Daughter of Good Fortune: A Twentieth-Century Chinese Peasant Memoir

by Chen Huiqin

  In addition there was a special area reserved for badminton and a set of ping-pong tables. After lunch, workers played ping-pong and badminton. To celebrate the Chinese New Year in early 2011, the company organized a ping-pong contest. All the workers were invited to participate. Shebao asked Shezhu to buy many toiletry sets with items such as shampoo and hair conditioner on the web. The winners of the contest were awarded the toiletry sets as prizes.

  In 2011, Shebao found a partner to run the expanded business with him. The company now has an office in urban Shanghai while its factory is still in the manufacturing center in northern Jiading. The company expenses are now high. I sometimes express my worries. Shebao and Shezhu tell me not to worry. When I ask Shebao if he is making any money, he tells me that he does not run the company to make money, but to do something worth doing. I have lived all my life thinking about doing things to earn money so that my family can live a better life. I guess Shebao is beyond that. According to my way of thinking, I say I have raised a “silly” son, a son who is not interested in making money. Yet I am proud of him.

  CHEN LI GOES TO JAPAN

  When Chen Li was in high school, Shebao and Xiao Xie wanted their son to see the world. They sent Chen Li to Canada on an exchange program during one of his summer vacations. In 2007, Chen Li took the college entrance exams and scored high enough to be admitted to Shanghai University, where he chose communication engineering as his major.

  Many Chinese people, old and young, believe that the United States is the best place on earth. Shebao and Xiao Xie hoped that Chen Li would do graduate work in the United States but Chen Li apparently did not want to. The summer before he became a senior in college, he asked his parents for some money to pay for a Japanese language course. He studied the Japanese language very seriously. Before this, his foreign language was English. When Shezhen brought some American friends home, Chen Li had no problem communicating with them. Nonetheless, he wanted to learn Japanese and planned to do graduate work in Japan. Shebao and Xiao Xie said that they would financially support Chen Li’s pursuit of further education and it did not matter where he chose to do it.

  In the spring of 2011, Japan experienced a tremendous earthquake, which was followed by a disastrous tsunami and frightening news about the nuclear plant. We saw the news coverage on TV. My husband told me that this disaster was happening not very far from Tokyo, Japan, where Chen Li was planning to go. I learned that earthquakes happen rather frequently in Japan. I also learned that nuclear radiation could last a long time. So I called Chen Li and asked him to reconsider his decision. Chen Li told me that there were still many months before his planned trip and that he would wait to decide.

  In the summer of 2011, after Chen Li graduated from Shanghai University, he took the Japanese language test and scored very high. Within one year, he had mastered this second foreign language. The news from Japan was now calm and Chen Li stuck to his decision to go there. My husband and I wanted to buy Chen Li a gift. We knew that he loved Apple products because when Shezhen visited us with her Apple laptop, Chen Li played with his aunt’s computer and praised it for its beautiful and smart design. At the same time, he had his own laptop, which was not an Apple. He kept up with news about Apple products all the time. When a new iPhone was to be released, he said to his father, “Dad, your cell phone is too old and should be updated.” Shebao replied, “What you really want is to buy a new iPhone and give me your old one. Is that right?” Chen Li admitted, “That is right.” Since Shebao also loves electronic things, he told Chen Li to go ahead and buy what he wanted. On the first day the new iPhone was available in the store, Chen Li got up early and stood in line for hours to get one. When he got the iPhone, he came to Jiading and showed it to me and my husband. He said, “Grandma, this phone is more important than my life.” I replied, “Don’t be silly. Nothing is more important than your life.”

  My children talked about Apple products when they gathered at my house. I recognized the Apple logo, which was an apple missing one bite. So when the owner of the Apple company died, I saw the news on TV. When Shebao came to have dinner with us that same day, I said, “I heard the owner of the Apple company has died.” Shebao was surprised and said, “Mom, you also know that!”

