Autobiography Of Li Weu Essay Example

a wire mesh surrounding it and we were told that’s where we would be staying. Our father had already immigrated to the United States and he would wait for us in San Francisco rather than stay with us at Angel’s Island. At the island, we were interrogated over and over with each session going up to two hours. The exercise was to try and see if were telling the truth. Every day, we were escorted to the eating territory, where we ate Chinese nourishment.

We ate rice, meat, and vegetables. We additionally ate bread and natural product. The sustenance was great and was supplemented by the legislature. After about two weeks, we had our final interrogation exercise and were then released.

My father was waiting for us on the other side and we traveled to Texas where my father worked, to start a new life. My father was a very hardworking man and providing for his family was the most important thing to him. Within a year of us joining him in the United States, he was able to open a small grocery store for our mother. While initially, I saw this as a great thing and we would finally be able to afford more and better food, that grocery store cost me and my sister our education. Our mother was diagnosed with malaria and died within two weeks in 1958.

We had only been in America for a year. It was devastating for me and I still remember the pain I felt today. After the burial and everything, things had to go back to normal and our father decided my sister and I should continue running our

mother’s grocery store. It was a small stall and did not make much but it helped boost our father’s meager earnings from being a laborer.

Even with all his hard work he had probably realized he would not be able to take care of us on his salary alone. Being a Chinese American during those times was not easy. You could always see the contempt and dislike white people had for us especially if you did not understand their language, English. This was one of the problems I had to go through as grocery boy. I remember one time some white kids about my age at that time came to the stall to buy some vegetables probably they were sent by their parents. After I had given them their purchases they started giggling and saying some things I could not understand while calling me a name I came to learn meant stupid Chinese boy.

Then all of a sudden they all broke into a run in different directions without paying for goods. I stood there devastated trying to figure which one of them I should follow. Eventually I figured the store was more important and I should not leave since I was tending it alone. The people who had been around to witness the incident just stood there looking at me with amused faces.

I still remember that day vividly. Later on, someone was able to convince our father to at least let Li attend school while I, being the older one, continued running the grocery store. Li was enrolled at a local grammar school while I continued running the store. When my father died in 1980, I

was really saddened by the event and sometimes I think it was the lowest point in my life. He had been my close friend.

Since Li had joined school, we had sort of grown apart. After the burial and everything I went to back and continued running the store. Within two years of my father’s death, I decided America was not for me I should move back to China. I had some life savings I had been putting aside which I would now use to get back to Hong Kong.

My sister Li, stayed behind. She already had a job as a kindergarten teacher and her life was great in the United States. Life back in Hong Kong was not as easy as I anticipated but I still felt more at peace and ready to face whatever challenges came my way. I was at home. I started by getting a job as a laborer and with Li’s help I was able to put together enough money to start a grocery store of my own.

I was so proud when my shop was complete. Today I am married to a beautiful woman, Zhang Li and although we have no children, we are happy together. My wife and I were able to grow the store and move into a big shop where she helps me manage it. Many people leave for the United States chasing the American dream of happiness and most actually find it as in |Li’s example but I found my happiness here in China, My homeland.