我的故事 ~ 1. 有时候换一片土壤,也许可以开出不一样的花

Flag of the People's Republic of China“我本不是做建筑业的,但是就好像佛典底下的老鼠,听着听着就成精了…

我们来到这片全新的,非常陌生的土地,一路上走过来,从最初的长一点知识,学一点喜欢的东西,学一点英语,再赚一点钱;从当时的不入乡随俗,不喜欢,然后变成了喜欢。喜欢上了以后,国内很好的工作也辞去了。在这里从零开始,一路上走过来,确实是一个非常艰辛的过程。有悲伤,有欢乐,有艰难,有困苦,有兴奋。

我是1963年出生的。老家是福建福清市,县级市。感陶,市底下的一个镇。我家不在城里,所以我是百分之百的农村户口,百分之百的乡下孩子。我所说的乡下,就是以种田为生。有人说:“靠山吃山,靠海吃海”。我们是没山也没海,所以我们就不靠山不靠海,不吃山不吃海,就是贫贫的几亩地。最普遍的是地瓜,然后种一点水稻、花生、蔬菜,仅此而已。

家里面我兄弟都很聪明。我五个兄弟当中,大哥、二哥、三哥都念过小学。我大哥念到小学毕业。二哥三哥因为父亲去世了都没念到毕业,然后老四和老五一天学校都没念过。我几个兄弟死活要培养我念大学,所以我是书念得最多的一个。我原来是福建省商业专科学校的。84年考上去的,那时候竞争是非常激烈。像我们那边,是100个选一个。我87年大专毕业,是第一届商业专科学校,念的是商业企业管理。在学校里面,我们都是来自全国各地的孩子啊,有志气。毕业后分配的单位是一个非常好的单位,福建省办公厅。我所在的岗位又是跟经济有关系的。我是个农村孩子,我对自己定位很清楚,我这辈子绝对不能在经济上犯错误,再大的诱惑我都不要。当时因为我们福清那边有很多人出国。他们一个礼拜赚比如说400澳币,就2000多人民币,那时候澳币兑人民币6块半,所以一个礼拜就可以赚两千多。我那时候一个月工资才125,一年才1500块钱。他做一个礼拜,我要做两年。所以我当时就想,两全其美,跟我老婆一起来。我们出去,第一学一点英语;第二长一点见识;第三我们赚一点钱回来,然后好好工作。

那时候去日本比来澳大利亚热。因为日本赚钱快,但是我们后来才发现,澳大利亚是好很多的。日本劳动强度太大了,有的人一天要打两三份工。当时想,87年一毕业,我就去日本那边,因为家里比较穷嘛,我也想孝敬一下我的老母亲。同时也想能够在经济上有点起色,因为那个时候兄弟毕竟年纪也大了,又没有读书。所以我是想去日本奋斗几年,对兄弟也算是报答了。我就想去,家里却一直不同意,说我不能去,辛辛苦苦培养你,你去了,怕工作丢了,代价太大了。

后来,我回老家的时候,经过我念初中的那个中学,我一个同学在那里当老师。我就跟他谈起这件事,他跟我说绝对不能去。我说为什么?我们奋斗了这么长时间就为了这来之不易的铁饭碗,你要把它扔掉。日本是什么人去的?都是那些流氓加文盲去的。那些没毕业的,在家里没出息的,家里才送他们到日本去拼的。我们不能与狼共舞,你不要跟这些人为伍。我一想也有道理,就不去了。

到了89年,我就申请了,家里也是觉得挺困惑,觉得拿不住。我兄弟一直不肯,还是我母亲,她说,整个人生是他的。我母亲虽然没文化,但是人很开通。她说我相信儿子有志气,他不会出问题,他会有成就。最后我答应她,我说我去两年就回来,最多三年。这样,家里面才同意,我就来了澳大利亚。

当时是我跟妻子一起来的,当时总共花了七万六港币。这七万六港币是我兄弟和我母亲借的。当时在我们农村,考上学的都是出色的人,人家对你信任。另外一个,我所有家里人,兄弟也好,姐妹也好,在邻里当中口碑非常好的。我们叫做,卖锅卖铁都要把钱还给人家。当时给我办这个的人借我两万港币。他说没关系,你们两个素质绝对没问题。我老婆素质比较高,她是厦门大学海洋系,重点本科。所以他借我两万,别人再凑五万六港币,总共七万六港币。

在单位里面,领导比较照顾我们。当时机关干部出去停级留职只能做一年。因为那时院校毕业出来的人也比较少,我的处长就说,小林啊你要回来好好工作。他说我们需要你们这些人才,我给你做三年。我想,三年还是有一点时间空间的。而且他说房子可以给我保留三年,那我就心安了。可以说当时停级留职的政策,给我们一个机会,给我们留了一条后路。没有这个后路我绝对不敢去。把这个尾巴剪了我肯定是不去的,打死都不会去。另外,我老婆英语比较好,我老婆同学还在这里,只要有一个人找到工作,两个人绝对不至于饿死的,相互还有个照应。而且当时从海外传回来的信息都是正面的,没有什么负面的。我想人家小学都没毕业的人到了那边都能赚钱回来,我去澳大利亚害怕那个。而且那个时候整个社会有一种热潮,就想冲。而且加上移民代理摧,就觉得这个可以去的。到了澳洲才发现,困难太多太多了。

来到澳大利亚放眼望去都是平缓的,好像一个大农村一样。因为当时我们有太多的牵挂。来了以后,第一感觉不是一看蓝天白云,环境不错,根本没有这个心情,更多的是对家里的亲人的牵挂。万事开头难,你什么都没有。你能不能在这里生存下去?你能不能找到工作?你能不能赚到钱?家里的债能不能还清?以后的工作,未来的前途?而不是对悉尼也好,墨尔本也好的印象怎么样,没有时间去想这些。那时候,困惑多过踏上这块土地的喜悦。

我实际要上六个月的英语课程,但我只让我老婆去练,保持签证,我就去打工。我只去过一次学校,所以那一年我就被黑掉了。我把一个月的生活费退了,然后就走了。我们学校的华人里面有一个早期移民的后代,在学校里面讲中文的,给我们租到了房子。我们自己带的棉被,连张床都没,我们就打地铺。这里出租的房子都很烂,窗户都关不紧,木头房,在高速路旁边,汽车开过去快得跟子弹头一样。因为我们中国都是门窗关得紧紧的,这里他们都是脚一踢,门就开了,有点怕。我跟我另外一个这里认识的老乡凑一起,我们三个人租了一个两房一厅的house。

平时的三餐肯定是不敢多吃的,我们只有四个礼拜的钱,什么时候找到工作还不知道。到商场里面一看,用的都是澳币,买了米、酱油和糖,其他什么都不敢买。那个时候也没有华人店,榨菜什么的都没有。没有菜的时候,就用糖泡一泡饭,自己家里带来一些肉松,虾米,还要慢慢用。现在说的很便宜的那种有点像柠檬水一样的饮料,一瓶一块多。喝完这个,第二天就开始烧水,凉了以后放在瓶子里面。背一个背包,然后大家第二天就开始在茫茫人海中去找工,挨家挨户的找。初来乍到,在国内学的一点英语在这里肯定是不够用的。我们的英语是书本英语,这里用的是口语。你太过正规的讲,他们还听不懂,再加上我们口音和表达方式都不行。

最大的困难就是找工。找工也是需要经验的。可我们都没经验, BP加油站我们也窜进去找,麦当劳我们也窜进去找。我们闽南话叫,爱拼才会赢啊。你不去找,你肯定找不着工作。一个人都不敢找,一个是不好意思,也怕找丢了。都是五个、七个的、十来个人一起找。找工的时候,我们听的半懂不懂,就出去了,留个名字,留个座机电话,然后大家就记住,在这条街,这个门牌号。我们刚出来,后边10来个人又来了,一波一波的。往后呢,老板就干脆写一个牌子。起初写,NO JOBS! 再往后,直接换成中文的“没有工作”。

我们当时的困惑在哪里,因为澳大利亚人很有礼貌,找工的时候他不会说NO JOBS, 他会说:哦!MAYBE。我们中国人把MAYBE当作有可能,有希望,我们写在本子上。这个工厂说,MAYBE,那个工厂说MAYBE。 我记得有一次,我记了8个MAYBE,我老婆也记了几个MAYBE,结果早上兵分两路, 她找她的,我找我的,结果10点钟回来,15、6个MAYBE没有一个MAYBE,两个人抱头大哭。

经历了这些,你会发现工作是非常难找的。有一天,我找工回来了,我一个同事,打电话问我在这边怎么样。因为当时有的人,就跟家里讲:在这边找到工作了,只是赚的比较少,但慢慢找,马上就有好工作了。骗家里人,怕家里人担心。这个是我朋友,他想来,我就告诉他,你千万别来,工作是非常的难找。因为澳大利亚人口少,工厂也少,一下子又来那么多人,我们一点技能也没有,比如做木工活,一点都不会做。

我老婆很能吃苦,她先找一家越南店,起初做剪线头,烫衣服。一个礼拜做50个小时,赚230块钱。也算有一点收入了。我就想,要找工在近处找肯定不行,要去别的地方找,多远都没关系。然后我就买了一张周票上了火车,结果火车开的很远。我都不敢坐,就站在门口,因为可以从玻璃窗看下去。哪里有工厂,我肯定就在那里停一下。一直看到火车只有单轨,我知道坏了,我可能走到深山里边去了,回不去了。家里也没有手机,我很担心的。我就赶紧下车,下车以后,看到那边有十来家工厂,我就进去挨家挨户的问。

走到一个地方,落差很大,有1米5左右,结果,啪!掉下去了。正巧这家工厂的老板看到了,澳大利亚人还是比较善良,他一出来,不管三七二十一,先把我扶起来,问我有没有事。那个时候年轻,我说没事。他问我要干什么?我说我找工,他觉得很可怜,刚好这个老板工厂里有个广东人,他觉中国人肯干也很聪明,他很喜欢中国人。然后这个老板就把我带到办公室去,跟里边reception的lady说:这个人找工,他刚才在那边摔倒了,你看看什么时候可以让他上班。她就问我:什么时候可以上班?我说:anytime。她说:那这样子,今天是礼拜一,你礼拜三来。我也没问一小时多少钱,也没问要我做什么,我就一路跑到火车站去。哇,高兴啊!

