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So our names are McKenzie Johnson and Michael Wu and we will be interviewing Mr. Yang Qin for the Houston Asian American Archive. Um, could you begin the interview by telling us a little bit about yourself and, like, your experiences in Houston and possibly in China?

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Um, myself is just, uh—I mean, uh, if I talk of me, uh, I think of—first of how I started from the zhiqing, which means, uh, in China, uh, during the 197—uh, ’66 to

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1976, during the 10 years, about 20,000,000 youths went into the countryside, which they call the “reeducate.” ‘Cause before that I just—I was a high school student and

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I don’t have anything can talk because before my high school year, China had a cultural revolution. Uh, I didn't learn anything, mostly stay home play because so young at time.

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So, our high school—actually in high—during high school we didn't learn lot of stuff. And, uh, so, after high school, I went to countryside in 1974.

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And in—in—in countryside, uh, work with farmers in the high mountain, in the Sichuan province, the high mountain area, uh, about five years. And I take the—China started change, China started

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reform. They called it economic reform. And they come like they, uh—from the political point of view, I don’t know how to call, but it’s kind of the abandonment .

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The revolution stop and they just started going to the open the door for the whole world and, uh, started reform follow the …. Uh, because economic reason, political reason, whatever the reason, they started follow the—the—the—the

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world. The step to change. So the—the Chin—China find out they need a lot of the—you needed knowledge; you needed science. And then can get the better life as other people in the—in the

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other—in the—in the world. So, we take the test, the—the national-wide, uh, college entry test. So I get a chance, and

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take a test. I get into the college. That’s my basic, my life since there start to change. So, after that and then after four years in the college.

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And, uh, I—I got a job in the—in the, uh, engineering company, chemical engineering company, one of the biggest chemical com—uh, engineering company in the China. I was living the Sichuan province.

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Is in—in—inside of Chinese. It's kind of like Texas. Uh, I mean they sometime they call the Texas, uh, Texan as the red—redneck, or whatever, you

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know? The—the inside of China province is not really open like, like the, uh—like the—the— the—along the—along the ocean province. They don’t know lot of the—how society is.

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So, but anyway, my friend told me you have chance go to America. Just take the TOEFL. Just take the GRE. So I took all of them. And luckily, uh, um, UH,

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uh, uh, admitted me as teaching assistantship. So that’s why I come here and I get the—the chemistry PhD degree and working for the chemical company.

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Uh … I think—I—I—I don’t know really that Rice, or whatever happening interview me, but I know what was happening. I come here is ‘cause we have the book going to

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be published called the Zhiqing Story: From China’s Special Generation, and, uh, our editor contact the—the Rice Asian—what? I don’t know. Asian research center or something called that, and, uh,

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I think that, uh, I don’t know the name. Lahni, uh—and, uh—Lahni, uh, … she the head of the—she or he, I don’t—I don’t really know.

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She is the head the Asian Chao Research. You should know something like that. Uh-huh. He endorse our book, so, and, uh—so, I think one of the lady in charge of this

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research center, and I said okay. “We can have student interview and give our question we need to fill, so I—I send to you.” And that’s why I come for the interview. Uh, if you want me say something, I’m not just

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only the people. It’s not—not special. It’s just like a lot of people, Chinese come to America because, uh, after China, uh …. 1949 China

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indep—uh, uh, liberated from the—like the—the—the Japan inventing or whatever. And after that—and, uh, China because after World War II and the Korean War, China was

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isolated from most of Western country because all of the political issue. Uh, so, the China did— don't have any connection with—with outside at the time. So until after the—uh,

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China finished the cultural revolution, then we have the chance to go out to look and, uh, it was, uh, totally different. Uh, so that’s why.

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Um, since—for my whole life, um, from the growing in China and—and the stay already like the 20 years, 24 years in the America, look at both country.

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And, uh, so from my experience go through and my life is big change, is big, uh, lesson or whatever for me is called the zhiqing because when that time, I only 18 years old.

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So we want to write a story let our whole world know what was happening. And, uh, we don't know behind all the political or whatever happen,

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but we know we went through all this kind of stuff. So the book right now, I already saw it yesterday. I try to figure out the what’s going on for the book. And, uh, so I go to Google, and

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the book already started pre-order in the amazon.com, foyles.co.uk, and worldcat.org, and knetbooks.com, and e-compass.com. So, the book tell all of the story.

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I try to tell—we—we try to tell the whole world what were happening during that—that 10 years. And the rest is very, very—I mean … cannot forget the experience. Uh, so we

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don't want the—the—the—the people forget this, that kind of thing happen in China. And no matter the good, the bad, whatever, let the—the—the reader to judge what is

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happening is China, what is good for China, what is bad for the—all the you people, what is bad- -let the reader to judge. And, uh, the happen in the 10 years the zhiqing, uh, movement to go to—

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I don’t know how much you guys know. It’s—it’s—it's—it’s called, uh, sent down to, uh, countryside and, uh, uh, reeducated by the poor peasant or whatever.

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That—that experience is, uh, like, uh, you can think about it. I bet you—you guys 18, graduated from high school. You guys so happy going to

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the university and get the good high education and new out—out world. Like my younger daughter right now is 16. She’s going to college soon.

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And that’s why she looking for the summer job. So—and she’s, uh, going to get her driver license. So, when her mom took her to

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the bank to open the account because of summer job will need direct deposit or whatever. And also, she going to take the driver test. She feel like, “Oh I’m al—almost be adult

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and—and I'm going to have to be independent. I’m kind of scared what I’m—I’m going to know nothing about it. And I can—and through me to the—to the world, I have to do all by myself.”

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But, you don’t worry about it because already is—is a good future for you, all open the door for you. You go to the college, and the college has, uh, dorm and has teacher, has all the—

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your—your—your—you friends. And you—you—you do there—you do nothing, just learning. You learn lot of knowledge, and when you grow up, when you really have that, and you start contribute to the society.

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But that—when we was 18 we have no future. We just threw to the farmers. And no relative, no—no—nobody. And is there alone with the—with the farmers.

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I'm not saying the farmers is bad, buy they live there by generation by generation. They don’t know how the world is—is happening, so they just see the—all the new come. And, uh, we—we don’t have really

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common, uh, language and to talk to each other. You feel so lonely. And the—the life is so hard. And all the work, you have to survive for yourself.

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You have to earn that called gōng fēn . Actually, like I say maybe, uh … I would like to say maybe less than ten cents American dollar a day!

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So it’s hard for live. This is our experience. We want to write—write—write out. And since these 10 years in

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China, so so many people, there's a whole generation went through all this. So they—they start to write our story, but mostly in Chinese.

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And they call the shānghén wénxué , is a kind of the lite—literature is hurt our generation. That is, uh, very popular during the—after the—the China do the reform.

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But now, China is change so much. They follow the— the West country. They—they really right now follow and the material. Everybody admires

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who is rich or whatever. If you have the inheritage from China, you probably heard the new word called the tǔ háo . Uh … Like landlords or they got rich off of investing on the land?

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No, not exactly. The tǔ háo, is—is—háo is, uh, millionaire rich people. Tǔ means kind of the, uh— the—

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Like country people? Country people, redneck and the— Okay. suddenly rich. For example like the North Dakota, and they got the oil booming and suddenly the people get rich.

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I heard the all the newspaper say the story. The people—so I mean, they—they don’t know still, uh, how to—how to spend all the money. They just buy the truck,

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still truck, but load everything, load big speaker, whatever, and drive on the street. They go on. They still don’t. So the Chinese rich people kind of like—like that. They don’t have, um—you know, right now the—the—for example like the Bill Gates,

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they—they—they—they know how to donate to help the poor kids. But these people, they don’t know what— what to do with thesuddenly so much money. So China right now is focus on the material stuff.

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And the people don’t really care about the art, history, literature. Lot of people don't care. I mean, I’m not saying all people. So we want to remind all the people, not the people in China, to

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remind the whole world what the China went through, and al—almost destroy a whole generation. Because we—for example—for example, I—I'm kind of lucky ‘cause during the countryside the

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five years, yes, I didn't learn anything. I just work hard and try to get a—make for a living. But, since I heard the news, probably they going to reform can take the test, I study and luckily I get into the college.

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But meantime, I still —I’m really lack of some of the knowledge because I'm not go through systemly from the middle school, high school because cultural revolution.

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We stop all the class and we go home sometime, come back to school sometime. Go home, and then come—go to countryside. We didn't study. So for example, the Chinese the

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word sometime always misspelling or whatever. And I can write really good it’s why because I like—I like to reading. And—and—and I know you guys go all through that. It’s—from the language, you are noticing I, uh—I study

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grammar. Whatever, no, you—you cannot get that— that improve your writing. Your writing help you read. You read more and you can write better. So I just like reading fortunately.

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And then the— another thing is, uh …. But, so I can go—but science part I think is easy for me because it’s just math, phys—basic and math and physics, uh, chemistry you

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just learn. You can catch up quickly. But basic some like for example, bioscience or whatever, the body, whatever—even— even just a couple months ago I have a kidney stone. And it’s so pain.

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I have no idea. And my wife sent me to the emergency and they did CT. And I found, oh here’s a kidney stone because it cause the pain. So and emergency give me some the—uh, uh,

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uh—some medicine and I go—went home. And—and the next day, I feel I was still not good. I’m gonna call specialist. So I call specialist, and they told me.

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“Oh, your kidney stone, you should come right away.” So one of the—the specialist, the did, uh, uh, a—say the—they call the UV su— supersound whatever they call.

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So they go through here because CT go whole body scan. And then go the, uh—the supersound, they go one side and they want me turn other side, and do it again. I said, “Why you would want me to turn other side?

