;0) i see where you are coming from now.
yes, know both sides of the railroad track divide
been a rough ride
all relative of course, starting one way, hiccup, exile, and then crawl from under, starting w/ 700 usd borrowed money in 1971
would not have it any other way
all fun
attitude is 80% of what it takes
10% is luck
10% is probably to do with education / training and such externalities
the story is basically here yuantsungchen.com
while we were exiled, my dad wrote this sociology piece later published in usa amazon.com
we were in the village for 1 year, and i can relate that it is better to spent summers in the island in the middle of the summer palace which we did up to when i turned 6
than it is to stay 12 months in a 1-room mud hut without electricity, running water, flush toilet, meats, eggs, fruits, etc etc etc (the stove is part of the bed, so that the warmth of the mud stove kept all warm)
i was 9 at the time, and so remember just about all
still, for a 9 years young, it was fun
my dad at the time was 60, and if i were sent to felicity-ville with a young wife and a 9 years young kid, i doubt i would be as carefree as was my dad seemingly at the time
shall never know as all speculation, because i getgold, i really do GET gold ;0)
and let me mention in passing, in case i forgot w/i the last 5 seconds, gold is good, and panic is rational, for fear is a survival trait, but if have to, tee-up a sense of humor, it helps more than would alcohol.
these folks were our minders, making sure no harm came to us, share what they had, wasn't much, but was all. we had the nicer of their two huts, they stayed in the hut you see here. ours was to their immediate left
looking just so as painted by my dad
the reason you see no electricity cables was because there was none ;0)
Message 15560046 (circa 2001)
<<Second to last paragraph on Nausages and Sausages. My parents and I were exiled into the countryside of China in 1969-1970. Their accounts were frozen, possessions taken. We were helped by friends in high places, but only to the extent of being placed in a villages controlled by peasnts (I use that word in gratitude) friendly to the forces of right, light, and human. Had that not been the case, my then 60 some year old dad would have perished under a tractor track, and now I a smartie pants BBC listening water melon sales assistant along the newly built expressways of China.
We had a one room mud hut, next to the pig pen, no light, no fresh water, no income, and no way out. Little Jay had a large jar of coins (oops, little Sausages) generating no passive Nausages, but enough to buy one year's worth of eggs, some hatching chicks, some for boiling, and some piglets, not for eating, but for selling. My father's Oxford education (no, like Richard Li, he did not graduate either, as he was too adventurous and lively for that routine) and my mom's St Mary's finishing, and the determination of a Shanghai lady and the optimism of a Trinidadian Creole Chinese man was reduced to doing the basics ... replacing paper window with translucent plastic (that caused a stir in the village, mixing innovation with perceived wealth ... oops, Nausages), doing some good for the villagers with little Jay's jar of Sausages, so that when the red guards came for my dad, with the tractor ready, the lawless and authority-less old world peasants gathered with sticks and stones.
Not exactly 1929 stuff, but dramatic enough for a 10 year old. The basic lesson is easy to learn, obvious to relate, and hard to forget.>> |
