Part of Chang’s unfinished work “Chinatown,” in which he documents the lives of illegal Fujian immigrants smuggled into New York, this photo illustrates the longing many immigrants have for the lives they left behind. For anyone outside alien moving to New York, the key to surviving in the city is to embrace the cold steel and hard asphalt with open arms. In order to do that, however, one must first drop drop everything they were carrying with them, be it old mannerisms, traditions, or, in the case of the subject, family. In the case of immigrants from impoverished regions, the plight is much more dire. Illegal immigrants in New York are usually treated like slaves by those they work for and forced to live in a squalor not much better than the squalor they left. Still, it is an improvement, and even more so, a way to provide for their families back home. This photo serves to give insight into the hidden lives of illegal immigrants, and give outside observers a more humanizing and compassionate view of them.