非常珍惜这份工作,老板也非常好。当时我们加班一小时是7.8,每天6点上班,到晚上5点半,中间吃饭半个小时。一共11个小时,做工8小时,其余3个小时1.5倍,还有overtime的工资。领工资的时候,我第一个,放在信封里。澳大利亚人马上就掀起来看工资是多少。我们哪里敢看,不好意思啊,怕老板会说你这个人怎么会这样,也不敢跑,但是速度加快,因为太想看到这个钱了,然后我就找个没人的地方。我记得很清楚,做两天,礼拜三礼拜四,礼拜五发工资,我一打开,187.5,我当时就非常兴奋。这是一千多块人民币啊,我一年工资就两天啊! 然后我就告诉自己,只要这样坚持下去,一定会发财的。回家告诉我老婆,她也非常高兴。我跟她讲我们老板从来不看我们做了多少,但是我们还是很努力的,没事就扫地,扫完地就把垃圾桶拖出去倒掉。

我们那个时候是6点钟上班,我一般都是提前。早上工人还没来,我把饭盒拿出来,早饭先吃一半,中午再吃一半。没水,就自己带着冷水。上午9点是tea time, 我们英文也不好,人家在那聊天,我们假装在抽烟,他们有说有笑,15分钟,泡咖啡。我们就不进去,因为没有共同语言,有文化差异。我们不知道说什么,英文也不好。就怕人家多问你几句,自己总自卑。我就假装自己到工厂后边,假装抽一支烟,看看工厂。等差不多了,工人也出来了,我就回去。等到了中午,那个时候也没有微波炉,就一个人把半盒饭吃下去。这个时候其实不是别人伤害你,是你自己就觉得自己处在这个环境心里挺压抑,但是为了这份工作,还要好好做下去。

刚好这个时候我跟我表哥打电话,他说墨尔本的工作比悉尼好找。有一个我的亲戚,在悉尼做大理石。大理石厂的工作累,脏,条件差,但是工资高。但是我在悉尼找不到。后来我就去了墨尔本,找了大概两个礼拜,也是到处找。有一次坐巴士,我是想往没有人烟的地方走。我的经验这里肯定机会大。我坐着巴士,一看2公里那好像有一堆工厂。感觉这个地方肯定是人来得少,我就下去了。下去了以后,一看没有路啊。你知道现在的地都是农场,但是大家都是界限分明的,用铁丝网拦住的。虽然没有路,但是铁丝网比较矮,我就穿过去。我当时穿的牛仔裤都刮破了。后来,到了一家工厂,我一看,一下子兴奋起来,门口竖的就是大理石。这个就是大理石厂!我走了进去,老板叫做Allen,因为他,我才有今天。

老板出来,他问,你住哪里?我说我住那里,他说good!good!在里边有一个马来西亚人非常聪明,但是非常懒。老板跟我说这个很辛苦的,你可以吗?我说我可以,绝对没问题的。他说如果你能做,我就把那个人解雇掉。我非常高兴,也没问他多少钱。他说你什么时候可以上班,我说随时都可以上班。他给我一天时间,让我准备一下。我在墨尔本工作的那天是1990年5月1号。辛苦的日子总是记得很清楚。

往后做了一段时间,我就觉得要辆自行车。那个时候都舍不得去买自行车,当时我的一个同学有辆自行车,很小很小。但是有总比没有好,我骑车去上班快啊,可以迟一点从家里出发。然后就骑着那个女孩子骑的很小的自行车。到了工厂,又怕丢了,放到里面。后来,有一天被警察抓了,因为没有灯,这么小,又没戴帽子。他说你怎么回事?我说我平时不骑的,我因为迟到,赶不上火车,我sister平时不用,我借用一下就骑来了。他说,下次再见到你,我要罚款了。我说非常对不起,知道了,知道了。回家跟我老婆讲这个事,我老婆说,那我去给你弄一个帽子。她就去Sunday market,花了五块钱买了一个人家骑摩托车的帽子,脏兮兮的。然后就戴着那个帽子,连绳子都没有。那个时候我们也顾不了那么多了,什么尊严啊,其他什么东西,目标只有一个,省钱,苦干,多赚钱少花钱。把国内的债先还掉,担子就轻了。你才能够轻装上阵。债一天不还,压力就会在。7万6加上利息,自己来时的机票,七七八八的,再加上我来之前结婚办酒席,还了蛮久。

后来,因为自行车要还给人家,但是帽子还在,我就叫我老婆去买了一辆自行车。那个自行车是60块钱买的,刹车只有前刹,后面没有。这辆破自行车和这顶帽子,伴随我大半年。后来,在这里,确实工资比较高,一周可以赚500多块钱,又去买了一辆自行车,比较好,有前刹,后刹。帽子也换了一个CKK的红帽子。我跟我老婆说,非常遗憾那顶帽子没照个相留作纪念。

澳大利亚是这样,下班了,做了一点,就不做了,明天再做。我就不这样,因为不做就浪费了。到了20号左右,老板跟我说我非常喜欢你,我给你3000块的酬劳。那时候很多钱了,我非常开心。23号那天老板做BBQ,他又给了我3000块钱,再加上Holiday Pay。后来他把另外两个人开除了,我一个人做。更累,但是那时候有干劲。白天没做好,我回家都跟老板打电话。

那时候,花岗石太阳晒会裂掉,我就跟他说你得盖上布,千万别让他受热。后来他就把我当自己人,什么都跟我讲。后来他就让我去工地修工厂,我去的时候就跟工人聊几句,我发现这个生意不错。后来95年我就开始自己做。

92年的时候,我在福州买了一套房子。花了三万八美金,将近30万人民币。92年其实是想回去,因为我的签证快到期了。我买了一套房子,单位一套房子,也算是有家产了。后来我的一个老师讲,这个东西就像围城一样,城内的人想出去,城外的人想进来。后来跟家里人商量来商量去。我跟老婆说,做最坏的打算,我们房子有了,有遮雨的地方,有后路了。了不起我到福州城卖菜、骑三轮车也行。

于是,95年的时候,我就买了一块地,靠近市中心,146平米。 我对房子全部都不懂。你知道什么是window, door, 但是不知道什么是skirting, 踢脚线啊什么的。二十年以前,八十年代初期的时候,国内还没有这些东西。

我是雇builder盖的。但是找builder的时候,我们觉得价钱越便宜越好啊,但是都是些偏远的地方。 我坐巴士去看展示房,乡下展示房都很便宜。三千多,四千多。我就挨家挨户去看。我本不是做建筑业的,但是就好像佛典底下的老鼠啊,听着听着就成精了。后来,我知道这叫skirting,那叫踢脚线。那个时候,有种感觉,我吸收的非常快。今天去这家,拿着这个估价单,十万块钱。明天又去另一家,看看他那边什么东西包括在里面。所以经过将近三个月,我对盖房子已经非常了解了。心里也就有底了,好像自己一下变成了行家一样。95年找了一个builder,给我盖了一个房子,三层,270平方,我自己画图。盖上去好像还不错,但是外观太差。

中国人喜欢红砖,那个地方靠近红砖的。后来有一个越南的邻居,他知道我买了这块地,他就买了第二块地。跟在我屁股后面学。他说我做什么样的,他就做什么样子的。我朋友又买了一个地,说,你这个不错,你就给我做一模一样的,结果三座红砖的,整条街上,被人家骂死掉。我们自己还觉得不错。另外一条街上的越南人说,你只要花3000到4000元把前面换掉。我觉得还不错为什么要换掉,实际上跟整条街是不match的。

有一个老移民新加坡人对我说,Jack, Don’t worry, 这不会是你最后一套房子,你会盖很多套房子的。到了97年,我就叫agent估价。估价能卖35万,我当时11万盖房子,9万买的地,才二十几万。我赚很多钱的,我决定,把这个房子卖掉,我住了一年。拿去拍卖,36万5千,我赚了14万多。

