Industrialization: Progress or Regression? by Priscilla Torres

According to what I see humanity is immersed in a thought that “only with power and greatness is how things we desire can be achieved”. Many people think that joining any world power is a synonym of progress. Around the 1950s, Puerto Rico became an Associated Free State of the United States. Before that, Puerto Rico was one of the biggest producers of sugar and tobacco along with Cuba. Agriculture was the principal job in the country. When my great-great-grandfather moved from Spain to Puerto Rico, he bought land, and he was dedicated to the cultivation of sugar and tobacco. That was the principal business of my family. When Puerto Rico became a part of the United States, the industrialization empowered the whole country, and many Puerto Ricans thought that the progress had come to Puerto Rico. However, the acclaimed progress, that should have brought help and happiness, affected the family’s finances, agricultural knowledge, and relationships.

As a result of the so-called “progress”, agriculture in Puerto Rico started to decline rapidly. At that time, my great-grandfather was the one who was handling the family business. Workers started to move to the city, and many others immigrated to the United States to acquire a better education and job. As a consequence, my great-grandfather’s business was ruined, and he decided to work with cattle, but in a lower scale. Agriculture in Puerto Rico fell as does a rock falls by a huge precipice that within seconds disappears. In other words, it was completely gone, and it was substituted by commerce and the support of the United States. My grandfather and his brother learned just a little bit about agriculture and cattle, and they only used to work at it on the weekends. However, it was mostly as a hobby, not a lucrative venture.

Another effect of this “progress” was the loss of agricultural knowledge. My grandfather and his siblings were raised in the city in a completely different way from the country side. They studied and worked there. The two boys only learned a little bit about farming the land. Then, my grandfather got married with my grandmother, and my two uncles knew even less about farming than my grandparents. They took as a hobby the cultivation of lettuce and sold it, but also just on weekends. While my uncles grew up, that hobby started to disappear, and the land was starting to be used just for family meetings. While my family was growing in size, the good knowledge of the land was being thrown into a garbage disposal, like something that has no value anymore.

The last and worst effect that the progress brought to my family was precisely the damage of it. Several years ago, many family members used to go to the land to spend time and have a good time all together. Then, those days started to disappear too. Everything began when some of my mom’s cousins said that they wanted to sell the land. This caused various controversies. Some of them wanted to keep it for family meetings. Others simply prefer to ignore anything related to the land. Because before selling it, they have to pay taxes, and in this moment they don’t have that money. Nowadays, my mother and her siblings don’t have a good relationship with all their cousins because of this. Furthermore, the reality is that the relationship with the family is getting damaged, for the blame of a piece of land that is not being used for its principal purpose. A family is an institution that develops the real progress. However, because of the “progress”, most of our institution is about to break.

In conclusion, something that should have meant progress really brought economic problems to my family. It also affected us in our daily lives, and what is worse, in our family relationships. It is incredible to see how that “progress” can really destruct valuable things. Now the question is, does becoming part of a world power really mean that Puerto Ricans will get better things than what we had before? For some, it has meant progress, but for many it has meant the lost of many valuable things.

On December 11, 2001, China formally joined WTO; it was an important day in the economic calendar of China. From that time on, China’s GDP has increased at a compounded
annual growth rate of ten percent， and even recently it has been said that China is the second place on earth. After the WTO membership allowed China a more stable access to foreign markets and China successfully converted its cheap labor power into competitive products, the rocketing export has let Chinese goods fill with the markets in developed countries. Joining the WTO has been a very important event for the development of China at the beginning of the 21st century, and it is a powerful spur to the rapidity of economic growth of China. Against this background, joining the WTO has also brought my family many benefits.

Firstly, both my brother’s and my business have benefited from China joining the WTO. When I was in China, I operated a forwarding company that mainly handled containers for sea transportation. Due to the expanding export, there has been increasing demand for containers over the past eight years; hence, my company got an exciting gain and prospect in the early years of joining the WTO. In addition, my brother works for a five-star hotel. Joining the WTO has brought more businessmen coming to China to do business, so the occupancy rate of the hotel has been increasing and makes his hotel profitable. We have consequently enjoyed the economic benefit derived from China’s WTO membership; the increasing numbers in our bank account have been a testimony of our improving revenue.

Secondly, our daily life has benefited from joining the WTO. One of the main purposes of the WTO is to help trade flow as freely as possible. This means that WTO members can reduce disruptions that caused by unpredictable policy shifts and open up the Chinese market for more international trade. From the year 2002, there has been more imported merchandise in Chinese markets. Generally, the traders import high quality merchandise. The merchandise made in China has to compete with the imported merchandise; thereforce, the Chinese factories have to improve the quality of their products and reduce their prices. In the meantime, the WTO has reduced the tariff duties of China; thus, there is more high quality and cheaper merchandise to be selected in the markets for my family than before
2003. In fact, my family has bought Sony TV instead of Chinese TV, and we also can own
a Toyota because the prices have decreased a lot since China joined the WTO.

