Street of Eternal Happiness

by Rob Schmitz

  “It’ll probably be me,” Zhang said with resignation. “I can adapt anywhere. I’m like a cockroach.” I reflected again on how much she reminded me of Zhao: plainspoken, strong, and she learned quickly. She wasn’t as approachable, but she was only twenty-six years old. She had plenty of time to practice the art of customer relations. I imagined her starting her own flower shop or café seven hundred miles away in her hometown of Zaozhuang.

  Her husband, on the other hand, was probably best left to what he knew: making Greek food in Shanghai.

  “In our hometown, men either have skills or strength,” Zhang explained. “My husband has neither.”

  Zhao spit out a few watermelon seeds in laughter. The two had spent many days like this, complaining about their worthless spouses, and Zhao was well past the point of defending Little Sun. Zhang continued. “He could work as a construction worker if he was strong, but he’s not,” she complained. “He could make more than he’s making now if he could lay tile, but he doesn’t have any skills.”

  “That’s not true!” Zhao smirked. “My son knows how to make Greek food!”

  The two roared with laughter. China was changing fast, sure, but spanakopita would probably remain underappreciated in a place like Zaozhuang.

  “We still haven’t decided,” Zhang said. “Maybe he’ll live with my mother for a year and we’ll see how it goes.”

  Zhao smiled sadly. “I never expected our Shuo Shuo would be a left-behind child,” she said, looking at the sidewalk. “He’ll be just like his father. Two generations of left-behind children! Aiya!”

  But even as she said this, something in her look revealed she knew this wasn’t true. Shuo Shuo wouldn’t be stuck in a coal-mining town like his father was. He’d live in a middle-class suburb in a spacious seventeenth-floor condominium with hardwood floors that his grandmother had bought for the family. He wouldn’t be misdiagnosed and left in a school for autistic children. He’d be escorted to and from a good kindergarten just a block away from home. What used to be a twelve-hour sleeper bus journey from Shanghai was now a three-hour high-speed train ride. Mom and Dad could visit him every other weekend. In just twenty years, China had begun to transform into a modern, developed country. What would it look like in another twenty years? Zhao wondered aloud. Maybe the country would do away with hukou laws altogether.

  A refreshing breeze from the east blew down the Street of Eternal Happiness. It rustled layers of green leaves from the plane trees above, and speckles of sunlight danced across the street, glinting off the watermelon rinds that littered the sidewalk. Little Shuo Shuo emerged from the shop with his arms outstretched, vibrating his lips, making motor sounds. “B-b-b-b-r-r-r-r,” he babbled, running down the sidewalk, veering onto the edge of the curb, jumping into the street to avoid pedestrians. The boy did this a lot, and it always made me nervous. But neither his mother nor his grandmother paid attention to his antics. Shuo Shuo had lived nearly every day of his short life here, on this patch of the street, and he had learned what he could get away with. Whenever a car or a scooter raced by, he reflexively jumped back onto the sidewalk in the nick of time.

  I stopped watching him and noticed both Zhao and Zhang had closed their eyes. They had tilted their heads back to let the breeze caress their faces as they listened to the steady rustle of leaves. The strong wind made the plane trees sound like rapids on a river: always rolling, its flow eternal. The gusts diminished and the song of the cicadas returned. Shuo Shuo’s buzzing grew louder until he plopped his tiny body onto his grandmother’s lap, waking her up from her trance, nearly knocking her over.

  He looked up and smirked at her. She flashed a knowing smile back. She stood up and lifted the little boy up over her shoulders, placing him on her back. Zhao ran down the street, laughing as her grandson squealed in delight. He stretched out his arms like a bird. “Fly, Grandma, fly!” the boy screamed.

  And she flew.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I am grateful for my friends and neighbors along Changle Lu who opened their lives to me these past six years. They granted me their trust, time, and patience, and without them, this work would not have been possible. Across the street from my home, Chen Kai shared his dreams with me over countless cups of coffee. A few blocks down, Auntie Fu and Uncle Feng had congyoubing and fruit from Xinjiang ready each time I arrived, and at the end of the street in their tiny flower shop, Zhao Shiling, Sun Hua, Sun Wei, Zhang Ming, and little Shuo Shuo took me in like a member of the family.

  In Maggie Lane, Kang Chenggeng, Chen Zhongdao, and Xie Guozhen risked their personal safety to share their neighborhood’s troubled history. I was saddened by Xie’s passing just two years after her and Chen’s home was taken from them.