后来就看好区,有个朋友说博文这个区特别好,我就去看,98年初买了一块地,一千多平方,我可以盖三个房子。我就找了一个设计师,给我设计三个。因为当时没有经验,没批审就开始折腾了。在折腾过程中,这个地区的地价涨得很厉害,最后我决定盖两个。1050平方的地,因为是在conner上,我前面留了615平方,后面435,就申请了一个大的townhouse。盖完这个房子,拿去拍卖,拍了83万。这块地,我前面那栋房子我是赚了。

这个时候,我还在上班,早上去工地看一下,确定人都来了,然后开车去上班。做时间长了,我就跟老板讲:所有的员工,他机器拿在手上,我只要看他的姿势,就知道what happen?good or not good?老板就跟我讲,你不要做工了,从现在开始,你把这几个工人给我看好了,就可以了。他说:Everybody, Please listen to Jack, 每个人都叫我Boss。

赚了钱以后我又再盖房,花了50万。自己画了草图以后给设计师。因为没有licence, 就做owner builder。本来自己的知识是不够盖这个房子的,但是我可以学。我问他们为什么这样,他们就给我解释。整个脑袋全open的,所有东西都吸收了。房子盖了一年,还没盖完的时候,有一个沈阳人,从国内新移民过来,要买房子。154万,房子还没完工就卖给他了。这个房子赚了100万,那是2002年。

再后来,我想我盖了很多房子,给自己盖,给别人盖,我没有执照,别人做owner builder,我给别人做管理。一栋房子我收四到五万,我帮人家管理。07年,我考了builder license。 现在,在华人圈子,builder当中,不敢说数一,也数二。所以说这个行业很多人是知道我的。

做到今天,支持我做下去的是一种成就感。人家要盖一座房子,市场上那么多人,为什么要找你。找你就是对你人品的认可。做人就要厚道,不能把别人的信任当作是宰人家的借口。

弹指一挥间,二十多年过去了。我文科生出身,但在做工科生意。你可能想到,我在中国做个一官半职,你绝对想不到我在南半球会去建房子。从不懂到懂,应该说是澳洲的社会文化和中国文化共同成就了我。在这里生活要入乡随俗,而中国文化又给了我为人的智慧和拼搏的干劲。

一路走来,我觉得满意比遗憾多。遗憾的就是离亲人这么远,我的老母亲90多岁了,不能够长时间在她身边。母亲目前还在,如果有一天母亲不在了,会非常遗憾。 所以现在常打电话,让她老人家开心。

 

 

 




My Story ~ 2. The Country Behind The Forests

yinyang-web-at-100mm

“As time passed by, I gradually got to know Australia. It was different from what I saw at first glance from the plane–a land covered by the forests. I slowly started to see the friendliness and openness of Australian people.”

Actually, my memory is not so good, but there is one day I will never forget. That day was August 22, 1988, when Perth, Western Australia came into my sight. As the plane was landing, I could see no houses, only forests. Hence, the first thing that had occurred to me after I came to Australia was that I would have to cut down trees for a living Otherwise, what could I do in this place? Where could I find a job? This place was so underdeveloped, even worse than China. Could I earn money here? I doubted my brother’s recommendation to come to Australia.

In my hometown, my brother was a very successful entrepreneur with a wide range of social contacts and aware of all the latest information. Originally, I didn’t plan to come to Australia. My brother helped to arrange me to go to Japan. Lots of Japanese classes and English classes were set up for those going abroad. The reason why so many people wanted to go to Japan was that they said it’s easy to earn money in Japan, and the social type and skin color are similar. I studied Japanese in the evening. Afterwards, my brother heard Australia was a better place to go if you wanted to establish a new life. His friend’s sister happened to be married to the principal of a language school in Perth, Western Australia, so I registered with this school. I could not speak any English when I first came to Australia, let alone knew much about the country.

When I was at middle school, I only knew that Australia was a developed capitalist country with agriculture as the main industry. “Australia rides on sheep;s back”, I heard that milk was from a tap and someone also said that the tap water was drinkable. Thinking of this today, they had their reasons for saying this. In fact, the milk here is very cheap; a large can of milk only costs two Australian Dollars. You can’t say they were fooling us, or exaggerating.

After coming to Australia, I had to spend a lot of money renting a house. In China I lived in my own house. I found the price of daily necessities here were far higher than in China, however the wages were very high, so I wanted to find a job. Soon after we arrived, we had nothing to do. We just wandered about with friends who had come to Australia before us. On Sunday, we went to a weekend market in Fremantle, which we Chinese call a “flea market”. It was fun to stroll around the market. There was lots of staff for sale and you could buy some very good second-hand goods for fifty cents or one Australian dollar. I met a couple also strolling around the market. The husband was Australian and his wife Chinese. Because there were not so many Chinese there, I felt happy to meet them. We greeted each other and kept each other’s phone numner. Later on, I found out that her husband was Australian and had studied traditional Chinese medicine in China. After coming back, he opened a clinic of traditional Chinese medicine on London Street located in the center of Perth. He specialized in acupuncture and tuina and treating sport injuries for his clients. They were very friendly, so we sometimes went to chat with them at their clinic. Due to the language barrier and unfamiliarity with this new place, it was hard for us to find a job, so I hoped that my local friend could help us. At last, thanks to his introduction, I found my first job.

I worked for a company making Italian pastries. Some of its products were sold to airlines for guests travelling first-class and some were wholesaled to local coffee shops. I was a cleaner responsible for cleaning grinding tools and sweeping the floor after they finished work. Later on, the Immigration Bureau examined my payroll and found my working hours exceeded the specified amount. It was illegal, so they planned to repatriate me. The officers of the Bureau put me into the prison van to take me to the airport. I said I had to pick up my luggage, so they drove the van to my rented house. In order to prevent me from running away, they locked me inside the van and two officers took the walkie-talkie to help me pick up my luggage upstairs. After they walked away, I thought about how to escape, I broke off the steel bars on the window and then opened the window. But it was too small and my wallet was in the way, so I had to throw it away. I didn’t have a penny with me at that time, and I stayed at an abandoned warehouse, cold and hungry, I was not brave enough to leave. That period was the toughest in my life. A Chinese TV director once advised me to adapt this experience into a TV drama.
I couldn’t stay in Perth anymore. One of my friends gave me the fare and I reached Melbourne by bus after three days and two nights. That was in 1989. There were so many Chinese students and they could find jobs soon after arrival. After finding work, usually, they would ask their bosses, “Do you need more people? We have some friends.” Chinese are very popular for working in Australia. They follow the boss’s every order, because their status is low. Australian locals are likely to quit if they are not happy, for they can enjoy the welfare benefits provided by the Australian government. But we have to do the job, either good or bad. Moreover, we are diligent and efficient, so we are popular among local bosses.

After arriving in Melbourne, my friend took me to a factory. My first job was to make plastic components for automobiles and do injection molding at the factory. Various accessories for the automobile manufacturer Toyota were made there. I worked there for approximately two years, then, I worked at a fabric printing factory as supervisor and foundry man.
Later, by a chance, a friend of mine who owned a restaurant invited me to join him as a partner. We opened three restaurants and the business was good. As time passed, we opened dozens of restaurants. This good condition lasted for several years and our business was booming, but I also felt very tired, because I traveled the whole day, visiting dozens of restaurants by airplane or car, and seldom stayed at home. It’s more than 300 kilometers from Brisbane to Coffs Harbour and there was no major air service, so I had to drive more than 30 hours each trip, or take the uncomfortable small airplane. Nevertheless, thanks to this experience, I had the opportunity to travel all over Australia.

After staying and working in Australia for years, I became tired of the stressful life, my values changed to the simple things in life. I think fortune and money are not the whole of a person’s life but just a part. The proportion varies with each individual. In Australia, you don’t need a lot of money. Of course, you can’t live without money, but you don’t need too much. Bill Gates is very rich, but he strongly supports charity. If Bill Gates comes to China and invites the rich to donate, no one is willing to have dinner with him. Why? Because parents all want to leave their fortune to their children! But they don’t realize their children will lose more even though a comfortable life free of want is guaranteed. They are supposed to earn money themselves, but wealthy parents help them, so they lose the ability and incentive to make money. Therefore, we should educate our children well instead of giving them lots of money. Now, I consider money as not so important.

Thus, after returning to China, I thought my values were different from the people in China. I have a three-story villa in my hometown Fuzhou, but I just leave it there. In Australia, people are simple, equal and less materialistic, and they don’t show off; whereas in China people tend to compare their lives and achievements with each other, and the projects people are talking about are of several hundred million yuan. No one knows if ti’s true or false. In this environment, people are likely to become restless, greedy and snobbish. I am used to the freedom, relaxed lifestyle and comfort here. After returning to China, I had so many social engagements. I didn’t have any time to myself. I meant to go back to see my parents, in the end I spent very little time with them, having a complete dinner at most. I prefer the life in Australia. In my leisure time, I will drink tea, watch the computer, play some ball at the court and have dinner at home. It’s unavoidable to go out for social engagements, but I really feel comfortable having dinner at home. The foods I eat at home are my favorites, such as rice and two or three dishes. If I have to go back to China again, I can’t stand it for more than 20 days, I can only stand it for 10 days at most. However, I still appreciate our Chinese traditions, such as relations with parents and between brothers and some religious activities. Thus, spiritually, I am still Chinese, and I don’t regard myself as Australian at any time, including issues like disputes between China and America or Japan. No doubt that I am a Chinese to the bottom of my heart.

