Life's Challenge

                                                                     Life’s Challenge

War not only affects one generation, but its effects will linger for many generations. In 1937, Japan brought their military to invade and colonize China for the second time. The war lasted more than eight years. Japan colonized so many cities and people were controlled by the Japanese army in China including the city where my great grandparents lived, Jiujiang. The Japanese and Chinese War was the biggest Asian war in the twentieth century, and this war merged into World War 2, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. In that war, over twenty million Chinese people died and people were separated from their families. Thus, a lot of people decided to escape to another country to start their new lives including my great grandparents’ family. My great-grandparents and their children were greatly affected by the Japan-China war. 

 Even though my great grandparents’ family moved to Vietnam, they had to deal with a lot of problems there. One of the problems was language and communication. Since my great grandparents had lived in Jiujiang, China, they did not know Vietnamese when they moved to Vietnam. They chose Vietnam because it was the closest country to China, and there was no war at that time. At the beginning, they sought help, but no one understood their language. Because everything was new to them, they were like three-year-old children. They needed to find housing or work, but Vietnamese people could not tell them where or how they could get it. Because of not knowing Vietnamese, they seemed like they were deaf, blind, and even dumb. They also could not make friends easily. I heard my father say that they only had one friend who could speak Cantonese in Vietnam. He taught my great grandparents Vietnamese, but it was not easy. After over a year they knew how to speak in daily conversation, but they still had an accent. After they learned the basic Vietnamese, they tried to communicate with some Vietnamese people and they met some friends. 

In addition, money and jobs were big problems for my great-grandparents when they  arrived in Vietnam. Because of the Japan-China war, they lost all of their money. In addition, because they moved to Vietnam illegally, they could not easily find a job. At the beginning, they had to pawn their belongings such as a ring, wedding jewelry, and even hair in order to get some cash. Because they moved to Vietnam illegally, they did not have Vietnamese passports or identity cards. Even if they could find a job, they got low pay and were treated badly. Without jobs and money, my great-grand family had to live in the toughest situation when they moved to Vietnam.      

 Almost twenty years later, my great grandparents’ family got used to the new environment. They thought they would have a better life, but another war began in Vietnam forcing my grandfather to go to the military. The war began between the North and the South in Viet Nam. China supported the North of Vietnam to fight with the south of Vietnam which was supported by the United States. My grandfather's family lived in the south of Vietnam. Because of the lack of soldiers in the south, they forced every man who reached eighteen year-old to join the military. Because they were still obsessed over the war before, my great grandparents hid my father in my grandfather's friend's house. My family was separate again. The southern army searched each house to find as many people who reached age as they could. They used law to force people to be in the army, and if they did not go, they would get in trouble and be punished. Because my father needed to hide from the military, he had to stop his studies and lost a lot of his childhood time. My father had to stay in my grandfather's friend's house all the time without getting outside, so he could not go to school. At that time, he felt like he was in prison and had no freedom. 

 War not only affected my great grandparents' generation, but also my father's generation. War always leads to a lot of trouble, not only during the war, but also after it. There are so many effects after the Japan and China war. People had to suffer the physical and mental issues within the war. Because of the two wars, the Japanese invasion of China and the Vietnam’s war, my great grandparents, grandfather, and my father had a lot of difficulties such as language, financial, and military problems. They had to try so hard to survive and work to ensure their next generation would have a better life than them. I appreciate them and I am proud of them.