My Grandmother's 1942

Bo Jin

Cause and Effect essay

Final essay

11/8/2016

My Grandmother’s 1942

         Famine was like a group of wolves. When hunger came, it would devour the last drops of tears from human beings. Between the summer of 1942 and the spring of 1943, Henan province suffered the severest drought in history. After the drought, they suffered again with a plague of locusts. Famine spread across the one hundred counties in the province. There were ten million people in Henan province during that time, and it was estimated that three million people died from starvation and diseases. My grandmother’s family was one of the seven million refugees who had to walk to Shaanxi seeking the last hope of her life. A countless number refugees died along the way. They ate all the food that could be eaten even including dead people in order to stay alive. My grandmother’s family eventually arrived in Xi’an, Shaanxi, but only my grandmother and my great grandfather were alive. During that year, my grandmother was only five years old, and she had the worst experience in her life, the death of her mother, brothers, and sisters. That period of almost unforgettable history not only influenced the entire life of my grandmother, but also affected her next generations. 

This period of bitter history not only influenced my grandmother’s childhood, but also affected her marriage. My great grandfather got remarried after his wife died when my grandma was only five years old. It had left her with an empty heart for her entire childhood. After my grandmother and my great grandfather arrived in Xi’an, they received financial help from the government, but the financial help could only maintain their daily necessities. My grandmother had to beg on the streets every day. A broken bowl for begging became her favorite toy. One day, my great grandfather came back in the evening, and not only brought back food, but also brought back a woman who later became my grandmother’s stepmother. Within a year, my grandmother’s stepmother gave birth to a boy. This “gift” made my grandmother’s life more miserable than it already was. In the patriarchal age, my grandmother’s status at home was like her “toy” – the broken bowl she used for begging. When my grandmother was sixteen years old, her family faced more financial difficulties, so they forced her to marry someone she did not know or have any feelings for, and she did not have a ring or wedding. He was ten years older than her. My grandfather was also a refugee who came to Xi’an to survive, but unfortunately, he was the only one in his family that survived the famine. He was a very poor railroad worker. He only gave my great grandfather a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of wine to take away my grandmother. My grandmother later gave birth to three daughters and two sons, and my father was the youngest among his sibling. The children brought sunshine to her life again, just like the spring had come and left the coldness behind.

This period of unforgettable history not only influenced my grandmother but also affected the choice of my father’s major in university and the choice of his career path. My father used to say, “I am very lucky because I did not experience the famine, and I have had the best education among all the siblings.” By the time my father was born, his family’s financial condition had improved gradually; thus, his family lived frugally for his tuition. Of course, my father was very smart and was later accepted by Northwest University. Even though the family was very happy about his acceptance, they did not expect that my father would choose to study agriculture. Four years later, my father’s family was surprised again that he gave up at job of the Agricultural Bureau, and that he went to the countryside to teach the farmers how to grow crops. when the family planned how to celebrate my father’s college graduation, he suddenly disappeared. My father only left a letter on the dining table, saying his dream was to help farmers improve production of crops and reduce the likelihood of drought. My grandmother finally realized he wanted to help the farmers was because she used to tell him the stories she had experienced in her childhood, and he was afraid there would be another famine in the future.

 This period of heavy history not only influenced my grandmother and my father, but also affected my personality and values. My grandmother always taught me that I would encounter all kinds of difficulties in life, and that I need to be brave to face them. When I was a little boy, my grandmother used to share the stories of her childhood with me. Her stories would always make me think that my grandmother was very brave and strong; she became a hero in my heart. My grandmother always gave me support, and it made me feel confident and fearless. No matter what difficulties I have met, I know I could overcome them. In addition, my grandmother’s story made me realize that family was more important than anything else. My grandmother once told me the most painful thing in her entire life was that she witnessed the death of her mother and her siblings, but she could not do anything about it. After my grandmother shared the story with me, I always wanted to spend a lot of time with my family, and I hoped my parents could be happy every day.

