-
Birthday
My name is Li Su Wang. I was born on Thursday May 10, 1849. I have a wonderful family, but we do not have much. We are very poor. We cannot afford for my brother and I to go to school. My father left for America when I was five. My mother has to work to take care of me and my brother. My father is over in America and he sends money home once a month. Hopefully we will have enough money to join him. Hopefully we'll have a better life in America. I'm waiting until father says it is time to leave. -
Time to Leave
Today we have recieved 2 letters. One wass a letter telling us it was time to move to America. My father was a sojourhere, hoping he could return home, rich. He lost his job and could not afford to travel home. We were not able to get out of poverty. That is why he told us to move to America, so we could all be together. We were told to practice what to say when the interrogators asked us questions. We practiced every day for 3 months while we prepared to leave. Finally we set sail to America. -
Angel Island
We arrived at Angel Island. It was warm, the sun was bright and the sky a beautiful blue. We waited in line as we got off the boat. First we went through the physical exam to see if we were healthy enough to stay. They tested to see if we had a disease by flipping our eyelids inside out. I did not have the disease, unfortunately, my friend and her mother did and were then detained. My family passed the exam and were then split up to wait. -
Interrogation
Interrogation was the scariest part of the whole process. They weren't letting in the wives of the men who worked in America so I was told to call my mother Auntie. They would think that my mother was my father's sister. We had to answer a lot of questions. They wanted to see how good my English was because I was 10. They also wanted to know about my family history and lastly they needed someone to cooborate our story with, my father. We answered the questions and we got to leave and see my dad. -
Settling down
We settled in China town with many other Chinese immigrants. It wasn't the best conditions. We stayed in tennements that were not very nice. We went to school with many other Chinese kids. We all got along very nicely. We shared stories about our families in China. It was fun to play with the other kids, but my dad couldn't find work. He decided we needed to move out east because he found a job as a railroad worker. He was going to work on the Transcontinental Railroad. So we packed up and left. -
Living in the Midwest
We've lived in America for about 5 years now. We moved to the midwest so my dad could work on the railroad. We live in a small little town, but it is very nice. We live next to an Irish immigrant family. Their dad is also a railroad worker. They have a daughter who is about my age. We are very good friends. I teach her Mandrin and she teaches me Irish. We also show each other the traditions of our former country. Life is so much better. We have a better life in America and I'm so glad we moved.
