"In 1969, my parents were sent to the countryside as part of the...

"In 1969, my parents were sent to the countryside as part of the Cultural Revolution. Ask anyone from China, they will know what I’m talking about. I was only eight years old, and I lived alone in my house for three years. There was one other girl with me. She was eleven, and her parents had also been sent away. Nothing really seems like a struggle compared to that. I worked three jobs when I first moved here, while going to school. But even then it seemed like the hard days were behind me."