Chapter 15 Erquan Yingyue

During the summer vacation, the busiest library at Columbia University is the East Asian Library.Most of the students from Taiwan and Hong Kong went on a trip or went home to visit relatives.The students in the mainland look at the flight route that flies halfway around the world, think about the tuition fees and living expenses for the next semester, and think about "managing" the wives and husbands they have separated for a long time, so they give up the idea of ​​going home.The four-month summer vacation is a prime time to work and earn money.When you feel lonely and homesick, you will involuntarily come to the East Asian Library: what you read here are Chinese books, what you see are Chinese faces, and what you hear are Chinese languages.After studying a major for a year and soaking in the English world all day long, only then can I truly relax.Read Lin Yutang, also read Jin Yong.There is such a strong and heavy wooden chair, and it is really enjoyable to read such classical and beautiful words for hours.Why did you only focus on GRE and TOEFL before going abroad?

Chinese elderly in their fifties and sixties (in fact, they should not be considered old) are often seen on the campus green space. They have never met each other, but they can chat for a day just by saying "excuse me, are you also from mainland China?" "Are you accompanying me? What major is your child studying? How many years have you been here? I'm not used to staying in New York, the rent is so expensive! I don't know how difficult it is for my child to live in the United States in China. The letter I wrote to my family only picked up good things. just got it.."

In June, Columbia University filed a case concerning the custody of the children of Chinese international students.This has become a topic of discussion recently.A couple of Chinese students studying in the United States gave birth to two children, the older one was two years old and the younger one was only two months old.The mother found a job outside the city, and the daytime care of the children fell to the father, who was preparing for his postgraduate exams.This is difficult for him.Let's take a bath for a child, such a delicate little thing is held in the hand, rubbed with soap, it is slippery, and it can't be rubbed or rubbed.If you move your little arms and legs, you will worry about breaking something, which really makes a big man sweat.One hundred secrets and one sparse, the child fell into the bathtub.In a hurry to pick it up, the child struggled and fell into the water again.In desperation, the father grabbed the child tightly, not daring to relax a bit.The child was finally safe, but there was a bruise on his arm and a few faint blood marks on his body.Feeling guilty and distressed, the father saw the child crying non-stop, so he took him to the school hospital for examination.The doctor frowned at the bruise and a few bloodstains.He squinted at the distraught young father, and without saying a word, called the local Children's Welfare Bureau to report this "child abuse case".The investigator went right to the point, ignoring the explanations of the parents of the child, insisting that the child was beaten and injured, and believed that the father, who had no job at the time, was idle at home, which was very likely to cause psychological imbalance or even depression. Take out your anger on the child.Also, why do mothers go out to work so soon after their babies are born?This is clearly no sincerity in raising children. (As for the question of what the family will eat if the mother doesn’t work, the investigator doesn’t bother to think about it.) The child is already a U.S. citizen, so how can he allow two Chinese to abuse him? !

Soon, the court sent a subpoena, and the two children were sent to the guardianship of a welfare agency on the day of the court session.The older child was crying and fussing, unwilling to leave his father and mother, but was forcibly taken away on the spot.In order to get the child back, the wife had to "draw" a clear line with her husband.The husband and wife are separated, and the father can only visit the child for one hour a week under the supervision of a third party, and at the same time undergo a psychological examination.So far, the case has not been settled, and the lawyer's fee of three hundred dollars per hour has caused the young couple to be heavily in debt.

We all complained about this couple of foreign students, but the officials of the Child Welfare Bureau also made plausible words: "A large number of children in the United States are abused to death by their biological parents every year. These parents are often unemployed and have poor economic conditions. How can we guarantee You Chinese parents are an exception? Since you live on American territory, you have to act according to American laws.” If this case is dumbfounding, the other one is shocking.In July, a murder occurred in Philadelphia involving three international students.Among them, A (male) and B are a couple.They both went to study in the United States amidst many envious eyes in China.During their stay in the United States, the two had emotional discord.Before long, B lived with another Chinese student C and filed for divorce from A, but A never agreed.One day, A suddenly informs B to go home to pick up his luggage, and agrees to divorce.

