Perspective for those who find U.S. intolerable

When some call the United States a terrible and oppressive nation, perhaps it’s because they’ve never lived anywhere else.

From 1947-49, I lived in Tsingtao (or Qingdao, pronounced “ching dow”), China. Although under the age of six, I still have memories that will remain throughout my life.

For example, there was the time my mother and I were stopped at a downtown intersection. A policeman on a pedestal was directing traffic. Over to my right was a rickshaw. The operator and a Chinese military officer seemed to be arguing over fees. The rickshaw boy began tugging on the officer’s sleeve, and seemed to be saying something like “Fung-chen-gaywah,” or “Pay me!”

The policeman calmly stepped off his perch, walked over and shot the rickshaw boy in the head. He then went back to directing traffic, as if nothing had happened.

But that’s not all. I remember how the golf course in Tsingtao was groomed. Several hundred Chinese women would get in line on their hands and knees. Each was given a pair of scissors, and according to my mother, paid one U.S. penny (about 13 cents in today’s inflated money) per day. People were so poor they did not consider this cruelty. They were happy to receive the paltry sum.

I once asked my mother why there were few trees in this part of China. She told me people were so deprived, they would use anything they could for firewood. Falling leaves from the trees left were never a problem. They were used for fuel as well.

We lived in a house on the bay surrounded by barbed wire. Armed guards with automatic weapons were posted at night. We were by no means wealthy, but could easily afford three house servants. They were each paid $20 (about $260 in today’s inflated U.S. dollars) per month and a bag of flour. They lived on the property.

When my mother drove into town, one of them would sit on the hood of our ’41 Plymouth to prevent any pilfering of the car’s parts.

My father told me some hair-raising stories as well.

Once he was flying in a C-47 (DC 3) With the Chinese military. They flew these planes without rear doors and seats.

One day, a Chinese soldier got up to look out the opening. A fellow soldier kicked him, and the poor soul plunged to his death. To make matters worse, all the other soldiers, including the Chinese officer, thought the act was hilarious.

When my father questioned the behavior, the officer replied in broken English that if the victim was dumb enough to stand there, he got what he deserved.

By 1949, the Chiang Kai-shek government was losing control to the communists. We were some of the last Americans to leave. Inflation was running wild. My father sold our Plymouth for $2 million (in

Chinese money).

Corruption by government officials was common. Profiteering ruled the day.

One high ranking government bureaucrat sold American supplied armaments and fighter planes to the enemy.

A “free” China would soon be no more (except for the island of Taiwan). As bad as things were, they were about to get a lot worse. Years of persecution and starvation of an estimated 40 to 80 million people on the mainland, under the communist leadership of Mao Zedong, soon followed.

My older sister remembers one of our servants saying in desperation, “Please, Little Missy, take me with you to America!” Unfortunately, it was something we were not allowed to do. He knew the communists would show no mercy and kill anyone who had worked or associated with Americans. Wong had harmed no one. He simply had done what was necessary to survive in an impoverished country.

We left and never looked back until the 1980s. We didn’t know what had happened to our servants. Most likely, their fate did not bode well.

After the violent “Cultural Revolution” in the 1960s and death of Mao in 1976, things began to change. During the 1980s, my father was invited back many times by the Chinese government to teach their physicians certain aspects of modern medicine.

My mother became a docent at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. She taught many younger mainland Chinese their ancient history that had been so brutally erased during Mao’s so-called “Cultural Revolution.”

When people feel “oppressed” because they don’t have free health care, a free college education, or get addressed by their preferred pronoun, perhaps they should try walking in the shoes of countless other people throughout the world. You may have noticed several want to come here, but few want to leave. That’s because many places in the world are not much better than China was just a few decades ago.