My grandmother’s 1942 was like an epitaph that buried my grandmother’s youth, recorded my father’s dream, and guided my way. Today, this period of real history has been produced in a movie called “Back to 1942”. After I saw the movie with my grandmother, I asked her, “Did you cry every day just like the actress in the movie?” She answered softly, “At that time, I was so hungry that I did not even have the strength to cry.”  And then, I asked her again: “Did you have a different feeling of life after you had experienced your 1942?” I stared at her. She tried to fake a smile, and then told me: “live every day as if it is your last.” I later realized the meaning of the saying. If I live each day as if it is my last, I will treasure everything.

Cause and Effect Essay

A Constant Truth

“If you expect to find a good job, you must study hard.” My mother always says this sentence to my siblings and me. My mother thinks it is a constant truth. Why does she think education is the most important part of our lives? This is due to her experience of growing up. When I was in kindergarten, my mother always told me about her childhood. About fifty years ago, my mother was born in China. During that time, it was not a peaceful situation. The Culture Revolution was started by Chairman Mao. He believed that people didn’t need to be educated and he became suspicious of intellectuals and educations. In fact, he sent teachers to prison and burned many books. The revolution affected many aspects, but education was one of most important part. Thus, this revolution had a significant influence on the education of my family.

During the revolution, my mother lost the opportunity to get an education and experienced a tough period. First, my mother had to drop her classes in school. The ten years of the revolution almost damaged the whole education system. Most of the schools were suspended and destroyed. My mother left school when she was in primary school. Because she lacked education, she couldn’t find any good job. Thus, her life became hard. My mother stayed at home and helped her family to do the farm work. Everyday my mother had to cut the trees and walk three miles to sell them. In addition, she had to plant and take care of the crops in the hot sun. Up to now, my mother has a thin body and bronze skin. Due to her difficult childhood, my mother has a strong belief to help her children to get the good education.

For this reason, my mother formulated an educational plan for her children. Until my family moved to Chicago, my siblings and I were studying at school. However, it was not cheap to pay tuition for three children. My mother and father both left school when they were studying in the primary school.  They didn’t have a good education and could only work in the handicraft industry and farm work. In our Guangdong province, some of my classmates only finished high school, and even some of them only finished middle schools, because they had to find a job to help their family. Nevertheless, my mother never agreed with these thoughts. She thinks the children should have a good education and then they can find a good job to change the life by themselves. In fact, university tuition was a burden for a low-income family. To pay my university tuition, my mother saved every penny and never bought new clothes before the old ones were worn out. So far, my mother has never changes her mind.

Finally, my mother’s belief has infiltrated into my life and has pushed me to insist on studying. When my family moved to Chicago, it was a big problem for me. I had almost finished my bachelor degree in accounting before I moved to Chicago. At that time, everything seemed good, and I thought I would have a smooth future. However, I never regret moving to Chicago. As a matter of fact, I know I should learn new things, but I also know they can open my vision. Moreover, my mother’s words still embrace me. Every time I want to give up my studying, I recall my mother’s small appearance. It seems to tell me to finish my mother’s will.

In fact, The Culture Revolution was an event that has influenced many generations in China. My mother’s experience is a model for my siblings and me. Education has always played an important role in my family. Everyone in my family believes “If you expect to find a good job, you must study hard.” It is a constant truth that exists in my family. In the future, it will be delivered to my children. I am sure it will be passed from generation to generation.

Hell was Next to Heaven

Effect essay-Third draft
10/23/2016
Lianghuan Tan
Hell was Next to Heaven
Thirty-eight years ago, Shenzhen, also known as hell was a poor village in southern China. It was next to an international big city governed by the U.K, Hong Kong also known as heaven. Many Chinese citizens managed to escape from hell to heaven because China was an extremely poor country and Hong Kong was a prosperous city at that time. After Deng Xiaoping came into power, the government gave up controlling everything because nobody wanted to live in hell anymore. China started to reform and open up after years of being a closed country. Chinese Economic Reform and Opening has been implemented throughout the past two generations. Cities and villages have become richer and more prosperous. This policy had important influences on my family.

