A Pearl Necklace

A

Pearl

Necklace

Mi Xue

A Pearl Necklace

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. Written permission must be obtained from the author to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for quotations in reviews or articles.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB). © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

Copyright © 2014 by Mi Xue

Edition: Limited edition, English, Sept. 2014

Published by LFI, Inc.

Cover Photograph and Design by Dean & Marjorie Chin

First Printing in Chinese: 2012, Second Printing in Chinese: 2014

Chinese version published and distributed by ZDL Books

Rm. 2003, 20/F, QianHeJiaYuan Building 1

108 North Fourth Ring East Road, Chaoyang District

BeiJing, PRC 100029

Email: office@zdlbooks.com

Phone: +86(0)10-84831626

Fax: +86(0)10-84833201

ISBN: 978-0-578-14958-5

www.MiXueLian.com

http://www.zdlbooks.com/english/apearlnecklace

Endorsements

"In our dismal and difficult world, people are looking for hope and meaning as never before – yet where is God's hand in the midst of so much heartache and hardship? My friend MiXue sheds a brilliant light on this crucial question in this, her highly personal and powerful memoir. I strongly recommend A Pearl Necklace to anyone searching for meaning in the midst of suffering. The book is that good!"

Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center

On the wings of real life experience A Pearl Necklace escorts readers through passages of spectacular scenery. Finding hope and harmony among the ashes of our struggling world, we wend our way through dashed hopes and overwhelming joy. This gifted author whisks us along an authentic and often-fearful journey, escorting us to daunting junctures of nearly impossible decisions. Take your place on the observation deck and let its unforgettable richness assure you that the knots of life can be unsnarled.

Jeanne W. Hendricks, author and speaker, Dallas, TX

This poignant memoir weaves together colorful threads of ordinary lives bridging several continents with a unique blend of diverse cultural experiences into a gorgeous and extraordinary tapestry—absolutely one-of-a-kind and yet with symmetry and quality. The author’s pen is guided (as was her life) by God Himself, who seems determined to hang this work of art in the prominence of the world’s gallery so that it can be viewed not only now but also by generations to come. The author’s pen paints these pictures of life that could have only been drawn by one who was there to observe and walk through the details and feel the heart-rending emotions.

Actual historic events, vivid personal memories, instructive divine wisdom, and inspirational spiritual lessons are woven together into a colorful and distinctive pattern that defies any human imagination. The work is one that can be done by God alone. Yet this portrait of life presents straightforwardly human problems juxtaposed with divine solutions, together with the overflow of divine mercies and growth that comes with spiritual lessons.

As a professor, I intend to add this volume to my reading list in women’s studies. God’s design for the response of biblical submission to servant leadership is clearly set forth. I also appreciated the practical summaries found in the appendices of the volume. The author and I are agreed that a mother’s ministry of obscurity is assured heavenly rewards. I recommend this book for women and men who love the inspiration found in a journey of faith much in the tradition of Pilgrim’s Progress with obstacles and difficulties all along the way but with perseverance and commitment to the end.

Dorothy Kelley Patterson

Professor of Theology in Women’s Studies,

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX

If you think trials and difficulties are only experiences to dismiss in life, you need to read ‘A Pearl Necklace’! Mi Xue’s own personal story gives us insight into a loving God and how He can take what we feel is less than ideal and turn it into something beautiful. The lessons she learns and shares with us will not only teach and inspire but her story will challenge you to look at circumstances through God’s eyes rather than your own. I recommend 'A Pearl Necklace' to all women and even husbands who desire to understand their wives better!

Michael Chang

1989 French Open Champion and 2008 International Tennis Hall of Fame Inductee

Those who have truly loved are those who have truly lived. Otherwise the grace of this precious life would be a mere waste. I would not desire the struggles and pains experienced by those in this book, but I am envious of their experience of the amazing grace that has cultivated their pearl-like characters. I hope that readers will be able to appreciate the value of knowing the eternal and to find the source of sustaining life through this book.

Dr. Peter Liu, President of Academy of Christ, NJ

Mi Xue and her husband are my friends of many years. I have personally witnessed their extraordinary contributions to the education and business communities and to the care of unwed mothers in Hong Kong. This book allows me to access the innermost part of the souls of Mi Xue and her family members, deeply touching my heart.

