Monologue of a Chinese School Teacher
From The Peopling of NYC
When I was little my father, a member of the Chinese Nationalist party, moved the family to British controlled Hong Kong in the 1930’s when he saw the bloodshed between the Nationalist party and the Communist party under Mao. When I was 14 my father sent me to study under a prestigious scholar in Beijing, where I had to learn to speak mandarin and act in a different manner. When Mao started the Cultural Revolution in 1966, 17 years after the Communist Party took over China, the red guards banished me to a rural area near NangJing because I belong to the “old culture”, I was often beaten, forced to do hard labor and memorize quote after quote from the little red book. I still remember a good number of the quotes. “The atom bomb is a paper tiger that the U.S. reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't. Of course, the atom bomb is a weapon of mass slaughter, but the people decide the outcome of a war, not by one or two new types of weapon." Vol. IV, p. 1000. After the war was over my family moved to the democratic Taiwan, then America. Looking back, I can see why there is no dominating Chinese American political institution even though 1.2 percent of all Americans are Chinese. The Chinese Americans population is not just one homogenous group; we are of different socio-economic backgrounds with completely different views on politics. Despite Chinese Americans’ historically low level of political activism, we are making steady progress; organization such as the Chinese Voters Federation played a major role in the 24.2% increase in Chinese voter turnout during 2004 presidential elections. Individually, Chinese American Politicians are also making many strides on both local and national levels, with John Liu elected as City Councilman, Grey Locke as Governor of Washington, and Elaine Chao as the secretary of labor.
The good life cannot be earned without much toiling, yet I was lucky to have had support in the Chinatown Community. The first thing I did after I came to Chinatown was to find the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, the quasi government like association that has been uniting the Chinese people since 1883. The association has evolved over the years to reflect the ever-changing nature of the Chinese immigrant population. First drawing membership heavily on the traditional Tongs and Huas of Chinatown, organizations that are open only to those within the family or from the same town in China, today’s CCBA cater more towards the newly formed TongXiangHuis and other organizations whose board main interests ranging from advancing professional agendas to connecting fellow college alumni. Not only did the Benevolent Society help me to assimilate into the American Society while still preserving my Chinese Identity, they even helped me fund my Chinese school.
Over there on Eldridge Street is the temple that I used to visit, there are quite a few Buddhist and Taoist temples in Chinatown, most of them combining the religious aspect of temples with various social and economic incentive, they often serve as the meeting place for friends rather than true believers. Though almost every Chinese business has a small shrine of the virtuous legendary hero Guan Gong, the shrine mainly serves as a symbol of our loyalty to the people we befriend, good will towards others, and hope for a bright future rather than an actual place of worship.
Now you may ask me why I still work and live as a Chinese school teacher in Chinatown even though I’ve made enough money to move out to the suburbs, in truth it is not about the money as much as the environment of Chinatown. Where else could I get my daily dosage of Chinese chess? If I ever need to bring my family over or accidentally break my hip bone, Chinatown’s immigration lawyers and traditional herbal doctors are much more affordable and reliable than their mainstream counterparts. The young and energetic new immigrants stay here to learn English, meet new friends at clubs and dances halls, even through matchmakers. Plus where better to bring your suburban children to for the real “Chinese Experience” and force them to learn Chinese? You can even get that Asian hairstyle you’ve always wanted, while snacking on traditional Chinese food that would shock anyone but a fellow Chinese person. Some people call Chinatown a trap for the new immigrants, yet how can they explain why the ones who have the education, the ones who’ve already made it bring themselves and their children back to Chinatown week after week? I can tell you why, because this is the symbolic and spiritual home for all Chinese Americans living on the east coast, the one place where they can regain that identity lost while trying to be the “model minority".