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I have the one, they told me here!” He said, “You have two kidney.” I said, “Oh!” I didn't know! I’m not joking. So is—is—is kind of part I really lack of the knowledge because I didn't learn

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systemly. I may heard somebody mention that you people have two kidney, but I didn't learn from when I was young, so I couldn't remember. So I don’t want to pretend I'm so stupid, but sometimes it

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happen so. That—that thing happening is destroy—is whole generation right now this generation is lot of people still struggling, and they don't have job because they don’t have knowledge. And

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they just—no job stay home. And then, in China, modern China, you have the, uh, older generation. You have raise. You know, China is don’t, uh—is don’t have the, uh—the whole country don’t have the, uh,

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really system for the senior retire, whatever. It’s not like America. Even America has all the issue, but is China just don’t have. And then they start right now, but it’s so many problem.

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So the—the—the kids have to, uh, help the older—older ones. Then you have to raise the younger one, so it’s really lot of burden for the generation like us. But mean—meantime, the generation

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like us like the right now is like 50, 60. They going—they are—there’s some really good one and some ones, uh, are standing out. They went to the leadership, like the right now the leadership in China is—is zhiqing generation.

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So you look at total different—if you look at China, uh, recent history happen is total different from the before the—the leadership. The right now the leadership focus on

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the benefit of the older people, and they try to stop corruption because like what I said the peop—China looking right now all the material. But the leadership, right now, they try to stop the corruption. And, uh, I think the change—so, the

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whole experience of what I—we—we try to tell in the—in the—in the—in the book, we just tell the what would happen what we experience, but it affect the whole generation, affect the China, maybe affect the—the—the whole world because the whole world want to understand, the second biggest economic,

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uh, entity, what going to do. For example, even anything happen, the China slow down, then you will affect the stock market here too. So the—the—the—the whole every—we think the whole world want to know the leadership of this generation.

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What are they going to do? So, we—we probably have the common point because we all go through the hard life. We know how to do hard work, but this work we—we have—I mean this what I—I feel like this most

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experience I got from my—my— my life. Yeah. Okay, so, um, thank you. And also, uh, could we kind of like go through like I guess your

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life as a zhiqing? Like so … like you said that, uh, in high school—when you were in high school, the cultural revolution already started happening, right? So basically in schools they

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stopped really teaching you things? Yeah. And so, uh, after you—you graduated and you were sent down to the countryside—? Mm-hmm. What was a typical day like, while you were a zhiqing?

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Typical day? Yeah. Uh . You know, uh, I think I have two story in that book. And all of the—the things

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that I do remember is just like all the youth and with, um—try to, uh, avoid the aloneness and try

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to make life more happiness. And so that’s why because, uh, when you study a little bit, just like question you ask me, when you study a little bit, and then you start a lot, a lot, a lot

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of question. Because for example, you started the your high school student, cultural revolution. Once the cultural revolution started—when the cultural … how it affect you—you—you—you—you— you—your—you—your high school whatever.

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There’s a lot, a lot of this the topic going to started. But we can't go through all this. So we just start. I think the book the same thing. We just start a little bit point and if you’re interesting, if somebody interesting,

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and then you can go through all the history. So what I'm trying to say, in the—in the—in the—in the countryside, the most that I still—I do really remember because you can see the all the central country is different.

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And sometime and they send to the—call the biānjiāng , the—called the border of the China, and there the, uh, military constructing form—firm of there. So, we sent to countryside.

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We sent alone. We sent maybe one in the village, another one in the other village. So what do we do, we just visit the—the—the zhiqing in the other village, and from there is all mountain. You go through all there.

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And, in the mountain, you—you probably spend half day of walk . And during, the mountain all the trees, whatever you can see nothing. Sometimes scare and snake, all kind of stuff, and—but we just want to

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find the same kind of the people we can talk. We stayed overnight and then come back village again, probably this, the most I remember.

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And sometimes when you walk in the middle of the—uh, the—the—the—the tree of the mountain, uh, you can get water because is like the mountain water from the, uh, mountain and—and very nice, very, very, very good water because all filled

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by the—by the—by the mountain. But, sometime you couldn’t get any food. So we just—if we—we pass the farmers’ the field, they—they growing the corn they growing some vegetable, we

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just take that and eat it and find water again. So this the most I remember. Yeah. So when you were traveling to the countryside

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and to other villages did you walk there or did you take a train or some other transportation? Yeah that’s another kind of story. Most, uh—some, uh—first we go there we just take the—

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we walk there, and—but by walking can’t go very far. And, uh, from the whole high school we spread—I don’t know how to say—it’s very far away. It’s—it’s hard. You can by walk to go

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there, but I don’t know how many miles, whatever, but all by mountain. The mountain—what will happen in the mountain—for example, you are on the mountain. I’m on the mountain. I can see you very close. I can face you. I can talk to you.

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I can see you very clear, but if I want get you is hard because what would happen in the—you can’t fly up there. You have to go down, go the valley, and go up.

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And this is very tired because you have to go, down go up. So normally we go around. Finally we figure out because first we don’t know if—mostly you follow the same thing like highway on the mountain.

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You see this highway always, uh, uh, waver and, you can’t go straight up for the highway. For the people, it’s the same thing. You go straight, uh—you go down, go straight up.

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It’s very tiring. So we figure out we go that way. And … of course, we spread so big area. So we start—finally started going to the—they don’t have a train they only have the truck on the mountain road.

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It’s—it’s paved but it’s not really good. And in China is—is—there are little bit of public transportation for the bus, but it’s very, very few. And even with—we cannot—we cannot afford to pay it.

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But they have lot of truck they carry the material from there. I don’t know what, uh—what they do. But anyway, one time we figure out what is called the military truck.

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They have to bring all the material, like the rice, food to the, other, uh, whatever base, or we don’t know. So—but anyway, we think—we—we went there and we want to visit our friend. We have—we cannot

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walk so far, so we just wave hand, stop the—any vehicle we can see. But of course, they don’t want to pick you up. They try—they try to avoid you and bypass you and … and—and—and ….

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So normally we figure out, we have two people normally, walk together. One is standing in front. One is standing in back. If the truck can—want to pass another one standing in front again. So

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normally, they have to stop. But it’s very dangerous for both. So … that time we stop one the military truck, find a military report to their, uh, top—

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whatever they call it—county, whatever. And they sent … I don’t know how. In—in—in America is kinda militia is—is—is—is—is has a weapon, but is not military, but is, uh, belong to

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government and they manage all the village and remote area. They come to our village, almost try to arrest us because you stop military truck is against law, whatever. But actually, China no

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law anyway. So we …. But we protect by the Chairman Mao because he sent us to the countryside. We have another issue. So they have to—because if you—if you

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arrest us or—or—or put something and they are going to hurt 20,000,000 kids and 20,000,000—almost 20,000,000 kids sent to the countryside. And also how many family behind.

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So you will cause really—I mean—and even in—in the China. So China want to stabilize. So they want put this

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kids, continues to the countryside. So, they are, uh, I think that in American probably same. For example the military finally get special protect. For example the—like the America

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probably, uh, heard a lot of story, probably different. The soldier going to the, uh, front, his wife, if you cheating his wife, you will put in you jail. If somebody involves a lover whatever with his

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wife in—in home you get put in jail. But in America, probably different, oh whatever, you join. You leave and like all of the .

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I heard my co—coworker said to me. The same thing happening. So the China have to protect the military, uh, family. So they have a special law—law.

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The law apply to the—the zhiqing too. So if you do something bad to the—the, uh, zhiqing in the village or whatever, you probably will put you in jail. So we are all

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kind of the, uh, anyway just happening. Uh, it’s like the young people we—we do something strange or whatever. And we suffering.

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And … yeah. We, uh, for—for—for—for boy we didn’t cry. All the girls all cry when we gonna because leave the family don’t know what ’s going on.

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But the … I think this—this was my own life. Yeah. Okay, so it sounds like you were almost protected by the government, but at the same time like the government didn’t like you—

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Punish. Want to—want to punish you guys. Um, so did you have to do any farm work with the farmers? And, like also, like, where did you sleep? Or did they build new buildings for you to

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sleep in or …? Okay. Now this zhiqing movement is start from the central government. They push down. And, uh, it cause so many problem. And, uh, even one the teacher.

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He—the teacher is don’t make lot of money. He—he’s—he’s—he’s sent to countryside and cannot survive because the earning from the farmers.

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So he wrote about this all in history. He—uh, you can probably can Google it. Name call Li Qinglin. He wrote a letter to the Chairman Mao, chairman, you know,

00:29:15.640 - 00:29:29.110

he’s a, uh, whatever you call it, chair man or you call it delegate or whatever it. He got a letter. He’s, “Oh, man. It’s—it’s—it’s really suffering.” So he give us 300 Chinese Yuan. That time it’s—it’s pretty big money.

00:29:29.830 - 00:29:40.510

Sent to her—to—to the—the guy. So that give every government— local government a hand, okay? You needed—you need to give some zhiqing something for

00:29:40.510 - 00:29:51.620

survival. So, uh, finally, and also the central government give every zhiqing to the farmers. I don’t know if that … yeah, I don’t remember. 100 dollars something for ….

00:29:52.390 - 00:30:06.720

It’s—it’s—it’s a lot of money for especially have the—the room to live in, whatever. For the village, they got this—I don’t know. Couple 100 dollar—not dollar—yuan. They got the money.

00:30:06.720 - 00:30:21.320

It’s—it’s pretty big money for them too. But they don’t want to spend the money for the—for you! They want to keep the money to buy the, uh, uh—the—the—the tools. Buy the fertilizer or something, even

00:30:21.320 - 00:30:33.230

buy the cow. Cow can—can—uh, can plow—plow the—the—the dirt and can—can—can plant the seeds or something. So, they put us in the—in the—in the kind of the—the—the

00:30:34.950 - 00:30:48.970

rice wheat storage. And the—the storage is just for store all of the—the—the—the harvest stuff for the year. And, because when you harvest the rice, you don’t want to put it outside because it

00:30:48.970 - 00:31:04.400

raining. You— you—you—you have to be dry. But now, right now, right now they—all of the industry, you— you put the—the heater or whatever the—you know, the whole industry p—p—process. Before they—the—the—for the farmers, they depend on the, uh—on the skies.

