Harold Washington College – English as a Second Language/ Foreign language Department

Harold Washington College – English as a Second Language/ Foreign language Department

Force Only Brings Hate

Force only Brings Hate

You don’t believe in wars, you can’t see yourself touching a fire gun and you are lucky enough to be force into a program that will negatively impact the rest of your life. In fact, this is what happened to one of my brothers that was called to serve his country, Spain. In Spain ten years ago the military service was compulsory for males, unless you were really sick, had a disability or had a very convincing reason to avoid the service. Moreover, the army did not accept objectors of conscience. If you didn’t want to do the military service, you will go to prison or you will have to desert. Being force to do something against your values only brings hate.
Forcing my brother to go to the army not only affected him; furthermore, it affected the whole family. Even before my brother went to serve in the army all of this situation caused all sort of arguments between my parents and as a consequence among us. The house was full of tension and we wanted my brother to leave to have some peace in the house. My father was very pro army and my mom didn’t really care. My father had this belief that said: in order to be a real man you had to go to the army. While in the army my brother started sending very depressing letters and you could see how angry he was. At that time, he will go on and on talking about the abuse of authority from his superiors, soon the letters stopped coming.



Because his assignment was in one of the northern colonies of Africa, Melilla, non of the family were able to visit him. Moreover he lost his permissions to visit us because he was always punished for arguing or disobeying his superiors. As a consequence, he would end up shining more boots that he had to or cleaning weapons most of the time. Meanwhile in Spain my mom will spent a lot of time preparing goodies to send him. Not being able to see him for such a long time affected all of us, specially my mom who wondered what my brother ate and if he was warm enough.
After a long rough year that it looked never-ending for my mom, finally my brother came home. We were excited to see him again and curious about all the stories he had to tell. Nonetheless, the minute he showed on the doorstep, we realize something happened to the cheerful brother we once used to know. He was skinny and his face was expressionless. We all cuddle him but there wasn’t a respond. He went straight to his room, slum the door and that was his first day home and many more. As a result of his unstable character my parents end up argued again and again. A little part of us knew my brother wasn’t to a good start. No matter what, my mom was happy to have his baby home. On the other hand my dad would continue exalting the values of the army and how good it did to my brother; he didn’t want to accept that the army did worst to his kid than what himself dreamt about. My dad wasn’t ready to face the crude reality, therefore all of that cause all sort of disagreements among family.



It all comes down to the bottom of forcing somebody to do something against his will. Force brings hate. The army took my brother at a young age, in a time in his life where he was trying to figure out himself and as a response he got this brutal authority and not much understanding from his family. Unfortunately this episode was just the beginning of too many failures in his life; In fact, he never finish his studies or kept a job for a while, he had been in and out of the house since he returned from Africa and tried to commit suicide several times in the process. Nowadays, at forty seven years old he is still living with my parents and we don’t know what the future will hold when my parents are gone. I still think that he wasn’t heard, he was never understood by society and precisely by my father. Fortunately for the new generations things had changed and now the military service in Spain is not compulsory anymore; nonetheless, a lot of innocent had to suffer psychological and physical abuse affecting them and their families for the rest of their life. Through our lives we all make mistakes, and hopefully we learnt something on the way, personally I and other members of my family learnt that force only brings hate.

