Van Luong |
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Life in Hong Kong Well where we were there were a lot of Chinese people, a lot of Chinese kids, but a lot of different dialects…and so eventually when I started speaking to them, my Vietnamese was completely gone. I don’t remember any of it, because I just felt like if I kept speaking it, I couldn’t fit in because they weren’t speaking the same language I was. After that, it was a lot of Chinese but mainly English, that’s how most of my friends communicated at the time. I started in kindergarden, but only a couple of months because I was a little older than the kids and they bumped me up to first grade. And so that year was just half kindergarden maybe and the rest first grade. The transition, I don’t think it was that hard. But when your parents are refugees, and you have to get a lot of the welfare, and the food stamps, it was hard because I know that, my parents were saying, people look at you when we were spending food stamps in the supermarket, but I think it might have been a little harder for them than it was for us. Looking back, I mean, it’s probably [inaudible], but I don’t think I can take those hardships like my parents. I’m so grateful that we don’t have to right now…. [on how being a refugee altered her outlook on life] I actually don’t think I thought about it when I was younger, but as I’m getting older, I’m feeling like, you know, it kinda shapes my thinking and I’m not too worried about little things. Like I just need everybody to be alright, you know? I don’t really get worked up over the little stuff, when I think back how I got what I’m getting right now, and where I’ve been to be where I am right now. So, that, and you know other stuff. But I think it made me a more optimistic person, a more grateful person. I need to just be very, very grateful that my parents, you know, were there to do that and are here to experience something better than what they had. Yeah, this is the uncle who sponsored us and whose house we lived in for the few months. Yeah, thanks to him, we’re here.
Object Description
Profile of | Van Luong |
Title | Escape from the North |
Profile bio | Van Luong, of Chinese–Vietnamese nationality, was born on November 3, 1973 in Haiphong, Vietnam. Her grandfather owned quite a large amount of land and spoke French, so was quite well-off until in the 1950s, it was seized as part of Ho Chi Minh’s land reform. The political climate in the years immediately following the end of the Vietnam War was extremely volatile. War between the Chinese and the Vietnamese appeared imminent and Van Luong and her family had to flee. They boarded a boat for China with a host of other refugees and ended up at a refugee camp there for 30 days. From there, her family was split up into different camps around Hong Kong. After 18 months, one of Luong’s uncles who made it to the United States in 1974 sponsored her and her family’s trip to America and they arrived on October 30, 1980. It was difficult at first, but they eventually adjusted to their new life. Now residing in El Monte, California with her 4 children, Van Luong has “a great life thanks to my parents having the guts to make the choices that they made.” |
Subject |
Boat people Civilian Profile Refugee Vietnamese Boat People Chinese Chinese-Vietnamese Hong Kong Hong Kong Refugee Camp |
Profiled by | Abugel, Robert; Glander, Sophie; Hicks, Kyle |
Profile date | 2014-03-15 |
Geographic subject (city or populated place) | El Monte; Hong Kong; Haiphong |
Geographic subject (county) | Los Angeles |
Geographic subject (state) | California |
Geographic subject (country) | USA; China; Vietnam |
Coverage date | 1973; 1974; 1980 |
Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/van-luong/ |
Type |
images video |
Format | 1 image; 3 video files; 3 transcripts |
Language | English |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Part of collection | An Other War Memorial -- Memories of the American War in Viet Nam |
Filename | luongvan |
Description
Profile of | Van Luong |
Title | Life in Hong Kong |
Format | 1 transcript, 1p. |
Filename | luongvan-vid2_tr2.pdf |
Full text | Life in Hong Kong Well where we were there were a lot of Chinese people, a lot of Chinese kids, but a lot of different dialects…and so eventually when I started speaking to them, my Vietnamese was completely gone. I don’t remember any of it, because I just felt like if I kept speaking it, I couldn’t fit in because they weren’t speaking the same language I was. After that, it was a lot of Chinese but mainly English, that’s how most of my friends communicated at the time. I started in kindergarden, but only a couple of months because I was a little older than the kids and they bumped me up to first grade. And so that year was just half kindergarden maybe and the rest first grade. The transition, I don’t think it was that hard. But when your parents are refugees, and you have to get a lot of the welfare, and the food stamps, it was hard because I know that, my parents were saying, people look at you when we were spending food stamps in the supermarket, but I think it might have been a little harder for them than it was for us. Looking back, I mean, it’s probably [inaudible], but I don’t think I can take those hardships like my parents. I’m so grateful that we don’t have to right now…. [on how being a refugee altered her outlook on life] I actually don’t think I thought about it when I was younger, but as I’m getting older, I’m feeling like, you know, it kinda shapes my thinking and I’m not too worried about little things. Like I just need everybody to be alright, you know? I don’t really get worked up over the little stuff, when I think back how I got what I’m getting right now, and where I’ve been to be where I am right now. So, that, and you know other stuff. But I think it made me a more optimistic person, a more grateful person. I need to just be very, very grateful that my parents, you know, were there to do that and are here to experience something better than what they had. Yeah, this is the uncle who sponsored us and whose house we lived in for the few months. Yeah, thanks to him, we’re here. |
Archival file | Volume6/luongvan-vid2_tr2.pdf |