  Xi Guozhen and her son Zhu Weiqi taught me the importance of strength and perseverance in today’s China, and I thank them for sharing deeply personal memories with me. I am grateful to Wei Xiezhong and Harry Wu for helping me understand day-to-day life inside China’s labor camp system. And in Flushing, Wang Xuesong patiently filled in the historical gaps of his parents’ letters for me while talking about his own hopes and ambitions in his adopted homeland.

  Others along the street who became friends and confidantes include Zhang Naisun, Henry Shen, Tom Doctoroff, Wang Cailiang, Chu Hongsheng, Zhu Zhongling, Gong Yao, Xu Yuan, Li Zixing, Liu Xun, Qiu Huanxi, Chen Yiyi, Tu Dongxiu, and Cang Long.

  I have often believed the longer I live in China the less I come to know, and I owe a debt of gratitude to the talented journalist and researcher Yifan Xie who helped me translate interviews, letters, and historical texts to accurately record the stories of those along the street. I am especially thankful for her local knowledge and for our lasting friendship.

  This work began as a radio series I reported for Marketplace, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of executive producer Deborah Clark, who encouraged me to report the original stories and then graciously granted me leave to write this book. Thanks also to Jon McTaggart, David Kansas, Doug Roderick, Mitzi Gramling, and the rest of the talented team at American Public Media for their support of this project. I’m indebted to foreign editor John Buckley for his sharp editorial guidance and kind supervision, as well as to John Haas, who lent his editorial talents to the stories. I am grateful to JJ Yore and George Judson for giving me one of the best jobs at Marketplace, and to Tina Admans for logistical support. I have also benefitted greatly from the guidance and support of my past and current colleagues at the show, and am honored to work with such a dedicated team of radio professionals. A few worthy of special note are Kai Ryssdal, Sitara Nieves, David Brancaccio, Nicole Childers, Mark Miller, Scott Tong, and Nancy Farghalli.

  Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to receive guidance from veterans who have helped make me a better reporter and writer. At Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Ari Goldman, Rhoda Lipton, Julie Hartenstein, and Joe Richman were excellent mentors. At Minnesota Public Radio, Katherine Smith, Euan Kerr, Gary Eichten, and Sara Meyer patiently taught me the ropes of radio journalism. At KPCC, I had the pleasure of working under the very capable Paul Glickman, Nick Roman, and Bill Davis. At KQED, Ingrid Becker, Scott Shafer, Kat Snow, Craig Miller, and Victoria Mauleon helped refine my skills, and at NPR, Alisa Barba and Kate Concannon were outstanding editors who helped provide a national platform for my work.

  I am grateful to Michael Meyer, whose thoughtful reading of a draft helped me work through some early issues. Peter Hessler, another former Peace Corps colleague, was kind enough to edit an early version, too, offering helpful—and humorous—comments that helped me restructure the work. I also owe special thanks to Leslie T. Chang, whose thoughtful and thorough input improved the original book proposal, and to Alane Mason, who encouraged me to submit it to publishers. I appreciate the time of Jeffrey Wasserstrom, who helped provide valuable historical context. Thanks also to James McGregor and John Ruwitch, who reviewed the manuscript with care.

  Over the year
s, I have benefitted from the friendship and assistance of many people whose work focuses on China, including Stan Abrams, James T. Areddy, David Barboza, Hannah Beech, Mary Bergstrom, Tania Branigan, Jonathan Browning, Mike Chinoy, Patrick Chovanec, Margaret Conley, Geoffrey Crothall, Maura Cunningham, Bill Dodson, Clayton Dube, Michael Dunne, Deborah Fallows, James Fallows, Russell Flannery, Paul French, Jeremy Friedlein, Josh Gartner, Rob Gifford, Dru Gladney, Jeremy Goldkorn, Alexandra Harney, William Hess, Duncan Hewitt, Arthur Kroeber, Kaiser Kuo, Frank Langfitt, Brook Larmer, Louisa Lim, Jen Lin-Liu, Ma Tianjie, Adam Minter, Malcolm Moore, Ching-Ching Ni, Evan Osnos, Philip Pan, Michael Pettis, Tom Phillips, David Pierson, Qiu Xiaolong, James Rice, Andy Rothman, Simon Rabinovitch, Craig Simons, Anne Stevenson-Yang, Jason Subler, John Sudworth, Pete Sweeney, Sue Anne Tay, Alex Wang, Louis Woo, Andy Xie, and Zhu Dake.