Dr. Philemon Choi Yuen Wan,

the Honorary General Secretary of Breakthrough, HK

Mi Xue's story is a transparent, real, and inspirational story. She and her husband have been our mentors, examples, and friends. The life they live is one I have witnessed and exemplify servant leadership. Her book and her life both radiate the fragrance of Jesus and give me hope, letting me see what kind of exciting life can be lived when a family follows Jesus. I highly recommend this book!

Rossana Lin

East West Education Expert, Beijing, China Former MIT Educational Council China Regional Chair author and speaker

Dedication

To my mother

(the mother of pearl)

who gave me life, inspiration, encouragement,

and love to write our story

Contents

Preface

Prologue

Chapter One: Seeding a Pearl

Chapter Two: Inhospitable Bedrock

Chapter Three: Layers of Alienation

Chapter Four: The Shiny Veneer of Freedom

Chapter Five: View from the Seabed

Chapter Six: Grace Overflowing

Chapter Seven: Marriage Pivot

Chapter Eight: Over My Head

Chapter Nine: A Good and Perfect Gift

Chapter Ten: Train up a Child

Chapter Eleven: The Great Exchange

Chapter Twelve: A Profitable Return

Chapter Thirteen: Seeds Sown in Obscurity

Chapter Fourteen: The Pearl of the Orient

Chapter Fifteen: Through the Eye of a Needle

Chapter Sixteen: Painful Setbacks

Chapter Seventeen: Overcoming the Double Curse

Chapter Eighteen: Advancement

Chapter Nineteen: Reunions

Chapter Twenty: An Investment in Asian Pearls

Chapter Twenty-One: The Pearls

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Pearl Necklace

Appendix A: 10 Ways of Submission and Love

Appendix B: Reversing The Curse

Works Cited

About the Author

Preface

I never desired or intended to write a book about my life. As a philosopher, my interests are more on ideas than on story. As a teacher, my natural writing style is more didactic. Yet, we all want to see flesh on ideas, and incarnation is demanded of all of us. It is with great humility that I submit this work that readers might find encouragement from one ordinary life in the hands of an extraordinary God who transforms unwelcome irritants into precious pearls.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the four readers who faithfully slogged through my constantly evolving manuscript: Hua, Bernice, Annette, and Christie. Without you, this book could not have been written. May your full reward come to you from Him.

I also want to express my appreciation to my loving husband, whom I have grown to admire, respect, and love as my wonderful life mate through this amazing adventure that He gave us to live out together.

Also I want to thank the dedicated battalion of prayer warriors and contributors of stories, letters, and gifts for this book, especially Barbara Kannapell. My deep gratitude goes to Marjorie and Dean Chin for lovingly designing two beautiful covers (one for each of the Chinese and English versions). May you all co-reap its blessings.

Both my husband and I owe an incalculable debt of thanks to our mentor (Wah) whose influence pervades our lives, as he has inspired and encouraged us to pay more careful attention to keeping His Word and to seeking to please Him above all. I honor his request to remain anonymous; His reward is sure.

Lastly I owe my deathless gratitude to the Creator of all the pearls, the latest of which is this very book which was written …

For His glory,

Mi Xue

Prologue

Unlike hard gems mined from the bowels of the earth, a pearl is a delicate creation formed in the depths of the sea in the secret home of the oyster. It begins as an irritation lodged in the oyster’s soft tissue, a piece of foreign stone or even a parasite, from which the oyster has no defense. Because it cannot expel it, the oyster expresses rich creamy milk that envelopes this unwelcome squatter, coating it over and over again with so many layers that eventually any trace of its earthly origins is obscured. And there at the bottom of the seabed, it transforms in secluded anonymity, hidden away inside the oyster’s tightly clasped shell until it is forcibly pried open to reveal in the light of the sun an iridescent, radiant, solid drop of moonbeam. This pearl is admired and prized for its unmatched beauty long after the oyster has ceased to exist.

Chapter One:

Seeding a Pearl

Can a curse be reversed? Beaten down by natural disasters and barren land, the impoverished villagers of Tai Shan in Southern China at the base of the Pearl River Delta send their most promising young men to go as contract laborers on ships headed to the Golden Mountain¹ to seek a turnaround for their destinies. In China they are limited by the soil and rains; in America they would be limited only by their own toil and brains.

