China News Service, May 18th. According to the US "World Journal" report, in San Francisco, California, Lillie Wong of Chinese origin is 101 years old. Pioneer.

Growing up in a patriarchal environment, her unwillingness was turned into a driving force. She wrote a beautiful life story to prove that women can also succeed.

　　Ms. Weng sat in the nursing home the next day after her 100th birthday in August 2019, reminiscing about her childhood. She still vividly remembered that when she was about eight or nine years old, her father said that she had no money for her to go to school. She pays for the tuition.

Another time, a customer asked his father who the four children in the family (Ms. Weng and three other brothers) were the best. At that time, Ms. Weng had the best grades in American regular schools and Chinese schools. I didn’t expect the father to say the best children. It was her brother.

　　On the 100th birthday, the five generations gathered in the teahouse to celebrate. Ms. Weng mentioned the true story of using her life to prove that she is not a weak person.

　　Ms. Weng said that she was mad when she heard her father say that she was not as capable as her brother. This powerful force finally drove her to overcome external obstacles. At the peak of her career, she owned more than 50 real estate in the Bay Area.

Selling magazines takes the first step in making money

　　Ms. Weng’s parents are from Taishan and run a hand-washed laundry to raise their children.

　　Ms. Weng had no status since she was a child, but she was very aggressive. She went to a nearby barbershop to collect second-hand magazines and sold them in Chinatown for 10 cents each.

　　After that, her first marriage failed. When she was in her 20s, she took two children and worked as a tailor while working in a laundromat and continuing to study.

　　In her 40s, after her brother retired and started a family, Ms. Weng helped her father buy a pink three-story house on Jackson Street. Every member of the family finally got their own apartment.

　　That purchase was the first time that Ms. Weng entered the real estate market, and the Weng family still maintains the building.

　　At that time, real estate was not sold to the Chinese.

Overcoming racism, Ms. Weng remarried in 1949 and began to study in law school, because the immigrant community has always needed legal assistance, and the legal profession can earn more. During that period, she chatted with friends at school and found that the real estate field has great potential.

Abandoning School Law and Turning to Real Estate

　　My friend said that not long ago, she made $5,000 from selling real estate. After hearing this, Ms. Weng found that the real estate market is more profitable and easier than in the legal profession, so she immediately switched subjects and obtained a real estate brokerage license within one year.

　　However, she immediately encountered racism problems in a new field.

For decades, Chinese have been prohibited by law from owning real estate.

　　Ngaretti, the former administrative manager of the San Francisco Historical Society, said that although the Supreme Court banned racial contract restrictions in 1948 and the California Supreme Court overturned various "Alien Land Acts" in 1952, the terms restricting housing ownership based on race are still valid.

　　Racism also affects Ms. Weng’s career.

　　When Ms. Weng started her job search in the real estate industry, she was blocked by racial prejudice.

But she continued to work hard and was hired when she went to the second company to find a job.

Then she faced a new challenge: where to find a buyer.

Rely on intelligence to seize opportunities

　　Ms. Weng found that most of the people who inspect and buy houses are women.

She targeted the most familiar Chinese communities and published the company's house sales information in the San Francisco Chinese newspapers, including her name and contact information, and received a large number of responses immediately.

　　Fortunately, Ms. Weng's entry into the real estate market coincides with a large number of Chinese immigrants coming to the United States.

According to data from the American Chinese Historical Society, there were 12,225 Chinese American women in California in 1940, which more than tripled in 1960 to 41973.

　　Ms. Weng is not the only Chinese real estate agent, but as a female, she has an advantage.

Clients often have to drive with the agent to see the house, and women will not get into the man's car. It is much more convenient for Ms. Weng to take female clients to see the house.

In response to discrimination in the housing market, it is sometimes necessary to temporarily conceal the buyer's identity.

Break through sexism in a lifetime

　　Ms. Weng is an excellent real estate agent, and soon she decided to start a business.

　　In the first year of entering the real estate field, Ms. Weng started the company.

With capital, she began to invest in real estate, first buying a house for her family in Daly City, and then investing in the Bay Area. By the 1990s, she had invested in dozens of houses and buildings.

　　Most of these real estates have been sold, and one of the houses still in existence is located in Downey Street, the birthplace of hippie culture. According to the Zillow House Price Index, the market for large pastel houses in this area is $1.6 million.

　　Ms. Weng recalled her whole life. Apart from memorizing texts from the Chinese school, going to the bank with her mother to open an account for herself, and remembering the first time she heard the saying "boys are superior to girls", she said, "I have proved that this is not true. "(Zhou Fangyuan)