Cultural Revolution

The revolution is a kind of justice and restores order to achieve the behavior, and every country has their own revolution. By initiating this revolution, the starting point is to prevent the restoration of capitalism maintaining the purity of the party and to seek Chinese own road of building socialism. The whole country had been seriously shaken, and reactionaries instigated Chinese people to resist to government everywhere. This situation kept almost ten years, and it stopped economic almost all development. The Cultural Revolution affected all of the Chinese people at that time, and it had a profound influence of my family.
Intellectuals were not respected and most were delegated to do physical work at that time. Right now, who know a truth that only education can raise up country’s level and help people to solve poverty. On the other hand, intellectuals should be treated on the highest level in every county because more intellectuals can create new and useful wealth for the government and citizens. In contrast, the numbers of Chinese intellectuals had to do manual work and were sent to work in the countryside in China at that time, and many intellectuals were recognized as reactionaries. For example, my grandfather was a teacher, but he had to stop his career at that time. He had to do manual work to support our family, but he was not good at doing the manual work. Every time, after work my grandfather came to home, my father could know my grandfather’s feeling. My father told me about my grandfather usually cried at his home because he can’t this big chance from a teacher to a worker. The government even confiscated property from those intellectuals like teachers, authors and landlords. These actions directly caused a lot of teachers to lose their jobs then commit suicide.
In addition, schools all over the country were closed state, and university entrance exams cancel. Most Chinese people had to stay home without school or work because there were more people and fewer jobs. In addition, Ze dong Mao didn’t like people went to school. For instance, my father was school age at that time, but he couldn’t get higher level education because there was no more money supported my father to go to the university. After school, my father had to go to find some jobs in order to support his family. Most of the Chinese people during this time had graduated to the high school then went to work. The lower education caused higher crime rates percent at that time and people often go to parade. On the other hand, it was very dangerous and unfixable situation surround the China.
After that, the revolution of next generation also has profound implications. After the Cultural Revolution, teachers had a unique privilege and status. For example, when I was in school in China, teachers was like president in school because they could beat students and reproached to students. In contrast, if students didn’t respect to the teachers, that would be sanctioned by school. After that, president-Xiao ping Deng thought our country’s economy was worse than most of countries in the world, and began to recognize that only by developing the economics could China be stronger. Because of this situation, every parent hoped their children could be success in the future. For example, because of my grandfather was a teacher, and he could go to university, that caused my father to hope that I could go to university one day. He usually accompanied me when I was studying .And a lot of extra subjects joined my weekends, was like studying penmanship and drawing.
Mao party and the country’s political when the error estimates have been developed to a very serious level, and extremely influence of people’s family. Because the revolution, my grandfather changed completely. Those conservative and feudal ideas were influence of the Chinese government for a long time. It deeply influenced of our family’s life and my education. I guess if China had never experienced this ridiculous Cultural Revolution, it could have developed better than right now. Even though I know the history can’t change for sure, I still believe China will follow powerful countries’ steps and be more powerful in the future. ’

the rawlings coup

Cynthia Manu
ESL 100
11 / 1 / 09
The Rawlings coup d'éta
My grandmother once said, “You can move through life, or you can become the driving force”. In 1979, there was a young man called Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings in Ghana. He was a solider in Ghana at that time. Therefore, He slowly became the driving force among the people in the army. Rawlings decided to become a president of the country. He and his other officers in the army attempted a coup, but they were unsuccessful, so they were imprisoned. One month later, other concerned military officers overthrew president Akuffo’s regime and released Rawlings and his cohorts from prison. He started taking president Akuffo’s officers member one by one to prison. This new government started taking the very rich people to prison because they were questioned, where such people got those money or such properties.
The Rawlins Empire failed on their promises. Rawlings said when he comes to power, he will make sure all the rich people and the poor ones will be the same. He wanted all the people at that time to be at the same level, but he did not do that in a proper way. They also said they will control prices, but he was unable to do that as well. They said they were going to control the smuggling in the country but they failed. When Rawlings came to power, he came with his own agenda. This government came purposely for their own needs. They did not come to help but to take away what the others has fought for in order for them to become rich instead.

This new regime had profound effects on my family. In fact, the government began to collect people’s property. When Rawlings came to power, he put fear in people. He said the government is a solider government, so the people in the country should do as they says, but anybody who refuses to do what government says, would be killed. The government started collecting people’s belonging such as money, cards, investments, stores, jobs and houses. They took away many people’s property including my family. Most of the people refused to give away some of their property, such as money and cars, so they burned them into ashes. His new regime had impart on my family. My family burned some of their property because they do not want to go to prison. All because the more this government takes away from you, this means they are going to go to prison. The more property one has means such person is more criminal, so that person has to go to prison.


The Rawlings’s kingdom brought hunger to my family. Due to that, it brought the movement of my family from city to village. My family has to move from city to a village in order to survive. They stayed in the village for some years, and then my mother said she was about to give up. Later my mother decided to move back to the city and never went back. Moreover, this also brought the separation between my mother and father. Because of the separation, my mother was away from my father, and that was the end of their marriage. That was how my mother and father divorced each other. My mother left my brothers and me with my father in the village. Later my father got married to another woman in order to take care of us. My mother also got married to another man. My mother and my stepfather finally came to this country. However, at this time, my brother Emmanuel and I are now living in this country with my mother while my father is at Ghana.

