After Life

“If we don’t change, this government will fall.” This was said by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. After the Cultural Revolution, China was very poor and damaged. The paramount leader of China, Deng Xiaoping saw that the country needed another revolution. Therefore, he presented his plan, “The Reform and Opening-Up Policy,” which was designed to help the economy of the country. It opened the gate of China to let foreigners go into China to do business, and to let the citizens travel abroad to other countries. Before The Reform and Opening-Up Policy, it was very hard to get in and out of the country. The gate was closed. If you wanted to go some other place, you needed to ask your local government office to get an approval statement to prove you could go to your desired destination. It was impossible for people to go to the United States or other countries. After The Reform and Opening-Up Policy, it not only boosted up the economy, it also allow people to move to other countries as well. The Reform and Opening-Up Policy had changed many things in my family, including the financial status, lifestyle, and the freedom to move to anywhere.

After The Reform and Opening-Up Policy was promoted, the financial status of the country and my family had a dramatic change. Since the government started to let people to have their own business, my great grandfather opened a company in the city to sell imported goods. The business was going very well. Because of the gate had just opened, people were craving new things that came from the outside world. My great grandfather earned a lot of money, thousands times more than he used to earn before the Policy was initiated. He used to earn nothing other than food tickets and daily supply tickets from the government. Before The Reform and Opening-Up Policy, people couldn’t have their own business. In fact, everything belonged to the government, and everyone had to work together for it. They got their food and daily supply tickets from the government every month. Since my great grandfather started to earn money, our life began changing for better. We had so much money, more than we could ever imagine. We got to buy whatever we wanted, and go anywhere we want. For example, my great grandfather bought a car for my father, he was only ten years old. He was the only one in his school that has his own car and driver. At home, we didn’t have to do household works anymore because we had over twenty servants in our house. My family’s life was very luxurious at that time.

In addition, since The Reform and Opening-Up Policy, our lifestyle has one hundred and eighty degree change from before. Before my family become rich, we had to work almost every day ,and there were not so many entertainments we could enjoy. However, after the gate was opened, so many new things from the outside world came into China and came into our life. We had more new toys to play with and more things to discover; consequently, we didn’t even have time to do what we used to do. Shopping was became our new job. We went shopping every single day, and all we do was shopping and enjoying high-tea with our upper class friends. These things would never have crossed our mind before we were poor. Now, we cannot go back to live our old lives.

Meanwhile, another effect of The Reform and Opening-Up Policy was the freedom to move out of the country. Because of that, I got to come to the United States, and my life has changed ever since. Living in the United States is very different than living in China. In the United States, you can get whole bunch benefits of freedom. The United States is a free country. You can do whatever you want, and say whatever you want. More importantly, it is a new start of my life. Living here my life is beginning to change again, and I wanted it to happen. I was so tired of who I used to be. As of today, I want to be a new person. Someone I never knew before. Living in the United States is so much fun. Since I live here alone by myself, without parents supervising, I can do whatever I like to do just like others in this country. However living in the United States is also hard for me. Now I am living in a new country with my great grandfather’s legacy and my family’s help, and I have to restart all over again by myself. I have to learn a new language, which is very hard to learn. I have to work to earn money to pay for my rent and tuition because I have no money. I did take any money from my family when I came here. So, I am on my own, but I am sure I will work this out. I will succeed without my family’s help because I am in the United States of America. In this country, there is a lot of freedom and opportunity. Everyone will find a new part of themselves here. Everyone can reinvent themselves.

The Reform and Opening-Up Policy was a huge success. It changed my family’s financial status, lifestyle and let me live in the United States. It had changed my family’s life from head to toe, and it was not only changed my family, it also changed everyone in the country. It even changed the character of China in the world. I am very glad that Deng Xiaoping presented The Reform and Opening-Up Policy. Now that I am living in a new nation, I will continue to reinvent myself.