It was easier for my father to find a job and earn more money after the Reform. It was much easier for my father to find a job in a city. Before the Reform, he lived in a village and worked as an accountant because the government arranged jobs for citizens . After 1978, my father went to Guangzhou and other cities looking for a job. Many companies were set up and hired a lot of workers, so my father could find a job easily and worked as a building worker in the city. In addition, my father earned more money. When he worked as an accountant in the village, he earned ten points, with which people purchased rice, instead of using money. However, he earned ten dollars per day when he worked as a building worker in Guangzhou. As his salary improved, so did his personal finance.

In addition to earning money, the new Reform improved my family’s quality of life in many ways. we lived comfortably in the new house. After years of working as a building worker, my father opened a small business in Guangzhou. My parents ran the store well, so they earned thousands of dollars. Then we went back to our hometown, Taishan. We used to live in a ragged house, which is seventy years old. With his new money, my father built a new house and we moved into it. Also, we had more entertainment. After we moved into the new house, my parents bought a set of furniture, a refrigerator and a television. We sat in comfortable chairs and enjoyed the interesting Hong Kong television shows every night. My mother watched dramas and sang sometimes. I went online and listened to music in my free time. We had much fun than before.

Additionally, I had the chance to choose my job and work anywhere because of the Reform. I also had the opportunity to look for jobs on my own. In the past, the government used to arrange jobs for graduates, but after the new policies of the Reform, I was able to choose my job by myself. I looked for a job in a job market and decided my own career after I graduated from college. I majored accounting at school, but I worked as a bank teller later. Also, I could work anywhere. Graduates had no choice in the past. A graduate’s hometown could be in the south of China, yet the government maybe sent the student to the north of China. After I graduated, I stayed in Guangzhou looking for a job, and then I went back to my hometown. I loved this new freedom.

The Chinese Economic and Open up policy has changed the life of my family significantly. Although I am in Chicago now, I still pay attention to the events in China. Sometimes I read Chinese news online because I am really interested in the future of my country. I even want to go back to China and work in a city one day. Sometimes I imagine that if I work hard in China, I can afford to buy a house. China is still a developing country, so the quality of life in America is better. Now Shenzhen isn’t hell anymore. It is heaven like Hong Kong, and maybe it will even be better than Hong Kong in the future.

The Chain of Chance

When I was a little child, I loved listening to my father talking about my grandfather’s precarious life. I still remember the rhyming lines that I used to hear all the time. “Life is the chain of chance” and “you’ve got to try”. Those memories are still in my heart and silence in my head. My childhood was full of remarkable stories about my grandfather. After the Vietnam war, the entire country tried to start over. Fortunately, my grandfather was in the first group of Vietnamese refugees that entered the United States between 1975 and 1977. By the time my mother had the third child, my father had emigrated from Vietnam to the U.S as my grandfather wished. The chance that my father took obviously wasn’t easy for him. While my father was trying so hard to assimilate to American culture, my mother also was having a tough time to deal with her committed life with three children in the house. My mother lived in the difficult moments in her life, a hand on her brow, a crying voice from young children in her ear. My family suddenly fell down to the black hole of life after my father decided to challenge himself to an America dream, but he didn’t realize that it was also a huge step for my mother and his children facing the darkest moment in my family life.

Living without a father in the family is like a person who has lost a right hand. A case of point, my mother suddenly had a burden after my father moved to the U.S, because she had a full time job that always took place her resting time. My family was living with my mother, my brother, and my two older sisters in a small wooden house with palm leaves roof far from the city. I am sensibly proud of our house now, and most especially I am proud of our metal roof. In order to handle affordable life, my mother was working in a cashew garden which meant she was collecting and packing cashew from seven am to eleven pm. she also kept a job as a knitter on the weekend because she was deeply in love with knitting from when she was a little child. As my father said, she barely had time to sleep because of her young children were always crying at midnight. During the period when my father and my mother separated, the only way to keep in touch was writing letters. My father recognized that my mother letters wrote him all about supporting and caring him, but never a complaint. However, he knew that she was desperate. The worst part for my mother was the social stigma of women living with children without a husband. My mother was strong, brave, and gallant enough. Working hard to save money was not enough for that tricky life. My mother got paid just very a little from work, but she was proud of herself to be the one saving her children life, proud of herself to be the one who could feed her children and take them to school with her left hand. Inevitably, my father couldn’t stand the idea of letting his wife work by herself anymore. Across the ocean, an America dream was blown away by disillusionment.