In my opinion, the spiritual things come first wherever one goes, just like why we chose to go abroad. Of course, at the beginning we went abroad to make money. I believe many
people have the same dream, including many successful business immigrants. At first, we just wanted to earn more Australian Dollars so that we could live better lives after returning to China. However, after living in a place for a long time, knowing this place deeply and establishing contacts, everyone also starts deciding his own thoughts in determining his destiny. Working mechanically, like a machine, will not change anything, the change mainly lies in our thoughts.
Time has allowed us to gradually get to know Australia. My first impression was nothing but forests seen from the airplane. Gradually, I saw Australian friendliness and integrity.

From: Fan Hong & Liang Fen (Eds.) – My Story ~ A Study On Chinese Cultural Identity In Australia

Order the book: http://www.amazon.de/My-Story-cultural-Identity-Australia




我的故事 ~ 2. 森林背后的国家

yinyang-web-at-100mm“时间让我慢慢认识了澳大利亚。它并不是我第一眼从飞机上看到的东西,只有满地森林。慢慢的,我看到了澳大利亚人的友善、真诚

其实我的记忆力非常不好,但是有一天却记得很清楚。8月22号,西澳佩斯入境。那是1988年8月22日,飞机要降落,我看下来,看不到房子,都是一片森林。于是,我来到澳大利亚的第一件事就是想到要伐树。否则到这里来干什么呢,去哪找工作呢?这地方也太落后了,还不如国内呢。能赚钱吗?我心里就有些怀疑我哥的安排。

我大哥在我们老家是一个比较成功的企业家,社会交际广,信息也相对流通。原来我不是计划来澳大利亚的,最早我哥是帮我安排去日本的。因为去日本的人多,也有说日本容易赚钱的,肤色种族也差不多。当时有许多为出国人开的日语班、英文班,我也准备去日本而在晚上学了日语。后来哥哥听说去澳大利亚更好,正好他朋友的妹妹嫁给西澳珀斯的一个语言学校的校长,在国内我就报了这个语言学校。刚来这里的时候,我连英文的一二三都不会说,更别说对澳大利亚的了解了。

以前读中学的时候知道澳大利亚是一个发达的资本主义国家,以农业为主,是“骑在羊背上的国家”。出国前听说澳大利亚水龙头打开就是牛奶,还有说自来水都可以喝的。今天想一想他们说的也有道理,实际上这里的牛奶跟免费的差不多,那么大一罐牛奶,两块钱,也不能说他们忽悠我们,或者说是夸大其词。

来到澳洲之后就觉得物价比中国贵很多,因为在国内都是住在自家的房子里,这边租房就是很大的一笔费用。但是也发现了这边的劳动工资很高,于是就想去找第一份工作。那时候,我们刚来,没事做,天天跟着这一班比我们先来的有车的朋友到处去晃悠。有一个星期天,我们就去到Fremantle(弗里曼陀海港)的一个周末市场,我们中国人可能叫跳蚤市场,在里面逛挺好玩的,什么都有。有时候淘些二手货,5毛1块这样的也挺好。在逛的时候碰到一对夫妇,男的是一个澳洲人,女的是中国人,因为那个地方中国人也不多嘛,能碰到中国人都觉得特别的亲切。于是我们就打了招呼,彼此留了电话。后来我知道她的先生是澳洲人,在中国学过中医,回来后在珀斯市中心的伦敦街开了一个中医诊所,给客人做针灸推拿和运动扭伤的治疗。他们非常热情,于是我们有时候就跑到他们的诊所去跟他们聊天。因为我们在这边找工作不容易,一个是语言的因素,再一个人生地不熟,认识一个朋友,又是当地人,就希望他帮我们介绍工作。后来他们就真的通过他身边的朋友帮我问工作的事情。最后靠这位朋友的介绍,我找到了我的第一份工作。这是一个做意大利糕点的公司,生产的商品有的送给航空公司,给头等舱的贵宾客户用,有的批发给本地的咖啡店。我在里面主要做清洁工,负责帮他们洗磨具,以及收工的时候清理地面。我在珀斯的这段时间主要就是做这个工作。后来因为移民局拿到了我的工资单,发现我打工时间超出了规定时间,违法了要遣送我回国。移民局的官员把我装在囚车里,往机场开。我说我要回家拿行李。他们把车开到我住的房子的楼下,怕我跑了,就把我锁在车里,两个人拿着对讲机上楼去给我拿行李。他们一走开我就在看怎么能出去。最后我把那个车窗上铁栅栏掰掉,又把那个窗户打开,但是它太小,钱包被挡住了,我只能扔掉不要。当时一分钱都没有,我只能躲在一个废车库里,又冷又饿又不敢出去。人生最苦的就是那段时间。一个中国电视台的导演曾建议我把我的这段经历编成电视剧。

珀斯是不能再呆下去了。我的一个朋友给我了车票钱,我坐了三天两夜的大巴来到了墨尔本。到了墨尔本已经是89年,中国留学生已经挺多的了,他们来了以后基本上都能找到工作。找到工作以后他们通常还会跟老板讲一下还要不要人,我们有朋友。中国人在这边打工是很受欢迎的,因为没有身份,所以很听话。澳洲当地人他们不高兴就不做,反正他们有福利的,而我们不论好坏都要做,而且人勤快,效率高,所以比较受当地老板的欢迎。在墨尔本之后,朋友就介绍我去工厂。第一份工作是在工厂给汽车做塑料配件,注塑,Toyota汽车商的各种配件都是从那边做的。那个工作大概做了两年,我又做过几年的印布厂监工和铸造工。

后来一个偶然的机会,我的一个朋友在一家餐饮店做经理。他来找我一起合伙。我跟他合作开了三家餐饮店,生意都很好。后来又接连开了十几个店。就这么保持了几年,鼎盛的时候生意很不错,但是也感觉很累。因为整天都在外面跑,很少能呆在家里。十几个店兜一圈,又坐飞机,又开汽车。从布里斯本飞科夫斯海港 (Coffs Harbour ),三百多公里,没有大飞机。所以每次出差要不就开车30多个小时,要不就坐颠簸的小飞机。不过也多亏了这段经历,让我跑遍了澳大利亚大大小小的地方。

在澳洲呆了这么多年,我觉得我变傻了。价值观变得很简单。我觉得财富和钱不是一个人人生的全部,只是一部分,这个比例大小是因人而异的。在澳大利亚你不需要有太多钱,当然没有钱是你过不了的,没有物质保障,但是确实不需要很多。比尔盖茨有很多钱,但是他却热心慈善。如果比尔盖茨到中国来让富豪捐款,没有人敢去吃饭,为什么?因为家长都想把财富留给孩子。可是他们却不曾想,孩子物质生活有保障了,但是他们失去的更多。本来他应该去赚的钱,你都帮他赚了,他就失去了赚钱的本事了。所以还是应该给孩子好的教育,而不是一定要给他们多少钱。现在我对钱看的很淡。

所以,回国后我就觉得自己和国内的人们的价值观不一样了。在老家福州我有别墅,三层的别墅,但只是放在那里罢了。在澳洲,人跟人都很简单,很平等,不会炫耀。而国内人却易攀比,坐下来谈项目都几亿几亿的,谁知道是真是假,人都变成很浮躁,给人的感觉很拜金,很势利。我在这里都自由散漫惯了,舒服惯了。回国应酬却很多,根本没有自己的时间,说是回去看父母,其实跟父母待在一起的时间特别短,最多吃一顿完整的饭。我还是喜欢在澳洲,没事在办公室里泡泡茶,看看电脑,到球场去打个球,回家吃饭。出去应酬都是没办法的事,回家吃饭才真的踏实。饭啊、菜啊,回家吃都是自己喜欢吃的,三两样就够了。所以叫我回中国生活,20天,我就受不了,我只能待10天,我没有一次能待够十天。但是从传统来讲,我们中国的传统,我还是欣赏的。比如说,父母情,兄弟情,还有一些宗教的东西。所以我精神上还是中国人。任何时候我也没有在精神上把自己当成是澳洲人。包括中国跟美国纠纷,跟日本纠纷的问题上,我打心底里是一个中国人,肯定的。

我认为一个人走到哪里,精神的东西是第一位的。就好像我们为什么要选择出国。当然一开始的时候是为了出国赚钱。我相信很多人,包括今天很多成功的商业移民也是一样的。我们一开始的想法都是赚点澳币,回国以后好过日子。但是当你在一个地方生活了、深入了、接触多了以后,每个人决定自己命运的时候也开始决定自己的思想。机械的做一些工作并不会改变什么东西,主要还是在于思想。

时间让我慢慢认识了澳大利亚。它并不是我第一眼从飞机上看到的东西,只有满地森林。慢慢的,我看到了澳大利亚人的友善、真诚。




My Story ~ 3. Many Small Stones Can Build A Pyramid – That Is How Miracles Are Created

china australiaIf each person contributes one dollar, one million people will contribute one million that makes a millionaire.

