Feature Story

Sacrifice for Freedom
By: Ann Chin 

It was a grand red-brick, two story house that has a welcoming feel that catches the eye. The owner of this house is Helena Lee. The living room is dimly lit up by the sunlight that managed to stream in from the white flower patterned curtained windows. There is a table in one corner of the living room opposite of the windows, covered with black and white photographs. There is a thick aroma of miso soup coming from the kitchen, which would make anyone’s mouth water. The television is on with some old Chinese drama playing and the volume set low. Lee has a gentle smile on her face as she sat at the front of the table in dining room, fiddling with the brown colored tablecloth. She is wearing a deep blue, thin blouse with a mahogany colored, knitted vest over it and slacks. She has not always been so cheerful or humble. “I was bitter, desperate, and negative when I was nineteen in China.” She said. “It was a difficult time during the Chinese Revolution, and everyone wanted to escape the country especially when it was a family of six.” Helena wiped at the table with a brown colored cloth and continued. “The revolution brought poverty, famine, and terror that reaped through the country like a huge tornado, ripping apart the hearts and homes that we worked so hard to build.”

It is not easy for immigrants to come from another country during a time of political unrest and right after a war. The hearts of civilians just can no longer withstand another change in their lives. Lee has adapted, but she had a hard time doing so and sacrificed so much to gain what she has today.

            Lee recalled that 64 years ago, everyone wanted to escape from China to bordering countries and providences because the Japanese armies were still lurking around and the political and social system was a complete mess. When inhabitants of a country that has completely crumbled, want to flee they will use any resources, which they can get a hand on and use. Lee was trapped within it all in rural China. She could no longer attend school or continue her work as laundry girl. Girls her age were afraid to go out regardless the time of day because if they got caught by the Japanese soldiers, they would have been captured. It is surprisingly shocking to see what people are willing to give up in order to reach a place with brighter futures. The sacrifices and painful partings natives make in order to escape the cruelty of China. A nineteen year old girl forced to give up her teachings, beliefs to start all over in a foreign country. Lee states that it was a frightful, cruel thing to experience at such a young age and that turning numb to what could happen any fear was the best cure in her opinion.

            The Chinese Revolution broke out in 1946 during the Cold War when peace talks broke down between the communists and the Chinese Nationalist Party.  This revolution was also known as the War of Liberation.  In 1950 China, the revolution had reached its climax and the victor was already decided between the communists and nationalists. Mao ZeDong, the leader of the communists defeated Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the nationalists when the communists managed to capture Hainan Island in May 1950. Many natives that lived in China were smuggled out of the mainland and down to Hong Kong, which was under Britain’s control at the time, for greener pastures. Even though the war was over, China was in chaos and many found it impossible to adjust to the Communist system’s way of life and laws.

            The Communist Party brought a new beginning for China, there were still many civilians that suffered. Mao ZeDong robbed the wealthy and high middle class families of their personal properties and wealth. As well as freed slaves from their masters. Lee’s family was considered high middle class, so they became victims of Mao ZeDong’s tyrannical behavior and that forced them to resort to fleeing the country. She remembers that the poor civilians got the most out of the new government, such as having land, freedom, and tons of opportunities in society. “The upper and high middle class families chose to flee with what wealth and belongings they had left to Hong Kong,” Lee commented, “Because they were furious with the new regulations.”

            Helena Lee still recalls what happened the day her family was stripped of almost everything they owned, making the decision to leave China for good. She was nineteen and in the midst of a relationship with a young man named Yang Zhu Guang, whom she was positive that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. They had spoken of dreams, ambitions, plans for the future when things settled down, but all that shattered when her father, Shan Lee, told her that she had to cut off ties with him. Lee refused. She didn’t understand why she had to give up the one she loved for her family. Her father gave her a whipping recalling the incident, after that. Her mother, Yan Xue Wong Lee, managed to persuade Helena Lee to let go of her true love. Lee straightened a stack of Chinese newspapers on the table and cleared her throat. “I lost everything that day,” she inhaled deeply. “My true love, my soul, and my heart.”