  I am also grateful for the companionship of a network of friends in Shanghai and beyond: Alyshea Austern, Julian Bermudez, Kathryn Blouin, David Boggs, Steven Bourne, Brantley Turner-Bradley, Doug Bradley, Wendy Bryan, Kitty Bu, Tamy Chapman, William Chou, Elaine Chow, Sean Coady, Dan Connelly, Grace Lee Connelly, Patrick Cranley, Rob and Heidi Creighton, Fitz De Smet, Allison Despard, Arsheya Devitre, Ken and Brenda Erickson, Dan and Amy Fitzpatrick, Jerry Flanagan, Anna Gai, Jeremy and Karen Gaskill, Kevin Gibbons, Jeanne and Briand Greer, Michelle Garnaut, Mike Goettig, Adolfo Guzman Lopez, Melanie Ham, Christian and Alexandra Hansmeyer, Stephen Harder and York-Chi Harder, Steve Harris and Mercedes Valle-Harris, Julian de Hauteclocque Howe, Erich Heilemann, Rachel Ee-Heilemann, Stephen Henn, Ellen Himelfarb, Vanessa Hua, Denise Huang, John and Meg Ideker, Maile Jedlinsky, Tina Kanagaratnam, George and Heather Kaye, Melissa Lam, Julie Langfitt, Wilde Lau, Codi Lazar, John Leary, Jane Lee, Dan Levine, Dawn MacKeen, Lisa McCallum, Mary McCoy, Adam and Sara Meier, Ann Meier, Vincent Moccia, Maggie Moon, Xavier Naville, Daisy Nguyen, Richard and Karen Oothoudt, Caroline Pan, Lucia Pierce, Greg Pilarowski, Jennifer Pitman, John Rabe, David Ratner, Diana Ricciardone, Lysa Saltzman, Sarah Schafer, Clay Shirky, Alok Somani, Bill and Elena Speidel, Jason Stanard, Frank Stoltze, Christine Tan, Anh Truong, Lian Tsien, Michael Tunkey, Brett and Rebecca Wallihan, Marc and Sherine Walton, Andrew and Molly Watkins, Brian Watt, Adam Weiss, Seth Werner, Stefan and Devon Whitney, Jennifer Wu, Ran Xu, Jiwei Ye, Almaz Zelleke, and Ami and Hayley Zweig. Special thanks to friends Richard Langone and Lei Lei Peng, whose gracious loan of a shoebox of letters led me across the world to find their owner, and to Wen Cao, who assisted in their transcription.

  I am grateful to Domenica Alioto, my brilliant editor at Crown, for her patient and insightful readings of the manuscript and for helpful conversations over an escondido Internet connection, to Claire Potter for providing expert day-to-day assistance, and to Sarah Pekdemir and Rebecca Marsh for marketing and publicizing the book. I’m also indebted to Vanessa Mobley for taking the manuscript in and for her early guidance and support. Heartfelt thanks to Wendy Sherman, my agent, for her confidence in this project and its potential, and to Jenny Meyer for her expert handling of the foreign rights.

  I am forever grateful to my wonderful mother, JoAnn, and my devoted father, Jim. They raised me to work hard, to love what I do, and to never stop exploring. These were lessons that took me far away from them for years at a time, and they’ve been patient, loving, and supportive through it all. I only wish my father could have lived to read these words on the page.

  I am fortunate to have two brothers, Ryan Schmitz and Dan Schmitz, whom I consider my closest friends. I am grateful for their advice and companionship, and for putting up with my absence for all of these years. I look forward to the day when they, along with Denise Landeros-Schmitz, Ashley Denholtz Schmitz, and my nephews and nieces Andre, Bradley, Natalie, Scarlett, and my family live on the same continent.

  I met and fell in love with Lenora Chu in graduate school in New York City. On our first date, she heard my stories about volunteering in China, and she thought I was crazy to want to return as a journalist. Little did she know that I would rope her into the deal, too. She selflessly put her career on hold, as well as a few dreams of her own, so that I could follow mine. She’s my most loyal editor and partner, and she’s also given me a second family: Judy and Humbert Chu, Joyce Chu Moore Kenney Moore, and Greyson and Coralai. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to them for their generosity.

  Lenora and I left Los Angeles for Shanghai with our one-year-old son, Rainer. A few years later, little Landon was born, making our family complete. I am eternally happy the four of us are on this adventure together. The love we share is the light of my life. This book is for you.

  SOURCES

  This is a work of nonfiction. I have used real names with two exceptions. The Wang family name is a pseudonym used at the son’s request due to political sensitivities in the People’s Republic of China. I’ve also used the pseudonyms “Uncle Feng” and “Auntie Fu” to protect their privacy. I’ve changed the street addresses of both families for the same reasons.

