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.