Looking Back

Looking Back

If you are not from China, you can’t imagine the

economic situation of China thirty years ago. At

that time, China was virtually shut off from the

world. For this reason, China was a backward

country. There were many people suffering from starvation and poverty. After a man who is called Deng Xiao Ping suggested the policy of reform and opening up, China’s living standard had changed a lot, and the economy began developing fast. Now, China has been implementing the reform and opening up policy for three decades. Even though I wasn’t born yet at that time, I also experienced some influences of the reform and opening up policy from my family.

First of all, the introduction of technology was the first influence for my family. When I was a child, the technology of China was quite backward. For example, there was only a black and white television in my family, and it was made in China. The color television was not popular at that time, and due to various restrictions, there were only a few channels that we could watch. The TV didn’t have any function. After the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, my family owned the first color television. Nowadays, the TV is getting more and more functional because you can change the channel with the remote control or even watch a couple of channels simultaneously. We not only have advanced TV, but the refrigerator, microwave, cell-phone and computer are all part of our lives that imported to all the families in China.

In addition, the transportation was the second influence

for my family. The bicycle gave me a deep impression

when I was a child. China has always been called the

kingdom of the bicycle. At that time, there were few cars

on the road. Bicycles were the only means of transportation for most Chinese families during that

time. My family was no exception. I remember if my

mother went somewhere that was far from home, she went by bicycle. It was very hard and inconvenient. After the policy was implemented, there were many different brands of cars imported to China and China also grasped the technology and produce more and more automobiles with the countries. My family’s habits changed from bicycles to the automobile. This influence made all the Chinese familys' life become more and more convenient.


Finally, the new policys affected our consumption of food. Many

years ago, we only could eat the food was completely made in

China. At that time, there were very few kinds of food served in

the market. I remember sometimes we even queued up for rice.

Moreover, the food was poor in nutritive value. Due to the lack the

nutrition, people’ health was deteriorating. But after the reform

and opening up policy, a great variety of food surrounded my

family such as milk, fruit, and other nutritive food that I had never

seen before. In the meantime, different kinds of restaurants were

opened in China such as McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Today,Chinese people don’t need to go aboard to eat food from different countries and People’s health was getting better and better.

Indeed, the reform and opening up policy really benefited many families such as the technology, transportation, house, clothes and food. Actually, it is not only these advantages that I pointed out above, there were many others. We should appreciate Deng Xiao Ping because this policy was implemented by him. Otherwise, China would still be a less developed country and the Chinese

people would still be suffering from poverty. Now, China has been

implementing the reform and opening up policy for thirty years,

and more than in the past , I think most of the Chinese families have happy life. As long as China keeps implementing this policy, the people’s living standard will get better and better.

Two Worlds In One Country

War and the destruction that comes with it always leaves traces in a country and on its people. The Second World War was the cruelest war the world has ever seen. Millions of people died and families were shattered. After World War II, Germany was occupied by the US, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Consequently, Berlin, which was neither considered to belong to the West nor to the East of the country, was divided into four sections and split between the four nations mentioned above. The world was ripped into “the Western World” and the East communism. The symbol of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall, which was constructed in order to stop the people from fleeing to the western part of the country. Furthermore, any attempt was punished by death. As a result of the so-called “Monday Demonstrations” the Wall was finally demolished in 1989. On Oct. 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the country was officially reunited. This most important turning point of German history had huge effects on the country’s population, and on my family as well.

When the borders were completely open and people were finally able to legally migrate to the West, masses of people moved from the Eastern to the Western part of the country. Between 1990 and 1991, approximately two million people migrated to West Germany. Due to the fact that people used to be surrounded by rules all the time, were monitored by the government and were only allowed to listen to certain radio stations, watch certain TV channels or read certain books and newspaper, they didn’t feel free under the socialistic leadership of the East. My family originally comes from the GDR, but when the borders opened, my grandfather also took advantage of this situation and migrated to the West. For a very long time, my grandfather and grandmother had been separated from one another, for my grandfather worked for the military and was stationated in the East of the country. They were only able to see each other when my grandmother received a visa to travel from West to East, but still she was not allowed to stay for a very long time. Everyone was very relieved and excited about my grandfather being able to join the whole family again. However, the reunification of Germany also affected families in terms of financial crisis caused by massive unemployment.


