My first question for you is what do you remember from your first few days in the United States when you arrived? And also where did you come from, when, that sort of thing?
Okay. I came to the U.S. in I think late August 1989. I came for the Fall semester. I came to UC Santa Barbara, for a Ph.D program. I arrived at Los Angeles, LAX, and then took an airbus to Santa Barbara. I came from mainland China, the southern part of China. There's this university called Xiamen University. But originally, I was born in the north eastern part of China. We were very close to North Korea, separated by a river, the middle of the river is the border between China and North Korea. But then I went to college in the south—Xiamen is in the south of China. So that's where I came from, and just a little bit more background on how I could be able to come to America. Again, I came from a poor family; we couldn't afford coming to America to go to school, so I needed a scholarship. So luckily, in 1986, China was opening up at that time. And I was finishing my undergraduate degree and the Ford Foundation offered to provide a Western economics training for Chinese rising graduating students in Beijing. So they established a program in Beijing with the People's University. They hired professors from the U.S., who went to China to teach. The program is one year, but the professor can go only for one semester, or three months, or shorter. We were graduate students. They selected about 50 students all over China, from the University, and there were two exams: English and math. So your English has to be good, because all the lectures will be in English. And they always say economics is a type of math. So yeah, I was lucky enough to be picked. And so I went to Beijing, the People's University for one year, and after the one year, training… all those professors, because they have connections in the U.S., they wrote recommendation letters for us to help us get scholarships. I was lucky enough to get a scholarship, to be accepted by an Econ PhD program.
Oh, that's great. That's a really helpful context. I guess in terms of your arrival, do you remember anything from the first few days? And where did you go from the airport?
Okay. Again, I came from China. I didn't have money, so I had to borrow money. I asked a friend—someone I didn't know very well, she was a graduate school student from the my university and my friend knew this person. I met this person only one or two times before this person left China. But I was desperate, I needed to borrow money, I needed someone to buy tickets for me, airline tickets. So I reached out to this person and this person was nice enough to buy an airline ticket and at that time there was no e-tickets, it was a physical ticket and you had to go to a travel agency, where they issue a real ticket. And she mailed it to China, to me. That’s how I got the ticket to come. I flew to Hong Kong from Beijing where my Dad was in the hospital dying from lung cancer, and then from Hong Kong to Los Angeles. My friend, she didn't have a car. So she asked another friend to go to the airport to pick me up. After staying with her for a few days and after borrowing more money from her, I took airbus to Santa Barbara. At that time, there was a Chinese Students Association. I don't remember whether it was through email or letters, but I was able to contact them and they were very helpful, They went to pick me up and took me to another Chinese person's house, so I could have a place to stay for a day or two. You don't have money to stay at a hotel so you just sleep in someone's living room on the couch for a couple of days until you get your housing, the student housing from the university. So my first impression, maybe I'm not very observant [laughs], I think I just felt sad and lonely. My feeling was just I felt sad and lonely because of two reasons. One was leaving China, my dad was dying from cancer, was diagnosed with cancer. He was at the hospital. And there was no treatment because they couldn't operate given the position of the cancer in his lung. So there was nothing you could do and it spread; by the time I left, it had already spread. So I knew he was dying, but I could not stay. I had to leave. Right? This was such a valuable opportunity for me personally and for my family. I was the hope of my family. Right? Okay, so that was very, very sad. You know, just so sad. And another part is you feel so lonely—it’s a new country. I never left my country before, and yes, I knew some English but still there’s a language barrier. Another part is the money. You were so poor. You had no money, you borrow money. I only had maybe… let’s say $100 on me. You try to save every penny, you know. And after I landed at Santa Barbara, I borrowed money from other students who had been there for a while. I first borrowed money from the person who bought me the airline ticket. I borrowed money from her. She said “Okay, this is how much I have. How about you take half, I keep half.” She said, “I am not working this summer because I'm studying for GMAT. But that's all the money I had.” So I borrowed money from her, then once I arrived at Santa Barbara, another lady, the lady who I stayed with — she had been there for a long time — she offered to write me a check. She said, “I know. People from China needed money. Let me write you a check.” And she said “Well, pay me back when you have the money.” Of course, there’s no guarantee. I didn't write her any note, there's nothing. She said she hasn't been disappointed in the past. Everybody always pays her back. So it was very nice of her. So I borrowed the money, yeah, just you feel so poor. So sad. Yeah.
