A Tale of Migration
“The history of a family begins
when a person leaves home.”
-- Leslie Chang
Historical context
Historical events around the world | Chinese historical event
WWII
begins
Anti-Rightists
Movement
WWI
begins
Japanese invasion
of Manchuria
End of
WWI
End of Cultural
Revolution
End of Qing
dynasty
ROC starts
Cultural Revolution
begins
End of
WWII
Civil War
1912
1931
1939
1967
1990
2000
2010
1900
1918
1980
1946
1957
1976
studied in
Peking University
Grandfather
Zhang Shenfu
Assassinated
1930
1937
1899
1916
1920
1927
study mining
engineering
in US
1946
Peking Women’s Normal College,
Major in ducation and music
Set up a coal
distribution business
Grandmother
Li Xiangheng
move to Taiwan
early 1930s
1948
1965
His death became
one of financial
supports for children
to study abroad
“I didn’t care whether I left or not,
but I had all the responsibility to
take care of the younger children.”
study in the US
major in education
became elementary-school and
special-education teacher
move to Taiwan
Aunt
Nellie Chang
1930
1948
1953
born in northeast
“I want to stay, to help China,
We were very idealistic then.
Who can say we were wrong?”
Labeled ‘rightist’
he was sent to countryside
for twenty years
worked in Beijing
education bureau
Nellie’s boyfriend
Zhao Hongzhi
Back to Beijing
1950
1957
1977
became a geology professor and department
head at the University of Maryland
move to Taiwan
studied in US
Uncle
Luke Chang
1948
1957
born in central
Like many intellectuals of the time,
they supported the communists
and looked forward to building
a new nation
move to Hong Kong
serve as Dean at HKUST
move to Taiwan
studied physics in US
worked as a research physicist at IBM
Father
Leroy Chang
1936
1993
1948
1959
born in central
2008
Lecturer at
Peking University
Labeled ‘rightist’
lost Dean’s position
Father’s cousin
Zhang Lijiao
back city in 1980s
1916
1946
1950
1957
moved to
Harbin
2006
move to Taiwan
later headed a biotech company
studied in US
Aunt
Irene Chang
1939
1948
1961
born in southwest
the only one who had not gone abroad since
older sibilings had all broken pledges to return,
the US consulate had refused to grant visa.
move to Taiwan
became a successful and wealthy entrepreneur in Taiwan
Uncle
Leo Chang
1943
1948
Legend
Move to
Beijing
Leslie Chang
2000
1970
1987
2007
2011
2019
2016
Colorado
Harvard University
worked at WSJ
Cairo
Colorado
China
Have to
migrate
Willing to
migrate
Born
Death Homeland/Overseas
Move to
Beijing
Husband
Peter Hessler
1988
1996
1969
2000
2007
2011
2019
2016
The New
Yorker
Peace Corps
Princeton University
Colorado
China
Cairo
Colorado
“China to them is not a political system or a group of leaders,
but something bigger that they carry inside themselves,
the memory of a place that no longer exists in the world.
China calls them home--with the weight of its tradition,
the richness of its language, with its five thousand year of history
that sometimes seems to be one repeating cycle of tragedy and suffering.
The pull of China is strong, which is why I resisted it for so long.”
Twin Daughter
Natasha Hessler
2010
Twin Daughter
Ariel Hessler
2010
From Leslie Chang’s book: Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China