The post war effects on East Germany were particularly felt in the economy. The unity of Germany turned out to be a huge financial challenge for the new Western country. Because of missing investments, old technology in East German companies and too much competition around the world, many corporations had to shut down their business. Accordingly, many people lost their employment. My mother’s father was only one of them. He used to work in a car factory, but when Germany was reunited and the eastern economy was changed from being a “Plan Economy” to a free market economy, he lost his job. The company wasn’t able to compete with the big companies from West Germany. As a consequence of that, he and his wife suffered from a financial crisis for a long period of time. Since my grandmother depended on my grandfather and didn’t maintain a job herself, they went through a rough time, but were finally able to set an end to their agony when my grandfather found work in West Germany, where people were overwhelmed by job offers. The social inequality that occurred from the economic difficulties that East Germany was afflicted with, was also visible in the way people were educated differently depending on whether they went to school in West or East Germany.

Education in West Germany is considered to be more valuable than in East Germany since schools and universities don’t attach the same importance on the way students are taught. For instance, schools in the East consider student's participation in class to be more important than written work, whereas schools in the West emphasize the importance of a good written expression. One of my cousins attended a university in The East. When he graduated after the reunification of Germany, he found it hard to apply for a job. Employers were skeptical about his abilities since he went to school in East Germany. A similar thing happened to one of my aunts. She was a trained secretary and worked for many years in this field, but she was declined a job offer when she applied for a position as a secretary in an office in a city in West Germany. My family has never really believed in the differences between the two parts of our country until we were proven wrong and directly faced with them.

Despite the fact that the population in West Germany constantly remains more dense than in East Germany and that there are still visible and invisible differences in economy and education between “the West” and “the East”, no one knows if that is ever going to change or if the differences will ever disappear. Yet the situation in Germany has certainly improved, I might take more decades until people are finally able to speak of Germany as one country and not as a country of two diverse parts.

Same Ocean Two Diferent Cultures

Same Ocean Two Different Cultures

I remember when I left Spain for good to live in the oU.S; my departure was from Vigo airport in the Northwest of the country. The region is called Galicia. I remember all my family came to say good bye. I have ten brothers and sisters, and they brought a big banner that read: “Remember your home is Galicia”. I had a knot on my throat as I said goodbye to the place I lived for nearly twenty something years, but at the same time, I was ready to move on with my life. I was excited about the new adventure that was waiting for me across the ocean. What I didn’t realize was that I had to deal with a different language, food, traditions and values. I was going to have to find a balance between two different cultures.
In order to adapt to the new culture I had to master a new language and it wasn’t as easy as I thought. When I was in Spain, I learned British English at school so when I arrived here, I had a hard time understanding people because of the different accent. In addition, my first landing in this country was in Tennessee. At the beginning I didn’t have many friends because I didn’t want to make Spanish friends since I needed to take full advantage of the English language. Through our first years of marriage, my husband and I managed to live in this bicultural world without major problems. Still, it was inevitable to feel frustrated when your level of communication was like a second grader. If you have ever been a foreign student you probably recognize these gestures: nodding when somebody is talking even though you didn’t understand a word, laughing when you are suppose to be crying or vice versa. In addition, when the kids came along, things got a little bit more complicated such as which language should go first and how we would approach it. We were starting to realize what it was like to deal with two cultures.
No matter how many things you miss from your country, food is perhaps the most important. Although I have now been in the U.S for several years and have had the opportunity to try the wide variety of so called American food, I still long for Spanish’s food. I remember my first few trips back to Spain which started as a joke from my family, like receiving me at the airport with a sandwich of the best chorizo ever, through the years became a tradition. Before going to Spain in summer I will fantasize about all the tapas bars I could hit in a day. On the other hand traditions are situations where you are navigating two cultures. My family was fortunate to gain new traditions such as the Thanksgiving celebration, but we lost “The three wise men”. We also adopted the 4th of July and forgot about the Reconquist to name a few. Sometimes it is not easy to find the right balance between both worlds, but on the positive side, it broadens your choices when you go out to eat.
Another important aspect to have in consideration is the task of figuring out which values you want to pass on. Being married to an American, I have found myself using the word Compromise too much. Contrary to what people say: America is not a melting pot; it is a country where a lot of cultures can live together. What was obvious for me was that my kids should grow up with certain values, but some of my values didn’t make sense to my husband and vice versa. So our household became a bicultural world weighing sometimes one culture more than the other. It is similar to Jhumpa Lahiri’s essay “My two lives”, where she beautifully and sometimes painfully describes how she dealt with two cultures. Even though we are sharing the same ocean, we are still figuring out how to navigate two cultures.
It has been a long ride into my adventure since I left Spain and crossed the ocean more than a decade ago. As a result I have dropped many tears and left love ones on the way, but at the same time I have gained a lot of friends and experiences that have shaped me to become what I am today, and I wouldn’t change them for anything. I feel like I am fluent in the new language but not in the new culture. Besides, I still struggle with writing; however, the positive side is that my children are now in fifth grade, so they are able to correct me, this gives them great pleasure and a lot of laughs. If I hadn’t dared to cross the ocean, these cultures might have never met; plus, this was the beginning to many many more adventures.

