Family History Project: Coming to America, My Grandfather's Journey
By: Daniel Chen
College Now Course - BSS 1
The Chen family carries a last name shared by millions of Chinese around the world.
My ancestors had always been the migrating type of Chinese, as the past few generations
of my particular family had been living in the land of Burma, which is now known as
Myanmar. It is uncertain which exact year or period the migrant Chens had emigrated
from China to Burma, but it was certainly for the sake of escaping the instability
and general chaos that was occurring during that time in the Middle Kingdom. The first
Chen in my family history to consider leaving Myanmar for the land of America, however,
was my grandfather, Chen Yee Kyi. He, like many residents of third world countries
at the time, had always considered the United States the best place for becoming successful
despite past hardships. An American education, he believed with some validity, was
a great way to find success in life. He worked tirelessly for the family to get the
funds needed to emigrate to the "land of the free"; or rather, the land of the "educated
and prosperous". His story begins in 1915, in the city of Rangoon, Burma.
Grandpa was born to a rather well off family in Rangoon; my great-grandfather was
an aristocratic figure in the neighborhood he had lived in. In a British colony in
which many of the natives were poor and illiterate, he was a scholar who knew how
to read ancient Chinese literature and also had a relatively high income as a contractor.
However, the family fell from this high status when he died while grandpa was still
a toddler. Much of my grandfather's youth was spent filling in the shoes of his deceased
father, supporting the family with a job at the lumberyard. Eventually he would meet
my grandmother and become her life partner, but he would also invite his two brothers,
two sisters and mother to come live with him and his wife. In 1941, my grandmother
gave birth to my eldest uncle. A year later, his and the family's lives would be changed
forever by a terrible war.
WorId War II had affected everyone in the "greatest generation", and my grandfather's
family was no exception. In 1942, the imperial Japanese army invaded and conquered
Burma, and declared it an "independent republic" freed from "British tyranny". Of
course, it was easy to see who the tyrant really was, and the Japanese forces immediately
put in place a puppet government to rule over the country. My grandfather and his
family fled north as refugees to the Chinese capital of Chongqing. Though a citizen
of Burma, he was a fervent and patriotic nationalist of China, and upon arriving in
Chongqing joined the Kuomintang army via military academy. For three years, grandpa
was trained to fight and survive against the Japanese horde that threatened to engulf
all of Asia. In August 1945, the Kuomintang was about to deploy his regiment to the
east, but the war was about to finally ended. The atomic bombings of the Japanese
cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the subsequent Japanese surrender had occurred
the day before his deployment. Though peace and restoration was still a far off dream
in devastated East Asia, there was cause for jubilation upon the Japanese defeat and
Allied victory. The Chinese Nationalist government gave grandpa a choice after the
war's conclusion; he could either stay in China and continue his service in the Kuomintang
army, or take the money he earned in compensation from his military service during
the war and return to Burma. He chose the latter, and brought the entire family back
to Burma. He used the money he earned from his military service to pay for his college
tuition, and pursued a degree in civil engineering.
When grandpa finally received his degree, he got a job as a civil engineer contractor
for the Burmese army's equivalent of a "national guard." By 1948, Burma gained it's
independence from Great Britain, and in 1951, my dad was born. Not long after that,
grandpa was hired as the principal of the Burmese army corp. engineering school in
Rangoon. These were happy times for our family, but in 1962, another devastating event
would change their lives once again. The democratic government was overthrown by a
bloodless military coup that transformed the nation into a socialist state. The new
socialist government changed Burma's society dramatically, with state control of almost
everything in the country. Grandpa's position as principal of the military engineering
school in Rangoon was annulled. He was given a new position as a colonel in the Buurmese
army, and stripped of his civilian status. Grandma had owned a tailor shop, but the
government was beginning to nationalize all the industries of the land and abolish
private ownership. My grandparents realized that Burma may not be the best place to
raise their children to become successful, and grandpa began saving up money to fund
the family's future moving plans.
The family had quite a few plans to consider, but they all dealt with a common obstacle.
The socialist government would not allow any of its citizens to travel to the United
States. An earlier plan involved grandpa and a buddy of his illegally crossing the
Myanmar- Thailand border, and then paying from there for the trip for the rest of
the family. Although he made it to Thailand in one piece, he realized the difficulty
of getting the United States from that country in part to due to local corruption
and foreign currency difficulties; he and his friend decided to turn back to Burma.
Grandma had a sizable amount of international connections from her business work in
the tailor shop industry. We had significant contacts in Canada, Brazil, and Taiwan;
however, grandpa had his sights set on the United States. Grandma's contact in Taiwan,
who worked in the American embassy there, would be able to support our family upon
arrival to the States. This method was much safer compared to the previous danger
presented in the Thailand escapade; we would simply travel to Taiwan, and from Taiwan
travel to the United States. Of course, all of this would lead to the entire family's
loss of Burmese citizenship, and as a result everyone in the family had upon leaving
Myanmar passports that indicated that he or she was indeed "country-less". This, however,
did not hinder their entrance into Taiwan, and everyone in the family gained Chinese
citizenship. They would all soon gain American citizenship a year later, as well.
In order to support the family, grandpa got a job in the U.S. Construction Company,
which at the time was building nuclear power plants in Taiwan. Grandma remained at
home and took care of the five children, of which included my own father. My eldest
uncle applied to a Taiwan college and was studying and residing there at the time.
When the professional visa came from the US Embassy, arranged for by grandma's associate's
friendly sponsorship, grandpa headed for America on his own. There, he would continue
to work tirelessly as a civil engineer for the money needed to pay for the airplane
tickets, which would be needed for the rest of the family to come to the United States.
My grandfather, Chen Yee Kyi (1915-2000), was a persistent hard worker who worked
his hardest to feed the family and did all he could to better the lives of his loved
ones. My father and his siblings all grew up to work in good professions thanks to
the sacrifices my grandparents made to get them a good American education and life.
My father and uncles would also begin families of their own and create a new generation
of American-born Chens, which include me, my sister, and four cousins. Although he
passed away six years ago, I'm sure my grandfather's spirit is looking down from heaven
with contentment, knowing that he had given his family and his future descendants
the ability to have a better life in the "land of opportunity".