Driven by this tenuous dream they traverse the waters, like spiders on their own silky webbings that stretch precariously beyond themselves onto unknown shores. But this fitful dream is plagued with brutal realities, unforeseen troubles, and unspeakable shame that they would endure and swallow. Though unschooled and unskilled, they rely on their strong backs and disciplined stomachs to carefully squeeze from their meager earnings enough to remit home, securing that frail lifeline with home. But most of these men never return, because they are overcome by too cruel forces, or because by overcoming them, they are too changed.

This is the humble beginning of some of the first Chinese seeds that land on American soil that set down deep roots into both West and East Coasts.

The Journey

At the end of the Great Depression, six-year-old Ah Yin and her mother are summoned by her father to join him in San Francisco where he has worked all her life. He runs a small gambling establishment near a cannery where other immigrant workers gather to reclaim a bit of self-dignity by trying to alter their luck after a long day of hard labor. Sending his family on first class passage is an auspicious sign of his good fortune.

Sheltered in her home except to attend a nearby kindergarten, Ah Yin grips her mother’s hand tightly as they approach to board the gigantic ocean liner to go to the Golden Mountain to meet her father for the first time.

Ah Yin struggles not to stare at the pale grotesquely large-featured foreigners surrounding her. She and her mother gratefully meet a fellow Chinese couple who help interpret for them as neither of them knows a word of English. She hides behind her mother when an older Western couple takes special notice of her, and approaches them. The new Chinese auntie introduces them. Ah Yin is taught to address the elderly gentleman as Hello, but she feels shy because he does not at all resemble a ha low (Cantonese for shrimp man). She is unused to adults paying attention to her because children are to be seen, not heard.

Over dinner, her mother picks through her food unsteadily. Unable to stomach the unnatural undulation of her new surroundings, she wishes to return to her bed to lie down and be still. Their new friends eagerly offer to take care of Ah Yin promising to escort her back to her room after dinner. Accepting their kind offer, her mother hurries off to her stateroom, where she will spend most of the remaining trip.

The new five-some explore the ship and activities together. They attend parties where Hello teaches her to dance by placing her feet atop his shoes as he leads her out onto the dance floor. Afraid to look up at all the smiling faces watching them, she concentrates on her feet, though her heart secretly soars with each gliding step.

By the end of the trip, Hello and his wife who are childless plead with her mother to become her godparents, offering to pay for her entire future education. But her mother is wary and afraid, so she declines, suspicious that these foreigners may have other bad intentions. Her husband would surely think they are crazy.

A New Life

When they land, Ah Yin sadly says goodbye to Hello. As grand as this ship has been, she braces herself for how much greater America will be. However, when they disembark, instead of meeting her father whose face she has memorized from a frayed photo, they are herded off to Angel Island, a stark detention camp where all the Chinese onboard are detained for interrogation by INS (Immigration and Nationalization Services). The communal bunk beds she and her mother are assigned to in the women’s section are a far cry from the lovely beds onboard that wonderful ship. The cold concrete walls tattooed with hand-scrawled sad notes and etched with names of past occupants are stained with sorrow. The moans and tears of other women who have been detained longer frighten Ah Yin, who wonders how this could be the Golden Mountain.

Strange unfamiliar smells assault them when they enter the dining hall. Although Ah Yin’s mother is hungry because she hasn’t eaten much on the whole trip, she finds the large pieces of tasteless food hard to chew and swallow. But Ah Yin spots some familiar Chinese sausages on a plate that the lady sitting across from her is hoarding to herself. How rude! she thinks to herself as she reaches her chopsticks over to pick up a sausage to place onto her mother’s plate first. But before she could reach for the second one for herself, the lady says, These are good, you may help yourself if you wish. Then she explains that such special dishes of Chinese food were sent to these internees by their relatives who are waiting for them to be processed. Ah Yin’s face burns as she lowers her eyes not daring even to peep again at those beloved sausages. But the lady picks one up and places it on Ah Yin’s plate saying, I am sure that your relatives will send you such foods soon too. In the following days when their own boxes of food finally arrive, they are careful to share them with others as well.

Ah Yin and her mother are called in separately for questioning. They quiz Ah Yin about her home and school. She tries her best to answer as accurately as she can, but they seem to be especially interested in her walk to school each day. She tells them, It is a long walk and I have to cross over a bridge to get to school. They call her in again and ask, How long is this bridge? She answers, It is a very long bridge. Summoning her in a third time, they finally ask, How many steps does it take to cross this long bridge? When she finally answers, About fifteen steps… it is the longest foot bridge in our village! They break into laughter because her mother had claimed all along that it was a short walk with no mention of a bridge. Later her mother tells her father that they were detained by a bridge that was too long to be short, or was it too short to be long?