            Lee’s family had been stripped of their mansion and all their servants were set free by law of the Communists. They had barely enough money to hire someone to get them down to Hong Kong. Lee’s mother had to sell some jade and flower vases to save up enough money for the whole family. She traveled from Yangtze river to the harbor of Hong Kong. Lee can still remember the boat, in which she sat permeated, squished between her older sister and brother. The horrible stench of seaweed and seawater in her nostrils and mouth. She got seasick and vomited overboard several times. When they finally reached Hong Kong, it was a completely different world from the mainland. There were British flags and soldiers everywhere. However, she didn’t stay in Hong Kong for long. She had to sell her hairpins and jewelry in order to get tickets for the boat that would take them to the United States. They also had to get their immigration papers stamped by Hong Kong in order to leave, which became possible by relying on her mother’s residency of being born in Hong Kong. Because Hong Kong’s policy was that, one who was born there was granted permission to travel out of Hong Kong. However, the lines were not short at the immigration offices although they had money.

            THE LINE AT THE IMMIGRATION OFFICES IN HONG KONG was not ideal even for those who were wealthy or had connections to the immigration officials. Hong Kong had gone through many of changed hands between invaders. They were under Japanese rule for a short time until 1945, and then Hong Kong was returned to the British. Because there were so many refugees that fled from China into Hong Kong, Hong Kong experienced a huge population surge and cheap labor of the immigrants. The lines at the immigration offices were packed with families or all different ages and faces. Lee still recalled staring into the eyes of a young boy who could be no older than six or seven, who was staring back at her with a dirt covered face, torn clothes and lice infested hair. It seemed as if he hadn’t eaten for days, around her everyone pushed against the person before them and fights broke out repeatedly every day.

            When a day was over and the lines finally thinned out, a family would come out of nowhere and take the first spot. Many would stand in line overnight and bring blankets and food to withstand the weather. When the sun rose and the doors opened at the office, thousands of hands and voices would rise along with the sunrise, hoping to get paperwork to leave the country. “Everyone was only thinking at the time to escape that horrifying place,” Lee poured a cup of tea and let out a sigh. “They didn’t think twice about what they were leaving behind or that they were drawing a clear line of separation between themselves and their native country for good.” Lee and her family got their paperwork all worked out in a two week period and finally left Hong Kong for Chicago after much consideration.

            LEE’S FAMILY ARRIVED IN CHICAGO BY SHIP IN 1951, which took over a month of travel.  When they arrived, everything was new and strange to them and many things they had never seen before. Shan Lee bought the red brick house, which Helena Lee still lives in today for twenty-five thousand dollars on the Northside of Chicago. The food prices were amazingly cheap and worth buying. “You would be able to buy a whole dinner with dessert with five dollars,” Lee said. “It was heaven compared to the prices you see at supermarkets today.” Lee didn’t go to college but was required to start working in a clothing factory in the Ravenswood neighborhood to help with expenses. She had studied English in China for six years and picked up some here and there at the factory where she worked. Lee was ready to spend her life working at the factory. She had no wish to be married. However, her father refused to accept that decision. She was placed in an arranged marriage and married within half a year after arriving in Chicago.

            Her arranged marriage was with a man named Tong Yang. He was older than Lee by fifteen years and had no wish to be arranged into a marriage as much as Lee. “When I first laid eyes on him, he had a welcoming presence about him.” Helena leaned back against her chair and forced a weak grin. Tong Yang wasn’t a bad man and wasn’t bad looking. He only had one flaw and that he had been a lifelong smoker and gambler. Helena despised gamblers and those who touched smoke or alcohol because of him. Gambling and smoking killed Tong Yang and destroyed the family.

            Helena learned to not be nosy or curious about anything during those first few years as a newlywed. She became introverted with her opinions and things she wanted to say. She learned that in Chicago, a place where they were not natives, she had to be polite and humble when out and about. It was more restrained and restricted than when she was in China where she was able to speak freely and be at ease. She worked hard to be a good wife to her husband Tong Yang and a good employee at work. Lee said she had never felt so worn out in her life.

            Helena Lee gave a small laugh and sat back in her chair. She stared up at the ceiling as if she was trying to bring her state of mind back to the present. “I feel that it is not easy to reminisce the past,” she let out a tired sigh. “because all that history, the mistakes one made, the choices one made and regret, all comes rushing back to haunt you.” When she thinks back to the past, she feels that if all those people in line at the immigrant office were given a second chance to pick. She believes they would have refused to come to the states and choose to remain because coming to a foreign country makes everyone discard their original self and beliefs.