One Child Carrying All the Hopes

I am a girl. I have no brothers or sisters, and I am the only child in my family. In 1979, one policy was established which had a deep influence in my childhood. This effective policy was constituted by Deng Xiao Ping, and it was called the one child policy. The purpose of the policy was to control the population of China because the population rate had grown too fast, so the government decided that each family was allowed to have one child. Due to the One Child Policy, many things had changed around me.

Once the policy was established, the nightmare of my family had just begun. My father is the only son in his family, so the responsibility to continue the family’s next generation had fallen to his shoulders. Due to that, my gender presented an important issue for our family’s future. Unfortunately, I was born as a girl, which had destroyed all the hopes of my grandma. She thought that a boy could bring up the happiness of the family, but girl was a sign of sadness. In addition, my grandma grumbled at my mother all the time because my parents could not have another child after me. The fights also hurt my feelings. It was apparent that my grandma did not like me. I did not get any love from my grandmother, and that created a darkness in my childhood.

Another effect of the One Child Policy was that I grew up with pressure. Unlike my grandmother, my parents do not really care about my gender because I am the only one daughter they have, and they love me very much. They have given twice of their love to me. They chose a prestigious school for me, and they taught me how to become a proper lady. Anything I like or want, they will try they best to support me. Even though I got many things from my parents, the inside of me was empty, and pressures surrounded me. I was asked to be a disciplined girl. I needed to act like a princess, no foul language, no bad behavior, every little step had to keep up my noble image. I needed to get perfect scores on tests. Everything I did needed to be perfect. There was a constant message sent out to me “I need to be a successful lady; my father and mother’s hopes lay on me”. From that moment on, I knew that the future of my parents and the way to make my grandma accept me was to be successful.

The last effect of the One Child Policy is that I had a lonely childhood. I remember when I was young, I always ask my parents why I did not have a brother or a sister, and then they always told me that the law did not allow them to have more children. I have always wished I could have a brother, so I would not be alone. I was independent at a very young age. Because I do not have any siblings, I used to spend a lot of time by myself. I went to school alone and played with myself in different roles. The memory in my childhood was only me. Sometimes, I was jealous of the people who have brothers or sisters because they could share, they could go to school and they could play together.

I often dream about, what if the One Child Policy had never been established? My life would be different. My grandmother would love me; she would makes a healthy lunch and wait for me go home. There would be a peaceful world around my family. No more complaining and no more crying. Also, I would not be alone any more. I may have brothers or sisters, like other people who have brothers and sisters; together we could share the burden and share the felicity.

The Effect of the Change from Communism to Capitalism

I will never forget the ending of communism and beginning of democracy and capitalism. The transitions from communism to democracy greatly changed my family’s life. The transition was a major event in Poland. In 1980, Lech Walesa and the workers at the Gdansk Lenin Shipyards formed a non communist controlled union in Poland ,and over the next nine years the communist party was eventually ousted from control. The transition affected every aspect of our lives from my parent’s jobs, my life at school and where we lived. It was the beginning of freedom, and the creation of a new life.

