On June 6, 1993, two hundred and eighty-six Chinese immigrants from Fujian Province, China landed on the coast of New York City. These illegal immigrants had sailed across the Pacific Ocean on a freighter named The Golden Venture for three years. The survivors of the voyage, after years of suffering, were immediately arrested and detained. The documentary, The Golden Venture, accurately depicts the persecution and financial hardships illegal immigrants had to go through in their home country and in the United States. The documentary, in many ways, also depicts the sufferings of many illegal immigrants (those not on The Golden Venture) in the United States about twenty years after the landing of the Golden Venture on the coast of New York City.

Like many of today’s immigrants, the Chinese immigrants on the Golden Venture had to take dangerous and unpredictable routes to get to the United States. The Snakeheads, the smugglers that operated and organized the Golden Venture, led the Chinese immigrants through mountains, opium fields in the Golden Triangle, and several countries before arriving in the United States. The journey took three years and many people were beaten, raped, and died along the way. According to a man who was on the Golden Venture, “[the conditions] were a living hell.” The sufferings the Chinese immigrants had to endure shown on The Golden Venture are similar to the sufferings many of today’s immigrants to have go through.

The Golden Venture also showed the lives of four of the survivors, Guilin Chen, Yan Li, Arming He, and Kaiqu Zheng. All these men had decided to board the freighter to avoid persecution, to make better money, or to find freedom. Guilin Chen and Kaiqu Zheng, for example, boarded the freighter because they were not able to earn enough money in China, whereas Arming He and Yan Li boarded the freighter to avoid persecution and find freedom. Out of these four men, three are still in the United States and happier here than they were in China. Still, they work difficult jobs and fear deportation everyday as immigration laws get stricter every years. Unlike some of these men, most people on The Golden Venture decided to return to China because they were detained for years in the United States even after they had survived the long voyage.

The Golden Venture accurately depicts the lives of Guilin Chen, Yan Li, Arming He, and Kaiqu Zheng, showing the persecution and sufferings they had to endure even 20 years after the landing of the freighter here in the United States. The men work endless hours and still fear deportation even after they have paid the price in jail. The Golden Venture, which depicts the lives of Chinese immigrants from years ago, also depicts the lives of illegal immigrants today. Like many of the Chinese immigrants from The Golden Venture, today’s immigrants work endless hours, fear deportation, and are persecuted. The Golden Venture is not only a depiction of the lives of immigrants a decade or so ago but also a depiction of the lives of immigrants today.