I was born in Shanghai in 1951. My father’s family moved from Jiangsu province in the 1930s. At that time my father wanted to have four sons, he had chosen four Chinese characters as his boys’ names: “Ping, Sheng, Ke and Li”, meaning: “common people born to be independent”. I am the second son, so my name is “Sheng”.
As a young man, I followed my country’s call, “marry late and procreate late”, I got married when I was thirty-five. Many people asked me why I came to Australia, in retrospect, the primary reason was that my wife’s sister was in Australia, so my wife and I immigrated to Australia after we got married. But most importantly, it was a dream in my heart. At that time in China, we needed coupons for everything, grain coupons, meat coupons, eggs and oil, you name something, we had the coupon for it. For clothes, young children wore the left over clothes from their elder sisters and brothers. Life was not easy. So when I was a little boy, I dreamt to live a better life, to pursue something different. I always imagined what the outside world was like? Was it the same as China?

Finally, in May 1985, with the dream and desire hidden in my heart for many years, I came to Australia with my wife. But what I never thought was that when I set foot on the land of Australia, I discovered that the new environment and the new world I had dreamed about for a long time turned out to be quite similar to Shanghai.
Life was still not easy for me, the greatest difficulty was the language barrier. At that time, China and the Soviet Union were brother countries. I learned Russian at school, I didn’t know English. So I had to study English first. Secondly, financial difficulties, I had to go out and look for work. I worked in different restaurants, I worked on farms, picking grapes in vineyards under the high temperature of over forty degrees. Such hard times continued for six months. October 1985, Perth Casino was opened and needed a lot of people to work there. I was so lucky and got a job there. Nearly three decades later, I still clearly remember my employee ID number, it was 944. I was in charge of washing dishes and mopping floors in the kitchen. That was my first formal job and I continued working in the Casino for fifteen years.

Only I clearly know about the hardships I have endured in the past fifteen years. At that time, not many Chinese people were working in the Casino, communication became my greatest difficulty, both for my work and everyday life. For example, it was not easy for me to buy a car or a house. But I told myself, since I chose this pathway, I would keep moving forward, not to give in easily, to face any difficulties and to consider them life experience. There were no immediate and easy way in life, so I carried on looking on the bright side of life, otherwise you would feel unhappy and live a meaningless life.
I tried to conquer my difficulties with the language and found it was not impossible to learn English. But what really made me feel upset was that my professional skill I had learned in China did not apply to the work here. My specialty was original machine design in the electromechanical field. Before coming here, I was on the technical staff of a company, but in Australia I could only do manual labor such as washing dishes or mopping floors. The psychological gap would be appreciated by most people.
I never stopped thinking about how to make my specialty come in handy. Fortunately Heaven never seals off all the entrances and exits. One day, a great opportunity arrived.

That was in 1986, the Casino planned to promote their business image, they had employed an ice carving master from Japan. The chief chef asked me to be his assistant because I was young, and I could learn from him during my spare time. I eagerly accepted the offer. Perhaps you may question, what was the relation between ice carving and a chef assistant? Actually, they had nothing to do with each other, but, carving had lots to do with my machine designing! Although my painting skill is not the best, I would be able to combine the mechanic technique and knowledge with ice carving. For example, the circle, line and triangle used in the machinery can be transformed into a form of art. Therefore I started my apprenticeship career, which really changed my whole life to a new direction that I never thought was possible.

One day, the chef unexpectedly called me to the office.
”What is the matter?” I asked.
The chef smiled and asked me: “I have noticed that you have been helping the Japanese ice carving master for a long time, do you really like ice carving?”
I was a little surprised. In fact, I had rarely seen the ice sculptures before helping the Japanese master. I originally came from Shanghai where there is no ice, only the northern regions of China, such as Harbin have ice sculptures. Nevertheless I became fascinated with ice carving.
So I said: “I like it, and often work with the master in my spare time and learn a lot of things from him.”
The chef nodded and continued: “Do you know how much a set of ice carving tools cost?”
“I don’t know.”
”More than five thousand dollars, imported from Japan, do you want a set?”
“Why?” I was very surprised.
“If you want to keep on doing the ice carving, then you need a set of tools.”
“So?”
“The Japanese master is leaving for Sydney! I want you to be our ice carving master!”
“Really? That’s great! I accepted happily.

Since then, I had a good job. What really made me feel happy and excited was that I finally found a suitable position using my special skills! In the process of ice carving, I can combine the mechanical pattern and art design and can also use the mechanical knowledge to solve the connecting problem between the components of ice sculpture. I possessed an unique advantage that not many people had. Because of my special skills, I made myself a reputation in Perth, people started to call me the Big Master of Ice Carving.
Another valuable experience in my life is also related to ice carving. That was one day about two years later when I started working on ice carving independently. Our chef had invited many celebrities to Perth, including the Governor General of Western Australia.

Without warning, the chef asked me to prepare a special and attractive entrée. After accepting this task, I was excited but also felt some pressure. Excitement, because I could take the opportunity to display my skills in front of the Governor; pressure, because I was worried that my title – the Big Master of Ice Carving – could be doubted and dismissed if I did not make a good entrée. Regardless of these concerns, I tried to encourage myself with confidence, believing that I was able to accomplish this task. I started with the whole creativity of the ice sculpture. Perth is famous for its Swan River, also called the “Swan City”. So I decided to use Perth’s unique feature, the “swan River” and made a detailed design proposal. In the design were two large lakes, the so-called “lake” was to pour water in a shape of a fountain, I carved eight ice swans spreading their wings and hovering above the lakes as if they were about to fly away. The chef loved my design proposal. But in reality, I knew I would have to face many unexpected difficulties, mainly the technical problems. With my experience and knowledge in the mechanical field, I prepared myself to solve the problems that I was to encounter in this ice carving task, not only technically but also the timing. The task turned out to be successful. That ice sculpture left a beautiful and deep impression on all the guests, I received high praises for my skills that night and many days later, plus it was reported in the media. Today, in retrospect, it was the proudest moment in my life.

In addition to the ice carving, I also did some other jobs at the Casino, such as washing dishes and sweeping floors, and helped the chef washing and chopping vegetables. The chef liked me very much, and that was the reason why he recommended me to do the ice carving.
But I still had some difficulties communicating with the chef when talking about special cooking terms. So I did a lot of self-studying about cooking. Gradually I started to help the chef prepare some cold dishes, in addition to washing and chopping. In common with all Shanghai people, I am clever and deft. Shanghai men are also known for taking good care of their wives, including helping the women in the kitchen at home. So it was very easy for me to learn how to prepare vegetables and make cold dishes at the Casino. The chefs in the kitchen all liked me very much. Later I learned some new cooking skills and concentrated on learning to make cakes and other stuff. I liked the challenge and also had my own pursuit.

After accumulating a lot of experiences, in 1994, I was chosen to join the provincial team to participate in an international cooking competition. We won the championship for the Western Australian team. I was the first Chinese chef to participate in such grand cooking competition in Australia. Thanks for the dessert that I made, our team won the “Best National Team” title.

Looking back, I am deeply grateful to one person for my achievement. When I first came to Australia in 1985, I met a man named Yan who was twelve years older than me. Yan graduated from university majoring in science, he was a Singapore businessman. He liked to play Tai Chi, I learned Tai Chi in Shanghai, so I taught him Tai Chi. I visited him, on a Sunday, he said to me:
”Come here, sit down and have a cup of coffee with me.”
We chatted for a while, he then said: “I have s suitcase for you.”
”Suitcase? For me?” I was a little surprised.
He said calmly: “After graduating from university, I took this suitcase to Malaysia, I had ten dollars on me at that time, and now I have one million dollars. I have kept this suitcase, now I want to give it to you, not for financial assistance, but from another perspective to motivate you to keep going forward in life.”
His words really had touched me and have always echoed in my ears, especially when I encounter difficulties, I use his words to encourage myself to get over any hardship and keep walking forward.

Time flies, I have been living in Australia for nearly three decades. All my family are living in Perth. My three daughters were all born here. My first daughter was born in 1988, in the year of the Dragon. She is now studying economics in the University of Western Australia. After her graduation, she will help me take care of my small business. My second and third daughters are twins, the elder one is studying law at Curtin University, and the younger one is also in school and she is a part-time model, she often goes to the fashion shows in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Now, our lives are quite easy and comfortable.

