Daughter of Good Fortune: A Twentieth-Century Chinese Peasant Memoir

by Chen Huiqin

  While on the raised platform, Minjie put the wedding ring on Beibei’s finger and Beibei put the wedding ring on Minjie’s. The ceremonial master then declared Beibei and Minjie a married couple. Loud applause came from all the guests. The newlyweds then cut the wedding cake that had six tiers and was stacked in the shape of a pagoda (fig. 15.2).

  The newlyweds disappeared from the raised platform for some time. When they appeared again, all lights in the banquet hall were turned off, leaving only candles on the banquet tables. Beibei had now changed into her evening gown that glittered in candlelight. Minjie and Beibei walked together again on the red carpet, holding a light on a stick. They went onto the stage and lit the huge candle there. It was then that smokeless fireworks exploded along the red-carpet corridor and in front of the raised platform. I heard people sitting around me singing praises. They said, “We have never seen such a grand wedding ceremony.”

  The dinner banquet had been going on for some time now. With electric lights turned back on again, Beibei went to each table to pour wine and soft drinks for Minjie’s relatives. Minjie’s mother went with Beibei, introducing her to all the guests. As Beibei addressed Minjie’s relatives and received meeting-ritual money wrapped in red paper, Minjie’s mother delivered appreciation gifts that contained the same four-piece bedsheets.

  The newlyweds spent their wedding night in the bridal bedroom Minjie’s parents had prepared in their Xincheng apartment. The next day, Beibei’s male cousin from her father’s side went to invite her and Minjie to visit Beibei’s ancestral home in Helen Community. The bride and groom brought with them gifts that included traditional foods such as glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (zongzi), which expressed the best wishes from Minjie’s parents, and modern gifts such as a cream cake. My husband and I attended the lunch and dinner sponsored by Shezhu and Ah Ming for Beibei’s post-wedding visit. On this day, Shezhu held a ritual to inform Ah Ming’s ancestors of the marriage between Beibei and Minjie. A table of food was offered to the ancestors. Beibei and Minjie kowtowed together as a married couple in front of the table. Only then was the wedding ceremony complete.

  Minjie is a wonderful addition to our family. His parents raised him well and we are very lucky to have him as the loving husband of our granddaughter. Shezhu and Ah Ming are very happy about Beibei’s marriage. The two young people are successful professionals and they love and care for each other dearly.

  SHEBAO’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  When Shebao worked as a research professor at Shanghai University of Science and Technology, which merged with other colleges to become Shanghai University in the mid-1990s, he successfully designed a sensor and the factory affiliated with the university manufactured it. We were happy for him and proud of him. But he was not happy there. He said that there were too many bureaucratic limitations and too much red tape for his career development, so he resigned from the job in 1997.

  My husband and I did not like Shebao’s decision. We thought he had an iron-rice-bowl job, was an engineer, and worked in a university. To people with peasant backgrounds, he had everything any person could desire. But I knew that once Shebao decided to do something, nobody could stop him.

  After he resigned, he devoted his time and energy to developing a machine that welded eyeglass frames. In the development of the machine, he had to go to a factory outside urban Shanghai to test it. This factory was in Shanghai County, on the southwestern side of urban Shanghai, whereas Jiading is on its northern side. He could get there by taking the rural long-distance bus system. But rural buses ran very infrequently and it took him hours to get there. So most of the time he rode a bike for about two hours to get there. The rural roads he had to ride on had no clearly defined bicycle lane, and it was not safe. His father was not happy and said to Shebao, “You are a college graduate and an engineer. Yet you are riding an old bike to your work. Peasants with no education and working temporary jobs are not doing that these days. Why can’t you find a job?”

  Then one day, Shebao came and announced that he had found a job working for an American company in urban Shanghai. He had seen a job ad in a newspaper, sent in his application, and been interviewed and hired. His job was related to designing televisions. After several months, his salary was increased. But Shebao was not happy, so he resigned from the job. The American company wanted to keep him and so raised his salary again in response to his resignation, but he quit the job anyway.

  By that time, I had stopped cooking lunches for Ah Ming, so Shebao used the spare space in Shezhu’s first-floor apartment to work on the welding machine. When he finally found buyers for his machine, he hired a helper to work with him. In addition to the welding machine, he designed other electronic parts. In 2003, he rented some space in a manufacturing center near his home in urban Shanghai and moved his small manufacturing business there. About a year later, he hired six people to work on his products.

  In the latter part of 2005, Shebao was looking for housing for his little company. The lease for the building in which he had run his company was coming to an end. He could have renewed the lease, but this was an opportunity for him to find another place. Ah Ming suggested that Shebao use our Helen house to run his business. That was a great idea. First, Shebao’s company made small electronics. It involved a lot of technology, but it did not require a lot of space. It was environmentally clean and quiet. So running it in a residential community should not create any problems. Second, the townhouse was empty and my husband and I had no plans to move into our Helen house.