00:31:04.550 - 00:31:14.920

You get it dry. It’s dry. You get it wet. So they have the storage where you put in. Uh, and then the sun come out, they move out. So the storage is wet, and all the molding, whatever.

00:31:15.620 - 00:31:23.370

And—and also storage is made by the dirt. It’s not by the brick or something. And they—they—they—they hamm—they—they

00:31:24.140 - 00:31:36.120

have the mold—mold and then put the dirt on they. They hammered and make strong and they put outside, the sun to dry, and they make the—the—the—the storage. So we live there.

00:31:36.180 - 00:31:48.550

A lot of cracking. You can see the moon from the cracking and the snake come in whatever all kind of stuff. So the walls were made of dirt? Yeah, made of dirt. Oh, the whole—whole house was made of dirt. Yeah, and—uh, yeah—and—and the roof made by the grass.

00:31:48.580 - 00:31:58.160

And we—uh, not grass— Straw. —actually rice. Oh. The wheat. Wheat? Wheat. You know, you—you cut the wheat, uh, uh, the seed and, then put the—the stem, put on—on—on the top.

00:32:00.160 - 00:32:14.340

So this, they keep the money. And, uh, we don’t really have any. The only—but, uh, anyway, the farmers, they—they don’t have lot of food at that time either.

00:32:14.420 - 00:32:25.440

Uh, before the—the—the—the, uh, uh, reform—uh, we’ll say open the door—the China is—was struggling, even for food. So the farmer don’t have lot of food.

00:32:25.440 - 00:32:40.630

So we are same thing. Uh, we work as farmers. Uh, but that time only 18 years old the farm the—you know, the man—for the man is—is, uh,—is, uh, most strong ages maybe 20 to

00:32:40.630 - 00:32:53.250

40 or something, the—the— the middle time. But we are only 18. So we are not as strong as, uh—as the farmers, and they are—they are used to plows.

00:32:54.400 - 00:33:08.680

But we are more flexible ‘cause we are live in a city. We do all the sport and something. More flexible. They just started young, just start work hard, so they are not that flexible. Uh, so I work in

00:33:09.050 - 00:33:19.920

the—in the—in the, uh, village. I earn kind of like women ‘cause women—I have—I have my story inside. women kind of like the—you have the breakfast.

00:33:20.650 - 00:33:34.900

You have cook for the men to work, and then the, uh, uh, dinner. You have come back early to cook. So you work shorter than the men, so you—you get paid less than the men, like 80 percent

00:33:35.170 - 00:33:49.410

maybe I would say. So I—I get paid like the women. But since I start five years, I grow from 18 to the 23rd. So most of—I make much higher—they

00:33:50.250 - 00:34:06.960

call the working point—is kind of like even, even higher than most of the men, which I working for the dam for the—for the—for the—for the build—build man-made lake.

00:34:07.680 - 00:34:25.040

And the reason ‘bout build a man-made lake is try to collect all the water at the dry season for the winter and spring come and they can let the water go into the field to grow the rice or whatever. So the what happen in just—between the mountain, you—you—you

00:34:25.300 - 00:34:33.990

dig the dirt from mountain and put it in the dam, and you hammered. And all the man work . It’s not a—no machine.

00:34:34.450 - 00:34:50.070

So I put on there and, you build it high, high, build it, uh, thick, and then the—the water come from mountain can stop in the middle. And that I—I wrote a story of there and that time because, uh, like I said, I’m more flexible.

00:34:50.070 - 00:35:01.540

When you take the—the cart, the cart there’s two wheel and in front you have handle. Like a wheelbarrow. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, you from mountain go down.

00:35:02.640 - 00:35:16.350

And the—the—the people put all the dirt, and you have to go down put on the dam. So, when the cart, you—when you push down, they going to—because this is a hill, it going to follow you.

00:35:17.550 - 00:35:28.230

The first time I went there, uh, uh, our coun—uh, our village only one people know how to—how to do that. So I go there. I said it just two wheel like—like you said. What you call the bare , right?

00:35:28.630 - 00:35:37.240

Mm-hmm. I said, it easy. I just push down and it started go down to the hill from mountain. But then, I realize it follow me. They not stop! You go fast.

00:35:37.240 - 00:35:45.270

It go fast more than you! But then it’s empty because I just started. I feel, “Oh man, it’s so …. It’s gonna run me over!” So what I

00:35:45.270 - 00:36:00.450

did, I just turn around and the handle go over from my—my head, and then I sneak out, and then the—the cart the rolling to the—to—to the down of the hill. So the farmers, they are not realize

00:36:00.450 - 00:36:11.800

so fast. So if first, sometime they don’t know how to handle that, and sometimes accident happening because when you put all the dirt, it’s very heavy. You have to push down and they can loading, otherwise not loading.

00:36:12.100 - 00:36:25.140

When you loading, you have to be careful. They going to catch you! So you have to—you have to lift up and let the back to—to—to close to the—uh, the load and then start friction and you can start.

00:36:25.660 - 00:36:41.030

You can start. You can load, uh, rest, uh, very, very —rest, uh, very, very hard. So the farmers, they don’t realize this kind of skill because they work from the kids and—and we—we know that anyway I saw that

00:36:41.150 - 00:36:57.370

the only safety part you can do, if the heavy cart really try to rolling over, you just pull it close and then you sneak out like the—the fall. So the—the—the village people realize that I have this kind of skill or they let me

00:36:57.370 - 00:37:15.210

to—to— to manage. And they pay, uh, much higher than the normal the—the—the labor. So that’s only I can earn much more than other farmers, you know? So, you got paid by the farmers?

00:37:15.760 - 00:37:27.450

Or the government paid the farmers— Village. —to pay you? Paid by the village? Yeah, village. Village government or like the council? You know, that’s another history happening in China was like what I said before

00:37:27.450 - 00:37:42.580

the, uh, reform. I would like to say it’s 1978 or whatever, the China start opening the door and then the— the history is, uh, uh …

00:37:44.180 - 00:37:59.540

China Party, the Communist Party … Secretary, Zhao Ziyang, I don’t know, is, uh—is, uh—that happened ’80, uh, uh, June 4th … uh, the China— Tiananmen. —Tiananmen Square—Square that happening.

00:38:00.540 - 00:38:10.520

He got threw out. He—he was supposed to take over. Deng Xiaoping. He got thrown out because he sympathize to the students.

00:38:11.720 - 00:38:23.830

He is a reformer. He said the—the village should—should be independent and give the people more choice. It’s not all by government and they give them more motivation.

00:38:24.340 - 00:38:37.030

And same thing like American have here. Why the American call the democracy, want the freedom? Because they give you freedom, you have the motivation. If I don’t give you this freedom use everybody

00:38:37.790 - 00:38:47.470

same. What is make the Rice different from UH? Well nobody! People same! Why I have to work so hard to get into the Rice?

00:38:47.470 - 00:38:58.450

Instead I just go to community college. My life will be the same. When I graduate, I get the job assigned by the government. Uh, it’s not up to, where you—you study,

00:38:58.500 - 00:39:10.390

whether you, uh, have ability, whatever. So, before that time, the village have no choice, and they—we were struggling. They don’t have enough food. Even they make some food, they have to give to the government.

00:39:11.090 - 00:39:25.230

So the—the village only can reserve little bit of food, so … and when I go there, I—I would be the bur—burden for the village. But village at least have to pay—pay me for the food.

00:39:26.780 - 00:39:40.260

In the end of the year, actually I didn’t earn any extra money. I just can barely can support myself to get the food. And they give you some the little bit of land and you grow in there, and you—you growing the—the vegetable, and you have vegetable.

00:39:42.640 - 00:39:51.030

So, it’s hard to say who pay you. But the—because that time central government control everything. So village is controlled by the central

00:39:51.030 - 00:40:02.200

government. And, of course, we do—we … So they—so they give you some money, and—but then you have to use the money to pay for food? I don’t know if I have money. They just give food. Oh, they just give you food!

00:40:02.330 - 00:40:13.200

So they pay you in food? Yeah, village don’t have money either! Oh, they don’t have the money! Okay. Now the back the before the reform, like I was saying, in 1978, the—the Chinese, they don’t have the private property.

00:40:13.840 - 00:40:21.800

Nothing. So … I don’t know your background. You come from main China? Uh, so my parents are from Taiwan. Your parents …. Oh you’re part of Taiwan?

00:40:21.800 - 00:40:35.510

So you— Taiwan. you diff—little bit different. Yeah, a little bit different. So the main China—uh, mainland of China the people come from the—the—the United States is after, I think mostly the—the President Nixon visit

00:40:35.510 - 00:40:50.040

China and they start Open Door. The Open Door is for the scholar, and, uh—and, uh—and, uh, finally go to the college student. So that time, all the Chinese students from mainland

00:40:50.450 - 00:41:00.060

come here. Basically, no money. They just get scholarship. For example, like the, 100—maybe 100 dollar. They saving—parents saving give to

00:41:00.060 - 00:41:12.440

them, come here, and they get a scholarship. You know, I come here. The first UH orientation. Uh, I'm not saying American student,

00:41:12.440 - 00:41:25.390

I—I know you—you—you because this your country, so you—you know how to—but I know the—the—the Taiwanese student come. They same thing like us come from foreign country, no parents here, and everything you depend yourself.

00:41:26.360 - 00:41:40.790

But I’m—I’m so admired of the—the—the Taiwanese, uh, student come here. What was happening, they have money go to the vending machine. They have money go to traveling somewhere, and at the time I know nothing!

00:41:40.790 - 00:41:55.230

The vending machine, I—I - had—I had my—my, uh, old one, daughter in China already at the time. I said, when I go to—to America, I have to earn enough money let my daughter come here and

00:41:55.230 - 00:42:11.350

she can go vending machine buy some stuff. Yeah. So, this tell you the—the—the difference. Yeah. That’s definitely very different now though. Yes, right now it’s different. Right now it’s, uh—you—you can—you can read the—the

00:42:11.350 - 00:42:20.130

news, whatever, they all rich people from China. They—they drive a Mercedes Benz, BMW, and they didn’t go to school. All the change. It change too fast.

