Beautiful Country: A Memoir

Qian’s mother taught Qian about the importance of duty and hard work. She was a constant figure in Qian’s childhood and her closest companion. An intelligent and creative woman, Ma Ma made ordinary tasks into games and sparked Qian’s creative imagination. Qian felt a special duty to her mother, often taking on the role of protector. Ma Ma confided in Qian her worries and fears, often sharing details of adult life that Qian was too young to process without internalizing trauma.

In the US, Ma Ma, who had been a math professor in China, worked a number of grueling menial jobs—as an undocumented immigrant, she had little choice about where and how to earn a living. After contemplating suicide at the subway station, she decided to turn things around and build a better life for her family. Ma Ma went to graduate school to study computer science. After Ba Ba hit her and refused to move for better prospects, Ma Ma packed up their things and drove Qian to Canada, where they could pursue a better life.

Qian’s father had been an English professor in China until his radical anti-Communist views ultimately led him to flee that country. In Qian’s early childhood, Ba Ba loved to dance and play. He was bright and joyful and loved to laugh. In the evenings, he would take her to the dance hall with him and let her stand on his feet as they swayed to the music.

However, was never able to shake, however, the trauma of his past. Though he found a job as a clerk for an immigration lawyer in the US, Ba Ba could not let go of the paranoia and anxiety that came from his undocumented status and his conviction that the US would never provide opportunities for Chinese immigrants. He grew increasingly angry, distant, and, ultimately, violent. He believed that there was nothing he could do to improve their lives, that the cards were stacked against him and his family. This translated into his constant discouragement of Qian’s ambitions and talent, and his eventual abuse of her mother.

James Lombardi was a white male customer at Ma Ma’s hair salon. He was notorious for his creepy behavior and for singling out the youngest and most attractive salon workers, whom he would grope without repercussions. Ma Ma soon became a chosen favorite, selected to give him haircuts and scalp massages.

James, whom the Wangs referred to as Lao Jim, started taking Ma Ma and Qian to McDonald’s on the weekends. For the Wangs, the cheap fast food was an unaffordable treat. James would pay for their meal, flashing twenties from his wallet. Once Mimi, one of James’s girlfriends, told Ma Ma that James had gross thoughts about Qian, Ma Ma made sure that they were never alone with James without Ba Ba’s presence. Although it was humiliating and unsavory, the Wangs never rejected James outright; he later found a cat for Qian and allowed Ma Ma to practice driving in his car.