Chapter 1: Leaving Everything for Uncertainty
Imagine uprooting your entire life to come to a foreign country in which you have no friends or family and have no idea how to speak the language of, all at the tender age of 19. That was Mei Ling Qiu, my mother, an immigrant from Guangzhou in China who came to the United States in 1992. Barely an adult in modern day standards, she showed immense courage and fearlessness as she traveled thousands of miles to this unknown land. She kept this courage close to her heart, leading her to make a good life for herself and the family she later formed. If not for the bravery Mei Ling showed, she would not have been able to accomplish what she has in America.
One of the only baby photos Mei Ling still has in America
Mei Ling took this big leap into the unknown mainly for personal freedom. Her life back in Guangzhou wasn’t terrible; her family was not in poverty, and they lived comfortably since her father was a businessman. However, in the 1990s, China had deeply-rooted corruption in the government and business industry, and Mei Ling personally saw the impacts of the corrupted government on her father. Seeing her father participating in corrupt dealings, preparing bribes and receiving bribes, Mei Ling resented what her father was doing for a living. She detested the under-the-table dealings that her father participated in, and wanted to get away from such negativity. All the negativity took a toll on Mei Ling, starting many fights between her and her father and creating tension in the household. These troubles at home ignited rebellious behaviors from Mei Ling, and already a wild spirit, she caused even more trouble in the household. With this situation in mind, America seemed like the perfect place to escape from the grips of her parents, so she took her chances and went for it.
“I wanted freedom,” Mei Ling said. “I wanted to travel and explore the world like every teenager wants to do, and America was my only way out.”
The infamous picture of a man standing front of government tanks during the protests of Tiananmen Square
China also went through a troubling time during Mei Ling’s time there, further motivating her to leave. In 1989, three years before she left for America, the historic event of Tiananmen Square occurred. During a protest held by college students in Beijing advocating for democracy, the Chinese government sent into tanks and reinforcement to subdue the protest and ended up murdering unarmed college students with its tanks. Though she wasn’t deeply affected by the events since she lived in the southern part of China, Mei Ling felt that China was too unprincipled. She didn’t want to continue living in China and saw America as a safe haven, a place where laws and justice matter in the society and government. Of course she had friends and family members she would miss, but with all these personal reasons motivating her, she mustered up the courage to leave everything she has ever known and went to New York, a place that is halfway around the world, by herself.
Chapter 2: Surviving Through the Limbo
Transitioning into a completely different country was the point in her life where she was stuck in limbo, but her persistence and fearlessness carried her through. When Mei Ling got to America, she came into the country legally through a visa, but became “illegal” as she overstayed her visa, limiting the amount of resources and opportunities that she could access*. Coming with only a bag of clothes and a couple of hundred dollars, Mei Ling had to expand her horizons and network in order to survive. She was given instructions from family friends to settle in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York, an ethnic enclave with many Chinese inhabitants, to give herself a sense of familiarity in an unfamiliar place. Surrounded Chinese stores, Chinese restaurants, and Chinese people, Mei Ling was in a home away from home. However, this new home was certainly unlike that home she had before. In Sunset Park, she lived in a tenement, which was a small room with three people living in there. Most of them were also other Chinese immigrants trying to save money on rent by living in the tenement for about $180 a month. As uncomfortable as it was, it was the only thing she could do to get by. She relied on her persistence to get through those tough times.
“The tenement was pretty bad,” Mei Ling said. “There were 2 sets of bunk beds in one really small room, and it was me and other men and women living there. I was a little scared at one point because these people were all strangers, and everything was very overwhelming, but I had to do what I had to do to get by.”
A present-day picture of the place Mei Ling lived in when she first got to America
Mei Ling forged new friendships with the neighbors and locals through a community center and an employment agency specialized in helping Chinese immigrants to find jobs. With help from the employment agency, she soon found a job at a sweatshop owned by the Cheng family. There, she met Raymond Cheng, her future husband and father of her children, as well as a Chinese immigrant family who continued to assist her throughout the rest of her life. Mei Ling and the Cheng family became very close, and the family would help her out when she needed it. The whole community of Sunset Park thrived off the sense of ethnic solidarity, a feeling of togetherness and community between these Chinese immigrants who understand the struggles that they all go through. With the help from the community and the Cheng family, Mei Ling was able to survive
Because of her lack of a college education and inability to speak English, she was only able to get “off-the-books” manual labor jobs that paid low wages and had long hours. After working at the sweatshop, Mei Ling went on to work at a beauty salon, pharmacy, and a bar at a restaurant. During her spare time, she went to her local community center to learn English to not only increase her chances of getting a better job, but also to make her life easier. Venturing so far out of her comfort zone, Mei Ling stayed strong and slowly assimilated to her environment.