Capitalism changed the way we worked. During communism everyone needed to have a job, and the government gave them a job even if there was no need for the job. My mother worked at a government food store. The store distributed products once every week. When capitalism came, my mother lost her job because the store closed. The store closed because it was unprofitable. Later my mother found a new job at private company. The company needed her because there was a job that needed to be done. In the case of my father, he worked in shipyard as an electrician. When capitalism came he decided to start his own contracting business, which he never could have done before. My father continued his business for a few years and then he lost his clients because the new market economy got weak and he closed his company. He then found a job working for another contractor. Capitalism gave people the chance to start their own business but it wasn’t for everyone.
Capitalism changed the way I went to school. During capitalism the state I no longer received a government issued uniform, and I wore what I wanted. During communism I remember that I was beaten in class if my behavior was bad or if I wasn’t prepared for class. Under capitalism the beating stopped. My teacher would instead meet with my parents the next day if I misbehaved. I had some nice memories of this time. I remember a new cross on the wall. During Communism religion was not allowed to be in school and no crosses were allowed. We also were allowed to prayed before lessons which under communism we couldn’t do.
Capitalism changed where we lived. During communism people lived in apartments that the government gave them. During communism we lived in communistic buildings. The building was made of concrete and its color was grey like concrete. The communist grey colors always made me sad. When capitalism came, the state gave us our old apartment for free. The building was painted gold and orange. My parents sold the ugly apartment in city. They then bought a house in suburban Rumia. In the new environment we felt like we had more freedom in new town with new people, and more opportunities for a better life.
The new Capitalism brought many changes to our lives, from my parent’s job, and my life at school, to where we lived. The gray communism was replaced with a colorful new world and new responsibility. Today Poland continues to change. Poland recently joined the European Union which has brought even more changes. The change to Democracy was the beginning for my family to develop ours education and career. New opportunities gave me and my parents a dream of better future.

Opening the Door

Opening the Door
A good policy needs to be carried out in a suitable time, so it develops its usefulness. Policies of reform and opening to the outside world have changed China. The Policies include the internal reformation and external opening. First there were several special regions to enforce the Policies. When Dong Xiaoping announced the policies to be enforced in 1983, many poor people were liberated. The changes affected many families in villages. My family changed a lot when the policies were announced.

The first and most important effect was that all the people in the countryside could leave their hometown to find a job in other provinces. Before the policies were carried out, the farmers had to stay in the countryside, and some people from the cites had to go to the countryside to help the impoverished countryside. However, some people couldn’t put up with the hunger or poverty, so they went away from their hometown to Hong Kong or other developed places. When my father came back from the army, he stayed in the village. However, when the policies were announced, my father was able to leave and find a job in the city. Our lives became better. We could eat the fresh meat and buy more something what we need. The policies motivated our village’s economy, and let us try other ways to improve our lives.


In addition, the new policies changed our mobility. We could leave our village to feel how large is the world. In the past, I felt as if our town was like an airproof box. Everything was stopped from the outside. We never received new products or useful ideas from outside the village. We could just resolve the problems of food and clothing. We couldn’t buy anything we wanted or needed except for food or clothing. In the past, we just planted the crops. Most families just kept some crops to use for themselves, and sold the rest to buy the items they needed. However, when my father bought a television, I felt that we should give thanks to the policies even though I didn’t know what those were because it gave me a wonderful childhood. I was able to learn new things about the world and learn more knowledge from the TV. From the news of the TV program I could know what was happening in the world.


Furthermore, my family could move to the city due to the new policies. My village is very small and far from any urban area, and the population is about two hundred people. Most villagers saw each other every day. When I moved to the city, I studied in different schools, and I was acquainted with more and more people. In the city, we improved our living standards. My parents didn’t need to work in the field; moreover, my brother and I could study in a good school. We had more and more chances to improve our lives.

In summary, the policies were good for the Chinese people. They gave a hope to the poor people. The external opening also influenced us. Many companies began exporting goods to foreign countries, and it promoted our city’s economy. More and more people were able to find a job. After thirty years, China has been become strong and powerful. Everyone believes that the policies were a landmark for our country.

