Though the literal translation of the Chinese word for America is Mei Guo, “beautiful country,” America’s promise of being the Wangs’ land of milk and honey evades them, along with many of the immigrant families they encounter.

Though Wang’s memoir does not explicitly address her Jewishness, her story is synonymous with the Jewish narrative of being a stranger in a strange land, marked by her resilience and strength, choosing to address trauma, rather than turning away from it.īut Wang’s story living in America strays far from the American dream. She is also the founder of the New York Reform synagogue Central Synagogue’s Jews of Color group and member of their Racial Justice Task Force. Wang received her bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and graduated from Yale Law School, and she is now an attorney, actualizing her childhood aspiration. “Beautiful Country” | Courtesy of Doubleday Books 7, captures her first five years in the United States and presents it generously through the naive, yet poignant, lens of her childhood eyes. Wang’s memoir “Beautiful Country,” published on Sept. The tumultuous journey of the two of them - undocumented Chinese immigrants joining Wang’s father who had lived in New York for two years - foreshadows the next five years of Wang’s life, from age 7 to 12.ĭuring those five years living in Brooklyn, Wang’s family lived in hei, in the dark, navigating undocumented life through blue-collar jobs with poor wages, subjection to racist stereotypes and a profound paranoia of their undocumented status being discovered.

We do not share data with third party vendors.ĭuring Qian Julie Wang’s flights from Shijiazhuang, China, to Beijing to New York City, her mother was hellishly motion sick. Get Jewish Exponent's Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories

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