00:42:20.440 - 00:42:33.360

So that’s why we write the story. We—they need to know that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think that earlier you mentioned that, um, your friend told you that you could take

00:42:33.360 - 00:42:45.730

a test to enter into college, um, in China? Is that correct? Like have you—? The—the—the—the—the college is not what my friend told me. It’s, uh— it’s, uh—it’s uh, like—like what I said, the Deng Xiaoping,

00:42:47.460 - 00:43:02.470

he is the Premier. And he—finally he control the—after the Chairman Mao dead, and he control whole—whole China. And he did all the, uh, reform, turn China …. Uh, I would—like I said, I’m not—if not politically, uh,

00:43:02.670 - 00:43:15.470

because I’m not politician. I’m—I—I cannot use accurately words to describe, but for my feeling probably from communist China to the capitalism. That’s what he did. Like right now it’s so

00:43:15.470 - 00:43:30.300

material in the China. Yeah. I mean, the—the—the capitalism has good, give you freedom, give you motivation, but the bad part is everybody so material. So, he—when he go into the state to take control,

00:43:30.800 - 00:43:42.350

he said, “We need the college student, really good student.” So we need to take a test. First, we are not going to destroy all our science, our—our—our culture, whatever.

00:43:42.790 - 00:43:55.100

It’s what he did. So we—the China started a whole countryside test to admit. It only depends your—your—your—your score. Not from you—you are—compare

00:43:56.530 - 00:44:08.520

who is poo—because what they said, the poorest will be more, going to be stay with communism. So they—they—they stay that principle. But then, Deng Xiaoping he changeover.

00:44:08.520 - 00:44:22.420

He said, “No. I don’t care who you—you—your background. I want the people can help the country with science, with technology.” So this whole country started … the take test.

00:44:22.930 - 00:44:39.730

Okay. Okay. Um, so how did you study like for this test? Like how did you get the materials to study and like gain—like get a good enough score to gain entrance into the colleges? Okay, uh … I would like to

00:44:39.730 - 00:44:55.740

say, uh … in that time, like what I said, 20,000,000, about 20,000,000, probably. Some—some people say that, uh, 17,000,000 whatever. But anyway, it’s around of there—went to the country.

00:44:57.430 - 00:45:13.070

The time, uh, accept the college student from there, I think, uh, one of thousands, probably. It’s only very few to get into college. So looking all these

00:45:13.330 - 00:45:32.100

students went to colleges’ background, most people, the family, uh, from the, uh—the peoples’ like parents has knowledge, has—has, uh—has, uh—has, uh degree, has a bachelor. Most from the, uh—the teacher's family, from the

00:45:32.400 - 00:45:41.940

college teacher, uh, their kids. And they know that because their parents taught them, you—you—you—you have to learn whatever and parents keep teaching them maybe.

00:45:42.880 - 00:46:00.240

For me, I have the different background because my mom, my daddy, in the—in the—in the factory. And I was—my friends, all the factory kids, they don't really care about education. But fortunately, my mom, my daddy has a degree. And—but they kinda do me as different

00:46:00.240 - 00:46:13.570

because I stay with all the kids together. So we went to countryside together and then the China has the—the Deng Xiaoping control, they start the news. They going to change the test.

00:46:14.590 - 00:46:21.640

So my mom told me. I don't believe. I don't study anything. So the first year they take test, and I didn't

00:46:21.890 - 00:46:32.430

get in because I didn't really learn. But after half a year, because they know that they need it really right now, because we started—normally, you start in the—at the, uh, summer and get into

00:46:32.540 - 00:46:46.750

the college fall. Same thing like China. So they start the first year at spring because the Deng Xiaoping control is—is—is you— you can't timely for the right good time. You have to do by the—all the—the—the—the

00:46:46.750 - 00:46:57.480

happening in China. So the started spring the first year. And after spring, another in the—in the fall, there another test. So I missed the spring because I didn't learn a lot.

00:46:57.480 - 00:47:12.600

I didn't know, and—but after spring to the—another fall that, about a half year. So that's why and my mom help me to get the book. And, uh, I stay in the city with my dad and mom about the one, two months, then I go

00:47:12.600 - 00:47:23.780

to countryside, and start working, and we don't have light, don't have any electricity. We had to just … it's not a gasoline. It's called—called kerosene—ker—It’s— Kerosene? Kerosene.

00:47:23.910 - 00:47:35.370

Yeah, the—the light. Mm-hmm. And I study over there. And, uh … so I think it's—it's … it help me to catch very quick

00:47:35.540 - 00:47:46.690

because I know the—the—the math is—is, uh—science is not hard. The languages 'cause like what I said, I—I like reading—uh, read. I didn't write anything but I like read any—any book I

00:47:46.880 - 00:48:07.410

find. You may in the concept it was hard, still I like read. So that why it help me. So I get into it. So that's all those changed my life. Yeah. Um, okay so, education—so would you say that education gave

00:48:07.410 - 00:48:15.900

you the opportunity to, um, immigrate from China to the U.S. as like the ultimate—? Yes. Yes, yes, yeah. Now the—the—after that, you know, after graduate

00:48:16.550 - 00:48:30.510

from the—the college, I was, uh, in the chemical engineering company, uh, for eight years. The reason stay there because you cannot—you cannot change job, You know, that the government control everything.

00:48:30.570 - 00:48:43.060

You—you—you cannot go anywhere you want. Uh, and in meantime, in the China start open, and, uh, around the ocean province they now all can go to America, whatever.

00:48:43.660 - 00:48:51.860

And inside, like what said, inside the inland of China, they don't really open. But, uh, I had my— that's why probably you mix up. That's, my friend told me.

00:48:51.860 - 00:49:04.440

Oh, you could take the TOEFL test, whatever. Oh okay. Yeah. So I just heard that. I was like, “Okay. Uh, I'm gonna try.” But, uh, all the meantime, uh, I'm not so happy working in that engineering company because

00:49:05.370 - 00:49:16.160

they focus on the engineering background. I'm in the science background. I said, “Okay, forget it. I got a chance” because before I try to move to any other company, you can't.

00:49:16.160 - 00:49:26.300

You can't! It’s like—not—like right now China is different. It's kind of like America. Wherever you want, you just apply the job opening, whatever, the marketing , you go the—yeah, you hand hitting .

00:49:26.300 - 00:49:35.680

All—all kind of same thing. But before, all the government assign you to work at this company. You would—and then, all—all the company belong to the government. You can't say, “Okay. I want to go there.” No

00:49:35.920 - 00:49:50.950

way. So I saw the opportunity I can be—come to America. So, okay, I go to take the TOEFL test—and take, the—take the—the, uh—the—the GRE. And China started policy to specialize.

00:49:51.560 - 00:50:04.470

Deng Xiaoping, that time, he said, “Okay. If you wanna go—go abroad to learn science, just go ahead.” And even somebody against the—in the government against this because these people go out, they never come back.

00:50:05.330 - 00:50:12.600

And Deng Xiaoping, he don't care. They want to stay there. Let them stay. And he’s right! Yes, I mean the—the—the—you have to think about it.

00:50:14.260 - 00:50:28.930

Ch—we raised by China. We got the higher education from China and then we didn't pay back the—the—the—the—the Chinese government. But you think about the—the—the men can. No matter where you are, when you

00:50:28.930 - 00:50:38.280

was young, you didn't contribute to the society. You didn't contribute. You—you—you just expend the resource from country. When you grow up, that time, you contribute.

00:50:38.280 - 00:50:52.000

Yes, you’re right. You contribute to American society because you pay tax, whatever. You didn't do anything to the China. But the men can—is—is whole world—as long as you contribute to the world. What is the difference? Um,

00:50:52.730 - 00:51:03.300

so, why—why did you choose to come to Houston, as—? No. I have no choice! You didn’t have a choice? No, no, no. The problem is what would happen in the—the—that—this you know

00:51:05.420 - 00:51:14.590

the—be honest, I tried to bring my daughter, and she's 16. She said, “Aww. No, I'm not going. I know your old story.” I tried to tell her. What—you know, sometimes when I say that,

00:51:14.590 - 00:51:25.320

you probably cannot imagine why you think about that way. Because that's what we raised by the, uh, like government control everything. You don't have own property.

00:51:25.320 - 00:51:36.190

Everything was raised by this kind of background. So, when we start apply for the United States of—for the university, college, we don't have the lot of resource.

00:51:36.260 - 00:51:48.350

We—we have the, uh, call the—I lived in the Chengdu. It's capital of Sichuan province. It’s a big province, and, uh—and a big capital city. So I have—fortunately I have some resource.

00:51:48.350 - 00:51:58.320

I went to the city library. Local don't have library. So I don't have library card, even. You only can stay seated there, and you write the notes.

00:51:58.320 - 00:52:14.260

You cannot borrow the books on—on what kind of the, uh the—the—the—the university. So, I had a friend, uh, he—my, uh, classmate or—he,—he come United States before me. He—he went to the, uh, New York, uh, uh, Stone—whatev—Stony

00:52:17.240 - 00:52:30.220

Brook. Yeah Stony Brook, uh, University. And I … like what I said, I work in the—in the—in the chemical engineering company. We have the, uh, cooperation with the, uh,

00:52:30.220 - 00:52:42.480

American Carrow , uh, chemical engineering company, so they visit our company. I heard that I did not really work with them, but I heard that. Oh that Houston is chemical, uh, base.

00:52:43.520 - 00:52:58.910

And, uh, any other universities I applied, but an—anyway, uh, UH just accepted me, so I just come here. Yeah. So, during which years—uh, so during which years did you—were you studying for like

00:53:00.030 - 00:53:11.560

the—the Chinese entrance exam and during which years were you studying for the—the TOEFL and the GRE? Oh which years started, uh, learning TOEFL? Uh, yeah, like which years did you—were you studying the TOEFL?

