Ni

=Kong Biao Ni=

Podcast
media type="custom" key="12081329"

BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE
China is located in eastern Asia bordering several countries such as Mongolia, Vietnam, and North Korea while also bordering several bodies of water such as the East China Sea and the Korea Bay. China is the 4th biggest country in the world, with many variations of terrain in different areas of China. Its climate is extremely diverse with areas of tropical climate in the south and subarctic areas in the north. China’s population is the highest of any country in the world with roughly 1,336,718,015 people living there. Kong Biao Ni, an immigrant from Fuzhou, China, grew up there for around 21 years until moving to southern Illinois where he has currently lived for about 10 years now. He has now started a Chinese restaurant there, which is what his family moved to America to achieve.

=Creative Writing=

By: Evan Bailey
**In China**

There are mountains representing the holy beings sovereign beings beings of life

China has many cultures with different traditions different voices coming together as one

China is A tree with branches of joy reaching out with dancing and singing China is joy China is home

Although,

The economy <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">is hurting us <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">preventing us <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">from starting our business <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">from being free

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">We must find a new life

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;">In America **

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">We came to America <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">to fulfill our dream <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">to start our business <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">to be free

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">America is big like China <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">with lots of cities and people <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">friendly people-our voices are heard

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">We are free here <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">free to dream <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">free to work <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">free to be free

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">We are immigrants <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">the seeds of new life <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">the soil of the earth <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">to enrich the future

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">**New Life**

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">America has become <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">a whole new life <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">a whole new world <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">with new secrets each day

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">I manage my restaurant now <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">in order to provide for my family <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">in order to live life here

<span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">The door of opportunity has opened <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">the gateway to a new life <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">the key to a better future <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">this new life <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-size: 110%;">begins in America

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Bailey: What is your name and where are you from?

Ni: My Chinese name is hard to say but I can tell you that my last name is N-i, and my first name is K-o-n-g B-i-a-o. It means that if you have something to do like what you do everyday like keeping a job so you get what you dream. Say you dream like you need one big house so you keeping working so you can get it, that’s what my name means.

Bailey: Why did you come to the U.S.?

Ni: Why? Because in China, before the economy not very good. We came to do the business for the China people so we can get much money so here we can keep job and earn money but in China it's hard to get more money. Now we can get our home life. We need to raise everything like our parents and our families and we need the money because we're younger and we need a business here so we do the business here.

Bailey: So then how did you get here?

Ni: (Confused) We do the immigration, with my family.

Bailey: And what was the journey like?

Ni: (Struggling to understand) We came for more freedom. In China, there is not much freedom, everything is hard.

Bailey: Do you like living here?

Ni: We like here. We like America and we got a citizenship now.

Bailey: Well then, why do you like living here?

Ni: Why? (Struggling for words) First why is that we have the freedom and then were immigrants and we know some interesting people we can know. Because before we had our family like my aunts, my uncles, a lot of people moving to here and in China not very much.

Bailey: So then did you come with people on your way here?

Ni: No. Before just me.

Bailey: Then how old were you when you came here to America?

Ni: I think around 21. I've been here maybe 10 years.

Bailey: Did you have any hardships that you experienced in China?

Ni: A little bit yeah, I could do the business but not very easily, not very free there.

Bailey: Then, did you know anything about the U.S. before you came?

Ni: Yeah, we had heard about it when we were younger.

Bailey: Can you be more specific?

Ni: We knew about the schools and the news and the food here.

Bailey: So what did you want to find when you came to America?

Ni: We wanted to find that we can get a new life here.

Bailey: So how is living here different to living in China?

Ni: First we live in the bigger cities so we have family there and second we do the business here at the Peking Restaurant so those are the differences here. Now we buy a house and my uncle and parents live here.

Bailey: Did you bring anything of resemblance on your journey to America?

Ni: No, not very much. Just something like clothes and such.

Bailey: What kind of emotions or feelings did you have when you were coming to America?

Ni: (Not quite understanding the question by expressing a puzzled look) How I was feeling here? When I came here, the people are kind of nice, when you go to the City Hall government department they are very kind people and in China its kind of different. But I think here there are a lot of people who are nice here.

Bailey: So describe to me what China is like.

Ni: My country is very big like America with a lot of people, which make it not interesting. The economy, which now is good, but if you have something to do like a business it is hard there. Like if you want to get your license or something else you need to get some money and you need to call someone to help and it's hard to do and it makes it kind of difficult. Here it's kind of different, people can help you a lot.

Bailey: So what is Chinese culture like and what makes it interesting?

Ni: China interesting like 5000 years ago people make something like a pepper which are made from China people. I know in China history there's not a king, not a queen. Around and in the small countries, they have different cultures, speak in different languages, different clothing, they have dancing, singing, and the houses are kind of different. So in the cultures, we have 56 different races of people, so if you go to China you can see that a lot of people have different jerseys and the people's face are kind of different. So they can speak different language and the food kind of different. Like I’m from south China and we like fish since the ocean is closer to us in the cities. Most China people like bread, and they don't very like rice, but we like rice. Western Chinese don’t like pizzas or rice and noodles and the western people like meat, they don't have to many vegetables, but we like vegetables. So the middle Chinese they don’t live in cities, they live by themselves, and they can get food and vegetables all by themselves its very interesting. Chinese have where some people believe in the Buddhist, some people are sovereign but they live in the mountain. So they have kung fu and we know they people have powers, some people believe that they can jump very high and it's very interesting the cultures.

Bailey: Very interesting. Thank you for your time.

ANALYSIS
The relationship between the story of Kong Biao Ni and the history of Chinese immigration itself is characterized by similar disadvantages such as having poor economic status or low paying jobs in China. Early Chinese immigration has shown several cases in which immigrants had come to the U.S. in order for work, which is shown here with Kong Biao Ni. The lack of work opportunities in other countries has become a major pushing factor for those countries, which pulls in those looking for work to America. In Ni's story, he shares that “We wanted to find that we can get a new life here.” Ni’s story is similar to that of many Chinese immigrants in the past looking for a new life which could be found in America. Immigrants were able to begin their new life in America with more freedom and economic advantage. This new beginning led immigrants not only from China but from all around the world into America while pushing them away from their suffering homelands. The connection between Ni's story as compared with the Chinese immigrant experience itself is how an ordinary immigration story can relate to the stories told by immigrants thought generations.