The house was filled with motivation and happiness when my father came back Vietnam from the U.S. He is a man who has a droopy mustache like a fish hanging from a cat’s mouth but his smile is peaceful enough to make his wife feel safer. The rising sun finally flashed on the palm leaves roof. My father started looking for a job and helped my mom take care of the kids at midnight in order to let my mom catch up on some sleep. My father started renting a cashew garden and growing plants. My family moved out of the village and bought a house near a city. The fact that my father left his America dream behind his back for a while to take care of the family impressed me, and that made my mind think about the life he always admired. When I turned eighteen years old, I asked myself which of my many dreams shall claim my heart, and that question pops in my head all the time. I was only confused and lost. Perhaps my father knows me more than I do, so he gave me the idea of living abroad. He guided the way for me, and he gave me the chance which was also from my grandfather.

At the moment when I got off the airplane in the United States, I stood with my head poking out of the window, like a baby popped out her head at her birth, taking a look out there at the world she was about to come into. I took my father’s dream and my mother’s blessing with me to a foreign country ready for a battle. I quickly got along with the community and society. I found who I am in this strange land. My life was suddenly full of chances and the best chance is still the one that I took from my father. Although my father couldn’t make this intense life work out, I can now imagine how hard it was for him. Over the years, my father has been building his family and earning money for my education. However, I still don’t want to use his money and free myself to not worry about food or clothes. I gave myself a chance to work a part time job besides school. I love experiencing professional environment and seeing how far I can reach. The further I complete myself in a good way, the more I feel thankful to my father. Of course I was nervous, and I failed a few times during the process finding a job, but sticking in my head is my father’s rhyme “life is the chain of chance”. “I am trying,” I said. My voice sounded small, distant enough that my father might hear me, and it was coming from the bottom of my heart.

As long as I keep trying, my father will always be there for me. He keeps teaching me by his experiences and sometimes saying it as a rhyme. My wonderful, brave, charming, talented father gave me this life. The old life was gone. Gone is the time that my mother was trying to save the entire family without a man, gone is the moment my father burst into tears reading his letter from my mom or when my family was living in the house under the palm leaves roof. There is no going back to that old life. In fact, my family has never run away from poverty. We have kept trying and taking numerous opportunities either to survive or get a better life. Although the chance that my father took from his father turned out like a disaster for my family for a while, it was completely worth it. Of course my mother failed in her life, I failed even more than her, and also my father failed in his America life. However, we excuse ourselves by thinking that life is the chain of chance. As long as we are still alive, we would never miss out any opportunities.

Waves of Information

Waves of Information

I still remember clearly my first programming assignment that was a simple calculator. If I typed some numbers into my computer, the results printed out on the screen. Light green letters blinked on the black screen. After the international monetary fund financial crisis that hit South Korea, IMF, The IT industry had a breakthrough in the Korean economy. Several new types of businesses appeared and disappeared in this period. For example, So-Ri-Ba-Da, the largest music sharing service in Korea, was ordered by the court to stop their business because of copyright complaints. On the other hand, Ahn Lab, a company that serves antivirus software and information security system, was a huge success. Computer science was a popular field, and many young people started a business related to computers. The information technology, IT, boom affected me when I chose my major, and this decision changed my future.  

At the age of eighteen, the day that my older brother bought a personal computer, I chose computer science as my major. As windows system replaced DOS, computers became popular. The personal computer started to spread all over the country, and my older brother, who is a man who likes new things, bought it faster than anyone else. While my brother was staring at his computer, I was in my room worrying about my problem that I still hadn’t decided my major. When I was a high school student, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  I just was doing my best to prepare for the college entrance exams like the other high school seniors.  The time came to apply to some colleges, but I didn’t make a decision. My academic advisor was not helpful because she was an inexperienced young advisor. She just recommended some teaching colleges. When I was worrying about this problem, my older brother’s first computer gave me an idea. I found out what I wanted to do. I was surprised that I no longer needed a typewriter. That day when my older brother brought his computer home, my brothers and I stayed in front of the computer for a long time. 