  Besides space to run his business, Shebao also needed to take care of his workers’ housing needs, as it is common for local small businesses to do. While Ah Ming’s workers were local married people who returned home after work, most of Shebao’s workers were unmarried young people and from places outside Shanghai. Ah Ming generously offered to help Shebao. He said that Shebao’s female workers could live in the townhouse he and Shezhu owned. He said that his mother would not mind having a few female workers share the three-story house with her. In addition, Ah Ming said that the three-bedroom apartment they bought in Helen Community was vacant, so Shebao could turn it into a dormitory for his male workers.

  Shebao accepted Ah Ming’s suggestion and help. When his lease in urban Shanghai ended in November, he moved his factory to our Helen house. The house had a spacious kitchen. He hired a local middle-aged woman to cook lunch for the workers.

  When Shebao first moved there, Helen Community was not yet connected to the natural gas pipeline. The gas tank, which had traveled all over among my family and relatives, became useful again. It provided fuel for the middle-aged woman to cook lunches for the workers. We also moved the kitchen cabinet, which had been custom-made for us when I moved to South Gate in 1985, to the Helen kitchen as a storage place for utensils.

  After Shebao moved his company to Helen Community, commuting back to his home in urban Shanghai demanded better transportation. He registered for a driving course, which was required of everyone who wanted to get a driver’s license, and passed the road test in the spring of 2006. He bought an old Volkswagen Santana and used it as his transportation.

  After moving to our Helen house, Shebao developed and made joysticks for large machines such as bulldozers and cranes. He worked day and night and over weekends, and he traveled a lot. He was the designer, the salesman, the owner of a business, and the customer-relations person. His hard work paid off and the business began to grow.

  In a casual conversation, I heard Shebao say that he had some money and would like to buy an apartment in one of those apartment buildings inside Helen Community if someone was willing to sell one. One day, when I was visiting an acquaintance in Helen, I heard an old woman say that her family was selling their apartment for cash. I said that my son was looking to buy such an apartment. When the woman learned that my son was running a business, she latched onto me. Her grandson had lost a great deal of money in gambling. The family needed cash and needed it as soon as possib
le, because the debt collector was pressing them for the money and the debt was accumulating interest every day. I told Shebao about the situation. After we looked at the apartment, Shebao decided to buy it. After the purchase, the female workers who had lived with Ah Ming’s mother moved to this apartment. This was much better, for Shebao did not want to impose on Ah Ming’s mother for too long.

  As his business picked up, he hired more people. As the clean and quiet work environment without night shifts appealed to local people, the new workers were mostly from the area. One of the new workers had actually been in school with Shebao. Local workers made things easier for Shebao, for they returned home after work so he did not have to provide housing for them.

  For years Shezhu had been the accountant for Shebao’s business. Now he wanted her to help manage the day-to-day business for his growing company. Shezhu wanted to help her brother, but she had a very comfortable job at the time. The company she worked for was within walking distance of her home in Xincheng. She was able to do the daily shopping and cooking and make sure that she and Ah Ming had dinner at a regular time every day. Working for Shebao meant traveling to Helen Community. If she took public transportation, it would mean two or three hours on the road every day. In winter, it would be completely dark when she got home after work. She would still have to shop and cook for dinner. Dinner would be late due to the time she spent on the road.

  Shebao asked me about getting Shezhu to work for him. I said that if Shezhu agreed to do so, she would have to sacrifice a lot and that she would also need Ah Ming’s support. Shebao understood. When Shezhu asked me about working for Shebao, I reminded her of all the inconveniences that she would encounter and the sacrifices that she would have to make. When they both were present, I said, “Both of you are my children. Both of you are married and have families. It is entirely up to you to decide what to do. Whatever decision you make, I will see it as the reasonable and right choice.”

  Shezhu finally resigned from her job and went to work in Shebao’s company. Most days, Shebao would stop outside Shezhu’s residential complex and give her a ride to work in the morning and back to the complex after work. Helen Community is about twelve li north of Xincheng, where Shezhu and we lived. Since Shebao lives in urban Shanghai, which is south of Xincheng, giving Shezhu a ride involved no detours. Shezhu had to use public transportation whenever Shebao traveled on business trips or attended to business needs in urban Shanghai.

  Ah Ming supported Shezhu’s decision to work for her brother. Shezhu said that no matter how late she got home from work, Ah Ming never complained. In fact, sometimes when Shezhu got home late, Ah Ming would say, “Let us go out to eat so that you do not have to cook.” I was aware of the sacrifices Shezhu was making. Sometimes, I would cook a fish or some meat and tell Shezhu to stop at my place on her way home and take the dish. That way, she would only have to cook a vegetable dish for a complete dinner.

