This is a Chinese man’s story in early America. It is the story of his family as we travel through time and follow his descendants. We see that the actions of one man may influence the rest of history, even if his actions are small.Our saga begins with Han Zhu, immigrant from China. He travelled as a paper-back baby. The immigration papers he had were forged. In the time of American discrimination, the government put quotas on the number of Chinese allowed into the country. Eager to get into the land of promise, many Asians tried to escape the poverty of their homeland; sometimes through illegal means. In California, miners came from all over the world in hopes of striking it rich on the mountainside and bringing their wealth back home. A small fortune here might mean lifelong prosperity overseas, not just for the miners, but also for the family related to them.
Han Zhu entered the fishy pier of New York harbor to taste his first breath of American air. His passage fee had been very expensive, costing him a family heirloom, and the conditions of the ocean linear were filthy and cramped. It took several months to make the arduous voyage across the sea. The passage had not been an easy one. Some travelers had not survived the journey. How long Han has yearned to see land, his first glimpse of America, and have his dreams fulfilled. The streets of West were said to be paved in gold. Money was plentiful. Gold nuggets lined the streets. It was the land of prosperity. Everyone from his village in Shuzhuen heard of it.
When Han stepped off the pier and genuinely looked around him, he was surprised by a long line. There were many men before him. So long was the line that it went from inside the concrete building to outside, and wrapped around itself twice. The Steerage Act of 1819 sent Zhu to Ellis Island for processing. Chinese files were to be processed on all incoming passengers and sent to a far branch in Seattle, because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1903. Some of the documents Zhu traveled with were taken from him, including personal letters from back home. Zhu did not have much with him, but his clothes and his immigration documents. The fake papers said that he was the son of Han Lao. Because of the 1906 San Fransico Earthquake, paper-back babies were common. The fire and natural disaster had destroyed many buildings and left old records untraceable.
From a man aboard the ship, Han learned that he was lucky to have lived.
“Are we going to Hawaii Mr…?” Zhu asked.
“My name is Ping Ping Lu Lu and we are going to Hawaii to work in the Volcanic mines.” He replied in a serious voice that was so different from a normal Chinese man’s.
“Okay man, I was just asking! You don’t need to be so hyper and aggressive!” Zhu replied.
Ping Ping Lu Lu walked away from Zhu and they never saw each other again.
