Narratives of Migration and Diaspora: An Exploration into the Liang Family’s Alternating Experience as Sojourners and Settlers

Abstract

This paper explores the significant periods of migration and diaspora within my family, the Liangs. It will take the form of a personal essay and will rely primarily on interviews conducted with family members to create a coherent account of my family’s historical narrative. Supplementing these narratives will be historical and socio--?political analysis. The paper will focus on three primary time periods: beginning with my grandfather, Liang Chao--?wei’s, educational sojourn to America in the 1920s as a student at Tsinghua College. This section will also examine the historical origins of Tsinghua and the challenges he and other students faced on their diasporic path towards achieving national redemption. The second period of diaspora explores the family’s displacement from China after the rise of the Communist Party in 1949 and will examine the family’s pursuits to seek refuge in Hong Kong, as well as the struggles they faced in transitioning to their new life as refugees. The final period of displacement involves the family’s immigration to America in 1963. It will investigate the political backdrop that led to the liberalization of America’s immigration policy that allowed the family to successful immigrate to the United States and begin their lives as Chinese Americans.