My Life In China

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2016

• Feature

• 82 min

Documentary, Foreign, Family

Directed by Kenneth Eng

Yau King Eng left China during the Cultural Revolution for greater opportunity in the United States. Having heard the story all his life, his son travels to China with his father to understand the gravity of his sacrifice as they retrace the steps he took to escape communism and starvation in 1966.

San Diego Asian Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, Boston Asian-American Film Festival, Asian Film Festival of Dallas, ARPA International Film Festival, Seattle Asian-Am Film Festival, Milan International Film Festival Awards, White Light City Film Festival, Florida Film Festival

About the film

Extras

Director's statement

As a young person growing up in Boston, I was embarrassed to be Chinese. To avoid being bullied at school, I learned to speak English without any kind of accent. The pressure to assimilate was great and in doing so something was lost within myself. I felt empty and unfulfilled _ disconnected from my family and friends. I felt invisible _ like I didn't exist. Who am I? Through the process of making the film, I was able to rediscover myself, learn to value and love who I am. I also developed a deeper respect and understanding for other people and their journeys in life -I learned compassion for other people. As an Asian Pacific American, how do we learn to own our identity while educating the rest of America about who we are? With My Life in China and all my other work, I want to honor and acknowledge the sacrifice and efforts of my elders and ancestors as well as help forge the new Asian American identity.