00:53:12.420 - 00:53:24.250

Oh, okay. The TOEFL—luckily, you knoe, the China. Yes. What would happen, I working in the engineering company and, uh—and my major is not engineering. They mostly want

00:53:24.250 - 00:53:34.850

engineering graduate. And, uh, I go there because government put me there, or school put me there, whoever, who knows. That time, you know, everybody controlled by the government.

00:53:34.850 - 00:53:47.040

And the government—you call the central economic—it’s not like the market economy. Market economy is, uh, anybody I want to hire some people. I needed some people. Oh, I need to fire people because my business is not good.

00:53:47.560 - 00:53:53.230

That time, the central—oh, that company has some people. That company need people. And the government assigned you. This is. And school start,

00:53:53.230 - 00:54:08.520

oh, let’s go there. They go there. They do like that. So, when I started for the engineering company, they really don't know how to use me. So I—I wrote letter to the general manager.

00:54:08.520 - 00:54:18.920

I said, "I’m—I feel like boring in here." I mean I don’t know what to do and they can go, uh, do the engineer. I can learn too! I mean, it's not hard! I mean, I like, uh—I like I learn science.

00:54:18.920 - 00:54:30.720

I can do that. Uh, he’s kind of the like me the attitude because I had my own motivation. But, that time the most people just, you know, you—you— you be good, uh, employee.

00:54:30.720 - 00:54:40.620

Don't say anything mouth there. I said, . He said okay. So he—he said okay. Gave me some the opportunity for engineering product—project, and

00:54:40.620 - 00:54:53.930

also, he—they have some opportunities going to the college to learn English. Call the, uh, "intensive training." So I went there in the Zhengzhou.

00:54:53.930 - 00:55:04.130

Is a—is a—is a Henan province. We have to take the train go there. And I learned there for one year. So after I come back, and I heard my friend—

00:55:04.410 - 00:55:12.400

my—actually, my classmate told me, they have the opportunity. You can take the TOEFL. So then I started learn the TOEFL, take the test. So I take the test. I come here.

00:55:12.400 - 00:55:22.950

It’s ‘90. I think I take the '89 or '88. I don't remember exactly. But anyway after I take, test—test. And then I take

00:55:23.500 - 00:55:38.640

GRE. GRE actually much easier for the Chinese student because they—they—they know how to do all the math. The only the problem is, uh—is, uh—is, uh, call the vocab—vocabulary. But vocabulary don't count They count—they count analysis and—and—and maths only count

00:55:38.640 - 00:55:55.690

they two. So … GRE only take one week. When I was working in the—in the engineering company. And, uh, TOEFL take me—but I got intensive training, so I took—took—take TOEFL and I pass both and and you just give score to the college and

00:55:55.690 - 00:56:07.070

they—they send you letter. Uh, I was accept at the fall of 1989. However, that—the—the Tianamen Square happened

00:56:07.450 - 00:56:23.450

in—in the 1989, June 4th. So, the—the whole mail stopped when they send the—send me the— the—the admission letter. The whole mail stopped until past September or—or—or

00:56:23.630 - 00:56:35.250

October, I start getting mail, already passed the—the—the—the time. So I write letter to the UH. I said I missed because all the—they—they know.

00:56:35.420 - 00:56:49.960

They understand. They said, “Okay, you come. UH, you come—yeah, you can—we can keep your position for the one year. Come next fall or next spring.” I can—I cannot make spring 'cause there are lot of issues because Tiananmen

00:56:49.960 - 00:57:04.350

Square. I went the—I didn't go parade, but I take the picture. So I'm—I’m one of the—the—the people have to go through all of the—the Chinese—the—they do the background. You know, the Cultural Revolution is very bad.

00:57:04.610 - 00:57:14.740

They go all in your background. If you—if you live in China, you—you—if you family in the Taiwan, you get really bad life! Mm-hmm. So—but the—the—revolution is already over.

00:57:15.370 - 00:57:24.510

Uh, China—Cultural Revolution is over. So it’s not that bad. It’s just check, “Oh, what you do?” I said, “I take the picture.” I mean, I—I said I sent the picture to develop, and they come nothing!

00:57:25.410 - 00:57:32.550

Because the government already give out issue. You can't produce any—any picture. So the—I come with nothing. I said I have nothing left!

00:57:33.140 - 00:57:44.960

“Okay, okay, forget it.” So I cannot make it in the spring. I come the fall. When fall, I get, uh, everything done. Actually I come like the—I think like the June.

00:57:46.760 - 00:57:56.190

And school start the September and maybe August, so I have two months I stay with my—my—my classmate because I said, “I don't know. I can get out now .

00:57:56.190 - 00:58:09.910

If they don't let me to get out, and then I can’t get out, I just go a cook.” So, yeah, yeah. So when you went to, uh, your undergraduate—undergraduate education,

00:58:11.030 - 00:58:23.720

that was already when the revolution was over, but they still—after you graduated—they still assigned you to different companies? Yeah, the—the—the Cultural Revolution is over. Cultural Revolution is—is—is very bad.

00:58:23.790 - 00:58:38.640

Is destroyed everything. Destroy your science, language, all—all—all—all good part. But the … the—the central control, economic control, is after Revolution.

00:58:38.640 - 00:58:53.540

Uh, Deng Xiaoping all take over and after, uh, I would—I would like say they called the reform from the '78 to '88 and continued—right now, continues doing, uh, going towards kind of like the marketing

00:58:53.580 - 00:59:08.970

economy. So—so that time’s still central government control. Yeah. Oh, so when you mentioned that you studied for one or two months in the city and then you went to the countryside— Mm-hmm. That was already—that was already when the—when you were done being a zhiqing,

00:59:08.970 - 00:59:20.850

and that was like after? No. That was still zhiqing, yeah. Oh that was still zhiqing? Zhiqing, yeah. So they allowed you to study, like leave the—leave the farm and go back to the city, for— to study? So the whole system is—is like what I said.

00:59:21.680 - 00:59:33.490

Is—I don't think anybody could really figure out how this work. The zhiqing sent down to the countryside is kind of the forced on, is forced

00:59:33.490 - 00:59:44.690

on, is you have no choice. Yeah. And you have to go. And you know it’s not good for you because you—you—you can't learn, but you have to. And in the meantime, because so

00:59:44.690 - 00:59:58.060

many people, central government want to stabilize the—the—the—the people, otherwise they start the turn around, you know? They—they—so they have to help the zhiqing to settle down, to stay there forever.

00:59:58.060 - 01:00:11.020

Don’t know how long. Nobody knows at that time. So the meantime, they have something called team from city to help you with any problems. They tell back to the government how to fix the

01:00:11.170 - 01:00:27.470

problem, whatever, you know, try to figure out. So the meantime, you work very hard and you feel like you get punishment, whatever, but … And the village, they have no control on you. Because you sent from nowhere.

01:00:27.530 - 01:00:40.740

They even don’t know where you are from. So, only thing they can control because what happening, you have to be—do good to show you work harking . You stay with farmer.

01:00:40.740 - 01:00:56.850

You are the good people to help the Communism eventually in your future. Uh, then, they have to because anyway city need some people. You-you can’t—you know, when I come from countryside back to—to—to

01:00:56.850 - 01:01:10.970

city at, uh, like the holiday, or—or—or New—Chinese New Year, that’s like the, uh, uh, American Christmas. Our people back to the f—…. When sometime you come back, leave early before the other kids come back, i's so

01:01:11.150 - 01:01:21.680

quiet. City just look like empty. They are ghost town. Even I'm in the—in the—in the Chengdu. It’s capital of the—the Sichuan province. Sichuan province is one of the biggest province in China.

01:01:22.080 - 01:01:37.730

It’s like gho—like feel like so quiet. So, you think about it's so many kids is going to the countryside. And, uh, the—the village, they don't know how to tell you.

01:01:38.320 - 01:01:51.960

But the—the, cities they need employee. The country—uh, anyway, so they have some openings that still go there, but they looking for you, uh, what you do over there. If you stay with farmers and you good and they recommend you—recommend you, and your

01:01:51.960 - 01:02:03.000

background is clear. You don't have any people with Taiwan or with, American whatever. You are not the landlord. Your family come generation before, you good.

01:02:03.000 - 01:02:13.560

They looking for this kind of background. Uh, so if you wanna have chance, have hope, so you have stay with the farmer. So you have—you— you can't leave the 1, 2 months.

01:02:13.560 - 01:02:22.400

That time I already forget. I mean, this only the chance because that’s what I said, uh, first I told you, my parents, they got high educated. And also the meantime, they teach me.

01:02:22.980 - 01:02:34.350

You don't have any background, sorry. And your—your—your grandpa, grandma all is a kind of the enemy with Communism because they are landlord. They are the capitalists.

01:02:34.350 - 01:02:47.790

Uh, my grandpa, Sucai , and you never see him. Uh, so the only chance is you right now. You have to study

01:02:47.790 - 01:03:05.000

hard to get the chance, otherwise you will stay farmer forever. So technically they didn't allow you to go to the city to study, but you just went? Yeah, just do it, and then the village have no control. Oh. But only thing because, you know, hurt me, next time you have opportunity go back

01:03:05.000 - 01:03:14.930

city, city, they don’t recommend you. You can’t go. You—you probably have to stay there. Oh, so if you stay at the farm the whole time then they would recommend you to— some other … Yeah, so you work hard.

01:03:14.930 - 01:03:22.750

You say—they say good words about— Oh. Oh. —about your work of there. The only place they can—on—only part they can control you. Okay, okay.

01:03:26.180 - 01:03:37.980

So, uh, in your biography it says your first job earned one cent a week? So was that this job— Yeah. —or was that—was that another job? No. I think the first probably just talk about the farmer's.

01:03:38.510 - 01:03:48.140

Uh, I probably stay home. I figure out one cent is—is that time worth ten cents of the Chinese yuan. And, uh …

01:03:49.590 - 01:03:56.320

Yī háo ? Bùshì, yī máo . Yī máo . Duì . Yeah that's what I earn every day.

