I hope everyone who works overseas can live as Ding Shangbiao
At the beginning of 2010, the movie "Avatar" released in Japan was once "stolen the limelight" by a documentary in the same period.
This documentary was aired on Japan's Fuji TV several years ago, and the show is still booming, and the occupancy rate once surpassed "Avatar".
The story in the film sparked heated discussions in the community, and brought tears to the eyes of many people.
The protagonist is a Chinese—to be precise, a Chinese who is illegally staying in Japan to "work illegally."
The documentary is called "Living with Tears", which won the Best Documentary Award of the Japan Broadcasting Culture Foundation that year.
The 109-minute film was filmed and produced by the crew for 10 years.
Like the title, everyone who has watched the film shed tears from the experience of the master.
Source: Douban Screenshot
The protagonist is named Ding Shangbiao. He was an educated youth in rural Anhui and returned to Shanghai with his wife.
As his studies were interrupted and he had no skills, he could only work as a cook and logistician, and his life was difficult.
In 1989, Ding Shangbiao was 35 years old.
A friend in Japan said, "The color TVs, refrigerators, and microwave ovens that the Japanese don't want are left on the road and can be used when they are picked up." This aroused his desire to go abroad.
He planned to study in Japan, and borrowed all the people who could borrow with his wife, barely making up 420,000 yen, which was equivalent to their family's 15-year salary at the time.
In June of that year, he embarked on a plane to Tokyo under the watchful eyes of his wife.
Screenshot of the documentary "Living with Tears".
Ding Shangbiao's first stop in Japan was in Akan, Hokkaido, a remote and bitter place.
He intends to work while studying to repay his debts, but part-time work is forbidden here.
There was no financial means to live in the local area. After communicating with the school failed, Ding Shangbiao and more than 50 international students in the same period launched a collective escape that alarmed Japan one night.
This "Escape from Hokkaido" has been continuously reported by NHK TV.
Fleeing from Hokkaido to Tokyo, Ding Shangbiao's visa expired and he lost his legal status in Japan.
In order to survive, he had to fight "black jobs."
The first days were extremely unbearable. He used to carry a box in the middle of the night to seek refuge with a friend. After talking a few words, he was kicked out; once because he didn’t do a good job, he was beaten with a nosebleed from the palm of the shopkeeper... He was caught by the police and repatriated.
Ding Shangbiao put all his ideals on his daughter when his dream of studying was shattered.
He has to work hard to make money and send his daughter to a top foreign university to study, so that she can realize her dream.
Every day, he worked for more than ten hours, and hurried to a restaurant to be a chef after finishing his work in a lathe factory.
After getting off work after 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, and the last train was gone, he walked home along the tracks, fearing to disturb his neighbors, so he always tiptoed up the stairs.
Life is extremely frugal.
Ding Shangbiao lived alone in a wooden house more than 30 years ago. There is no place to take a bath in his residence. He put plastic bags in a bucket in the kitchen to prevent water from running around.
Excluding necessary expenses, all the money earned is sent to his wife Chen Xinxing.
Ding Shangbiao could not go home even once because he would be prohibited from entering Japan again after returning to China.
Day after day, time goes by.
In February 1997, the film crew brought Ding Shangbiao's video footage to his home in Shanghai.
In the past eight years, his wife and daughter “seeed” Ding Shangbiao through the screen for the first time.
When she left eight years ago, her daughter Ding Tong was still a primary school student and was already a senior in high school by this time.
The mother and daughter stared at the screen, tears unable to stop.
Ding Yan cried loudly: "I hate myself very much. I wasted so much time before."
His wife, Chen Xinxing, had a restrained expression and smiled calmly, saying, "I am used to it. He used to be dependent on him in Shanghai, but now I am alone, and I have no choice but to get used to it."
A group photo of the family of three before leaving.
Image source: "Live with Tears" documentary.
The life of the mother and daughter in Shanghai is also very simple, they share the same bedroom.
Chen Xinxing almost never buys clothes. When he gets sick, he carries it on his own. When eating alone, he often wears soy sauce on the noodles.
All the money is saved for her daughter to study abroad.
My daughter is also very upbeat, studying in the middle school attached to Fudan University with excellent grades.
Eight years apart, Ding Shangbiao said that his “biggest suffering is being alone, without the warmth of the family, unable to educate his children, and failing to fulfill his responsibilities to the family.” But in fact, his relationship with his wife and daughter is not alienated.
Daughter Ding Tong treasures a tape.
This is the song Ding Shangbiao ordered for her through the Shanghai Broadcasting Bureau on her birthday, with a letter attached.
In the letter, Ding Shangbiao exhorted:
"Ding Tan, my father’s good daughter, although I can’t be by your side to give you direct guidance and care. However, when you are drowsy in class, when your thoughts are not concentrated, when you When you are tired from reviewing your homework, please listen to the song your father ordered for you in far away Tokyo in your heart. I think this song will give you warmth, give you father’s love, give you strength, and will arouse your courage to overcome difficulties And confidence, work hard and move towards your goal."
The daughter was very upbeat and was admitted to the State University of New York as she wished.
The flight to the United States has a 24-hour transit in Tokyo.
This time, she was finally able to meet her father face to face.
Source: "Living with Tears" documentary.
While still on the Shinkansen, Ding Tang recognized his father at a glance, and rushed to Ding Shangbiao as soon as the door opened.