  Therefore, my husband and I decided to buy Chen Li an Apple laptop, the kind Shezhen used. We gave Chen Li the money and he bought the computer himself. Shebao told us that after Chen Li bought the Apple laptop, he carried it home but did not open the box that contained the computer. When he sat down to dinner with his parents, he took out some wine and asked his father to drink with him. He said that he wanted to celebrate the opening of the Apple computer box with wine. So he and his father poured wine, clicked their wine glasses, and sipped some wine; then he opened the box.

  After Chen Li obtained a visa to enter Japan, his parents bought him a plane ticket. Then he called us to say that he was coming to see us and to show us the new laptop. He came and spent the whole day with us. He told us that the computer would allow him to do many things, including have video chats with us while he was in Japan. He logged on to the web and showed us the school he was to attend, the apartment he had rented for himself, the light-rail he would take to go to school every day, and the prices of various food in Tokyo, Japan. We were amazed by how much information he obtained from the web. He even showed us a drawing of the apartment he had rented. It indicated where the bed was, where the bathroom was, and where he would be cooking his meals. We knew that Tokyo was a very crowded city and every inch of space was as valuable as gold. Therefore, housing was very expensive. The apartment Chen Li had rented was very small. Yet, just like the little sparrow which has every organ to live its life, the apartment had everything Chen Li needed to live his daily life.

  As he showed us the prices of food, he explained to us the exchange rate between Chinese money and Japanese money. We realized that food in Japan was very expensive. Since we knew that Chen Li did not have a habit of spending money in a wasteful way, my husband told Chen Li, “Don’t worry about money. Buy and eat what you want. I will be glad to help out financially if such a need arises.” Chen Li responded, “Grandpa, I know what you are saying. But my father has promised to support me financially.”

  Before Chen Li was scheduled to leave for Japan, Shebao and Xiao Xie sponsored a send-off dinner and invited the entire family to it. When we went to the restaurant for the send-off dinner, I was in the same car with Chen Li. I said to Chen Li that I wanted to share with him two things, although they might not be the right things to say. Chen Li said, “Grandma, go ahead. I will listen.” I said, “First, I do not want you to marry a Japanese girl.” I explained, “I have visited your aunt in the United States and know how big cultural gaps can be.” Chen Li said he would consider my advice. A few days later, he told me that he had decided to accept my suggestion and would not marry a Japanese girl. The second thing I said to Chen Li was that he could spend as many years abroad as he wanted and needed for education, but he should come back and pursue his career and establish a family in China. Chen Li replied, “I will see what happens. It is too early to make such a decision now.”

  Because National Day celebration, a week-long holiday, was approaching, I asked Chen Li to leave for Japan after the holiday, but he was very eager to go, so he left right before the holiday. As soon as Chen Li arrived in Tokyo, Shebao brought his laptop to our house. He got on to the web, and we chatted with Chen Li, who used his Apple computer and showed us his apartment. We saw the sleeping area, the kitchen area, and the bathroom area inside his one-room apartment via the Internet.

  The web is just wonderful. Shebao and Xiao Xie are in touch with Chen Li every day. I remember when Shezhen went to the United States at first—it took more than ten days to receive a letter from her and it cost a lot of money to make a phone call. Now we can see Chen Li and talk to him almost anytime we want and it is free.

  During the National Day holiday, the entire family came to my house, just as t
hey usually did. While eating dinner, we talked to Chen Li via the computer. We showed him a table of dishes, many of which he loved. He showed us the food he had prepared for himself. When I asked him if he envied the food on our table, he said he did not. I understood that he had decided to go study in Japan, so a few homemade dishes did not make him regret his decision.

  16

  Return to Ancestral Land

  AFTER Shebao moved his company to the new manufacturing center in 2010, our ancestral house inside Helen Community became vacant. I decided to move to the Helen house for several reasons.

  First, the fixtures, walls, and floors in our Xincheng apartment were getting old. We had moved there in 1998. I cooked in the kitchen for every meal and many family gatherings, so the kitchen was greasy. The bathroom was also getting old. The inside of the apartment needed a lot of work.

