My father would always tell us the story about how he walked for 7 days and 6 nights before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape starvation in 1966.
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My father would always tell us the story about how he walked for 7 days and 6 nights before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape starvation in 1966.
His story would fall on my deaf ears as I was more concerned with being American.
Ever since his restaurant went bankrupt, my father feels like he failed at the American dream.
That’s when he started talking about moving back to the motherland.
In 2008, we retraced his journey back to the home village while visiting family along the way.
My father wanted to see for himself if he could spend the rest of his days in the place where he was born.
As a documentary filmmaker, I naturally brought my camera to see what I could learn.
During my entire childhood, I couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of my father’s story until I saw it with my own eyes.
It’s only now that I am beginning to understand his selfless act.
And for that, I am forever grateful.
In America, everyone has a family story of immigration. Every family, at some point, has had somebody leave their native country behind to search for a better life. How did they hold onto their identity? How did they adapt to their new life? Every family has a special story. In my case, it's my Chinese-American story. My father would always tell us his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on my deaf ears until I returned to China with him.