On the way back to his residence, Ding Shangbiao looked at his daughter carefully.
"I can't recognize it anymore. It's taller than me." — "It's because the heel is high."
"I have to lose weight." — "It doesn't matter."
"Have you got double eyelids?" — "Don't tell anyone!"
The 24-hour relationship was short. On the way to the airport, the father and daughter fell silent, covering their faces and crying.
Since the airport needs to verify his identity, Ding Shangbiao can only get off the bus one stop before the airport.
He stood on the platform for a long time, biting his lip and weeping watching his daughter disappear.
Ding Tong said that he was in college, and he could go out to work and apply for a scholarship. In fact, his father didn't have to work so hard, but he persuaded him to return to China, but he refused.
From then on, a family of three was scattered in three countries, separated by mountains and seas with a jet lag. Everyone’s life was difficult and difficult, but the family’s hearts were always together.
Ding Shangbiao continued to work hard, and he took time to pass several technical qualification certificates.
Time slowly changed his appearance, his hair became thinner, his teeth became loose, and his wrinkles became denser.
Ding Shangbiao got his crane license through self-study.
Picture source: Japanese "Chinese Herald"
In Shanghai, his wife Chen Xinxing works in a garment factory, but she has hardly bought any new clothes. She began to apply for a visa to visit her daughter in the United States.
On the 12th application, she finally succeeded.
By this time it was the spring of 2002, and Chen Xinxing went to the United States to transit in Tokyo, with a 72-hour stay.
After 13 years of separation, the husband and wife were finally able to meet.
Before leaving Shanghai, she deliberately made a new set of clothes in the clothing store, and also went to the barbershop to do a haircut.
Ding Shangbiao was also preparing for the reunion, changing the sheets and bedding, and also took out the pillow towel that his wife had sewn by his hand during the marriage-when he left, he and his wife were holding one.
At the moment of reunion, the two looked calm, but their hearts must have been stormy.
On the Shinkansen, the couple looked at each other and did not speak, but the smile at the corners of their mouths and the gentleness in their eyes flowed naturally.
I haven't separated each other's hearts in 13 years. What a deep love for my family should be behind this.
Source: "Living with Tears" documentary.
The precious 72 hours began to count down.
Ding Shangbiao cooks for his wife, takes her to visit various attractions in Tokyo, takes pictures, worships Buddha, and goes shopping together. The joy of gathering seems to dilute the bitterness of living alone these years.
However, when the time was over, Ding Shangbiao had to embark on a separate train again, tearing his wife away at the station in front of the airport, reluctantly but had no other way.
In June 2004, her daughter was admitted to the medical school and obtained a student loan. She no longer needed funding.
Ding Shangbiao finally considered returning to China.
Before leaving, he once again came to Akan-cho, Hokkaido, where he set foot in Japan for the first time, he bowed deeply, grateful for the beginning of this exotic life, and grateful for the heavy years spent in Japan.
On the plane, he looked out the window and burst into tears.
From 35 to 50 years old, from being prosperous to getting old, Ding Shangbiao worked hard like an ant during his 15 years in Japan. Although it was extremely hard, he was fulfilled and has no regrets. Life was full of hardships, and finally I was able to embrace the usual happiness.
The story of this family of three "living with tears" is turned over.
The days after that were filled with laughter.
After returning to China, Ding Shangbiao bought a new house and worked in a Japanese company.
In 2009, at the age of 55, he settled in the United States with his daughter.
For Ding Shangbiao, life has opened a new chapter, but this time, there is no longer a bitter separation, but love and reunion.
A family of three reunited at her daughter's graduation ceremony.
Picture source: Japanese "Chinese Herald"
Struggle is still Ding Shangbiao's constant background.
His daughter works well and has a good life, but Ding Shangbiao does not want to stay at home for the elderly.
He regained his enthusiasm for working in Japan, starting from scratch as a small worker at a construction site, going to a Chinese supermarket to deliver goods with a car, going to a Korean restaurant to wash dishes, and a Japanese restaurant as a chef.
He took all this as experiencing American life.
Later, Ding Shangbiao worked as a dishwasher in a hotel in New York. Due to his outstanding work diligence, he was selected as an outstanding employee of the New York City Hotel Association (New York Big Apple Award) in 2012, which is the highest honor in the hotel industry in New York City.
In his article, he said: "The seventy-two lines in the world, no matter which line you are in, as long as you are patient, serious, diligent, and deed, you can be the champion."
Ding Shangbiao took a picture in front of the hotel where he worked in the United States.
Picture source: Japanese "Chinese Herald"
In the first half of 2020, Ding Shangbiao received new news.
He retired as planned, spent time studying English, and passed the US citizenship test as he wished.
As a doctor's daughter, she became a first-line anti-epidemic doctor during the new crown pneumonia epidemic.
Ding Shangbiao's story is to be continued.
Pay tribute to the never-ending struggle spirit on the road of life, and wish this family happiness and health.
Source: Overseas Chinese micro-channel public network number (ID: qiaowangzhongguo) Author: Ranwen Juan
(Source: "Alive with Tears" documentary, director: Zhang Liling; Japan's "Chinese Herald": "I Wrote a Will in New York's New Crown Epidemic", "From the East to the West, I Rely on Technological Innovation to Survive", "Live with Tears" "Ding Shangbiao in qualified US citizens test", author: Ding Shangbiao)