  Second, we were never happy about the fact that we did not get much sunshine any time of the year. The buildings in front of us and behind us were too close and blocked the sun as well as the wind from our apartment. Besides, more and more people who owned the apartments above or beside us had moved to larger apartments or to newer residential communities with better ambience. They either rented out or sold their apartments to people who were often from other provinces. These people were less responsible about their living environment. They threw trash from their windows. If I did not clean our patio for a week, it would be covered in cigarette butts, candy wrappers, tissues, and other dirty things. They would also hang laundry that had not been spun dry and was dripping water, and I had to be very careful when I put out my laundry. Many times, I had to move my clothes several times during the day to avoid their dripping laundry. Since they did not speak the local dialect and we did not speak their dialects, it was difficult to communicate with them about such problems.

  Because of these conditions, my children claimed that our residential community had become a slum. I did not think that it was that bad, but it was true that our living conditions had deteriorated.

  Third, Shezhen told us that she had been granted another semester-long sabbatical leave and planned to come back and spend half a year with us. Although we had two bedrooms in the Xincheng apartment, they were small. Every time Shezhen came back to visit us during her summer vacation, she had to work in a corner of her small bedroom. I had visited her house in the United States and knew how spacious and comfortable her house was. Shebao and Shezhu also told me that although their elder sister never complained about it, it must be difficult for her to adapt to the crowded living space in a slum-like environment.

  Fourth, Shezhu and Ah Ming bought a new apartment in a new residential complex. They were scheduled to move into the new house in the spring of 2012. The new complex is located in the northern part of urban Jiading. Since Xincheng is in the southeastern part of urban Jiading, we would have to cross the entire urban area in order to get to Shezhu’s new house once she moved into it. And her new house is only about a fifteen-minute bus ride or a seven-minute car ride from our Helen house, which is on the northwestern outskirts of Jiading Town. Plus, Shezhu worked in Shebao’s factory, which is north of Helen Community. After Shezhu moved to her new house, every day that she went to work at Shebao’s company, our Helen house would be on her route while our Xincheng apartment would be totally out of her way.

  Fifth, my husband and I were getting old, and I started to think about a time when we would need assistance in our daily life. There were several ways to get assistance. One of them was to move to a retirement home. We had heard terrible stories of life in a retirement home. So that was not an ideal option for us. Another way was to continue to live at home with the help of a maid. I thought that the latter option would be much better. It would be best to hire a middle-aged woman who was not a complete stranger to us. It would be easier for us to find such a person in our native home, where we have extended family as well as many acquaintances.

  In the summer of 2011, I asked Ah Ming to find a remodeling company to prepare our Helen house as our home. I asked him for the help because he was in the air-conditioning business and knew many people in the remodeling business. I told Ah Ming to make all the decisions for us. We did not want anything fancy, but we did want to have the house ready for easy and comfortable living. Ah Ming contracted the work out to a company and made all the decisions for us. The remodeling project was completed in November 2011, and we gave the money to Ah Ming to pay for the work.

  My husband, however, was worried that life in Helen Community would be inconvenient. He was concerned about getting his medicine, since his health depended on the medicine he took every day. But we found out that a new hospital, within walking distance of our Helen house, had just opened. It was the same kind of hospital as the one near our Xincheng apartment where my husband had been getting his medicine. We could also easily take a bus outside Helen Community and get to the hospital that way. He was also worried about not having easy access to various stores since Helen Community was in a rural area. I understood his concerns and said that we would not move any essentials from our Xincheng apartment so that we could return if we did not like living in Helen.

  Since we were not moving most of our furniture from our Xincheng apartment, we had to buy new pieces for our Helen house. Xiao Xie helped us with this. She shopped around and found a furniture company in urban Shanghai, where she and Shebao selected two sets of bedroom furniture and one set of living-room furniture for us. We then gave Shebao and Xiao Xie the money to pay for the furniture they bought for us. We decided to move our dining-room furniture from our Xincheng apartment to our Helen house because it was hardwood furniture and a set that we treasured. We said to ourselves that if we needed to move back to Xincheng, we would buy a cheaper set for the dining room there. Our children bought housewarming presents for us. Shebao and Xiao Xie bought a reclining sofa for our bedroom. Shezhu and Ah Ming bought us a big-screen TV set.

