Odyssey of a Taishan American

$12.99
by James L Eng

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The use of coaching books systematically deceived the American immigration system during the years following the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Follow Jim’s life as an eight-year-old immigrant from Taishan whose diligent memorization of false identities, dates and places erased all memories of his boyhood in China. After assimilation and education in Texas facing language difficulties, isolation, and eventually academic success, he then overcomes the institutional racism of the 1950s, and reaches a plateau of middle class America during the Cold War. He finds himself oddly suited to the silence and secrecy shrouding his work with the military and NASA, and yet as he lives the American Dream he also sees the world as a Chinese man in a racist society. Mr. Eng wrote this memoir at the age of 95 and attributes his health, long life, and success to his beautiful wife Lan. James Leigh Eng worked for the U.S. Government during the Cold War as an electronic engineer in many civil service assignments like the secret Stanely R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex near Minot, ND, and at NASA as an aerospace technologist during the Apollo project.

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