The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe
Authors: Patrick Radden Keefe
Tags: General, Social Science
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selling cheap clothing, fabric, and calculators. The twin pillars of independence and an equity stake were enormously important to most Fujianese. Even if the business itself was modest, what mattered most was that you owned it. Better to be in front of a chicken, a Fujianese saying goes, than behind a cow. Sister Ping had a sharp, flinty mind and a good head for numbers, and before long the shop was doing well enough for her to begin to expand her business interests. In 1979 she opened a clothing factory in Shenzhen, just across the border in the People’s Republic.
But for all her success in Hong Kong, Sister Ping was restless, and eager to get to America. Jimmy Carter and Deng Xiaoping had met in 1978 and agreed to some limited immigration between China and the United States. University students and scholars were permitted to participate in exchanges, and measures were taken to allow the estranged family members of Chinese in America to emigrate legally. But Sister Ping was no scholar; she had barely finished high school. And in a cruel twist, the new policy coincided with her father’s forced repatriation to China. Because education in Fujian was so poor and so few of the Chinese who had settled in America were Fujianese, very few of her countrymen were eligible to make the trip. Chinese census bureau figures indicate that in the early 1980s, the Fujianese represented less than 2 percent of China’s emigrant population. And those few who did go tended to follow the pattern Sister Ping’s father had: the men left and then, if they prospered, sent for their families. “Every man in the town had to be in New York before one woman would come,” a New York lawyer who represented the Fujianese in Chinatown recalled.
Sister Ping’s husband, Yick Tak, did make the trip to the United States first. Before their children were born, he followed her father’s lead, joining the crew of a ship in Hong Kong and sailing to the United States, then jumping ship and finding work. But with a haplessness that would become his trademark, Yick Tak was arrested and deported by the INS after two short years. He returned to Hong Kong and settled in to his old life with his wife and her family. Sister Ping was curious about America and intrigued by the things her husband had to say. It was easy to survive there, Yick Tak told her. Food and living expenses were cheap; the dollar was a strong currency. Education was common; most children in America seemed to go to college.
One day in June 1981, Sister Ping strode into the American consulate in Hong Kong and applied for a visa to the United States. She spoke little English but said she intended to work as a domestic. She was an established businesswoman in Hong Kong by then. Why would she go to the United States just to become a servant? a consular officer asked.
“When I was young and attending school, I knew that the United States is a civilized country,” Sister Ping explained. In the United States, “one could make a living.” Besides, she added, with a flash of pride, “I would make a very fine servant.” She explained that her hope was someday to take her children to the United States. “It is for the sake of my children’s future that I am willing to be a servant,” she said.
Chapter Three
Eighteen-Thousand-Dollar Woman
THOUGH SHE would eventually become known as the very avatar of illegal immigration, when Sister Ping initially entered the United States, she had a legal right to do so. Several months after her meeting at the American consulate in Hong Kong, she was granted a visa, for “needed skilled or unskilled” work, and on November 17, 1981, she flew to the United States. She entered via Anchorage, Alaska, and wasted no time moving to Chinatown in New York. “The reason most Fujianese came to New York first is it’s the center of everything,” one of her Fujianese contemporaries in the neighborhood explained. “There are lawyers here, doctors, people who speak
But for all her success in Hong Kong, Sister Ping was restless, and eager to get to America. Jimmy Carter and Deng Xiaoping had met in 1978 and agreed to some limited immigration between China and the United States. University students and scholars were permitted to participate in exchanges, and measures were taken to allow the estranged family members of Chinese in America to emigrate legally. But Sister Ping was no scholar; she had barely finished high school. And in a cruel twist, the new policy coincided with her father’s forced repatriation to China. Because education in Fujian was so poor and so few of the Chinese who had settled in America were Fujianese, very few of her countrymen were eligible to make the trip. Chinese census bureau figures indicate that in the early 1980s, the Fujianese represented less than 2 percent of China’s emigrant population. And those few who did go tended to follow the pattern Sister Ping’s father had: the men left and then, if they prospered, sent for their families. “Every man in the town had to be in New York before one woman would come,” a New York lawyer who represented the Fujianese in Chinatown recalled.
Sister Ping’s husband, Yick Tak, did make the trip to the United States first. Before their children were born, he followed her father’s lead, joining the crew of a ship in Hong Kong and sailing to the United States, then jumping ship and finding work. But with a haplessness that would become his trademark, Yick Tak was arrested and deported by the INS after two short years. He returned to Hong Kong and settled in to his old life with his wife and her family. Sister Ping was curious about America and intrigued by the things her husband had to say. It was easy to survive there, Yick Tak told her. Food and living expenses were cheap; the dollar was a strong currency. Education was common; most children in America seemed to go to college.
One day in June 1981, Sister Ping strode into the American consulate in Hong Kong and applied for a visa to the United States. She spoke little English but said she intended to work as a domestic. She was an established businesswoman in Hong Kong by then. Why would she go to the United States just to become a servant? a consular officer asked.
“When I was young and attending school, I knew that the United States is a civilized country,” Sister Ping explained. In the United States, “one could make a living.” Besides, she added, with a flash of pride, “I would make a very fine servant.” She explained that her hope was someday to take her children to the United States. “It is for the sake of my children’s future that I am willing to be a servant,” she said.
Chapter Three
Eighteen-Thousand-Dollar Woman
THOUGH SHE would eventually become known as the very avatar of illegal immigration, when Sister Ping initially entered the United States, she had a legal right to do so. Several months after her meeting at the American consulate in Hong Kong, she was granted a visa, for “needed skilled or unskilled” work, and on November 17, 1981, she flew to the United States. She entered via Anchorage, Alaska, and wasted no time moving to Chinatown in New York. “The reason most Fujianese came to New York first is it’s the center of everything,” one of her Fujianese contemporaries in the neighborhood explained. “There are lawyers here, doctors, people who speak
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