My Family’s History

According to historical records, “during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution in China, there were almost twenty million people died. All the buildings were destroyed and the economy was weak.” The Cultural Revolution might sound unfamiliar for many people. My grandmother told me that the effects of the Cultural Revolution directly touched essentially all of the people in China. At that time, my hometown was affected by the mass social upheaval. It was hard for certain people to live in this situation and many of the leaders died because of the persecution of the Cultural Revolution. At the same time, my grandfather was one of the leaders in our village and he was the head of the committee. Unfortunately, my grandfather was killed during this time. My grandfather’s death has had a great influence on my family.


The first effect of my grandfather’s death was that the whole family’s responsibilities fell on my grandmother. There was no fixed source of income in my family when her husband died. As a single mother, it was not easy for her to raise five children at that time. In addition, the economic downturn at the same time and she was dealing with a difficult life. Even though she tried to work very hard, she had not enough money for the basic things. She was too poor to buy everything she needed. She couldn’t make any change of it. Disappointingly, she has faced the worst of her life and hopeless situations.


The second effect of my grandfather’s death was that my father has to work very hard to support my family because he was the oldest child in my family. He no longer depended on his parents for money. His job was the family’s main source of income. As his age, he should have been studying in school. Unlike other children, he lost the opportunity to go to school. Without his father, he made many sacrifices to provide help for his siblings. My father as a child of eight, he was farming every day. No matter rain or shine, he had to work in the field. In order to make more money, he worked day and night no matter how tired he was.


The third effect is that my grandmother always reminds me of my grandfather. She always told me that my grandfather was a powerful person and he helped people a lot in our village. Unfortunately, he was killed during the Cultural Revolution and made my grandmother very sad at that time. She also told me that how difficult her life was without my grandfather. Compared to my father’s life, I feel happy now. I have an opportunity to get an education. Thus, my grandmother told me to study hard because my father didn’t have an opportunity to go to school. I really appreciate the standard of living that my parent gives me now.


Though the time of the Cultural Revolution has passed, it made a great impact on my family. When my grandmother tells stories of my grandfather, I think of the effects on my family especially for my grandmother and my father. Now, I feel great love for my family because they have provided the peaceful life for me. Even though I have never met my grandfather, he is always in my heart.

Finding a New Existence - Feon

HUI ZHAO
ESL 100
10/26/2009

Finding a New Existence

When you own nothing in the world, finding a new existence is the only way you must to do. In the middle of 19 century, there was a big flood and famine in my hometown Taishan. My grandparents told me that the water was so great; it flooded and destroyed the house where my grandparents lived. The rice paddies, the vegetables and the plants drowned. My grandparents owned nothing. So, my honorific uncle, the oldest one of his four brothers and sisters, decided to sell himself to Nauru for hard labor. Nauru is a phosphate rock island. The Chinese government allowed simple strip mining operations on the island when the phosphate company began mining there; they needed lots of Chinese labors. We cannot imagine how hard my uncle worked over there, but his leaving left my family with deep consequences.

The first consequence was losing my uncle. My grandparents said they couldn’t contact my uncle for three months after my uncle left for Nauru. They didn’t know if he was alive or not because Nauru was far away from my country. Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the Germany in the 19th century. It was very strange to them. It was said that Chinese laborers mined for the phosphate in Nauru as pigs. The phosphate company hired Chinese people for a cheap salary, but Chinese people worked very hard. In addition, China was a poor, closed country in the beginning of 19th century. They were not advanced in the technology or science. My grandparents waited for the postman in front of the door every day in order to get the news from my uncle. They cried and hoped my uncle would be safe in Nauru every minute.

The second consequence was that my uncle eventually made my family rich in the town. Fortunately, my grandparents got mail from my uncle about half year after my uncle left his hometown. They continued to cry because my uncle still was safe in another place and they could contact each other. In the letter, my uncle told my grandparents not to worry about him and he would send some money to them later. After two months, my grandparents got one hundred dollars from my uncle. It was a lot of money at that time in China. My grandparents were no longer hungry, and they could buy the food that they liked. Later, my uncle supported my grandparents to build a new house. They bought a TV which they had never seen before. As a result, my grandparents became rich because my uncle had been a laborer in Nauru.

