Mei Lang
When life in China got bad, Mei Lang wanted out. She had no trouble coming into the United States. There was nothing illegal about her immigration. She was just one of many who came at the time. Mei Lang's daughter had brought Mei Lang to the United States after her (Mei Lang's) daughter married an American and moved to the United States. Currently, Mei Lang views the United States as her home, and does not feel any attachment at all to China.
A poor quality of life/ childhood may attribute to Mei Lang's detachment towards China. She was raised in Canton (Guangdong), China, during WWII around the time of Japan's invasion. Mei Lang clearly remembers, nearly half a century later, how she used to hide in fear as a little girl when the Japanese invaded neighboring villages. The Japanese had killed all in their sight, and had raped as many women as they could. To this day she remains angry and fearful towards the Japanese for thier ruthless acts against the Chinese civilians and for denying that they did anything.
Since Canton is located by the South China Sea, it was very susceptible to invaders (Japanese). The Japanese were brutal to the Chinese civilians they encountered, as recalled by Mei Lang. (Image courtesy of Flickr)
During the Great Leap Forward, Mei Lang worked on a farm with her family. She was not hurt by the Great Leap as much as other people were, because the farm on which she worked was owned by her family, and was not part of a commune. The Cultural Revolution brought her to truly dislike life in China and Mao Zedong. The Red Guards attacked and she was forced to say that she liked Mao. Mei Lang believes that all of Mao's plans and ideas caused more damage than good in China.
This poster featuring Chairman Mao Zedong is just one example of the many types of propaganda used by the communists. In this poster, Mao towers over the people and is portrayed as a great, godly, and powerful leader, with many submitting to and praising him. The people are members of his Red Guard, who enforced his policies and tried to rid China of the old nationalist ways. It is the Red Guards that forced Mei Lang to say that she loved Chairman Mao. The books held by the members of the Red Guard are called: Little Red Books, which contain the quotes and policies of Mao for his followers. (Image courtesy of Flickr)
The United States is Mei Lang's home, not China. In a sense, she almost disowns her life in China, for she only stayed there as long as she did because her family lived there. When her family moved to the United States, she immigrated, too. She has lived in the United States since 1989, when her daughter brought her and her husband here. Because she is very poorly educated, Mei Lang nor her husband does not work and receives welfare from the government. In the United States, her biggest problem is the language barrier between Chinese and English, so most of her time is spent in Chinatown. Other than the language barrier, Mei Lang feels well-adapted to the American lifestyle. She enjoys American food such as hot dogs and McDonald's. In China, Mei Lang was forced to learn Christianity and go to church, even though Buddhism was the main religion. Yet in the United States, Mei Lang does not practice any religion, for she is not forced to. She does not believe Americans are very religious, as it may seem that science and technology takes over. Among her favorite parts of living in America is the democracy, contrasting China's communism, and America's freedoms of speech, contrasting China's censorship.