  My husband and I bought curtains in a Xincheng store for our Helen house. The store provided very good service. They drove to the house and measured all the windows. We then chose the materials and the styles, and they made the curtains. They again drove to the house and put up the curtains for us. The new living-room and bedroom furniture was delivered directly to our Helen house around the same time the curtains were put up.

  We decided to move to our Helen house before Chinese New Year’s Day and before Shezhen’s scheduled arrival. Ah Ming was very busy those days, coordinating several projects outside Shanghai. I saw a neighbor who was moving some furniture and asked the neighbor about the moving company and obtained the company’s business card. I told Shezhu that I could contact that company and move our stuff that way. But Shezhu insisted that Ah Ming do the moving for us.

  So on the Sunday before Shezhen’s arrival, Ah Ming squeezed time out and used his pickup truck to move our dining-room table and chairs, a nightstand, some clothes, and the bedding. My whole family came to help, with the men helping with the moving and setting up of the furniture and the women helping with setting up the beds.

  My family asked me what I was going to do with my bodhisattva. I said that I would take it to the Helen house personally. I packed everything carefully and carried the package in my arms to our new house. I put the nightstand in the smaller bedroom and placed my precious statues of the bodhisattva, the incense burner, and the birth animals on the nightstand. Since then, I have been chanting Amitabha and lighting two incense sticks every morning in front of the bodhisattva at our Helen house.

  Shezhu prepared traditional housewarming things for us and brought them over on our moving day. She bought a bag of rice, a bottle of cooking oil, a family-size bottle of spring water, two sticks of sugarcane, a rice cake, and several glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves (zongzi). The rice, the cooking oil, and the spring water are basic materials for life and represented Shezhu’s wishes for our family never to suffer shortages of basic materials. The sugarcane, the rice cake, and zo
ngzi were symbols of best wishes for success and fortune.

  At last we moved to our Helen house, which is built on our ancestral land. Our house has two stories. On the first floor we have a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a one-car garage. On the second floor, we have two large bedrooms and a small bedroom, a laundry room, and another bathroom. The kitchen is equipped with built-in cabinets above and below and has extensive counter space. The two bathrooms have tiled walls and floors for easy cleaning. The house has a roofed balcony for hanging washed laundry. All the rooms are equipped with air conditioners.

  We consider the new house our ancestral home and the land it stands on as our basic homesite. According to local traditions, after a house is built and a family has moved into it, the family should hire a Daoist priest to perform a ritual to calm the homesite (zhenzhai). I contacted a Daoist priest on the phone and made an arrangement for him to perform the ritual for us. The day before the scheduled ritual, I called to ask him how to prepare for the ritual. He told me to buy a bottle of Chinese liquor, a bottle of Chinese wine, and a live chicken and to prepare three vegetable dishes and three meat/fish dishes. He also told me to prepare eighty paper ingots, which I made myself with tin-plated paper.

  Shezhu is always thoughtful and caring. The day before the ritual, she called to ask if she should come and help us at the ritual. I told her that it was not necessary and that her father and I could manage. But she was still worried, so she got up before dawn on the ritual day, took public transportation from her Xincheng home, and arrived at our Helen house to assist us.

  The Daoist priest came to our house at 7:30 in the morning. He brought six pieces of paper on which six different gods were drawn and put them on our dining-room wall. He placed our dining table against the wall under the six gods. On the table, Shezhu and I laid out the six dishes we had prepared, the rice cake, the zongzi, and six wine cups in which we poured Chinese wine. Two candles and a bunch of incense were lit on the table. In the same dining room were the bottle of spring water, the bag of rice, the bottle of cooking oil, and the two sticks of sugarcane. The sugarcane sticks were tied together with a piece of red thread and stood against a wall.