01:03:56.930 - 01:04:11.530

Not week, I say day. Daily we got the 10 cents yuan, and one cent American dollar, kind of. But you never saw the money because the— No, no money. —because they took the—they took the money from you?

01:04:11.530 - 01:04:24.250

Yeah. Uh, so—oh, from—so you had—you finished your PhD degree here, right? And your master's or—? The PhD. PhD.

01:04:24.930 - 01:04:43.000

Uh, so from what you know about American education, um, what are the similarities and differences with Chinese education and like what—which do you prefer? Uh, you know, the education—'cause I didn't go through the, uh,

01:04:43.700 - 01:04:53.720

underground—uh, uh, undergraduate. Uh, I even didn't go through high school, whatever. Uh, only thing is my two daughter went to high school and then I—I can't ….

01:04:54.050 - 01:05:09.370

But, college I don't know because they went by them—by—by—my old one goes by herself and my young one, uh, is going to. So for the graduate school, I don't have the graduate school in the

01:05:09.370 - 01:05:25.550

China. Uh … I would like to say it’s really hard to compare the education from my experience because I only have the experience in

01:05:25.550 - 01:05:39.160

the China for the undergraduate. And I don't, uh, really know here. But for my experience come here when I graduate school, uh, the—the class

01:05:42.870 - 01:05:58.410

it's not hard for the academically. Uh, we are struggling by the language, and even right now you can hear it. Probably you—probably didn't get my accent, whatever, English. Uh, so back 20

01:05:58.410 - 01:06:13.980

years ago, I'm more struggling language and, uh, uh …. Also, the—the hands-on experience. I actually I'm really hands-on person I can do things even In

01:06:14.140 - 01:06:25.030

workplace I do a lot of hands-on, and then, at home, whatever. But still, this is more open. It's not like China everything follow the book. This more open. it's more free.

01:06:25.770 - 01:06:38.640

And also, uh … Like do you feel like the teachers tended to teach differently, when like, um—like in China compared to here?

01:06:42.490 - 01:06:57.040

Uh, the most different—the big difference is more freedom here. I think that's why its really good for you graduate, at least. I don't know undergraduate. I don’t know.

01:06:57.910 - 01:07:09.860

I—I—I’m—I probably can have some, uh, uh, thought about the high school, whatever, but I don't have this kind of experience. But I feel like the—it’s very good. The freedom is really good for the

01:07:10.100 - 01:07:18.250

graduate student. Do the research. Do something good. Explore your own. The China mostly just follow book, and teacher follow book.

01:07:18.990 - 01:07:30.320

And here, the teacher is just, uh, uh, not even not really follow book. They just give you lessons and then left and then you figure out your own. But it's more open.

01:07:30.320 - 01:07:46.300

You can talk to the—your professor and your idea, whatever. Uh, it's very good for the research. And the—the most fitting like I have here …. For example, in China the—all the university is, oh, this chemistry building, this physics

01:07:46.360 - 01:08:00.350

building, this math building, math I, math II. Oh, you know, “Oh okay, I go there. Oh, okay, I go class. I go there.” But China also the problem is for undergrad—graduate. You have class—uh, for example, I'm the physical chemistry

01:08:00.350 - 01:08:12.890

class. You have class 30 people. The 30 people stick together for four years college, go same class every day, every time. But here, you go that

01:08:12.950 - 01:08:25.360

building. Go—you choo—you pick your own class. So, the first time I come here I feel, "Oh there is some—some like the—uh, uh—like in the—in the—in the UH, there are some building name of Calhoun name or whatever.

01:08:25.830 - 01:08:31.930

I said, “What is that building? What is that? I—I have the physics class, why—what I go? And why is it with the name?

01:08:31.930 - 01:08:43.820

I can't remember name. Just give the—the—the subject. Give the science name or I just wandering, you know.” And then you have to look around

01:08:45.960 - 01:08:55.960

and Yeah. So in China, in your undergrad experience at least, they didn't let you choose classes? There was just— No, no. —basically, you had to take this this and graduate with that degree.

01:08:55.960 - 01:09:10.560

They—yeah, take this, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you ended up with a chemistry degree or like—? Chemistry degree. Chemistry degree? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, um, in your questionnaire, you said now you work for Air

01:09:10.560 - 01:09:26.130

Liq—? Air Liquide, yeah. Air Liquide. Um, what exactly do you do for the company? Oh, the … mostly I do the, uh, analysis for the—the product, and, uh, the setup all the

01:09:26.130 - 01:09:37.930

procedure, and help people. And uh, uh, my title was, uh, chief chemist, and now it's—it’s the—I don't know what's the title. You put me like the instrument specialist or whatever.

01:09:40.060 - 01:09:54.410

Uh … not do a lot, but, uh, uh … since I stay there, I didn't, uh …. I even look for some other job, but anyway, I didn't get really good.

01:09:54.410 - 01:10:12.930

So stay that company is good for all the benefits, whatever. And I'm old, going to retire, so I'm not gonna looking for any other things. And, uh, the year, uh, 2012, the plant I work in La Porte explode, and killed one

01:10:12.930 - 01:10:25.750

people and hurt one people permanently. And we shut down the facility, tear down because whole plant …. That happened on the weekend, uh, so I wasn't there. It’s only few people work over there.

01:10:26.040 - 01:10:37.050

But, uh, if it was a week—weekday, probably I’m gone too. And, uh, they start rebuild, and luckily they still have job and they haven't finished yet. I don’t know how long I—I can have

01:10:37.140 - 01:10:53.000

job, but anyway. Uh, I'm old, get ret—probably have to go to—if they don't let me go, I have to go to early retirement. Enjoy my life. Okay. So, um, did you start working for that chemical engineering company right after you

01:10:53.000 - 01:11:00.080

finished your PhD? Like— Air Liquide . Huh? Air Liquide , right. Air Liquide . Air Liquide. Air Liquide. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:11:00.080 - 01:11:15.980

Yes, yes. Oh, okay. Okay, so, uh, what was, uh, the responsibility of your first job at the—at the company? Did you go in directly and become Chief Chemist, or were you—? No. It's just first that it’s, uh—they want the—call the—they have—they have—uh,

01:11:16.370 - 01:11:31.260

they call the GC Mass . It’s kind of the high end of the instrument. They want have the people, undergraduate degree to do that. Now, that kind of the major, analytical chemistry, is

01:11:32.290 - 01:11:45.590

almost obsolete. I’m—I’m—I would say because I heard—that’s what I heard. I don’t know. I'm not confirmed. The UH, they don't have analytical chemistry PhD no more. Because it’s so science

01:11:45.660 - 01:11:57.420

technology change. I mean, so easy. The instrument just automatic running and you don't have really. So the people with kind of like my ground, you either, go to the—you hardly really

01:11:57.560 - 01:12:10.320

get a job because they don't have a lot of opening for that. It's a job that take the routine job and research. They don't have that much. And, uh, so it just depends on whatever you had.

01:12:11.040 - 01:12:23.870

Yeah. So, uh, also, in your questionnaire, you said that you were involved in the Overseas China Education Foundation? Yeah, yeah. So, uh, could you tell us a little more about your involvement, what you

01:12:23.870 - 01:12:38.630

do there, and all that stuff? Uh, actually, what would happen in the—I involved—it started the, uh, 20—I started 2012 actually. The reason I involved because what was happening I—I

01:12:39.010 - 01:12:48.990

was—in the 2012 I was the president of the Zhiqing Association. We just, uh, every, uh—we take turn. I mean you—you— you—you—you pick you or you volunteer and they take one year.

01:12:49.990 - 01:13:00.750

So during—when I was the president of the Zhiqing Association and, uh, uh, Overseas Chinese Foundation, they start 20 years anniversary.

01:13:01.230 - 01:13:15.930

So they invite the Chinese community, uh, leader to the—the anniversary. So I went there. I saw the picture. The picture is uh, same like the—the time I went the countryside.

01:13:16.640 - 01:13:27.740

It's a green mountain. You know, right now you see the all over the China, right know, all the kind of the pollution air. Air so bad, but in the remote area, in the poor area,

01:13:27.780 - 01:13:36.150

countryside, still same green. And, uh, people still same poor. And kids don't have a lot of opportunity to go to the—the education.

01:13:36.560 - 01:13:49.060

Then I—I really write the letter after this anniversary and read it to my association, Zhiqing Association. It said that, "We need su—help these kids because we come from there.

01:13:49.490 - 01:14:01.060

I don't care what you do in the countryside, in the village. Yes, you suffered—suffering. But at least the farmers, you know, the people, no matter how the enemy,

01:14:01.650 - 01:14:15.640

before when you—when you living together, you have to help survivor together. So they help you any—from any point of view. And, uh, we need pay back." So I read the letter very motivate and very moving.

01:14:16.840 - 01:14:30.920

So the—the all the Overseas Chinese, they saw the letter. They put me on the website. They spread everywhere, and they ask me to join them. I said, "Uh, it have to be after the—y president

01:14:30.950 - 01:14:43.170

term because I can't involve to the position." And, uh, they said okay. So 2013, I start as board member of local, uh, Overseas

01:14:43.170 - 01:14:51.840

Chinese Education . So they—they put me as the youth club director. At first, I don't know how to do that! What means youth club? Whatever I do?

01:14:51.840 - 01:15:05.660

And then I really appreciate I help them. That’s why I said, uh, I—I wish we can start early because I have a meeting 12 o'clock for the—for that group. Oh! In the Chinatown. So, they put me the director of youth club.