We often hear people say that it is very difficult for a Chinese person moving from a familiar environment and suddenly dropping into a brand new environment. But for me, life in Australia is not that hard. In short, everyone has a dream, you should just lower your head, walk step by step, and finally you will get there. Why? Because everyone has the same chance in this country, just like me, from a foreigner doing dishwashing and floor mopping, to a few years later, being elected as the best staff member of the year among three thousand workers in 1994. I am now the vice chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, I feel very proud, not for myself, but for all the overseas Chinese in Australia. With the continuous opening up of China, Australian people also understand more about China and the Chinese people. I always tell myself that the work I do, the things I say and the actions I take, including how you walk on the street, how you speak in public, and driving and every other thing, I always remind myself that I am Chinese representing China. I should leave a good impression on others. After all, there are barriers between different cultures, and the habits, even the way we speak can be different among different people. As long as each of us pays a little attention to these small details, other people will think of and treat us with respect.

I am often asked: having lived here for decades, do I feel or think, that am I am Australian or still Chinese? My answer is that it cannot be determined easily. My blood is Chinese blood, which can never be changed. But my lifestyle is basically Australian.
I often say to some new comers, especially young Chinese people: you love your biological mother for she has given birth to you. But you should love your foster mother more for her kindness and bigger heart. Your biological mother has brought you into this world, but without your foster mother’s nurturing and cultivating, how can you grow up and live healthily and happily?

Living here for so many years, I eventually have achieved a little fame and been recognized by the community. Maybe on some occasions, the different culture will still cause some barriers. But culture is built on the basis of mutual respect, for example, I go to a house, the master of the house asks me to take off my shoes at the door, of course I will take off my shoes, because I am invited to their house, so I should show my respect and follow the habits of the house master. I always think that when you feel uncomfortable, you should think if you have done something wrong, or think about what other people would think. Personally, I have friends with high status, the deputy governor and the minister of health are my good friends.
We play golf together and go out often, and we also have very good business relationships. I always think that you should see yourself as an Australian first, and the real Australian is not only the native Australian, but the people who come here from all over the world. Just like our Shanghai people, there are no absolute Shanghai people in Shanghai, many people living in Shanghai who comes from all over the country and even the world. Now we are living in Australia, I will see myself as an Australian; other Australians may come from England, India or Italy. So in my view, we should not resist different cultures but try to understand other people and integrate ourselves in the Australian society.
Now I’m still working in my own bakery, supplying desserts to many restaurnats in Perth. The quality of service is most important in business. In the opinion of the range of services and the service industry, we should help the customers if they have difficulties, because they will never forget your help. Of course, this is a business skill, from another point of view, Chinese people have the necessary qualities to do this well.

At present, in addition to my own business, most of my energy is put into charity work. I have always wanted to be involved in charity. My next project is related to the older people.
There are many elderly people in Perth, and they will go to a nursing home at certain ages. In this regard, I am not really happy that old people must live in nursing home when they get older. Perhaps this is related to the traditional Chinese concept in my blood. I think one family should be multigenerational, and family members should live together for generations.
So the purpose of this charity project is to make the elderly live with their children, and enjoy a happy life together. This project is not only for the Chinese, but for all the elderly people in Perth. In my opinion, charity is the well-being of the entire community without the differences of country and nationality. In fact, I am not in much contact with the Chinese community, and my help to the community is for everyone. I will do everything within my power to help others and contribute to the whole community. For example, if an artist wants to get some painting materials, or a photographer wants to hold a photography exhibition using my bakery, I will provide them with the materials or the venue for free. First, I like to do these things; second, I think as a Chinese, it is a way to promote Chinese culture.

Although I do not do too much art work now, I am always happy to contribute my share to other artists, especially young people. In addition, I have donated to public benefit activities for a long time, year after year, and my name has been recorded in institutions related to the public benefit activities. I’m really happy to do good things, and it has great significance to contribute to the society as a Chinese person. I am very proud of that. I always hold my point of view: if everyone does one small good thing, then the conditions around us will become a little better, and other people will agree with you more. How could they not agree with you? Your help, your strength and your contribution are always needed and welcomed by the community.

If you ask me how my achievements have been derived, my answer is that it started with one dollar. If you want to support and contribute to society, one dollar’s effort is not too small. If each person contributes one dollar, one million people will contribute one million that makes a millionaire. Do not underestimate little things; many little things make a miracle! Many small stones can build a pyramid that is how miracles are created!

From: Fan Hong & Liang Fen (Eds.) – My Story ~ A Study On Chinese Cultural Identity In Australia

Order the book: http://www.amazon.de/My-Story-cultural-Identity-Australia




我的故事 ~ 3. 小事做起,积沙成塔

china australia“每个人出一块钱,一百万个人就有一百万,百万富翁。”

我1951年出生于上海。我的父辈上世纪三十年代从江苏移居上海,那个时候他想生四个儿子,所以他在心中定了“平、生、可、立”四个字作为孩子们的名字,意为“平民生可立”。我排行第二,所以我的名字叫做“生”。

当年的我,响应国家的号召,晚婚晚立,三十五岁才结的婚。很多人问我:你为什么会来澳洲?回想起来,最直接的原因就是我太太的姐姐在澳洲,所以婚后便和太太一起移民过来。但最主要的,还是源自我内心的梦想。当时的中国,吃饭要粮票,卖肉要肉票,穿个衣服老大穿完老二穿……所以从小时候起,我便一直向往和追求一些不同的东西,我常常会想,外面的世界究竟是什么样呢?和咱们中国一样吗?

终于,在1985年5月,我怀揣着这儿时以来一直藏于心中的向往和追求,和太太一起来到了澳洲。但令我万万没想到的是,当我踏上澳洲这片土地才发现,原来我追求了这么久的东西——这新的环境、新的世界和上海竟没有大的区别。

生活对我来说依旧不易,最直接的困难就是语言障碍。当时的中国和苏联是兄弟国家,我从小在学校学的是俄语,而不是英语,因此在这里首先必须进行英语学习。另外,我和太太的生活需要经济来源,就必须出去打工。我曾在不少餐馆做过工,也曾冒着四十度的高温在葡萄园摘过葡萄。这样艰苦的日子一直持续了六个月。直到1985年10月,这里的Casino赌场开放,需要很多员工,我很幸运地得以进入赌场工作。将近三十年过去了,我还清楚地记得我当时的员工号是944。我在赌场的厨房洗碗、拖地……那是我在这里的第一份正式工作,一做就是十五年。

这十五年的路有多艰辛,只有我自己最清楚。那个时候中国人不多,语言交流还是最主要的困难,这导致我在工作、生活,包括包车买房都会遇到困难。但是我跟自己讲,既然选择了这条路,就要认真走下去,别把它说成是困难,而说成是一种生活经历。如果把什么都讲成困难的话,那么就会感到很不高兴,感到生活没有意思,我必须克服它。面对语言的困难,我还算可以应对,真正让我内心感到痛苦的,是我自己出国前的专业技能已完全起不到任何作用。我的专业是原机设计,机电方面的,来这里之前是正式公司的技术人员,到了这里却只能做洗碗、拖地的体力活,这种心理上的落差是一般人无法体会的。于是,我一直努力思索着怎样才让自己的专业派上用场。天无绝人之路,终于,让我等到了一个极好的机会。事情是这样的。1986年,赌场为了提升形象,从日本请到一个冰雕师傅。主厨看我年轻,就叫我当他的帮手,业余时间拿着刀跟他学一学。我欣然答应了。也许你们会问,冰雕和我的专业有关吗?——关系可大了!虽然我的美术并不是最好,但是我在机械方面的技术知识可以和美术结合起来。比如机械上用到的圆圈、直线、三角都可以变换到艺术上。于是,我就开始了我的帮工生涯,当时,我也真是没有想到,这一帮竟改变了我之后的人生。

有一天,我意外地被主厨叫去了办公室。

“请问有什么事吗?”我问道。

主厨笑了笑,问我:“你帮着日本师傅做了这么久,你喜欢冰雕吗?”

我有些惊讶,其实在帮助冰雕师傅之前,我都很少见过冰雕,因为我是上海人,那里没有冰,在中国,冰雕也就只有北方例如哈尔滨才有,不过对于冰雕艺术,我还是很喜欢的。

于是我说:“很喜欢,我和冰雕师傅常常在一起,也跟着他学习了不少东西。”

主厨点点头,继续道:“你知道做冰雕一套工具多少钱吗?”

“不知道。”

“五千多块钱,从日本进口的,你想要吗?”

“我要它干什么?”我很诧异。

“如果你想继续做冰雕的话,就全部送给你了。”

“为什么?”

“日本师傅要去悉尼了!接下来我想请你来做我们的冰雕师傅!”