Though her father rents a small house of their own in the cannery town, life is not without secret fears. On the way home from school each day she especially dreads passing the big lion-colored dog that barks so fiercely and lunges at her at the end of a chain. One day he breaks free and chases her till she climbs onto a concrete bunker. Her heart pounds hard as she catches her breath and outwaits him from that merciful perch. Through her tears she sees that he has torn a part of her dress, which she later mends without a word to anyone.

Though Ah Yin’s father rarely talks to her, she hears him tell her mother how he gives two different customers $50 back with the warning never to return since they are family men. However, when new laws shut down her father’s gambling place, they move to San Francisco where he finds work as a bookie. Her mother is grateful to be able to bring sewing home instead of working in the suffocating sweatshops of Chinatown. As a girl, Ah Yin learns to help out by sewing too, and from the age of thirteen begins to sew all of her own clothes as well.

In junior high school she is given the privilege of working as the cafeteria cashier in exchange for a free lunch, which she carefully puts aside to share with her younger brother. This is how she gains a reputation for being good with money. Though Chinese students never participate in student government, there is a movement among them to vote her into student office as the first Chinese to become a Student Body Treasurer. Her friends surprise her by creating a huge election banner with a sparkling red and gold dragon that sprawls across the entire entryway of the school. Her friends confetti the school with flyers and unprecedented enthusiasm.

After American school each day, she attends Chinese school where she first learns to make speeches. After coming in ninth in her first competition, the boys would tease her by barking at her because the words for nine and dog sound similar in Cantonese. Mortified by this incessant ridicule which is intensified by her inherent fear of barking dogs, she determines to do better.

Louder! You have to speak louder, shouts her friend forcing her to practice her campaign speech outside on her rooftop. She is coached by another parent who is the ex-General Consul of China (then Taiwan), who helps with writing her speech. So when she wins, it is a win for the whole Chinese community.

Later in high school, she works as a projectionist at a Chinese movie house in the evenings to bring in extra money that she also shares with her brother. From then on, she never asks for money from her parents. Though she is bright and excels in her studies, she knows she will never go to college because education for girls is frowned upon. Confucius taught, A virtuous woman is an uneducated woman. Since a daughter is expected to marry into her husband’s family, any investment in her is a waste. The family’s precious resources are reserved only for her brothers.

Yet, she never begrudges them because she knows her place and is grateful even to be alive. When she was born, the midwife abandoned her mother when she saw that she birthed yet another daughter, instructing her to let the baby girl die on the ash heap. But when her mother looked into Ah Yin’s big bright eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. With a shaky hand, she severed the umbilical cord with her small embroidery scissors that she carefully sterilized with boiling water and knotted the belly button herself. Ah Yin grew up always feeling undeserving.

Dashing Dreams

Meanwhile, in the southern part of the state, in a desolate desert town, the small Wong clan builds a grocery business. Everyone works and lives off one small store. Most of the men’s families are still back in China, holding on to the support ropes. Though Fung’s father dearly wishes to have his son with him, he determines that Fung should not be sucked into a merchant’s life but instead pursue an education that could pave new roads for him. Therefore, when he sends for him, he arranges for Fung to travel directly from China to New York to stay with his uncle, hoping that Fung would follow this uncle’s footsteps into medicine. He frugally saves his money for this dream of a medical education for his son.

Fung spends the next three years attending school in New York’s Chinatown. But this abruptly halts when Fung’s father suddenly summons him to California. Shortly after he arrives, his father dies of a ruptured appendix.

Being only a young teenager, Fung is left at the mercy of his clansmen who hope that he won’t return after escorting his father’s body back to China. Fung frustrates their plan by unexpectedly coming back. Sleeping in a corner in the back with the cartons of inventory, he absorbs the grocery business alongside his clansmen who also teach him to profit from the only liquid dividends available to them: hard liquor.

But too many ticks are living off one dog, and seeing he has no future there, Fung secretly plans to leave. When World War II breaks out, he tries to join the U.S. army, but is disappointed when his flat feet disqualify him.

