On the Ground in China

My name is Mao An Li, I was born on August 12, 1912, and I am a boy. I have one younger brother and I am the product of a rare matrilocal marriage. My father ran away from home in northern China because he did not want the hardworking and often demoralizing life of a poor peasant farmer. Additionally, my maternal grandparents failed to have a son. So, when my mother and father met, a matrilocal marriage made sense even though it goes against traditional Confucian norms. My grandfather was elated to accept my father into their family with the goal of keeping their daughter near to care for them in their old age. While my maternal grandparents were still peasants, they lived a more prosperous life in a small village outside Xi’an in Shaanxi province because they were able to rent out their extra land, which enabled my grandfather to eventually gain the opportunity to become a trading merchant. After becoming a more ‘wealthy’ landowner and moving in Xi’an proper, his two incomes provided our family with financial security after the fall of traditional China in 1911. Happily enjoying his retirement, my grandfather passed the day-to-day operations of his business and our lands to my father who is often away trading in major cities. I decided to pursue college in Shanghai, the cultural and industrial heart of China, to gain experiences with foreign culture and life outside of central China. I have the hopes of one day returning to my hometown to increase my family’s name and standing in society. I have taken this job as a journalist with the hopes of traveling and meeting new people, and enhancing the writing skills I picked up as a history major in college. One thing that has me concerned is the talk of a revolutionary class struggle with a massive peasant takeover. I feel as though the system needs to be reformed and overthrown to give more opportunities for peasants to move up like my grandfather did.

Greetings, my name is Ming Ching and I am just a boy born in Huzhou, located in the Zhejiang Province during the year of 1912. I am just starting my first year of college Shanghai which is halfway across the country and I have been inspired to report on the livelihood of the big city. Coming from the country moving to the East Coast, I could see the merchants were of great wealth. My Grandparents had been wealthy merchants in the silk industry in Shanghai, and had sent my father out to Huzhou to control the production of silk in a factory. My mother rarely leaves the house unless its for a dinner party with my father as we also host dinner parties once a month. Even though my parents had 4 children, I am the only one left in the house since my older sisters got sent away to get married. All of them have moved into wealthy families in Shanghai so I never get to see them since they are busy tending to the needs of her husband and his parents. However, I did have a good relationship with my sister who was only 2 years older than me. I didn’t really get to form a relationship with my older sisters who were 6 and 7 years older than me as they got sent off when they were just 14 years old.

Coming from the background that I did, I was in a great position to set my life up for success following in the family business. The Taiping rebellion was a very influential part of my families history and it is part of the reason why my father moved to Huzhou. My father had needed a son to preserve his family name so even though he treated my sisters fairly, he was more concerned about my well being. He sent me to the best school in the area where I was a good student, but not quite the top of the class. The first few years of my school I had learned to love reading and writing. Though I lived a nice life in a village, I always wanted to travel to the big cities and report on the life there. I aspire to interview and report on citizens of different lifestyles, from business owners to factory workers. With my families history I feel as though I will be able to get an inside look at how wealthy people think and work to create the most wealth as possible as well as getting the perspective of the poor workers within the city.

 

 

 

 

 

Hello, my name is Lei Ju. I was born on April 15, 1910, along the outskirts of Yunfu, China. I am a female college student in the city of Guangzhou who has just turned twenty. In my hometown of Yunfu, I live with my father, who is an economically stable merchant, my two younger sisters, both of whom are studying at home, my older sister, my older sister’s husband, who has entered into the same profession as my father, and my nephew. My mother passed away not long after the birth of my youngest sister. My grandfather was a tailor, but he passed away a few years ago, and my grandmother passed away not long afterwards – my father claimed it was of a broken heart. I have never met my mother’s parents, because they live very far away. I know that my father feels disappointment that he never had any biological sons, but we are lucky that he is financially well-off, because that meant that we could arrange a matrilocal marriage for my elder sister, and my father could gain the son that he always wanted and even needed. Her husband was the youngest son in his family, and his parents were impoverished peasants, so ultimately becoming a part of our family was a good choice for him, although I know it brings him shame that his last name, and his son’s last name, is that of his wife’s family. Personally, I am very grateful that my older sister has married, because it has taken the pressure off of me to do so, and it has opened up more opportunities for me, like studying at college. My father supports my studies, because I have always been one of the brightest youth in Yunfu, but he also warns me not to get my hopes up for a high-paying job, being all too aware of the realities of opportunities for women in our society. I am most interested in becoming a teacher for young girls after I finish school. Since arriving at college, I have met a lot of people with very new and exciting ideas. They tell me that society will soon be turned upon its head; the college will be filled with women, instead of us being few and far between. The young people, and the working people, will have power for the first time. I hope to keep learning more and more about these new ideas that have been swirling around. I decided to take this job as a reporter, even though it is quite a dangerous job, because I want to be on the front lines of making a change in our society. I never had to pay very much attention to politics or economic issues throughout my life thus far, because my father was always on top of our family’s finances, and I always knew we didn’t have anything to worry about, but I no longer want to turn a blind eye to all of the issues that are going on in our country right now. I want to do my part to improve our society for everyone, the girls who are lucky enough to go to college, and the vast majority of girls, who are certainly not. Thank you for reading!

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