CHINESE

IMPRESSIVE CHINESE MAKE IT BIG HERE

First time I heard of China Town was in Los Angeles. My brother-in-law Chethan Babu had booked a room for me in a Motel at China Town. When I went to San Francisco, I realized that the China Town here was famous for shopping. Every big city in US has a China town, along with other towns.

Even Alan Lee, my tourist guide to Los Vegas and Grand Canyon was a Chinese immigrant. Wherever I went for shopping, Made in China tag was glaring. The cheap labor in China has forced most of the companies and shops in US to outsource their basic needs from China. Most of the American production industry seems to have shifted to China.

David Jin, an American Chinese businessman, builds the skywalk at Grand Canyon. He has spent couple of million dollars to build the infrastructure and the construction of other facility is still going on. It should be a hard bargain, as Canyon falls in India nation territory. The West Canyon ridges belong to four tribes – Halaupai, Zoopai, Havezoopai and Yallapai. (Barring Halaupai, the spellings of other tribes may be wrong, as I picked it based on pronunciation. Halaupai is pronounced as Valapai.).

Jin has taken the land on 20-year-lease from native Indians and part of the income goes to them also. It is a big risk as he is not sure of lease continuation after 20 years. If not, he is sure to incur loss.

But most impressive Chinese I met was Alan, who confessed to me that he was an illegal Chinese immigrant. Alan grew up in Northern part of China – bordering erstwhile Soviet Union. To make a living, he started working with fishing boats and reached Japan. Using his friend’s passport – changing photo on it, Alan reached USA coast.

This happened 14 years ago and next year, he also got his brother to USA in the same manner. During his initial days, Alan sold fish in the market. ``I did not know the language. Some of my Spanish friends put up a board, indicating type of fishes and price of it. I used to communicate in sign language and my Chinese friends started wondering when I picked up Spanish,’’ Alan laughs.

14-years later, Alan has come a long way. He worked hard and established his own tropical fish import-export business. His brother went to university and now looking after that business.

Alan speaks good English and guides tourists to earn extra money for the family. He is married and has a child. Every tourist pay him 6$ a day as service charges and some pay more.

When asked about his parents, Alan lowered his head and voice: ``they don’t like you Vinay…. They wanted us to be there. That is a difficult situation.’’ I did not ask about his other siblings, as he was emotionally charged. He bounced back in a minute with smile.

At the end of the journey, I was not left with any doubt that the Chinese are going to make it big in US and it is not surprising if they start ruling the economy there.