During this time, the Japanese are rounded up into internment camps because of U.S. fears that they might turn to help Japan in the war. They desperately try to lease out their farms to anyone who would manage them until they return. Fung cashes out his father’s stake at a fraction of its worth, and musters his father’s college savings for him, even hocking the gold watch from his father to lease parcels of Japanese farms. He keeps only an old car that he would need to run the farm business. This was the beginning of a thriving Chinese fruit and vegetable business that would extend up and down the West Coast, east to Chicago and to New York until the war ends.

Fung frequents San Francisco to check on his shipments to the markets. On one trip, he overhears a business partner telling his nephew about his best friend’s daughter. Fung’s ears perk up when he hears him describe a young woman who is renowned for her exceptional beauty, sweetness, accomplishments, and purity. When he discovers that Ah Yin is working for a friend of his who is an insurance agent, he pretends to be interested in working for him. Knowing his friend is out of town, Fung arrives at her office ostensibly to see him. He sits and observes her all afternoon, though she doesn’t even notice him. He then quickly seeks a formal introduction to her and pits himself squarely against her many other suitors.

One such suitor proposes to her by showing her a letter from his father that enumerates the many properties they own in Hong Kong asking him to quickly bring home a bride of his choice. Though he is very persistent, she is worried he is too short. One time when he arrives to take her out for the evening, Fung also drops by unannounced. Eager to get rid of Fung, the suitor says, Well, excuse us, but we are going out to a night club now.

Oh, I’ve never been to a night club in San Francisco before. I will join you! replies Fung, much to the shock and dismay of the other two.

At the nightclub the two men position themselves on either side of Ah Yin, jockeying for her attention. When Fung spies his rival grab her hand, he grabs her other hand. Both men stubbornly hold on tightly even though she doesn’t care to hold the hand of either one. Ah Yin is beet red with embarrassment as she sits watching the show as their bewildered hostage.

From then on Fung intensifies his pursuit, quickly emerging as the frontrunner. As they date, she constantly learns surprising things about him. Impressed with his large English vocabulary, Ah Yin asks him one day, Which college did you graduate from? She doesn’t believe him when he says that he only has three years of education in the U.S.

I taught myself English by studying the dictionary, he says. She thinks he is teasing her again until much later when she sees the tattered book herself. During their strolls down the streets of Chinatown, Ah Yin wonders why all the street merchants come out to chat with him and know him by name. One time Fung fingers some apples and says, I grew this, and this one, and this one, and actually, all of these fruits. She is speechless when he then tells her of his large farm business. All of the other suitors seem like mere boys compared to Fung. Of all the young men who come courting her, he is the only one of whom her father approves.

One day Fung hands her an envelope. She shyly asks, What is this? He invites her to open it. It is a check made out to him for $2,000, an enormous sum in 1946.

It’s from selling eggs, he says, with a twinkle in his eye.

It must have been a lot of eggs! she says suspiciously.

About a carload…a trainload to be exact. When she recovers from the shock from the enormity of his business, he adds, I also make money with stocks.

Do you mean, you raise cows? she asks always feeling a bit silly that she doesn’t understand many things.

No, I play the stock market. Have you ever seen the stock market? I can take you to see it now, and afterwards we can go to Granat Brothers to pick out an engagement ring with this check. Ah Yin feels like she is in a beautiful dream. How could life get any better than this?

After their engagement, Fung worries about deep secrets from his past that if known could spoil his chances with this woman he now must have. The more he thinks about it, the more anxious he gets, and so he devises a way to insure that she will marry him. Trusting his primitive village instincts, he dishonors her sexually. I had to make sure you would marry me, he explains to her, unaware of how he has poisoned their relationship with shame and mistrust. In addition, this act takes on a life of its own, which buds within Ah Yin.

Realizing how this act is backfiring, causing Ah Yin to hate him, he tries to back-peddle, I can help you get rid of the baby, he offers. Ah Yin recoils at this thought as her whole world narrows to two impossible options.

I cannot add to this wrong by killing this innocent baby, she says as her dream marriage is shattered by the stone he has selfishly thrown through it.

The third day after the wedding when they return to her family home for the traditional visit, they find the elders of the community soberly gathered as if someone has died. They rush in to see what has happened. News has arrived that Fung already has another wife and a son in China. Upon hearing this, Ah Yin feels herself turn to stone.

In tears on his knees, Fung swears that he was forced to marry by his mother. When he brought his father’s body back to China, his mother hid his passport and money and would not give them to him until he married and impregnated a wife. Even though he ran away and hid in a ditch in the fields, he was found and forcibly brought