  The majority of my research involved one-on-one interviews and personal observation. I also benefited greatly from written materials, and below I have identified the sources that were most useful to each section. Newspaper headlines from Chinese language sources have been translated into English.

  Chapter 1: CK and the System

  For background on the history of London plane trees in Shanghai:

  “Absorbed by Time, the Phoenix Tree Is the Warmest Characteristic of Shanghai’s Scenery,” Jiefang Daily, December 6, 2013.

  “A Grass-Roots Fight to Save a ‘Supertree,’ ” The New York Times, June 4, 2011.

  Ch. B. Maybon and Jean Fredet, Histoire de la Concession française de Changhai, Paris: Librairie Plon, 1929.

  For background on the history of Shanghai:

  Pan Ling, In Search of Old Shanghai, Joint Publishing (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd., 1986.

  Paul French, The Old Shanghai, A–Z, Hong Kong University Press, 2010.

  Stella Dong, Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City, New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

  I am grateful to Zang Jun, Assistant to the Manager of Landscape Management, Huangpu District Landscape Bureau, for explaining the history and maintenance of Shanghai’s London plane trees.

  Chapter 2: Better City, Better Life

  For background on etiquette campaigns both in China and the United States:

  Zuo keaide Shanghai ren [How to Be a Lovely Shanghainese], The Shanghai Commission for Cultural and Ethical Progress, 2005.

  Cecil B. Hartley, The Gentlemen’s Book of Etiquette, Boston: DeWolfe, Fiske, & Co., 1879.

  For background on Shanghai’s—and China’s—increasingly influential role in the world:

  Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Maura Cunningham, China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know, New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

  Anna Greenspan, Shanghai Future: Modernity Remade, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

  For background on the history of Shanghai’s old neighborhoods and their destruction:

  Jie Li, Shanghai Homes: Palimpsests of Private Life, New York: Columbia University Press, 2015.

  Qin Shao, Shanghai Gone: Domicide and Defiance in a Chinese Megacity, New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013.

  For background on the demolition of Maggie Lane:

  “The Shadow of Forced Demolition Re-emerges in Maggie Lane,” Southern Weekend, April 1, 2011.

  “New Government Policies Fail to Prevent Violent Forced Demolitions,” Legal Daily, April 6, 2011.

  For background on both the Shanghai and the New York World’s Fairs:

  “Expo Offers Shanghai a Turn in the Spotlight,” The New York Times, April 29, 2010.

  Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, New York: Vintage, July 12, 1975.

  Chapter 3: Hot and Noisy

  For background on what goes into China’s GDP calculation:

  “Fifth Generation Star Li Keqiang Discusses Domestic Challenges, Trade Relations with Ambassador,” WikiLeaks, March
15, 2007.

  For background on China’s left-behind children:

  “China’s ‘Left-Behind Children,’ ” The New York Times, June 1, 2012.

  “China Struggles with Mental Health Problems of ‘Left-Behind’ Children,” The Guardian, August 30, 2014.

  “Left-Behind Children of China’s Migrant Workers Bear Grown-up Burdens,” The Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2014.

  “China Raises a Generation of ‘Left-Behind’ Children,” CNN, February 5, 2014.

  For background on China’s hukou system:

  Kam Wing Chan, “The Chinese Hukou System at 50,” Eurasian Geography and Economics, Bellwether Publishing, Ltd., 2009.

  “A Road Map for Reforming China’s Hukou System,” Chinadialogue, October 22, 2013.

  “The Limitations of China’s Hukou Reforms,” Business Spectator, August 1, 2014.

  “China ‘Hukou’ System Deemed Outdated as Way of Controlling Access to Services,” The Washington Post, August 15, 2010.

  “China’s Hukou Reform Plan Starts to Take Shape,” The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2014.

  I am grateful to Professor Kam Wing Chan for several interviews about China’s hukou system, and to Benjamin Schwall for several interviews about life in China’s factory towns during the 1990s.

  Chapter 4: Re-Education

  For background on Jinjiang Hotel founder Dong Zhujun:

  Lily Xiao Hong Lee and A. D. Stefanowska, Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, London: Routledge, July 31, 2002.

  For background on Shanghai youth sent to build Xinjiang in the 1960s:

  “Go to the Countryside! Go to the Remote Frontiers! Devote Your Life to Revolution—Warm Farewell to Shanghai Youth Participating in the Construction of Xinjiang,” Wenhui Daily, June 20, 1965.