House Reconstruction

Na Pan (Nicole)
Michal Eskayo
ESL 100
March 14, 2017

House Reconstruction

      There is a saying in Chinese that “Neither a tile, without a patch of land”, which is to describe a person or a family that has no place of their own, and they either need to rent or live under other people’s rooves. This is exactly what my family looked like from twenty years ago until now. Back in the 1990s, my family was facing the government policy of House Reconstruction, which was aimed at building a more modernized living environment and providing more comfortable living conditions. This government decision had left my family homeless. Ever since then, my family has been like a floating leaf without direction drifting around. My grandmother’s decision to sell the house had made my family live without a domicile, and it had left my family struggling with the little “bonus” from earning the house selling share.  It was also the main indirect reason that my mother left me for the United States at the age of eight. 

      Nearly twenty-three years ago, the house my family had lived in was in a situation needed to be torn down, and there were more family members living with us at that time. Considering three of my father’s siblings, my grandmother had made the decision to sell the house property and divide the money evenly among four of her children. That was the time my family had started to wander around, like a duckweed, moving as the wind blew. At that time, my parents had to find the family a place to live, and they had to struggle to open a small business. During that period of time, life was extremely hard.

      The little money my family had shared was not enough for us at all. My parents had to make a living while taking care of me. At that time, I was only two years old. They had to borrow money for my baby formula, and they had to run a small roadside stall regardless if it was raining or in a hot sun.  My childhood was like anybody else at that time. My parents even sent me to the best kindergarten in our neighborhood. Furthermore, they sent me to learn the game of Go when I was only four years old. Go was quite an expensive activity to learn for my family. They wanted to give me the best education even though we were in a rather difficult condition. They wanted me to be different from them, and they wanted me to think critically and master a life-long surviving skill. They had a theory that since Go was mostly played among boys, if a girl that could play she would be a dark horse.  Before my mother left the family for the United States, my parents had tried so many kinds of small businesses to earn a living, and pay for my education. They had even accumulated a small amount of money so they could afford to buy a house. However my mom traded the money for my Go lessons. 

      Moreover, my mother left the family when I was eight. That was because it was getting harder and harder to earn a salary for small business, and my mom wanted me to continue practicing Go.  After my mom moved to the United States, my father took care of me and sent me to the Go club to become even better. The role of mother and father switched in my family, but that was just the beginning of the story. Unfortunately, my father died of bone cancer when I was only thirteen. That was really the time that had made my life indecisive, and the absence of both of my parents had turned my life upside down, and I gradually became less active and more silent. 

      In conclusion, The House Reconstruction was only a hook. There might be some other historical event for my family, but it is the love from my parents that made the government policy of House Reconstruction indifferent. I don't regret anything. My life would not be more abundant without the rich care and expectations from my both of my parents. No matter what life has chosen for me or my family, it will not tear us apart. We are always united spiritually. I am lucky to be my parents’ child, and I have the biggest love from them.