“真的吗?那真是太好了!”我无比愉快地接受了。

从那以后,我终于有了一份好工作。而且更让我感到欣慰和振奋的是——我的专业技术终于有了用武之地!因为在做冰雕的过程中,除了之前提到的可以把机械图案和美术结合,还可以利用我原先学到的机械方面的专业知识解决冰雕部件的连接问题。在这一点上,我有着别人无可比拟的优势。就这样,我在珀斯竟渐渐做出了名气,很多人都叫我冰雕大师。

我人生中的一次宝贵经历也是和做冰雕有关,那是我开始独立制作冰雕两年后的某一天,我们的主厨邀请了很多知名人士,包括西澳洲的州长都请到了珀斯。主厨忽然提出一个要求,希望我可以做一个头盘,要求一定要漂亮、要吸引人的眼球。接到这个任务,我既兴奋又感到某些压力。兴奋的是,我可以得到在省长面前的展现机会,这对我今后的职业生涯无疑是宝贵的财富,感到压力的是,万一做得不好,我之前努力获得的“冰雕大师”头衔就会因此大打折扣。不管如何,我还是鼓足了勇气,树立起足够的信心,相信自己一定能够完成好这项任务。于是,我打算先从冰雕的整体创意入手。珀斯市历来有“天鹅之城”的美誉,美丽的天鹅湖更是名扬四海,于是,我决定结合珀斯城独有的“天鹅湖”这个特色,做了一个详细的设计方案。我把头盘整体设计为两个大的“湖”,所谓的“湖”就是在塑料里灌水,再做出喷泉的样子,然后再用冰雕刻出八只展翅飞翔天鹅,在湖边徘徊。主厨对我的这个方案也表示了赞同,然而在实际制作过程中,我碰到了很多意料之外的困难,主要是有太多的技术问题,为此,我费尽了心思,好在凭借我在机械方面的专业知识,最终都想出办法很好地解决了。当年的这个冰雕给所有的贵宾留下了极其深刻的印象,大家都对我的技艺赞不绝口。如今回想起来,也都是让我足以骄傲的一件事。

除了冰雕,我在赌场还做别的事情。我做事很快的,那些洗碗扫地的活儿我很快就能干完,然后就帮着主厨切菜、洗菜。慢慢地,主厨就很喜欢我,这也是后来他推荐我做冰雕的原因。不过当时我和主厨就烹饪方面在沟通上还是有一点困难,于是我就自己去学习有关厨师方面的东西。渐渐地,除了切菜之外,我开始帮厨师们配冷盘。我的手还是蛮巧的,我们上海人手都比较巧的,男孩子需要照顾好太太,切菜、摆冷盘什么的我都做得不错,厨房的厨师们就都很喜欢我。再后来我又学习新的厨艺,并根据自己擅长,将手艺固定在制作蛋糕这一块,并且参加了很多比赛。我喜欢挑战,也一直有自己的追求。在积累了很多经验之后,终于在1994年,我代表西澳州队参加了国际比赛,为西澳团队拿到了一个西点冠军。我是澳大利亚历史上参加该类比赛的第一个华人代表,也是第一个华人冠军。因为我做的甜点,我们团队被誉为“Best National Team”。

回顾我走过的路,能够获得一些小成就我要特别感谢一个人。1985年刚来的时候,我认识了一位叫Gerry的严先生,他比我大十二岁,也是理科大学毕业,是新加坡商人。他喜欢打太极,我在上海的时候学过一些,就教他太极。有一回我星期天去看他,

他说:“来,坐下来跟我喝杯咖啡。”

聊了一会,他又说:“我有个手提箱送给你。”

“手提箱?送给我做什么?”我有些惊讶。

他语重心长地说:“大学毕业以后,我带着这个箱子去了马来西亚,我身上由十块钱变成了一百万。我一直保存着个箱子,现在把它送给你,不是从经济方面帮助你,而是从另一个角度激励你去走你现在走的路。”

他的话让我很感动,也一直回响在我耳边,在我每每遇到困难时让我鼓起勇气努力走下去。

不知不觉,我在澳洲已经生活了快三十年。我的三个女儿都在这里出生。现在我们全家都住在珀斯。我第一个女儿是1988年的时候生的,龙女。现在西澳大学读经济,等她毕业,会让她帮我打理一下我的小生意。二女儿和三女儿是一对双胞胎,大的在科廷大学读法律,小的也在读书,并且是兼职模特,她很喜欢这个,经常去香港、马来西亚、新加坡、印度尼西亚作秀。如今,我们一家人的生活可以说非常安逸。人们常说,每一个从中国国内出来的人都是很难的,突然从一个熟悉的环境进入到一个新的环境,其实对我来说,我认为在澳洲也并非很难。一句话,每个人都有梦想,怀着梦想,低下你的头,一步步地走,有一天你一定会走到那里。为什么?因为在这个环境里,每个人都有同样的公平的机会,像我这样,从一个洗碗拖地什么都不是的外来人,到1994年在三千多职工里被选为年度最佳员工,再到现在成为商会副主席。我很骄傲,不是为自己骄傲,是为所有华人骄傲。现如今,随着中国的不断开放,这里的澳洲人对中国也了解得更多了,我总是跟我讲,我每做一件事情,讲的每一个话,每一个行动,从走路、讲话到驾车、在公共场所,都是代表中国的,要给这里的社会留下一个好的印象。文化关系毕竟是有隔阂的,生活习惯等等甚至连讲话的声音高低都有区别。只要我们在这的每一个华人都注意这些小细节了,其他民族对我们的看法也就会不一样,会从另外一个层次看待我们。

常常有人问我:你在这里生活几十年了,你觉得自己已经是澳洲人了,还是依旧认为自己是中国人?我觉得这不能把它分得这么干净。我的血是中国血,这是永远没办法改变的。但是我的生活习惯已基本上是澳洲习惯。所以对一些新来的朋友们,尤其是年轻人,我总是这样讲:生你的妈妈亲,养你的妈妈更亲。因为养你的妈妈,她的心更加宽大,生你的妈妈只是带你来到世上来而已,如果养你的妈妈不养你,你怎么可以健康地生活?

来这里这么多年,也逐渐有了些名气,感觉自己一直还是被这个社会所认同的。可能在一些场合,一些文化细节的不同会造成一些隔阂。但文化是建立在互相尊重的前提下,比如我到你家,你叫我把鞋子脱了,我当然会脱,因为是你请我到你家,我要尊重你家里的习惯。我总是这样认为,你感到不舒服的时候要想想自己是不是做错了什么,或是在去看看人家的东西。拿我个人来说,这里的副州长、卫生部长都是我很好的朋友,我们一起打球,一起出去,我们也是很好的商务关系。我总是这样认为,首先你要把自己当做澳洲人,所谓澳洲人不是澳洲本地人,是所来这里的所有国家的人都称为澳洲人,就像我们上海人没有一个是纯粹的上海人,大部分都是全国各地来的,精华的精英组成了一个上海。现在在这里的话,我也会认为我是澳洲人,你英国来的,你也是澳洲人,你印度来的,你也是澳洲人,所以说首先第一个我们自己不要有文化抵触,这是我的观点。

现在我还是在做我的蛋糕工厂,珀斯的很多饭店,甜点都是我们公司供应的。做生意服务质量最重要,用服务范围和服务行业方面的 忘记你。当然这是一个做生意的技巧,从另外一个角度来说,我们华人在这一点上是一向是做得非常好的。

目前除了自己的生意以外,我的大部分精力都投入到了慈善事业。做慈善是我一直以来的愿望。我接下来的一个慈善项目会和老年人有关。珀斯有很多老年人,他们到了一定年纪都会去老人院。对此,我是不太赞同的。这或许和我骨子里的传统中国观念有关。我觉得一个家庭应该几代同堂,祖祖辈辈和儿孙们在一起同享天伦,而不该分开。因此,我做这个慈善项目的初衷就是希望老年人能和孩子们在一起快乐地生活,和子孙们在一起享福。这个项目不仅仅是对华人开展,而是对珀斯所有的老人进行的,因为在我看来,慈善是对整个群体的福祉,而无须分国家和民族。并且实际上,我和华人社区的接触并不算多,对社会提供的帮助都是对所有人的,只要是我力所能及的,一向都是能帮的就帮,能贡献的就贡献。比如有艺术家来想去我的蛋糕店搞画材,有摄影家想去我的店里搞摄影展,我都免费给他们提供场所。一是,我自己喜欢这些,二是,我觉得作为一个华人为他们做出一些贡献,也算是宣扬中国文化的一种方式吧。尽管我做的不多,但是总比不做好。我就是——从我做起。此外,我长期以来都在为这里的社会公益活动捐钱,年年如此,我的名字一直被公益活动相关机构记录着。我真的很乐意做这些善事,而且作为一个华人,为这里的社会做出贡献对我来说更是一件有着重大意义,能让我引以为豪的事。我一直都是这样的观点:中国人,每个人都做一点,那就好了。每个人都做了,而且做好了,人家就认同你了。怎么可能不认同呢?因为他们需要你的帮助,需要你的力量,需要你的贡献。

人家问我,我如今的成就从哪里来的,我都会回答说是从一块钱里来的。对社会的帮助和贡献也是如此,每个人出一块钱,一百万个人就有一百万,百万富翁。不要小看小事,小事虽小,积沙成塔。

 




My Story ~ 4. I Remain A Typical Chinese Person

AustraliaChinaFlag“An Australian passport in my hand for eighteen years, but I still do not feel and will never be a real Australian.”

My hometown is Qujing, a small city in the east of Yunnan Province. Back when I was still in China, Qujing was different from the west part of Yunnan, there were only several minorities. Yang Liping, a well-known minority dancer whose Peacock Dance has won top praise of the world was born in Yunnan too. Well, I majored in dancing and during the past years, all my work has been closely related to dancing.