Finally, I have stood a better chance of improving my English level. Because of the increasing international trade and investment, many Chinese companies have been crying out
for workers who are proficient in English. Studying English has become extremely popular since 2002. Many schools began to employ teachers from America and England. More English meetings, where many people will gather there on Saturday morning to practice oral English, have come up in schools and parks. We study English hard in order to find better jobs and make a difference in the world around us. Moreover, the WTO entry also has promoted international cultural exchange including import of foreign films, so I have more chances to hear real American pronunciation. In fact, I have improved my English skills a lot since China joined the WTO.

It cannot be denied that there are also challenges from the WTO for China. Banks, gas and water were considered to be natural monopolies before 2002; however, these fields have to be opened for foreign companies now. With the expansion of Chinese industry, the environmental pollution has been increased alarmingly these years. When Chinese labor force becomes expensive in the future, China will also have to face competition from other developing countries. As for my family, there are more benefits than challenges from the WTO. The WTO for my family is probably akin to the treasure in a cave for Ali Baba.

Freedom is What We Want

Did you ever hear about the June 4th Movement or the Tiananmen Square Protest in 1989? It was the darkest day for all Chinese people, especially my family. There were many army tanks and infantries that crushed the students and workers in the middle of Tiananmen Square. After I saw the video of this event on the internet and heard about it from my parents, I was shocked. Moreover, I felt the pain of my uncle’s injury. My family and I will never forget the June 4th incident. In 1989, my whole family still lived in China; we were farmers with low income. At that period, the inflation rate was so high that my family was in deep trouble in terms of finances. My uncle was the only person that had received a university degree in my family. He was an urban worker in Beijing, and he was the only one that was financially supporting my family. My uncle loved China very much, and he decided to join the protest in Tiananmen Square because he felt the government would improve the financial situation for their people. The fighting was ruthless, and during this protest, he lost his leg. Luckily, my uncle managed to survive. My uncle’s experience has deeply affected my grandparents’ mindset and family financially.



The Tiananmen Square massacre deeply impacted my family’s mindset. My grandparents and parents used to be very poor. However, they were still happy, and they felt like they could always say what was on their mind, even to criticize the government because they often felt better afterward. Nevertheless, after this horrible event happened, the Chinese government sealed off all the news related to it. In addition, the police arrested the people who were supporting the protesters and the people who were writing the articles about this event. For example, there was a reporter arrested by the Chinese government because he published his comments about the event in the newspaper. He was sentenced to imprisonment for eleven years and deprived of political rights for two years. Also the government changed the classroom materials, books, and syllabi to cover the truth and distort the facts of this event. Therefore, my family lost the courage to speak, and could not express their opinion freely. Furthermore, many teenagers even today do not know all the details about the June 4th incident.

The June 4th incident also impacted us financially. My uncle lost his legs, so he could not stay in Beijing or take care of himself either. Therefore, my family lost our main income supporter and had an extra burden. This situation was extremely bad and got worse. For example, the police arrested him twice as he spread the truth by writing articles about the Tiananmen Square massacre and posted them in the community center. My grandparents had to pay his bail to get him out of jail. However, it was hard for my grandparents to gather that huge amount of money. My grandparents had to sell off their property little by little in order to pay the bail every time my uncle was arrested. As a result of this, my father who was already in the US had to give up his education and try to find a job to support my family. Luckily, my aunt helped our family a lot, and finally, we became US residents.


After migrating to the US, my parents could not stop thinking of reversing the miscarriage of justice for the June 4th incident. My uncle was not a criminal; he did not think about demolishing the Chinese government; he just wanted to fight for our rights to live better. My parents believe that he should have gotten compensation and an apology from the Chinese government. However, he is still living in China as he loves his country. However, he never received compensation or an apology from the Chinese government. Compared to my uncle’s life in China, I feel lucky now. I can say and do everything since I live in the US. Unfortunately, it’s so sad for my parents, and it is also bad that they will never go back to China; they do not believe there will be any improvement in the future. There is nothing worse than losing hope.

