A China Childhood
I was born in China, in Northwestern China. I'm eighty-three. So I have experienced a lot of China's history. I remember before the war, during the war, after the war, and after the Communists took over. I have experienced a lot. I was educated in China.
My parents worked in a town along the coast in the mountains where the Germans came to make beer because the water was so pure. They worked for the railroad as civil engineers. We had a big family, because my father is the eldest son, so he had to take care of the whole family - my grandparents and his brothers and sisters.
So my childhood was pretty simple because the railroad was working at that time in China, which meant my parents had jobs. People in China said, "It's an iron bolt. It's a solid income, good pay." So it was good. We were a simple family. Not very rich, but comfortable. Then after the war started, we moved to inland China.
We experienced the bombing, but fortunately, our family was not hurt. Then, my father transferred to another railway, where I attended college. We also experienced some bombing there, but a very short time because the American Air Force general married a Chinese woman. He had met a group of volunteer pilots in China, so he stopped the Japanese bombers coming into our area.
I am the oldest child in my family. We all shared. Four kids in the same bedroom. My grandmother was with four kids from her daughter. My mother had the big room. In the back was a small room for the other kids. It was a big house, but we were still squeezed in. Not everyone gets their own room.
My grandfather had a room with his private small temple for worship. He was a Buddhist. My own father believed that the heart is important. The heart is sincere and is good to people. It's much more important than worship.
My parents both celebrated being one hundred years old. Gabriel, one of my sons, passed away because of a brain tumor at the end of 2000. Within three months, George, my older son, passed away suddenly on January 23, 2001. Within three months, I lost two sons. My father passed away at 103. My mother passed away at 104 years old.