Talking about my experience of Australia, I think it’s quite interesting: the first time we came here as tourists. In 1996 when my husband and I were living in Africa with our eldest son, we made a trip to Australia and the first stop was Perth. The moment we arrived, we called a taxi and asked the driver to take us to a hotel in the city, and then there we were – Holiday Inn in the downtown area. We got up quite early to eat breakfast and my elder son (my little son hadn’t been born then) would sit beside the breakfast table reading. Suddenly, he said to us with excitement:” Look here, a migration agent, why don’t we move here and live in Australia while we are here can complete the immigration procedure?” I considered a while and replied, “Well, why not.” When my husband called the migration office, an old western lady answered the phone. She came to find us and took us to the Kings Park and Swan River where we saw black swans and walked along the river. I was quite amazed by the beauty of the small city, quiet and tiny, with no Chinese. She told us that there was no Chinatown, only several shops run by Vietnamese. (Northbridge was not Chinatown at that time.)

I fell in love with this peaceful city and said to my husband, “Let’s move here!” He agreed with me and we signed a contract with that nice old migration lady. Back to the hotel, we remitted ten thousand dollars to her and flew back to Africa.   However, I regretted the moment when we were back home, yes, what was I thinking about? What could I do in Australia with no relatives and friends there? My pregnancy with our little son increased my anxiety. After my husband’s call to that lady, we found that if we cancelled we would only be refunded part of our money due to the contract. Well, we had to go on. The procedure was actually quite easy at that time and only two months later, we were told that everything was okay and we could go there. My mother lived with me at the time, so I asked her to come to Australia with my son. I would move after my baby was born.
Perth is so beautiful and clean which is just what I love. It’s like living in the peaceful country with several families around. In fact, I’ve been to many places like Sydney, Melbourne and London et cetera. But I only like Perth. It’s weird but only because wherever you are, people around you are nice and friendly and of course the old lady in the office impressed me most. She was so hospitable that the first time we met, she took us around. And after my son came, she even offered to help arrange school. My mom knows little English so she found her a Hong Kongese at a restaurant as translator. If my mom went shopping, locals would offer to assist her. With all the memories in mind, I know I’m okay in Perth.

Well, frankly speaking, we did encounter a lot of difficulties when our lives started here; the most serious one was language, especially in daily life. For four years in Africa, I’d never learned English but now, even a small store run by Chinese is full of Cantonese. I was sad and cried to my friends in China, telling them my failure to communicate with other people. What I have to learn now are both English and Cantonese. Well, I still know little of Cantonese.
Having lived in Perth for quite a while with no work to do, I found myself bored and depressed, but my previous working experience was just teaching dance. There were only three Chinese schools in Perth at that time, all belonging to the Chinese Benevolent Association. So I went to James Street where the Association was located and asked for a job teaching dance in Chinese schools. It turned out that teachers were not required. Then I turned to some friends, including where my son was studying, all with no result and I had to give up. Then came a chance with the return of Hong Kong in 1997, the Chinese people wanted to hold a parade and invited me to dance. Away from the stage for such a long time, I was quite happy to dance again. However, this time, the platform was just a big table in the street. No music, no lighting and no sound system. I had to prepare everything I needed by myself which did puzzle me a lot. Well, I had another chance to dance at The University of Western Australia and had to prepare myself, music and costume. Yes, I even ended up calling friends in China to send me a Peacock costume.

After several performances, the Association came to me and asked me to work as a dance teacher for their dance troupe. I was glad to oblige. The students would practise for two hours according to my direction, one for basic skills and the other one for dance; this met disagreement from their manager, telling me that they had never practised the so-called basic skills in past years. Upon my insistence, they agreed in the end; however, after the first class a problem came – I was too hard on them.
I taught dancing in Africa and was quite strict. I asked students to practise according to ballet requirements, which met rejection here. I remember that a mother of a student named Jenny called me and said: “Well, you can’t do this because it would hurt. You can’t teach in your Chinese way!” I insisted that if they didn’t have basic skills, I wouldn’t teach any more. Co-ordination brought success. So now I have taught for the Association for 17 long years.
What I do here is mostly related to dance. When I think it over in my spare time, maybe I would have been a stage director like some of my friends if I hadn’t moved abroad. But I have never regretted this rich experience here. What impressed me most was that I was invited to a Chinese school on Christmas Island for the big 50th anniversary. I stayed on this small and beautiful island for two weeks. Teachers there were mostly Brunei or Malaysian Chinese. Quite unexpectedly, I met a volunteer teacher sent there by the Chinese government. She had been teaching for two years with no payment. I was shocked and moved at once – spreading Chinese culture in such a lonely place with no payment, what a spirit! I danced two songs and choreographed for them, contributing to the cheerful atmosphere.

Time flies: I’ve been Australia for 18 years and I have witnessed the effect of China’s growing power. People around the world are getting to know more and more about China. In contrast, when I first came to Perth, there were few Chinese people in Northbridge and no one could speak Chinese. The few Chinese people could only speak Cantonese and wherever I went, people asked me whether I came from Japan or Taiwan. They wouldn’t believe me that I actually came from the mainland: ”It’s impossible, how can a mainlander be here!” Why not! Then I would begin to explain to them that China is not like what they thought. Most of them hadn’t been to China; they thought of China as a poor and backward country where women wear foot binding, which really made me angry. “Oh my god, that was a hundred years ago! Why don’t you go and watch TV and find out what China is like today!” Well, things are different now. Local people will talk to you about Beijing, Shanghai, and they know cities in China are quite beautiful because many of them have been there, including my neighbours. It makes me satisfied about the great changes in the past years. More and more foreign people go to China and more and more Chinese come to Australia, which inevitably deepens the impressions and knowledge of the countries. I know this has to do with our national power and enhanced international standing. People will say” it’s Chinese” but not “Japanese” for “Taiwanese” and I hear more and more Chinese being spoken and find more and more Chinese restaurants. The last time I went to Canning vale, people I met there were all Chinese. I even had an illusion that I was in China – everyone, including coffee and vegetable sellers all spoke Chinese.

Of course I have changed a lot along with my country. I now own a dance school which I founded, but it’s just a hobby, not something to live on, so that I can get together with my artist friends. Besides, we can have our own small theatre and don’t have to pay expensive rent. As for the future, I’m planning a more formal and decent ensemble, collecting friends who can sing, dance and play instruments. Actually I have thought about it for quite a long time and discussed it with some friends. I know it’s not easy but I think there are two different things in performing art and living in Australia. In China, what you have to do is just to think and write it out, submit it to the government who will then approve and fund you, while in Australia; you have to find yourself sponsors. No financial support, no money.

People once asked me about the difficulty of living in Australia. Well, I think as long as you are willing to strive, you will make it. Take my students for example; their work covers all fields: nurses, doctors, floor layers, cleaners, restaurant owners and beauticians – the only problem is to find a job to do or a major to study, and then you can survive. One of my students born after 1990 in the mainland majored in mining. However, he doesn’t want use his major because of the hard work in mining. Currently, he is selling Shiseido in Myer at Carousel, sometimes he also works in the Casino restaurant. When I ask about his situation, he replies that it’s okay and he’s actually paid a reasonable salary, thus he survives in Australia.
Communication here is not hard either. Australia, from my perspective, is a multicultural country. It has no unique identity except what originates from Aboriginal people. I have little connection with local commercial or political organizations but mainly artists. The Dancers Association will host performances now and then and is granted funding. This performance is just like a multiculturalism research topic. For example, once the director collected several people from different countries, including Africa, England, Spain and others: people with different nationalities, cultural backgrounds and speaking different languages formed a cultural collaboration. I also made a stage play on behalf of China in 2008 to express this cultural collaboration in the form of dance. During this performance, I felt no discrimination or miscommunication at all.

I was once asked that after living in Australia for so many years, do you feel yourself Australian or Chinese? Well, actually, I think the answer is quite clear: I’m more Chinese than the Chinese! Maybe that’s something to do with culture. What I learnt back in China is Chinese dancing and knew more about Chinese culture than others, so deep down I’m Chinese and wherever I go or whatever I do, I’m a Chinese and never Australian. Although I’m a member of the Western Australia Dancers Association, I show up as a Chinese and represent China when attending annual Australian National Day and other performances. Frankly speaking, I’m puzzled too. Having been living in Australia all these years, I have never treated myself as Australian. Even with an Australian passport in my hand for eighteen years, I’m not and will never be an Australian.

Sometimes when I’m alone, I actually feel pity for us immigrants because we don’t know where we belong. Or where we should stay when we are old? Some say they will definitely go back to China where they can do whatever they want, while others are going to stay on both sides. I’m sure that I have never looked on Australia as home and a place to stay after getting old. But I don’t think it’s possible for me to go back to China because we have no house and no feeling of home. Maybe I can stay with my brother, but in spite of the fact that they are good to us, it’s not my own place. Too many things are different from what I’m familiar with so that it’s a little hard for me to fit in.

Now, with our little son going to University, I’m thinking of travelling around the world a bit before I’m too old. I envy my students because they are so young and I often tell them to travel. Dance in the street on the other side of the world and earn money while traveling the world at the same time.