Assignment #3: Portrait Series

For this assignment, I photographed and spoke with my Nai-Nai (Chinese for grandmother), Shirley Chien. I have always found her story of coming to the United States as an immigrant very interesting. Like many Asian immigrant women, she had to stay in Taiwan with my dad until my Yei-Yei (grandfather) had gone back to school and found a stable job in New York City. When she arrived in the US in August of 1971, she began to work many different jobs to help the family. In addition to cooking and cleaning, she had her own Chinese restaurant, a sewing business, and taught Chinese school. The assimilation of my family and our culture has always fascinated me and my Nai-Nai’s story demonstrates how they stayed a part of the Chinese community while also integrating into American culture. Between 1971 and 2017, my grandparents lived in and around New York City. For the past 20 years, they lived in Flushing, Queens, one of the furthest east neighborhoods in the city. Flushing has a majority Asian population and is often referred to as New York City’s second Chinatown. While living in Flushing, they were easily accepted and a part of the Chinese community. However, when they moved to Vermont three years ago to be closer to family, they found Vermont to be a culture shock. There is very little Chinese culture in VT compared to New York City. Once again, my Nai-Nai had to assimilate into a different culture and environment, finding her place in an equally startling place as New York City once was to her in the 70s. In the past few years, she has joined a mahjong group at the local library and met other people in the Chinese community through the local Asian grocery stores. When I look at my Nai-Nai, I see a woman who has embraced so much change in her life to provide for her family. I see a guiding figure in my life who has always worked hard to adapt to these changes and find her place no matter where she is.