Coming to America
COLUMBUS, OHIO
Jian He and her husband, Li Wang, had planned to return to their friends and family in China when their studies at Ohio State University were completed. But the Chinese army’s slaying of student demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 changed those plans.
With the help of her union, the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA/AFSCME Local 11), He was able to settle in this country and keep her job as a state demographer studying and making predictions about populations.
The decision to stay in America was not an easy one, says He, 47. “It was a family decision, not a personal decision. As a mother, I had to think about what was good for the whole family. I think this country has a lot of opportunities. If you work hard, study hard, you can get what you want.”
OPPORTUNITY. In 1984, He accepted a prestigious United Nations scholarship to study for a master’s degree at Ohio State. She had a bachelor’s degree in economics from Beijing University, but demography wasn’t offered as a course of study in China so she seized the opportunity.
Still, it was a tough decision. Though her husband was able to join her a year later on a scholarship from Ohio State, their young son, Tony, was left in the care of his parents in Beijing and didn’t join the couple in the United States until 1987.
But America offered the family other opportunities. An only child herself, He says, “I wanted to have a daughter, to have two children. And in China, I couldn’t do that.” China’s laws restrict urban couples to one child each.
In 1990, with her husband and son both living with her in Columbus, He gave birth to daughter Connie. She also completed the course work for her doctorate and accepted a highly specialized job with the Ohio Department of Development. Her husband had finished his studies and was working for the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services.
But labor laws designed to protect American workers’ rights created a number of hurdles for He and her employer, who needed to prove that her job could not be filled by any qualified, available U.S. worker. She turned to the union, and with the assistance of OCSEA officers and staff, finally got the work visa she needed.
“Jian’s position had been posted and filled in accordance with the contract and with the law,” says OCSEA Pres. Ron Alexander, who is also an AFSCME International vice president. “Jian was a member in a tight spot with little time to get out. We were glad the union could help her.”
He is still enthusiastic about the help her union offered: “The people from unions are nice, and they always help when you have problems.”
TWO HOMETOWNS. Last summer, He and her son and husband applied to be U.S. citizens. He says her children are already American in many ways: “My son came here when he was four and a half, and my daughter was born in this country. They are totally American. They speak English much better than Chinese. They like American food.”
Still, He hopes her children will maintain a connection with their Chinese heritage and she sends them to school to learn the language.
“I still want them to know Chinese so they can communicate with their relatives,” says He. “They will not live in China, but I want them to visit and maybe in the future they can work in China for an American company.”
There’s a lot about her native land that He misses. “I have many friends and relatives there. I miss all of them. I miss the food. I miss the city [of Beijing]. I miss the culture. America has only two hundred years of history. China has two thousand.” She visits China every two to three years. China’s economic and political conditions are improving, He believes, and she talks about possibly going back there to teach after she has retired. “Beijing is my first hometown and Columbus is my second.”
By Alison S. Lebwohl