After graduating with a major in computer science, I achieved financial independence faster than my friends. There were a lot of IT businesses in Korea, so companies needed many employees who graduated with a degree in computers. I got a job before graduation, but many friends hadn’t been able to find a job, so they hung around their house after graduation. The Internet was introduced to the public, and windows OS had made an incredible development. The computer became an important part of people’s lives. It changed not only technology, but culture and society too. For example, in 1998, the MP3 player was made in Korea for the first time. The size of the MP3 player was smaller than a cigarette box. It sold like hot cakes and changed the whole music industry in Korea. All of a sudden, CDs, CD players, and record shops disappeared. Young people no longer wrote hand written letters after the advent of free email service, and they got most music files from online sites. As technology developed, more opportunities were in the computer job market. I continually received some job offers from the other companies. Many young people studied programming to get a job in the computer field even though they studied liberal arts in college. However, the IT bubble of South Korea burst in the early 2000s.

The collapse of the computer industry was a part of Korean history and my story too. A lot of venture capital firms and banks put their enormous money into the IT companies because they expected the companies to show a profit after its second or third year, but the results were different from their hopes. The investors requested their money back. Thus, numerous firms were closed, and enormous numbers of people lost their jobs. The same sad truth happened to me. When the company that I worked for was in financial trouble, I was a little bit nervous, but I had confidence that I could get another good job immediately. However, it was my mistake. One hundred people applied for one position of engineer. The computer science field froze and was no longer a blue ocean. I tried to find new opportunities when I failed to get a job, and overseas employment was my answer. I got a job in Japan. In the early 2000s, the IT boom started in Japan, so I started to study Japanese. I thought that if I studied hard in high school, maybe I could go to Harvard University. This challenge of living in Japan expanded my views and mental horizon as well as helped me acquire a new language. 

     Korea was swallowed up by waves of the IT boom from the 1990s to the early and mid 2000s. A proliferation of personal computers changed many things in the society. The internet had become popular for commercial and public use worldwide in the mid 1990s, and South Korea was no exception. The internet and the cell phone were common in people’s lives in Korea. The IT boom of Korea also changed my future. If my brother hadn’t brought his computer into my house, maybe I would have gone to teacher’s college, taught elementary school in Korea, and never come to the United States. I would certainly not be in this class now.

The Beginning of an new Life

                                 The Beginning of an new Life

            

              Over the centuries more than two hundred thousand millions of people have moved to a new place in order to get a better life and also achieve their goals, people do this because most of time the conditions of living in their country is not as good as should be. Just like those millions of peoples, my parents left their families and home and started a new life in Brazil. That time my parents were young, just starting adulthood. It was hard to leave their families, and start a new life. Moreover, they could not even speak the Portuguese language. Nevertheless, they had no choice. For that reason, they decided to pack what they needed and move in order to find for new opportunities that another country could offers. After moving to Brazil, they life had changed completely. It has affected so much their life and also the future of their children. However, in order to make the new country as their home, they had to face many challenges.

            Many years ago, my parents, after their marriage, started to think about the benefits of living in another country. At that time my mother was a professor of Chinese kindergarten students and my father was unemployed because he had just finished high school and then decided to think about the future. Although, the job of a professor is considered a good job in many places in the world, my mother did not earn much money from her job, the salary was not enough to support the family costs. Also, my grandparents used to work on the streets selling food every day. However, the money that they used to earn was almost nothing. For this reason, most of time they arrived home disappointed at the end of day.  Over the years, my parents realized that their living conditions would never change for the better. Then, the thought of moving to other place came to their minds. They needed to think about what to do for the future, and the only way was moving to another country, if not nothing would change.