The past June 4th was the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. There were millions of people standing outside in Tiananmen Square, and they prayed for those people who were involved. Besides, they wanted to let the Chinese government know that no matter how many years had passed by, and no matter how they had tried to cover the truth, there are still people who know what happened on that day. I am glad to be here in America and to be able to talk about anything I want to. I love the freedom that the US government gives me. Being a Chinese American, I will still never forget what the Chinese government did to my family, especially my uncle. Still today, there are billions of Chinese suffering from poor government policies. In addition, all I can do is to support them in terms of donations. Furthermore I hope that the United Nations may give the Chinese government some pressure in order to force them to improve their human rights record and to solve the problems of the poverty gap. Although my uncle’s experience does not have compensation or an apology, my whole family will always honor him in our hearts.

Bad Dream
Who will be the next president you vote for? This will be a big responsibility, so please do not make a mistake. It is almost impossible to know who will be a good president. Almost all of them make mistakes. Brazil had a particularly bad experience with Fernando Collor de Mello. He was corrupt, and many Brazilian people, including my family suffered when he was president. As a result of his bad presidency, people lost jobs, their businesses and homes. From the moment he was elected as president in Brazil in 1990, my family had a bad experience that they had never had before.


One effect of Fernando Collor’s presidency was that, my parents lost their business. After his took over as president of Brazil, things didn’t go as well for my parents. We had a nice home, expensive cars in the garage, a soaring business, but we lost several material items. My father owned a mechanic business. My father’s business did well for ten years. However, his business was not the same during Fernando Collor’s presidency. People didn’t have money to spend on anything. It was time to save whatever they had. The only money people had was for buying food. In addition, Fernando Collor froze the Brazilian citizens’ bank accounts, and they were unable to deposit or withdraw money from their banks. Therefore, my father lost his clients, and his business declined. He couldn’t pay the rent for his business, no money was coming in, and no money was going out. As a result, he had to close down his business.

In addition, the bad financial situation caused my parents to become depressed. My parents took a long time to collect all the material things that they had in the past. It was not easy to handle this bad hardships. It was the first time since they got married that they suffered with financial situation. They were very depressed. It was strange to see my father when he came home because he was not the same person anymore. He didn’t smile like he always used to. He was very stressed and complained about money every day. My mother just cried. She didn’t have a job anymore because her job was to help my father in his office. It was difficult for my brother to watch all of this. We were just kids, and there was nothing we could do to help them. It was sad to see how money could affect my family the way did.

Another family that was affected by this situation in Brazil was my uncle’s family. My uncle, Eremar has three sons, and two of them were in high school during the period Collor was president. My uncle had a nice job that paid very well. He worked for Ford Motors. He was there for twenty four years, and he was able to provide a good private school education for his children. However, this crisis in Brazil made my uncle lose his job. For this reason, he wasn’t able to continue paying for my cousin’s high school, so my cousin had to transfer to a public school. They didn’t like the idea of moving. They thought a public high school would not give them a good education. They studied there for three years until my uncle got hired into a better job. Finally, with a good paying job, my uncle was able again to provide a good education for his children.

A change in the presidency helped everyone. It was time to change, and everyone hoped for a better leader. In 1992, the government had voted for Fernando Collor to leave the presidency. This was good news for all Brazilian people, including my family. The progress for my family was a little bit slow. However, my father reopened a new business, got back his old clients, and made new ones. It was a bad dream which we were excited to wake up from. This effect didn’t only shock my family, but the entire nation. After many Brazilian people, including my family, made many mistakes with our choice for president, I believe today we have the right one, and our country is an path of progress and growth.

Working for Change by Qimei Huang

In the 19th century, there were no cars in China. Many people worked on farms to earn a living. Do not be surprised. It is the truth. In the past, the emperor was afraid of being invaded by other countries; thus, he made a decision that China stop communicating with other countries. At the same time, the world was developing fast. When other countries were becoming stronger, my country stayed immersed in tradition. Other countries started finding new places to develop, but we were behind the times. There is a truth that people who lag behind become vulnerable. As a result, China began to be invaded by other countries. Because of war, and not communicating to the world, China was poor and fell behind in the world. Driving to advance the country, the important leader, Deng Xiaoping, realized that China had to connect with the world. That was the economic opening of China which was a turning point in history. It happened in 1978. It affected a lot of families, and our family was one of them. The opening of China, as a light in the evening, gave hope to my whole family, and enabled us to change our lives.

