I cam to America in 1968 and I have been in the USA for over40 years. I first came to New York with some of my best friends as a tourist. During my visit to New York, I met a Jewish old man when I was taking subway. He asked me where I had come from. I told him I was from China, but had come from Taiwan. I also told him that I had just finished my college in Japan. He asked me what I majored. I told him I had majored electric engineering. He became more interested. At the end of the conversation, he patted me on my head and asked: Young man, are you interested in coming to America and work for me? I own an electrical engineer company. " I couldn't believe what I heard. I kept silent for a while, but then nodded. I then went back to Taiwan with my friends and forgot about it altogether.
But six months later, I received a letter from America. It was from that old man. He kept his promise and sent me an invitation which invited me to come to America to work for him. he helped me go through all the formalities and got my visa to America. So I came to America.After I got to America, I started to work for him right away. He was very nice to me. He not only gave me a job, but also helped me get my green card. I worked very hard in order to repay his kindness. I learned a lot from that job and was soon promoted to the position of manager for my outstanding performance. Then I studied for 3 years to get my own license. I took the test and passed it and started my own company. I got a lot of support from my former boss. My business kept growing and soon it had 25 employees. I was really grateful to the old man. When he died, I was so sad that I didn't eat anything for two days.
When I arrived at New York city 40 years ago, Chinatown was much smaller than it is now. The busiest streets in Chinatown were Mott Street and Canal Street. There were not many restaurants and stores along the streets. Jing Feng Restaurant and Silvery Palace had not been build yet. Nor had Confucius Plaza. There were no high-rising apartment buildings along Madison Street either. South of Madison Street was a stretch of open land. Aftert 7 o'clock, the streets were usually empty. Cantonese was the major language used in chinatown. I had a hard time understanding Cantonese.By the end of 1990s, my company became one of the leading companies in Chinatown. I began to be more active in community activities. We also kept close contact with the economic development of China, especially that of my hometown, Zhe Jiang Province. I visited China several times as president of the Association of Zhejiang Nationals at New York and was warmly received by the governor of Zhejiang Province. We invested in several big projects in Zhejiang and helped Zhejiang Province set up their business connections in New York City and other parts of America.
In 2001, when Sang Lan, China's Olympic gymnast accidentally broke her neck and spire during the Olympic Games at Atlanta, Georgia, I was the first one representing our association to get to the hospital where she stayed and make sure she was taken good care of. Although I live in America now, I love my own home country and hope to see China keep growing stronger and stronger.
I am retired now. But I am still active. I am taking an ESL class every weekday except Friday to study English. The location of the school is very close to my home. The class starts at 9:15 and finishes at 12:00 p.m. It is very hard for a man of my age to staudy english now. But I am not discouraged. I will not give up because I know how important it is to study English.