 In order to accomplish their goal, my parents moved to Brazil two years after they got married. This change had affected them really much. The Brazilian culture was really different, the communication was terrible and they end up needing their other friends help. Even living in Brazil, which is much better than China, most of time they did not feel free in Brazil. For years, my parents used to work for their friends in restaurants until they decided to open their own business. Their salary was not enough for them, and they needed to take care of their family in China. After years of working for their friends and all the difficulties they faced, they finally manage to open their own business and after that, a new life has started. When my grandparents heard about that, they were really happy and proud because my parents managed to change their future, which means good things would happen in their lives. After many years, everything got established. Now they have more opportunities of job and have more satisfying life, something they could not even think about in China.

After my parents moved from China to Brazil, they changed not only their life, but the children’s lives as well. Since we were children my siblings and I had many opportunities. For example, we studied in better schools, we have good clothes, also we did not need to worry about what we would eat, and many other things that we could not have if we were born in China. However, it took time and a lot of effort for my parents to get used to this way of life. Today, my family and I do not live in Brazil anymore. Now it is our time to get used to living in the United States. There are many opportunities here compared to Brazil, and everything is new for us. Now, my brothers and I have to face what my parents faced before.

Moving to another country is not easy as people usually expect, and most of time people get disappointed after realizing that is not the same as thought. Every year, many people decide to move to another country in order to reach their goals. Sometimes, a dream can end up becoming a nightmare, making many people return to where they came from. Despite all the difficulties my parents had faced, my parents, fortunately managed to change what they hoped many years ago, which means it was all worth it.

Child’s Pain

Child’s Pain

In old China, as the government didn’t provide the social security retirement, people had to have many children in their family to ensure that they would be take care by their children when they got older. Because of this, the overpopulation had become a very serious problem, which blocked the country’s development. In order to avoid the problem, the Chinese government adopted the one-child policy which limited each family to have one child. However, although the policy helped to control the population, it also had many of unforeseen consequences which brought a lot of pain to many children. Accordingly, this policy had a deep influence on my generation.

At the beginning, the one-child policy had a great influence in my hometown which lead my friend became the only one child in his family. His family spoiled him as a prince, and they collected a huge amount of money to invest in his education. As a result, his parents could afford to send him a foreign college to study. In addition, as he was the only grandson in the family, his grandparents loved him so much. They never blamed him for anything. Even if he did something wrong, they would complain about the other children that he played with. As a result, he became the worst child in my hometown. He just had a few friends because people hated to spend time with him. Although his high education could help him find a better life in future, the poor relationship would lead him separate to be an outcast in the society.

In addition, the one-child policy had a great effect on my family. My brother was the second child in my family. When he was born, my parents were forced to pay a large penalty to the government. If my parents did not pay it, my brother would not have his ID in the future. In order to make this big payment, my family borrowed a lot of money from my relatives, which meant that we were poor when I was growing up. My brother and I never drank milk until I was ten years old. Furthermore, my mother always worried that she would lose her job when my brother was born. She was working in a government office and had to be careful about the one-child policy. Therefore, she asked everyone to help her to keep her job because she needed money to return to my relatives. When she knew that she could keep her job, she was happy with tears.

Finally, the policy forced my cousin to grow up in another family, which was far from her parents. My cousin was the second daughter in her family, and her parents still wanted to have a son, so they gave money to another family who lived far away from them to take care of my cousin. Her parents arranged this in secret, and announced that my cousin was an orphan who was adopted by another family. That was the reason that my cousin was always mocked by other children, which made her become fearful and introverted. Meanwhile, she began to hate her parents who had sent her away. When she grew up and went back to her real family, she did not feel that she belonged with this family and always quarreled with her parents.

As the result of one-child policy, China has a great control over its population, and families could focus all their income on one child’s education. However, it has caused many economic problems, which were a huge burden for many families. Also, for many family, it destroyed the true love between the children and their parents. However, children are the hope of the country’s future, so the country’s success needs not to be at the expense pain and suffering of children. Now, the government has developed the social security retirement, so people do not need to worry about their lives when they get older. In addition, after many years of development, the government finally makes some changes to this policy to make it more lenient, which has many benefit for families.