And do you remember what you did during your first week?
The first week. Again, first you went to the graduate office for registration and for orientation. Okay, I think the first thing was to get a bicycle. Everyone out there said you go to the flea market, buy a bicycle, or go somewhere, you can buy a bicycle from another student. It was $10, I think. You buy an old bicycle and buy a lock, because that's your transportation, you got to ride your bicycle because you don't have a car. So I had a bicycle. Yeah, you go to school to register and the orientation, then you go sign up for things. One thing I will say is I came on a teaching assistant scholarship. So I could borrow money against my first paycheck. Normally they don't pay you until the end of the month, right, once school starts, you teach for one month, and at the end of the month, you'll get paid for the previous month, because of that they let you borrow against your future income. So I was able to borrow $1,500 I think. Immediately as soon as I borrowed the money, I went to the post office and sent it to China, back to my family, to support my family.
Yeah. What were some of the biggest cultural differences or cultural similarities that you noticed at first?
Well, maybe in my background, my culture, people are more personal. And here, there's a lot of things like oh, that’s private. I try not to ask until you maybe you ask me. Like in my background, people are more willing to come to you. They say, “Hey, how's it going? You don't look well today? Or you're crying? Or what's going on?” But I think here maybe people are less inquisitive… I guess unless something's really bad—if you fell on the sidewalk, people may go help you. But other than that people are polite … for me, maybe they are a little bit too polite. I think they could be more welcoming.
I see. Um, and are there any specific memories that you associate with your first days or first weeks at all?
I don't have anything specific. Nothing stands out, per see.
Makes sense. So those were all the questions I had to ask you. But is there anything else that you want to share about your first days, first week here?
I mean, the first couple of days, I was carsick. The thing I remember the most was you know, the long journey and after the long journey… In China, we didn't have that many cars. We didn't have private cars, right. Your family didn't have a car, you don't ride a car. Before I went to college, I was in a small town, there was no bus. And at the college you stay on campus, and there was no bus on campus. So yeah, I did a ride a bus to downtown or something but not very often. I just remember being carsick a lot when people gave me a ride or something in America. Yep, maybe, again nothing specific about the first day or week. My first contacts were Chinese people and they give you a lot, they help you, they give you basic information to help you—like buying a bicycle. So they helped me to look for an apartment. Okay, so the first thing is you need to find a place to stay, right. And I was trying to save money. So I didn't want to sign up for university housing; the university housing is more expensive, you share a bigger apartment with two people, each of you have your own your room, you share a kitchen. Then there are apartments with more students, maybe four or five students share one apartment, that's cheaper but still expensive. So I said, “No, I need the least expensive one.” So then they told me there was a lady who was married so she was entitled to married student housing with two bedrooms and she would rent out another bedroom to Chinese students. So I was sharing that room with another visiting scholar from China. It was much, much cheaper that way. Again, everything just to save money. Again, all the money I borrowed I sent it to China. Just… I felt sad, I felt numb, surviving. I said, “Okay, I'm here, it’s so sad.” Everything around the whole experience at the beginning… It was a sad experience and I had to do whatever I could to to survive. That was before school started. After school started you meet other classmates and professors and things are better. Yeah, the first day or week, you know, you had no community so to speak, except the Chinese community.
Um, is there anything else that I missed asking you about?
Well, no, I think that's about it. I felt grateful for the opportunity to come to America.
