Intro

This is the section where I talk about their lives from 1953 until 1982, when I was born. I didn't know too much about this period, obviously. The things I knew mainly came from conversations at the dinner table, where my parents and my grandparents spent a lot of time reminiscing the past. Often the stories begins with, "Oh Tom, you really should be glad you have food (or whatever) right now, because back when we were young we didn't have anything..." I have heard this over and over again that I grow tired of them, and often while they were telling me these stories my mind would drift off into lala land. Anyways, by the time I was twenty years old I had heard all of them several times. However its by no coincidence they talked about this period so much; their experiences had made such strong impressions in their minds that they have difficulty putting them in the past. This period in their lives were very difficult, as can be expected since China was extremely tumultuous back then: gaining independence in the 40's, then Cold War with US in the 50's and 60's, Cultural Revolution in 70's, and economic reform in the 80's.