01:15:05.660 - 01:15:19.530

At first I said, "Well, what I do with the youth club?" And then I find I like that because that organization is collect donation help the Chinese, uh, uh, poor kids in the mountain, remote

01:15:19.530 - 01:15:32.320

area. But we don't do—local we don’t do that. They do online, wherever, and then they say—uh, some—somewhere they—they have the , uh, headquarters and the people manage all the money, uh, finance, whatever,

01:15:32.320 - 01:15:46.010

donation, whatever. We local just have the local donor and volunteer get some activity. And now I feel like the most need our kids to involve. Our kids, you cannot go to China

01:15:46.780 - 01:15:58.420

because the response from my daughter, 16 years old, I can't let her go by herself. So we have—I said, “It doesn't matter. The Chinese kids, American kids. American kids need the support too.

01:15:58.760 - 01:16:12.800

We start local.” So fortunately, the local, they have the called Àixīn zǔzhī Care something, something. It's actually organized by the Taiwanese people first because Taiwanese immigrate before the mainland.

01:16:13.940 - 01:16:26.940

The have the organization, they call the Care. Every year, July 4th, we collect all the donations and we pick one the elementary school, uh, in the local—is, uh, uh—you

01:16:26.940 - 01:16:42.220

can—you can look up the HISD, uh, profile, at least 95, maybe most like 99, 100 percent with, uh, reduced, uh, food, the—the lunch, breakfast. We pick that kind of school, and we—we

01:16:42.540 - 01:16:56.990

collect all the stationery, and uniform, and then, uh, we collect all this, package, and we send to the local—local, uh, elementary school. So I involved that activity twice already.

01:16:57.310 - 01:17:06.690

So two years. So I said okay, I need to bring the—the Overseas youth club to over there. And somebody said, oh, that's not our mission.

01:17:07.200 - 01:17:19.850

I said, “Doesn't matter.” Don't expect our young people to contribution too much. All of the kids, even like—like you guys even. You are already adult, but you—you guys didn't contribute to

01:17:19.850 - 01:17:28.660

society yet. You still student. You still study. Same thing our youth club. They don't expect they—because they don't even have—earn money yet!

01:17:29.340 - 01:17:37.970

How can they—they—they donate? They donate parents’ money! They don't care! It's not anything help them because it's—okay you wanna donate, fine. You don't give anything helping.

01:17:38.330 - 01:17:47.950

The only thing helping, help the local kids first. Local has a lot of poor kids too. And let them to realize, you're lucky, okay? You don't need to worry about the food on the table.

01:17:48.260 - 01:18:01.860

But some kids do. And so, I like them to participate there and package all the materials and, uh— and—and support, they go to the, uh, school to give out to—to—to the kids. You—then you can

01:18:01.860 - 01:18:16.520

see there. But this year, uh, uh, 2013, I have something to do. I didn't go and then the other, uh, group, who, uh, adult, he—she cannot go either so we missed. But this year I want the OCEF, the

01:18:16.770 - 01:18:34.420

youth club kids go there to learning how to help others. When you grow up—grow up, it doesn't matter who need, which country’s kids, you just help them. So the youth club of the OCEF, it consists mainly of Chinese American

01:18:34.490 - 01:18:45.380

kids? Like, uh, Chinese—like kids of Chinese parents? Yeah, yeah, actually it doesn't matter! But the thing is OCEF is—is organization to help the

01:18:45.380 - 01:18:57.560

Chinese, uh, poor kids in China. Oh, okay. So most of the donors, volunteers is Chi—Chinese. Oh, okay. So the—the kids, of course … yeah. Yeah. So what's like the age range of these kids?

01:18:57.970 - 01:19:12.570

These kids, right now we start mid school to the high school. Okay. Yeah. So, like—so you just teach them like, uh, how to, I guess, care for the local—like the people who are poor in the local schools around Houston?

01:19:12.570 - 01:19:25.600

So that they— Yeah, started. We—we organized some—some activities, started. And also the OCEF some of the ac—activity. For example, like the, uh—we did the barbeque and let them to involve. And, uh, look you parents.

01:19:25.760 - 01:19:39.560

Look you friend. And they help the some kids. But—but they cannot go China to help. They—we try to do something, other project with the like the, uh, long distance education because these kids can teach them English and China—China need

01:19:39.560 - 01:19:54.350

more open. Especially poor kids, if they can learn English, they have more opportunity. And the— the—the—the problem is only the … same thing like the—the—the kids here. It's not really the poor is the problem, but of course, the poor is, uh—is, uh, problem.

01:19:54.810 - 01:20:07.970

But poor is come from the education or come from the not open eye. They in the mountains. They just limited the—the— the view. They don't know what the—the—the whole world doing.

01:20:08.730 - 01:20:20.610

And also the here, mostly— I'm not saying the—the race whatever—mostly the poor kids is mostly Hispanic from Mexico. And they—sometimes they don't have the documents even. And they got limited.

01:20:21.270 - 01:20:33.540

It’s not by their poor. Of course poor is a reason, but it’s by the—the parents. The parents—“Okay I—I do help with the, uh—the—the—the—the con—construction.”

01:20:35.580 - 01:20:49.430

Mom stay home and kids don't worry about the—the study. But we need to give something more open let the all kids have opportunities. So,

01:20:49.430 - 01:21:03.200

um, could you tell us a little more about your involvement in the Houston Zhiqing Association? So, like what is, like, the mission of the association and what's—like what do you guys do? Okay. What are you guys involved in?

01:21:03.610 - 01:21:26.520

Yeah, the zhiqing—actually—actually, they are the, uh—the mission is very simple. It’s, uh—they are, uh, uh, jiāo péngyǒu, zhǎo lèzi , uhhh , zuò hǎoshì, xiě lìshǐ.

01:21:26.590 - 01:21:36.700

Okay. I wanna remember. Uh … Make friends. Make friend, uh … Look for fun? Look for fun. Uh, good!

01:21:36.700 - 01:21:48.820

Uh … uh … do—do good things. zuò hǎoshì. Do good things. And, uh, uh, make history. This basic. So we don't have any really mission

01:21:49.120 - 01:22:00.850

to do whatever. We just because come from background—same background, suffering all the time and we—we know we get older. We don't have any—not like other local Chinese organization. For example, like they have the professional.

01:22:02.740 - 01:22:13.150

Uh, they have the, uh, gè zhǒng tóngxiānghuì de , the—the—the kind of from same province. They have the, uh—this kind of the …. They always have newcomes. We don't have. So, we just

01:22:13.740 - 01:22:25.210

make friend because we have the same background. And we try to do the good things because when we suffer in—in the countryside, the farmers help us. We—we try to repay to the society.

01:22:26.330 - 01:22:40.980

And, uh—but we really limited by the language because the—the people like old me and I am kind of lucky to have the college education. Sometimes they don't have, so they really struggling, even mostly still with the things in Chinatown.

01:22:42.050 - 01:22:56.990

So we—we can't go whole affect the American society. That's why I said anyone get educated in America, please join to write the story. Don't—don't be afraid

01:22:57.520 - 01:23:07.180

you cannot write English. You work for the American company. You write a report. That's it. As long as people can read, you don't have too fancy, or literature,

01:23:07.180 - 01:23:22.870

whatever. You just—you can read—re—read the report you can just join. And write the history, to let everybody know, uh, in the—in the—in the China whatever happening. I don't want people forgot we went through all these things.

01:23:23.000 - 01:23:34.040

I don't know it's good or bad. I don't going to—want to judge. Let the whole world to judge. So that's why the, uh, make friend, looking for fun, and do

01:23:34.040 - 01:23:51.040

the good things, and, uh, write history. Oh okay. So it's kind of like an association where because you all from the same background, you can sort of support each other, and also— Yeah. Yeah. Yes. —like and also, uh, like work together to make sure that people don't

01:23:51.040 - 01:23:57.600

forget about like the zhiqing experience in China— Yeah, yeah. —and remind people that like this was a thing and it was important. Yeah. Mmm. Mmm. Yeah. Okay.

01:24:03.240 - 01:24:14.700

So, uh, have you, uh—during your time in Houston, have you encountered, like, any sort of, like, discrimination or racism based on your Chinese ethnicity?

01:24:16.500 - 01:24:32.070

I—I would like to say—be—honestly, America is very, very open. It’s a melting pot. Be honest, I—I would like say I don't have any discrimination. Maybe one time, whatever, but I—

01:24:32.070 - 01:24:41.830

I—I—I—I take forget. For example, the I think at one time I went to the—that time before the electronic store. Even forgot the store name. I went there and I looking, uh—I looking for some

01:24:42.950 - 01:24:54.400

the—I just walk around looking TV. And the guy come here and my—my—my English is poor and the he just kind of now—what, you know, uh, "You have money,” whatever. I took the cash. "What do you want?" Like kinda …

01:24:55.110 - 01:25:06.140

But I—mostly, when I work wherever …. Even one guy right now he is really my friend. And he said—he always call me “Chinaman,” whatever. Some people take that as—is that—like

01:25:06.140 - 01:25:16.670

the insulting, or whatever, but I don't think so. They just—whatever, I probably can call you “American guy.” What—what is difference? We—we—I didn't see any discrimination.

01:25:17.160 - 01:25:31.560

The—mostly, something to back you—to—to hold you up is your language. You can't really express what you wanted to say. That's your problem. So that's why it hurt me a lot.

01:25:31.560 - 01:25:44.540

I try to —like—like—like I just said, my plant explode. I was working in the lab. Do lab things. Kind of the isolate, kind of the, you know, it's not a really ….

