Chinese restaurant, however, they settled in Key West, Florida. Because they were both in the restaurant business and from the same village, through the word of mouth and a mutual family friend, they met when my mom was in New York. They fell in love and my father moved to Key West and eventually took over this family restaurant. Soon after, my brother and I were born.
Today the Chinese are a part of the mainstream American culture. Most people in the village that my parents are from are now almost all in America, concentrating mostly in New York City or in California. The Chinese language is now the third most-spoken in the US and the populations of Chinese in the US is also growing. When I think of my family, I think of their stories, and I can imagine the dirt roads, the outdoor bartering markets, and my family working various jobs as a seamstress, farmers, and watch repairer.
All my parents want for their children and the future generation is for them to be successful and not have to go through the same hardship that they went through. They have done everything in their power to provide us with anything we need and everything to succeed. They emphasize education and working white-collar jobs. Today, it is because of my family’s hardship, I am able to succeed. Everything I have and able to achieve is due to the rights and privilege that they worked for and gained. I am the first in my family along with my brother to graduate high school and go to college. I am currently on the pre-med track and hope to go to medical school. But deep down, I know my roots and that I grew up also helping out at the family Chinese-American restaurants serving fried rice and lo-mien and I come from a small humble village in China.
My challenge now is to succeed with everything that my parents and grandparents have sacrificed and given me. I have learned to push myself, be curious, and not afraid to explore and experience things. I have learned to be able to find passion in the things that I do and I aspire to share and inspire others to do so too. Their dedication and hard-working values have passed down to me and I will carry that on to my future and everything that I do. They have taught me to persevere and not to give up easily. I always enjoy our big family reunions with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and extended family and listen to their stories from their past and the new experiences that they have and the memories that we create together in America.
Part 2: Analysis
The piece I chose to imitate was the Immigrant story by Christine Ristaino because I feel as if it really resonates with my family immigrating to America and my standing and life here. I feel as if I would not be able to be where I am today and my successes without them and for that, I am forever grateful. I have also witnessed the struggles that my family and relatives that came to America with their hard-working mentality and dedication to build a new and better life in this new world. This has motivated to work harder so that one day I can reciprocate my love and appreciation back to them, just as they did to me. In the Chinese culture, it is heavily based upon parents sacrificing for their kids, so that one day when the parents are old and unable to take care of themselves, the children takes care of their parents. This is exactly what I intend to do.
The cultural DNA embedded in both of our pieces is the quote “immigrants left poverty for more poverty with an added touch of exclusion and rejection.” This statement is spot on with my family as not only did they come to America poor with hope, but they also could not speak the language, knew not a single soul, and had no one that looked like them. However, now, the Chinese are all over America, and my family’s hardship has allowed me and all the other future generations to succeed. It has given me a different outlook, perspectives, understanding and privilege that my family didn’t have in China, nor when they came. I learned from Ristaino’s story that our family’s story is embedded in us and makes us who we are today and from that, we can continue creating our own story, while not forgetting the old. I also learned that because of her success, her teachings have led her to lead a healthy life and to instill a balanced mindset. Our ancestors have paved us a pathway, to allow the future generation to have a better life and all they want for us is to be happy and healthy. While writing about my culture, I start to remember all the stories that my parents told me of their lives in China before they immigrated and how lucky they are to be able to prosper. I also realized that this may be why my family values family so much. I am not only close to my immediate family, but I am also incredibly close to my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even up to my second cousins. We have at least two family reunions every year and we consistently keep in contact. My parents have told me how much better life is here, but their hard work and determination is not over as they cannot stop pushing themselves to be the best that they can be until they cannot anymore. As I imitate this memoir, I realized how similar our immigrant stories are in our families where they came from poverty in search of a better life, but our background and future are endless.