B then went with C and the restaurant owner whom C worked for. A first politely greeted the three of them to enter the house, then walked into the kitchen and served tea; the second time he walked into the kitchen, he came out with a gun in his hand. C was hit in the face first and fell to the ground. The owner of the restaurant was also shot inexplicably; but he also had a gun with him, and immediately returned fire, wounding A.at this time.The panic-stricken B wanted to run away from the door, but the already injured A refused to let her go, shot his wife, and then shot himself. B was not fatally shot, and although C was disfigured, he also survived.The owner of the restaurant who had nothing to do with him was sent to hell together with A.Sounds like a movie, right?But it's real.Reminiscent of a Chinese student at the University of Iowa two years ago, because the professor awarded a scholarship to another Chinese student, he was so angry that he twisted his gun and broke into the professor's office, killing several people. People can't help but ask: What if Will such a tragedy happen if they stay in China?Is this just the result of a couple's divorce and a scholarship that they didn't get?There are many injustices in society, and there are many hardships in life. Do they have the ability to adapt psychologically?If there is no imbalance caused by the loss of domestic superiority, no depression caused by long-term survival crisis, and no loneliness and anger caused by discrimination and cultural barriers, they will choose such a drastic method to release their long-suppressed feelings. emotion?If it weren't for the violent America, would these once mild-mannered Chinese intellectuals have raised their guns?Can they buy guns at will?But can you attribute all these tragedies to the United States?It didn't cry and beg them to come here!

This topic is too heavy.Tossed into this America, which is both heaven and hell, some people were destroyed, some people didn't care, and some people not only survived, but also believed more than ever.People's destinies are so different.Some people say that character determines destiny, do you believe it? L came to the United States alone four years ago.He is a high-income tour guide in China, and now he has become the designated photofinisher for many first-class photographers in New York.I praised his exquisite printing process and pure artistic taste, and he smiled and said: "Isn't there no way out? There is a little dust on the photos developed by others, who will pay attention to it? But if I want to do business, I have to do it." Even under a magnifying glass, it is spotless. Sometimes, art is also forced by 'survival'."

I knew that he was very familiar with all aspects of the country, and it would not be difficult to start a business casually and earn a comfortable living, so I asked him why he didn't return to China to develop?He thought for a moment and said: "I went to the Great Northern Wilderness when I was seventeen and stayed for six years. Later, I was admitted to university and became a tour guide after graduating from university. One day I was listening to music in the lobby of a five-star hotel, and everything around me , Luxurious and elegant. I suddenly want to cry. Not because of the hardships I have suffered in the past, but because I think that in those hard days, I have learned a lot, while in my most comfortable and leisurely days, I am the least promising. I have wasted too much time. In the United States, I once again tasted the pain of jumping in the foreign queue. I will eventually return to China. But now I have just started to improve. If I give up halfway in New York because of fear of hardship, I will do the same in China in the future. Can't do anything."

I think he is a sensible person.Know what you want, so live soberly and independently.In the United States, many people's inherent patterns of life and thinking have been completely shattered.Some people look at a pile of rubble and don't know how to clean them up, but those who look at the past, look at the future, replenish and reassemble themselves are often those who have a great sense of self-love.The chance to survive and develop belongs only to them. When I heard that more than 95% of Chinese students studying in the United States have obtained a master’s degree or above, a quarter of them received an annual salary of more than 50,000 US dollars in the second year of work (the income level of the middle class in the United States); when I look When another Chinese student was authorized to form a million-dollar experimental project at Columbia University, and another batch of unwilling Chinese students entered Wall Street, I was really heartened.The quality of a group, the outstanding intellectual youth of an outstanding nation.The measure of success does not come solely from acceptance by American society.The success of most of them is that they have found a new balance and surpassed themselves after experiencing major shocks in life and psychological environment.Whether they stay in the United States or return to their motherland, they will not lose face for the Chinese.

Today, while waiting for the train at the subway station, I suddenly heard the euphemistic sound of the erhu, which is "Erquan Yingyue".You can tell it's professional level.I walked over and smiled at the young man playing the erhu as a greeting; he also nodded in agreement.The people around all turned sideways in unison, facing the sound of the piano.They probably don't know this strange musical instrument, but they are obviously touched by this strange and moving melody.The young man was very calm, without the embarrassment of being a performer, neither humble nor overbearing, and slowly pulled over, like flowing clouds and flowing water, as if leaving no one's land.In this authenticity and calmness, you can taste the American-style attitude towards life: you never feel sorry for yourself, and you don't need to be artificial; and the Chinese flavor in the song seems to be more authentic because of this.

My eye circles are a little wet.