01:25:44.760 - 01:25:55.180

But right now, it's everything wipe out. And I work with the, uh, blue work together. And the people, they, even one the guys said, "Oh, I saw—before I saw you kind of like mean because when the lab, you don’t say

01:25:55.180 - 01:26:07.220

anything, and, uh, right now, it's nice to—to work with you!" So what would happen is before he come here. What I can say? I don't know. I—I don't have the same background to talk about the

01:26:07.220 - 01:26:17.540

movies, sports. I don't know where to start it. But right now we put all together. We make fun together, and, uh, uh, I—I didn't see any discrimination. Only you need to improve your

01:26:17.540 - 01:26:30.930

language. All right. Uh, so, uh, also going back to the, uh—the Cultural Revolution? So during the time period it was going on, you were probably in middle school and high school,

01:26:31.450 - 01:26:42.290

right? Is that correct? Uh, Cultural Revolution? Yeah— during the Cultural Revolution. No that's—that’s, uh—that’s the elementary school. Oh, that’s elementary school— Yeah. —and high school. So, um, uh—so you probably went through

01:26:42.290 - 01:26:56.540

like all the like, like writing like big posters about people? Or like writing, um, posters to like condemn other people, or like …. Uh, what was your experience in school like as a—like through

01:26:56.540 - 01:27:08.420

elementary and middle school? Was there a lot of like the Cultural Revolution influence during that time in school? The—that—that time, you mostly don't have the school. And you stay home and you stay

01:27:08.460 - 01:27:18.100

with—play with your—your—your neighborhood kids like all time. Oh. And, then sometimes, “Oh! We need come to, uh, class!” And then few people go, few people don’t—uh, kids don't go, stay at home, whatever.

01:27:19.400 - 01:27:30.420

It—they totally destroyed for the 10 years. Right. Did you ever partake in like, uh—like, um, Red Guard, or like those types of things? No. I'm not qualified, too young.

01:27:30.480 - 01:27:44.830

Oh, oh, too young. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, I remember there was this period of time when, um, Chairman Mao told everyone to sort of melt their—melt their steel, like homemade steel items, and make like a

01:27:44.830 - 01:27:55.150

lot of steel? Uh-huh, uh-huh. Did you go through that period? What you mean make steel? Oh so like they would have like their—like their teapots, or like their— Uh huh. Oh make steel.

01:27:55.150 - 01:28:04.160

—or like forks, and like melt it in their backyards— Yeah, yeah, yeah. to create—did you go through that? No. That—that way bef—even before the Cultural Revolution. Yeah. I—I—I know that,

01:28:04.160 - 01:28:15.320

but I didn't go through, yeah. Okay. That’s—that—that one is destroyed the villages. You know, before the villages independent, they can support self. And then they—they put government caught up the

01:28:15.550 - 01:28:28.770

capitalism. Cash every property. Villages—farmers don't have their own property. They are put all together. Take teapot, whatever made of steel, and they lost everything. Yeah, that' s true.

01:28:28.770 - 01:28:43.230

Um, so, uh, do you hope that, uh—I know that currently like in Chinese education from what I've, uh—what I’ve learned from like the Chinese international students here that the Cultural Revolution is still not really, fully taught in

01:28:43.230 - 01:28:57.640

schools. Like they might like talk about it a little bit like in one sentence or one paragraph. But do you hope that like in the future that like that will change? Uh, I don't know they talking about it now.

01:28:57.640 - 01:29:06.410

That's why, first, I don't know. Second of all, I don't think so. They not allowed. What I'm thinking, people don't care about that.

01:29:07.090 - 01:29:23.390

That's why we—we—we try to write the story because Chinese people going to forgot the history. It's just happened not really long ago, but people choose to forgot because looking for all the material. It's not good.

01:29:23.540 - 01:29:35.020

It’s—I think that the—the material and I would say the tǔ háo, the—the rich people show off. They kind of show off. It's probably happen in America when America start of 1960s whatever, they probably had some such things.

01:29:36.150 - 01:29:45.090

But the—the American got more mature and that material is nothing. The people is not looking how much you make. The people looking how much you can give!

01:29:45.720 - 01:29:55.660

And then you are—get respect. That you get …. For example, like doctor, they don't really say doctor make more money, but they don't care doctor how much make money.

01:29:57.450 - 01:30:08.790

In the—in the boom—in dot-com booming time, the IT people make more easy money much quicker than the doctor. But they don't get the respect. Why the people respect doctor?

01:30:09.640 - 01:30:25.370

Because they save the peoples’ life. But in China, no! In China, they beat doctor! Anything wrong they start to beat doctor. Right. So, um, after I guess your experiences being in the

01:30:25.370 - 01:30:40.600

countryside and, uh, all this, like, time that you sp—all this time where, like, uh, you couldn't have education and do a lot of things, um, what are your views on, like, Chairman Mao and, like, the Chinese government?

01:30:41.290 - 01:30:53.230

You—you—current government, or—or—or—or? Or like—or really—or just like Chairman Mao, I guess. Chairman Mao, okay. Chairman Mao. Uh, Chairman Mao, he has a good part. He has a bad part.

01:30:54.510 - 01:31:08.360

Uh … the good part is he stop all corruption, uh, from China and united China. China was invaded by the Japanese.

01:31:09.130 - 01:31:19.680

And right now there all kind of stuff, on the website, they talk about, “Oh, no! He’s, uh—he’s, uh—he’s, uh—a communism” or whatever. Chairman Mao. Chairman Mao did nothing that time!

01:31:20.190 - 01:31:28.740

It's Japan just invaded China. Think about it! You are Taiwanese, right? Uh … I'm not talking political, Chi—Taiwan belong to China.

01:31:29.040 - 01:31:42.900

China belong to Taiwan. I don't care about that, but what I'm telling about it, how can Japan invade China without resistance? And how can the big country invaded by China?

01:31:43.510 - 01:31:56.360

Is some story talk about—you know, especially I want to mention the, uh, Iris Chang. It’s Taiwanese lady, wrote the book Nanking— Massacre? —um, mode or what call the—

01:31:57.160 - 01:32:06.470

Uh, Nanking Massacre? Yeah. Man—him—um, yeah, he—she start suicide. She—she’s killed her—herself. Iris Chang.

01:32:06.470 - 01:32:15.080

Iris Chang? Yeah. Uh, what's her—what's her—? Zhāng Chún Rú. Oh, Zhāng Chún Rú. Okay. Okay.

01:32:15.710 - 01:32:29.140

She's a writer. She write the Nan—Nanking Massacre, whatever they call this, the book name. I—I don't read the book. I'm scared to read the book. I mean, I—I—I probably feel . But I read other book she wrote.

01:32:29.140 - 01:32:39.310

She wrote the immigrants—Chinese immigrants to America start from the New, uh—New York, uh, tángrénjiē , whatever. She wrote—she write a lot of book. And I like reading her book.

01:32:40.160 - 01:32:51.390

And she tell all the kinds of story about that. Like the cultural, like cultural stories or like her experiences? Yeah her experience. Her—her—her—she’s same thing, like her parents come from Taiwan. She studied here and graduated.

01:32:51.800 - 01:33:08.050

Oh, okay. Uh, so that's what I’m saying. Uh, uh, the—the—the Chairman Mao, he united the—the Chinese people to—to help us and independent country.

01:33:08.300 - 01:33:22.570

And, that time, China is so motivated and wanna be, you know, the good life, whatever, but then he started most of the worst part, started Cultural Revolution. So … . Oh, I probably have to …

01:33:22.570 - 01:33:38.690

Go soon. Yeah. Okay. So … Um, I guess since you have to leave soon, is there anything else that you'd like to say about, like, your experiences in China or I guess your experiences here living here in

01:33:38.690 - 01:33:55.120

Houston? Uh. I mean the experiences living, I mean, uh, it just depends on what you choose. You choose different lifestyle. And here is, uh, uh—my family is here.

01:33:55.290 - 01:34:06.040

We are all settle down here. We just take this, uh, our home country, just stay here and if get chance, now I don't have really, uh, direct relatives in China.

01:34:06.170 - 01:34:18.300

I just—sometimes, go to China if I just go back—back and visit, will be fine. Uh, yeah. I have, uh, friends they live in the China, and most of my friends

01:34:18.370 - 01:34:34.080

like zhiqing, they are not really, uh, good, make fortune off the China reform, but, uh, they still can be better than the Cultural Revolution. You know, uh, don’t wo—right now Chine—I mean

01:34:34.590 - 01:34:49.380

even Americam China don't have any people starving to die. I mean food right now is a—is a lot. Any—I don't know, is Africa, but, uh, China, America, I just say that. Yeah, American homeless,

01:34:49.420 - 01:35:03.080

whatever, but actually they—they—they are not starve—starve to dying. I mean they—they have all kind of food. China same thing. So both countries okay. So you have distant relatives there, but they're doing fine?

01:35:03.960 - 01:35:20.060

Uh, I don't have direct relative, but I mean I have the all friend like my background, they’re doing fine. I mean, uh, uh yeah, they—they—they retire or they don't have job or whatever you call, but I—I—I hope I can retire too.

01:35:22.350 - 01:35:35.330

They don't—maybe don't have money, I can—I can visit China. I—maybe I can go Europe, or whatever, as long as I get time. But they cannot go because they don't have money, but they—they have all food and enjoyable and go—go the

01:35:35.330 - 01:35:45.080

park every—every morning because they don't have to go work, and, uh, dancing, you know China people dancing on the street. You know that? Like exercise, and ….

01:35:45.300 - 01:35:59.140

Even sometimes I wanna—wanna find the time to walk around, and sometimes don't have the time. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess in closing, like, uh, ever since you've been here, and your experiences here, do you feel like you've

01:35:59.140 - 01:36:13.220

ach—kind of, like, achieved, maybe what they call like the American Dream or like achieved like some sort of like better life? I think I make the right choice. And the first of all I always tell my family, my young one is

01:36:13.220 - 01:36:25.630

my last one. And, uh—and, uh, she—I say that, “if we—if I I don't come to America, the world— you—you—the whole world don't have you. And, uh, you—you—you would not be—

01:36:25.690 - 01:36:35.740

you—you won’t be exist!” Wow. Mm-hmm. I mean because the one child policy in China. I have old one 12 years older than her— than—than her. My old one just married.

01:36:36.330 - 01:36:48.460

And so, I think I made a choice and I find I can have the second one. Uh, so I'm happy. Okay. Make right choice and they don't—here don't have the one child policy.

01:36:48.810 - 01:37:03.640

Yeah. All right. Um, so, thank you very much for your time! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For your time, and, uh, really I appreciate it, and, uh, let me to talk to you, to take time.

01:37:03.960 - 01:37:04.870

Thank you for coming. Okay.