Mei Ling during her trip to the Niagara Falls
In her various jobs, Mei Ling made friends who have helped her through thick and thin and she still keeps in contact with them to this day. Because her friends were also Chinese immigrants living on their own, Mei Ling and her friends would always stick together and help each other out when one of them needed it. With the help of her new-found friends, Mei Ling go to explore New York, and even Canada, fulfilling her dreams of going on an adventure.
Like every young adult who has been away from home, Mei Ling had moments
A family photo of Mei Ling’s parents and brother that Mei Ling’s mother sent her to help with her homesickness
in which her courage and bravery faltered. She deeply missed her parents back in Guangzhou, but had no means to go back. Even though her relationship with her father wasn’t the best, she missed him nonetheless. Being a young adult with no constraints was fun and all, but it also meant she did not have her parents to lean on if she needed help. With only enough money to get by, she didn’t have the resources to return to China even if she wanted to. The only thing she could do was to work harder and slowly save up for the chance to one day return and reunite for her family. The only way she could communicate with her parents and friends in China was through sending letters to each other since Mei Ling didn’t have the money for a phone. Because she didn’t bring any keepsakes from China, Mei Ling’s mother sent her family photos to help her through the tough times. Despite all the hardships, Mei Ling endure through it all, and preserved on.
“Things got hard sometimes. I was working hard at my jobs, but I was always muscle aches afterward and I still wouldn’t have enough money for food and rent. There were times I wanted to go home, but I couldn’t because I had no money. All I could do is hope for the best.”
Visual recap of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Mei Ling’s Adventure
Chapter 3: Reaping What She Sowed
Mei Ling with her daughter (me) cutting the cake for her daughter’s birthday
Mei Ling reaped the benefits of the courage she showed when she left China in the form of a family, a stable job, and a relatively comfortable financial position. In 1997, she married Raymond Cheng. It was only after getting married to Raymond, a naturalized citizen, did Mei Ling obtain a U.S. citizenship. She gave birth to me, Victoria, in 1998 and my little brother, Edmond, in 2002. She started working as a hotel maid not long after she gave birth to her daughter and has been working there ever since. Because both her and her husband had to work, no one could really take care of my brother and I, so Mei Ling asked her mother to come over to America and help care for us. Her mother, my grandmother, helped care for me and Mei Ling for several months and then came back again in 2002, when Mei Ling gave birth to my little brother. Bonding with her mother in this time allowed Mei Ling to rekindle her relationship with her family, and this gave way for the potential of having a good relationship with her father.
With her persistence and fearlessness guiding her through tough times, Mei Ling worked hard and saved enough to finally take a visit to China with her husband and children in 2004, almost 12 years since she first left. When she arrived in China, things have changed over the years like the roads and buildings, but the most significant change was that she no longer thought of China as her home. She felt distant from China; it became a place of her past, a place she no longer belonged in. This shows how much Mei Ling has assimilated into American society and become distant from people who she grew up with. Though she did reunite with her whole family, unfortunately, she still wasn’t able to form a good relationship with her father, but it was still nice for her to see him and the rest of her family.
“China is too different now.” Mei Ling said. “The people in China are too different, too ill-mannered compared to the people in America. The people in China were raised differently, and I’m too used to America to go back. I wouldn’t go back to China if you gave the chance.”
Visual recap of Chapter 3 of Mei Ling’s Adventure
Epilogue
All her hard work and courage paid off in the end, and after living in the United States for almost 25 years, Mei Ling has grown from the rebellious teenager to a wise mother and wife. In addition, she grew from a poor “illegal” immigrant to a legal, tax-paying citizen who contributes to America. Despite being assimilated into American society, she still keeps her identity as Chinese close to her heart. She still watches Chinese shows and news, ad also celebrates Chinese holidays, but she feels more at home in America than inChina. Now happily living in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Mei Ling is still the courageous young girl who stepped foot into this country alone, but this free spirit settled down and planted roots into American soil, passing on her courage to her little saplings.
Mei Ling with her daughter (me) on a train ride to Manhattan
Visual recap of the Epilogue and Present Day of Mei Ling’s Adventure
*Writer’s Note: Mei Ling didn’t want to discuss in depth about how she came to America because she did come here illegally, so she requested that information to be kept off the oral history. Therefore, I simply wrote that she got a visa to respect her wishes. In addition to that, she didn’t want her situation with her father to be put into the oral history. That is why there is a lack of detail in those two areas.
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