At first, my grandfather had hardships in his life. My grandfather was born in the 1930s. At that time, China suffered a lot of wars. Other countries came and wanted to control our country. Because of corruption and incompetence, there were so many poor people in China, who suffered from hunger all the time. My grandfather had already started to work when he was seven years old and he eventually started to go to school. But after one year, because of no money for tuition, he had to drop his classes and started to work as a cowherd. He worked for landlords who had a lot of farms. He helped them take care of buffaloes. However, the landlords in China treated their workers very badly. They always paid people very little for hard labor. They did not even care about his workers’ lives. For example, one day, my grandfather took a nap when he was looking after the buffaloes. He fell asleep and came back late. When the landlord found out, he got angry, threw my grandfather into the river and left. My grandfather was not able to swim, but he struggled in the water for long time and managed to get out. Years later, my grandfather grew up and had a family. At that time, China had some success in World War II, so every farmer in China could get their own farm. Also, my grandfather got his own farm for the first time. Meanwhile, he knew the importance of the education so he worked hard to let his son, my father, finish school.

Secondly, because of my grandfather, my father realized studying could change his fate. He wanted to have a better life instead of working on the farm. In addition, when he was a child, he needed to help family do household chores and farm work. He got up at 6 o’clock every morning and watered the vegetables before going to school. After school, he also went to the farm to work instead of playing with friends. If you never worked on a farm, you might not know how hard it is working in the sun all day. Even though they got tired and sweaty, they could not stop because they lived that way. Because of his hard childhood, my father decided he should get rid of the farm and get a better life. During school, he had studied hard and was never late for class. He nevertheless failed to get admitted to the university. It was hard to get into university at that time. It was like thousands of people passing a single-plank bridge at the same time. However, my father never lost hope. He worked hard in the company and waited for another chance. Life was fair. In 1978, the economic opening of China occurred, and the market required a lot of highly skilled people. Companies needed people who had a high education, so they selected people who already worked for them from the company and paid for them to go to university. Because of his hard work, my father was selected. After he finished the university, he got the better job and moved to the city.

From my father’s experience, he taught me that knowledge is the key to opening doors to success. These words are like a plant growing up in my heart. My father did not want me to have a hard childhood as he did. He always gave me what I needed. I have never worked on the farm. I do not worry about food, and I have a happy life. In addition, my father has done everything possible for me to get a better education. He had said that if I could get accepted to a good school, he would try his best to support me to finish it. I was encouraged. They don’t want me to give up my dream due to a lack of money. Now, I came to Chicago to advance my education. When we chat online through the Internet, they always remind me to study hard. They ask me about the exams and school, so I tell myself I will try my best to do it and do not make them disappointed.

Opportunity is waiting for people who have prepared. The opening of China offered a chance to my family to achieve their goals. My family has worked hard for a better life since my grandfather struggled to support his family. They kept going even though there were many difficulties. They believe that dream will become true by their persistence. I appreciate the life my father has given me. There are no difficult things in the world; only things you do not want to do.

Good Side of Militarism

In 1965, the military force of Rio de Janeiro took my grandpa to jail for seven days for no reason. My grandfather had a big fancy bar in a very nice place in downtown Rio de Janeiro. One night passed 10 pm, my grandfather had a drunken man annoying him and making noise in his bar. My grandfather was asking him to get out the bar, but the drunken man didn’t want to leave. While my grandfather was trying to kick the man out of the bar, an army truck was driving by, and they saw them arguing in the bar. And because the quarrel was at 10 pm, the military force stopped and beat them up. Then, they took my grandfather to jail for seven days. Yes! I’m talking about the militarism in Brazil, and what my family learned and gained from those years.

Good side of militarism: Safety. My grandfather thought that perhaps

the militarism could be a good thing for him and his family. People usually don’t like changes, and with this change for dictatorship it was the same. However not everyone didn’t like it. My grandfather had good thoughts about militarism. Militarism is directly connected to orders. Everything is well organized and standardized with respect if you follow the rules. Most of the time violence is the number one problem in Rio. My grandfather and grandmother had five little kids to raise. As most parents want to raise their children with good manners and principles, my grandfather thought that if the military is stipulating some rules, they would felt more safety and raise their five children learning to accept the rules and be respectful to them. Maybe that is the reason my father was so strict and rigid sometimes and raised my brother and me teaching us to be obedient and respectful.

Even though my grandfather and his family felt safe during this time, they were not able to speak freely or express their thoughts. One of my grandfather’s sons, my uncle, was a singer. He used to sing Brazilian Popular Music (MPB) with his guitar in bars around Rio. He met a lot of famous MPB singers and he told me that many of them were exiled to Argentina and Chile, so the military wouldn’t kill them. The reason is because musicians were trying to express their indignation through the songs. The militarism even limited the access to some channels that didn’t talk about the militarism. They chose the books people should read, and movies they should watch. My father was little in that time, but he saw all the challenges his parents went through, and today he is very glad to see my brother and me living in freedom. He raised us teaching us that we are free to talk with respect, we can choose what to follow, and we can express our own ideas and thoughts.

