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Oral histories are intimate conversations between and among people who have generously agreed to share these recordings with BHS’s archives and researchers. Please listen in the spirit with which these were shared. BHS abides by the General Principles & Best Practices for Oral History as agreed upon by the Oral History Association and expects that use of this material will be done with respect for these professional ethics.
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[Last name, First name], Oral history interview conducted by [Interviewer’s First name Last name], [Month DD, YYYY], [Title of Collection], [Call #]; Brooklyn Historical Society.
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Yu Rong Zhu
Oral history interview conducted by Mary Lui
April 23, 1993
Call number: 1994.007.29
0:13 - 自我介绍,在广东的60年, 工程师生涯,1988年抵达三藩市 Self-introduction, 60 years in Guangzhong, work as civil engineer, arriving in San Francisco in 1988
7:23 - 年迁移纽约,家庭团圆并定居日落公园,生活开支 Moving to New York in 1990, family reunion and settling in Sunset Park, living expenses
15:27 - 对比纽约和广州的公共安全, 在日落公园一带发生抢劫和其他犯罪行为 Comparing public safety between New York and Guangzhou, robbery and crimes around Sunset Park
26:47 - 他的孩子妻子和他们的职业, 帮人阅读和代写信件, 重归中国的不确定 His children, wife and their occupations, reading and typing letters for people, uncertainty about returning to China
34:31 - 重拾来到美国前的记忆, 台山祖籍和家族族谱历史 Recollecting memories before coming to America, Taishan origin and family genealogical history
45:34 - 新移民要面对的来美国前后的那些困难 The difficulties faced before and after coming to America as new immigrants
55:47 - 对唐人街的态度,八大道的变化和发展, 在邻里的日常生活 Attitudes toward Chinatown, changes and development at 8th Avenue, daily life in the neighborhood
63:47 - 跟家人和其他种族的人的关系,在美国的合法与不合法的中国人及其他日常问题 Relationships with family and people of other races, legal or illegal Chinese in America, daily problems
Interview Description
Oral History Interview with Yu Rong Zhu
Yu Rong Zhu, born in 1927 in Taishan, China, lived through the Japanese Invasion of China, the Chinese Civil War, and the Cultural Revolution. Zhu's status as a civil engineer protected him from governmental persecution, and he was satisfied with life. But his children, who lost educational and professional opportunities to the Cultural Revolution, urged him to immigrate to America. With his wife, Zhu moved to San Francisco in 1988; his children soon followed. At the time of the interview, Zhu was sixty-six years old and lived in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn with his wife and eldest daughter.
In this interview, Yu Rong Zhu discusses his first sixty years of life, in which he witnessed the Japanese Invasion, the Chinese Civil War, and the Cultural Revolution. He reflects on the decision to move to America, his first two years in San Francisco, and his subsequent move to Brooklyn's Chinatown (or the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn). Zhu compares the lifestyle, living conditions, and apartment rental situation in the Chinatown communities of Brooklyn and Manhattan. He considers neighborhood crime, inter-ethnic relations, and the difficulties of life as a Chinese immigrant. Interview in Cantonese conducted by Mary Lui.
Brooklyn Historical Society collaborated with the Chinatown History Museum (now the Museum of Chinese in America) in order to conduct a series of oral histories with residents of the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Cantonese, Mandarin, and English language interviews focused on what was then a new presence of Chinese and Asian immigrants concentrated along Eighth Avenue. Among the topics that are explored in the interviews are tensions between different groups of Chinese immigrants, crime and safety in the neighborhood, Sunset Park's relationship to Manhattan's Chinatown, and how long-term residents of Sunset Park had adjusted to the area's "newcomers."
Citation
Zhu, Yu Rong, Oral history interview conducted by Mary Lui, April 23, 1993, New Neighbors: Sunset Park's Chinese Community records, 1994.007.29; Brooklyn Historical Society.People
- Zhu, Yu Rong
Topics
- Chinese Americans
- Communism
- Crime
- Ethnic neighborhoods
- Ethnic relations
- History
- Housing
- Immigrants
Places
- Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.)
- China
- Chinatown (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
- Chinatown (New York, N.Y.)
- Guangzhou (China)
- San Francisco (Calif.)
- Sunset Park (New York, N.Y.)
Finding Aid
New Neighbors: Sunset Park's Chinese Community records