When you go to New York, don't forget to bring your gun--a lot of tourists get advice like this before a trip to New York City. Public safety is poor, and the quality of the living environment is not ideal; this has long been recognized. So why do some people still want to take the long trip over the sea to emigrate there?

　This is the story of Liu Hsin-hsiu, owner of the Chung Yuan Ginseng Medicine Shop, who lives in the Chinatown on 8th Avenue in Brooklyn.

　I come from Chungli in Taiwan. Immigration was mainly for health reasons. I graduated from technical college, and worked in a machinery factory. Although the pay was not high, it was stable. But I got chronic asthma. I saw all kinds of doctors in Taiwan but nothing cured me. Later, I had a chance to go to the U.S., and strange to say, I stopped wheezing. It was then that I decided to immigrate.

　Putting the Past Away: Three years ago, I sold off most of my property and came to the U.S. I opened a ginseng medicine shop because, as a result of my illness, I had studied something of Chinese herbal medicines and treatments, so I got into this line of business. Besides, there will always be illness, and for immigrants in particular it's not so much that the medicine cures their illness as that it gives them a psychological sense of security. So you won't go hungry in this line of work in an immigrant community.

　I am by myself here at present. My wife and daughter are still in Chungli. I go back about once a year, and it's really not easy to have to leave them behind to live here. But the first thing an immigrant learns is to put the past aside. At night after I close the shop, a few friends come over to drink tea, read newspapers and chat, and that's how a day is passed.

　The greatest worry here is crime. Public safety is really not very good here. Stores get robbed, people get robbed in the subway, and there are murders. Just look at our shops, they have layer after layer of locks. But compared to the Lower East Side, here there are few gangs who come to extort protection money.

　Risks, But Opportunity Everywhere: You might ask, with Chinese increasing in number, don't they have any response to the crime problem? In fact, we have made plans to establish neighborhood watch groups or to hire security people. But as soon as you say there will be a fee, no one is willing anymore.

　But it is true that with more Chinese here, business is better. When I think of this, I feel a bit more contented. In America, if you're just willing to work hard, there is opportunity everywhere. But there are risks and some people have paid with their lives. Like recently there was robbery in the subway--a new immigrant, who went to work every day in a clothing factory and didn't cause any trouble, just had a thought one day to wear the gold chain her father had bought and just like that she was robbed and killed. There are so many new immigrant stories. I'm numb from listening to them and seeing them.

　At present, we most hope that a bank can be established here so we can avoid going up to Manhattan to deposit or withdraw money. A lot of people arrange to go in a big group to guard against robbery, but then they make themselves and their purpose obvious, and it's even more unsafe. I am a poor man, and have come here to earn a poor man's wage. There are many wealthy people in Taiwan. Maybe they could open a bank here and help us out.

[Picture Caption]

There are many frustrations in immigrant life, but also many opportunities! Liu Hsin-hsiu (left) believes that this has not been a wasted trip. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)