The militarism had a positive affect particularly on my family. After the dictatorship, my grandfather was able to give each of his five children a good amount of money, enough to buy a good house. My grandfather had bars, a big supermarket, and he was an investor in some companies and banks. The economy during those years (1967 – 1973) was perfect; historians called that period of time the Economic Miracle in Brazil. The reason was because the Gross National Product in Brazil had increased 12% a year. The unemployment was low because there were a lot of jobs. There was less corruption and less inflation, so investors made a lot of money. The other reason is because the interest on savings accounts was high, and lucky were the people that had extra money to leave in these accounts. These are the advantages my family experienced because later on, my parents got married. They didn’t have so many things in life yet, and with that money my parents could buy a very nice house to live and raise my brother and me.

Does it seems possible that people can receive good effects from military dictatorship? In fact, my family had some. Mainly our nice house and everything my parents learned with my grandparents and taught us. One day my father told me that when he was in college the teachers couldn’t say anything bad about the government. Many teachers, politicians, and people that talked too much disappeared, and until today their still families don’t know where their bodies are. I would say that militarism in Brazil was a good thing for my generation today because we have received the inheritance and have freedom to live. However I’m sure it was not easy for my grandparents and their generation. They suffered so much, but I admire my grandparents and I’m very thankful for everything they had done for all of us, mainly for my father.

Unusual Life

The United States is a country where people can find gold. This is why many people desire to come to the US, no matter what kind of methods or procedures they use. Everyone knows China is the most populous country, but the population of the country has been the cause of poor economy. Therefore, there are a lot of people who want to go to the US to pursue a better life and improve their economic status. According to my father’s words, in 1992, it was a rush hour of stowaways to the US, especially for the people from my city, ChangLe, in FuJian Province of China. It also was the time that my father decided to stowaway to the US. It implied my family was going to have an unusual life because it was not easy for my family to come to the US and to live in this new country.

My father lived in very poor economic conditions when he was in China. My grandparents were farmers, who depended on selling vegetables that they planted in the fields to support their family. They could not afford to send my father to school. From the age of eight years old, he started to go around selling vegetables with my grandfather. They worked from early morning to night whether the weather was nice or bad. My father was a dutiful son. Even though he hurt his foot, he still helped my grandfather to reduce the family’s economic problems. Unfortunately, one day, because my grandfather was injured by a hoe, he could not do heavy labor anymore. Our family economy became more and more tight. Thus, my father made up his mind to stowaway to the US, regardless of the danger.

Because of his decision, he began his new life in the US. Even though he didn’t have any legal documents, he still worked very hard. The first four years he worked to pay his debt of stowaway. After he repaid all his debt, our family life gradually became better. He used his salary to build a house for our family in my hometown, ChangLe. On the other hand, there was another problem that surfaced. My father gradually became older. He realized that he wanted to have a boy. Unfortunately, he didn’t have official papers to go back to China, so he decided to arrange for my mother to the US. When my mother came to the US successfully, my father gave all of money that he earned and saved to the person who worked for the stowaway gang. This is the origin of my little brother, who is twelve years old younger than me and was born in the US.

Coming to the US was not my American Dream but my nightmare. For our family reunion, my parents did their best to apply for me and my sister to come to the US. As they wanted, we did come to the US through the immigration. This was the beginning of my nightmare because I was not to face an American Dream but rather a bunch of debt. The first two years in the US were horrible years for me. I had to work to help my parents. I could not go to school to learn English as other kids did. I worked at a restaurant in another city. When I quit, or got fired, I needed to find another restaurant. Also, I had to live in an apartment, which was provided by the boss with other workers who I didn’t really know. I felt live alone and was homeless. There was no one who I could chat with. The most difficult time that I experienced when I got discriminated against by some people very often due to my lack of English. Indeed, I didn’t speak English, so I could not complain about this. However, that time was very difficult for me. I had to put up with everything that made me upset and unhappy.

Coming to the US and living in the US was not an American Dream for my family. Our past years, we lived and worked for debt instead of for our own life, and we still do today. In the US, I did change my life a lot. I assume that others might change in the same way. Some people might accomplish their American Dream in the US, and someone might not. Everyone’s experience is different in the US. They might be sad or happy. For me, I don’t even want to think back to my past two years in the US. When someone asks me, “How long have you been here?” I always lie. I know lying is a bad behavior, but I don’t have a choice. I don’t want people know that I have already been here three and a half years. Even though I have been studying in school, my parents always ask me to drop my classes and work instead. Actually, I don’t want to go back to my previous life, but I cannot obey my parents. I don’t know what I should do. Should I going to work or continue studying?