  Shebao is generous and kind to his workers. He has organized company vacation trips. One time, he took his workers to Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains. Another time, he took his workers to a famous hot-spring resort in Ningbo. He not only paid for everything on the trip, he reserved three-star or four-star hotels for his workers. On various festivals, he prepares gifts for his workers. On each Dragon Boat Festival, which is in the spring, he prepares glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (zongzi) for his workers and their families. One year, I volunteered to make the gifts. The woman who cooked lunches in the company and I made about 250 zongzi, which took thirty jin of sweet rice and eight jin of pork. He gives out gifts again for Mid-Autumn Festival every year. The biggest gifts of the year are the ones given at Chinese New Year (nianhuo). My husband and I have shared in the gifts so I know how much and what he gives to his workers. This past year, he bought cookies, nuts, chocolates, and other treats and put them together in large bags. Each worker received one bag. Shezhu bought the items for the Chinese New Year gifts and said it cost a hundred yuan for each bag. Every time Shebao gives gifts, he prepares one set for each of the neighbors.

  Shebao’s kindness toward his workers goes beyond what I have mentioned. He has a lot of compassion. For example, a woman worker in the company had a sick mother who lived in Sichuan. He told the worker that whenever she needed to go to her mother’s side, she could do so. The worker appreciated the offer, but said that she was aware of how busy the company was and she should stay to help. Shebao replied, “Family always comes first. Work can wait.”

  When the woman’s mother became seriously ill, she decided to fly back to Sichuan to be with her. Shebao gave her money and told her to spend as much time with her mother as she needed. That worker was able to be with her mother when her mother died. She stayed in Sichuan and took care of her mother’s funeral service. Only after that did she came back to work. Shebao gave the worker full pay for all the days she was away from work.

  “Family is more important than work” is what Shebao tells us all the time. When my husband and I need a ride to see a doctor, we always hesitate because we realize how busy he is. When he learns of our need, he comes to us immediately. He says, “I am busy. But to me, your health is more important than anything else.”

  One day, one of his workers got into a small traffic accident on her way home. When Shebao heard the news, he had not yet left the office. He got into his car and drove straight to the accident site. He took the worker to Jiading Central Hospital in his car. He stayed with her through the whole process of getting an emergency check-up and X-ray exam, dressing the external wound, and getting the medication. He then drove the worker home.

  The next day, the worker and her husband went to the company to see Shebao. The worker said that her husband was at work the night before and so missed seeing Shebao when he brought her home. So he came to thank Shebao in person. Shebao said he had only done what he should. He told the worker to go home and rest until the wound healed. He added that her wages would continue as usual during her sick leave. The worker was extremely grateful. She went home with her husband that day, but returned to work the following day. She said that the injury on her face was superficial and it was no longer painful. She further said that she used her hands and eyes to work and so the injury on her face did not interfere with her ability to work.

  Since Shebao moved his company to our Helen house in 2005, I have heard from a number of people who were neighbors or whose family members worked in Shebao’s company. They all told me that I have raised a generous and kind son. Shebao is very much like my father, who was generous and kind to his extended family as well as to his neighbors and fellow villagers.

  Nonetheless, Shebao’s generosity sometimes goes beyond my comprehension. One woman worker resigned from Shebao’s company after having been trained to do the work. This was a loss for Shebao because it took time and money to train a worker. Yet Shebao wished her well. About two years later, she came back and asked to be employed again. I said to Shebao, “If I were you, I would not want to accept her.” But Shebao allowed her to come back. Then, some time later, she left again. She said that one of her relatives had found her a better job. Shebao again wished her well. Not too long after that, another worker told Shebao that that woman was not happy with her new job and wanted to return. I did not think Shebao would take her back this time, but he did. When I asked Shebao why he had done that, he replied, “Young people should be allowed to explore for themselves. They will decide what is really good for them. Now that she wants to come back, she will stay and devote herself to her work in my company.” Shebao was right. This woman is now a devoted worker. She tells other workers in the company that she now knows the outside world and knows that Chen Gong (Engineer Chen) is the best man to work for.

  By the way, Chen Gong, or Engineer Chen, is how everyone in his company addresses him. Shebao started his own company from scratch and has been running it since the early 2000s. At the end of 2011, he employed more than twenty people. But he never regarded himself as “boss.”
Many people prefer to be called boss (laoban) when they run a small business. The title laoban connotes somebody who is rich and powerful. Shebao prefers to live a low-key life.

  I do not want to see Shebao’s business grow too big. I believe that so long as he is able to make enough money to meet his family’s needs, it is good. I know that running a big business involves too much and is too tiring.

  A couple of years after the company moved to our Helen house, Shebao’s business had outgrown our townhouse. One of the neighboring townhouses, which was owned by another Wangjialong family, was vacant at the time. When we asked if the owners were willing to rent it, they gladly said yes. Shebao’s growing company now occupied two townhouses. Through its website, the company was selling products all over the country.

  In 2010, Shebao moved his company to a newly-built manufacturing center about six li north of Helen Community. He said that his goal was to create a brand name in the industrial joystick business. The manufacturing center has its own huge dining room so the company employees now eat in the dining room and Shebao pays for their lunches.

  After the move, my husband and I went to see the new factory. It was huge. Besides workshop spaces, there was a sales office, a warehouse, a conference room, an accounting room, a room devoted to developing new products, and Shebao’s office. All the rooms were equipped with air conditioners and/or electrical fans.