Mother of Zen Ze Chen Shares Her Story with Fourth Graders
By Zen Ze Chen,
NY-NY Today Wen Zhou mother of Zen Ze Chen (me) came over to LREI fourth grade to share her story of her life. She came over to America in August 15, 1985, the purpose of coming here was to seek a better life, education, work, hospitality, food, civilized conditions, warmth, indoor plumbing, and windows with glass.
Wen said, “In Xiapu we had no indoor plumbing, no heating, no windows, we had to make windows out of paper and rice. The rice would act as glue and the paper was the glass. Since there was no heating, at recess we would line up facing the wall and push as hard as you can against the wall.” So it was not anything like New york.
Wen came here on August 15, 1985. She was so surprised when she saw black people and white people, because she really never seen people out of her village. So this was a whole new experience for her. She worked in a factory cleaning the thread of jackets pants and skirts also packaging.
Everyone loved Wen’s story. They thought the conditions at Xiapu there conditions were a lot worse than the city so much they thought it was interesting. Zen said, “It’s like showing a kid a vintage phone. Like the ones where the have the circle and you put your finger into them and turn it. One of those.”
Wen’s Journey to Heaven
By Bailey Wolfman
In recent news, Wen, the mother of Zen, recounted her childhood in China to a classroom of kids in America. It was reported that many people in China at the time were quite poor and cold because of a lack of money and heat. It seems living conditions are very different between China and America. Schools are so poor that they often don’t have basic materials and the whole class had to share one textbook!
In addition, many classrooms in China had no indoor plumbing and had to use a buckets to as toilets and share one water well in the middle of the town as water didn’t go to the classroom. It was also reported that they had no glass windows and used paper sheets instead of glass and rice as glue.
Wen moved to America many years ago and now owns a successful clothing company. She sells kids clothes, including dresses, pants and shirts. She is appreciative of everything available in America, but also learned a great deal from her childhood experience in China.]]>
Deborah and Jessica's Fourth Grade
"Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” ~ Mary Oliver
My mom’s story was very harsh because the living conditions in her village was very different than ours so we thought that her village was very harsh.
When Wen came to our class, I realized how she wasn’t always so happy and had a great life. She lived in a small town with no bathrooms or glass windows. She had to share a bed with her whole family. Now I know how great my life is because I have: pickles, clothes, water, food, a huge house, and a bathroom and more. Wen only had some of those things when she was my age. – Suko
Wen had a difficult childhood. It was like she was trying to make her way through choppy waters (that is a metaphor…). And yes, she made it through a hard life. But, look where she is now! A successful businesswoman.
P.S. I think that makes Wen a brave and smart lady.
It’s interesting how most immigrants came to Amerce and had a very hard life in the beginning but it always gets better like in Zens mom story. I really liked how there widows were made out of paper and rice.
The anonymous was by me and I thought I was already logged in.
It’s cool that the village came up with makeshift ways to keep comfortable.
It’s cool that the village came up with makeshift ways to keep comfortable and have fun.
The anonymous was by me and I thought I was already logged in.
-Crosby
When Wen was growing up it was a lot different. She never saw a person who was a different culture than her. She hadn’t seen indoor pluming yet. It was like her life was starting over again when she came to America. It was a huge mind blower. Just imagine, changing your whole routine, nothing was the same. She didn’t know anyone. It must have been hard to get a fresh start even though you thought that people would know you. But it must have been a good experience to get a view of both lives.
Wen’s story is very special (in my opinion) She grew up in a small village then went to New York City. Her story had many things happen. Like getting her inspiration to make her own clothing company from working in a sweatshop. I could relate to some of the things she said like eating new foods in a new place. Hearing how her life changed so much from living in a tiny rural village to living in one of the biggest city’s in the world I feel that Wen must be proud of herself.
I liked Wens story and how she moved from such a poor country to such a nice country. (at the time)