Min was born in 1960, the youngest of three children, in a capital city in northeastern China. His father had a good job working in the provincial government until the Cultural Revolution came into full force, and his father was accused of being too “Western” and walking the capitalist road.
“When I was nine, my whole family was sent into the countryside,” Min recalled. “No running water. No electricity. It was a punishment. “
Min’s father was sent to work in the fields. I’d heard a theory that perhaps Mao’s whole plot to “re-educate” was based on a logistical crisis of unemployment.
“If you look at the background information”, said Min, “I think that’s part of the reason. But meanwhile Mao Tse Tung was trying to change the culture, the country. He’s thinking the country has too many baggage from the old times. So he wants to send people to the countryside to experience a different lifestyle. He wanted to change people’s thinking.”
In 1974, the government changed its policy again, and Min’s father was allowed to work as a government officer again—but just in a county office.
“It was much lower ranking than the provincial post he’d had,” said Min.
But better than the rice fields. Min’s father was now in charge of oil, coal, and steel for the whole county. Then in 1977, Min’s father got his old provincial post back.
“It only took eight years,” said Min. ”Our life then was unbelievable. Up and down. So good, so bad. We got used to it. Now we can handle anything.”
After the Cultural Revolution, Min, who had been doing his best to study despite all the upheavals, was faced with an interesting situation. He had finished his elementary school in a rural school with no electricity. He had gone onto middle school in the county. In 1978, he was about to enter high school. High school at that time consisted of 9th and 10th grade. So he was preparing to take a high school placement exam. At the same time, however, Deng Xiao Ping had just announced that colleges—which had been closed during the Cultural Revolution—would be re-opening. So Min decided he would take the test for college, too.
“This only happens in China.” Min laughed. “I took the College Entry test. And after I took the college entry test, I took the high school placement test. “
Min figured that if he didn’t pass the college entry exam, he would just continue his high school studies. He not only passed, but was able to go to his first-choice school, one of China’s top universities.
After graduation, Min returned home where he was assigned to design aircraft for the Ministry of Aerospace.
“In China at that time it’s not like free will where you could work where you want. When you graduated you were assigned to work as a government employee somewhere.”
Min also started studying English. He bicycled to night school after work twice a week, and sought out “English Corners”-- places on the street where interested learners would gather and practice with each other. Sometimes even foreigners passing through China would join the English Corner. Min’s English got so good that he was asked to do translation on the side, translating manufacturing documents for a beer company from English to Chinese. At one point, he realized he wanted to go to the U.S.
“It was more attractive at that time. I don’t know why. We didn’t have a lot of information, unlike now where you can Google or Baidu anything.”
Meanwhile, in 1985, Leader Deng Xiao Ping created a program to send graduate students abroad to study, in the hopes they would bring back the knowledge.
“In 1985 it was still hard for young people to go abroad. The Ministry of Aerospace selected only a few people to go.”
Min was one of those select few. Upon acceptance into the program, he applied and was accepted to a well-respected university in the southern part of the U.S.
Min said his knowledge of American culture was from two sources— the first was The 900 Sentences of English, a standard book that was popular at the time.
Min remembered how each morning during college the teacher would get on the loudspeaker and call out a hundred sentences. The students would line up and repeat each sentence.
“It was really interesting--in an amusing way.” Min laughed. “Think of a U.S. campus blaring Chinese sentences that a group of Americans have to repeat.”
From the dialogues in the book, Min knew that everyone in America had a car, a refrigerator, a TV, and a nice living style.
But his other source of information—propaganda-- warned that America was a horrible place, a capitalist country which took advantage of workers, invaded other countries, loved power, and was always trying to bend people to its will with no regard for others.
“We were always taught, ‘Down with Capitalism,’” remembered Min with a smile.
“Weren’t you afraid?” I asked.
“No, no, no, not at all. I was young.”
“What about your parents?” I couldn’t fathom sending one of my children to a place with such a bad reputation. “Were they afraid?”
“Back then nobody really paid attention to us. We just grew up by ourselves. Nowadays my daughter says, ‘Daddy you don’t care about me.’ The culture is very different. I work hard. I earn money for the family. I assume her mom can take care of her better. But she doesn’t think that. She thinks mom and dad should be equal.”
“Obviously she’s American,” I said.
“Yes. When I asked her, ‘Are you American or Chinese?’ She says, ‘I’m American. I’m not Chinese.’ To me, I’m Chinese and I’m American. I spent half of my life in America and half in China. I’m both. No doubt.”
And that’s one reason why Min’s opinion is so interesting….and valuable.
(…to be continued. Next: Coming to America Despite Government Warnings)
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