The last and important consequence was his suffering marriage. My uncle was old enough to get married and my grandparents always expected him to marry. My uncle came back when he was twenty-eight years old. His wife was a young girl, and she looked nice. They got married, and my aunt lived with my grandparents after my uncle went back to Nauru. The only contact to them was the mail. There were just few letters from my uncle. My aunt lived in waiting because they had only spent a short time together. Nauru is an island in the south pacific. The only outside access to Nauru was going ships. The airline was not available at that time. For the reason, they couldn’t meet often. At the end of three years, my aunt moved away and they divorced. My uncle said he understood her situation as they lived separated between two countries. My uncle had no choice about his unpleasurable marriage. That was the result he went to Nauru as a labor after they got married.

When you find a new existence, it may good or it bad for you. For my uncle, he found a way to live and he gave us a lot. However, for himself, there was nothing for him besides suffering. After I grew up, my uncle came back and lived with us in his old age. When I saw his face each time, I could see the pain in his heart. As of today, my uncle already passed away, but we will never forget his giving, and we will remember the profound change his hard work brought to our lives.

Revolution impact for generation

“Time cannot efface the impact of the cultural revolution to people,” said the people who were the casualties of the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution might sound unfamiliar for most people, especially for the young people. It broke out more than 58 years ago in China. During the ten year Cultural Revolution, all schools in the country didn’t allow students to enroll, university entrance exams were canceled, teachers were publicly humiliated and cursed, and people become selfish. Finally, there was economic stagnation. The revolution not only affected the people who were hurt during it, but also affected my family. My grandmother and her family are the revolution victims because the revolution caused a lot of negative impacts in the human nature, education, and the economy.

During this time, many people suffered mental torture, and they became more and more selfish and impersonal. My grandmother had seven siblings. One of her sisters was a student during the revolution, and one of her brothers was a teacher. My grandma’s sister started a fight about my granduncle because my granduncle was a teacher. In addition, my grandma’s sister was devoted to the revolution so she wanted to do something to testify her loyalty to it. My granduncle was humiliated and cursed and became sick for his whole life. Because of the fight, my grandma’s sister was commended by the people who advocated the revolution. My grandma’s sister felt happy because she testified herself responded to the revolution, and didn’t feel sorry about my granduncle. My grandmother said that my granduncle died and her sister didn’t attend his funeral and even felt happy. My grandma’s sister’s children eventually inherited her thoughts and character. Today, they are selfish. They don’t think we are part of whole family, and they even reject us.

Another consequence was that the education was not important to the new social policy. A lot of people dropped out of the school, and they were driven to the countryside to work in agriculture. All the teaching and research work had all stopped. My grandmother was a university student and she was forced into drop out of school. Her education wasn’t respected. At that time, it is really hard for intellectuals who was reading books all the time worked in the field when they were delegated physical exertion. Some scholars could not tend to bear the humiliation of not being respected and having to work like a dog, many even chose to commit suicide. In addition, my mother was in primary school at that time, but she had to drop out the school and follow the large-scale production team to work in the field. Even though she was a seven year old child, she had to work with the team. My mother loved reading. If the revolution advocator found that you were reading books, you would be punished because studying at that time violated the revolution rule. It was not like the famous people said knowledge is wealth, at that time the revolution embracers thought that work is the wealth.

In addition, the economy was also affected by the Cultural Revolution, and it directly or indirectly affected all of China's populace. Especially the squirearchy, who were against the proletariat, was directly affected by the revolution. My grandmother’s parents were squirearchy, and they were driven to the countryside. The revolution advocator confiscated their property. At that time, they were in trouble; one of my grandmother’s siblings starved to death. Our whole family became poor at that time. The proletariat was working hard in the field, and the bourgeoisie enjoyed the fight between proletariat and the squirearchy because they could get a lot of profit from it. During this time, most economic activity was halted because most of the people followed the revolution’s rules and the economy became paralyzed.

The revolution affected the people’s thoughts and characters and changed the original human nature. The education of a generation fell behind and the economy was in stagnation. The revolution already made a huge effect to my family. However, it also became a good experience to show the descendants about what is wrong and what is right. We cannot change history, but we can restrain it from happening again. The Cultural Revolution is not only an instruction, but also a milestone in China because as the people said “time could not efface impact to people from it;” however, we can learn from the impact.