WeiRan's Family - Rags to Riches

Today, WeiRan told me a beautiful story about his family.

WeiRan comes from a small family, just him, his mother and his father, his grandparents, and his two uncles and aunt.

His grandfather came from a very poor family, and made a living doing many odd jobs, such as fishing and other outdoorsy stuff to provide for his family, until one day he learned how to mend and repair bicycles. He then spent his whole life fixing bicycles, but even while saving for many years, only managed to send his two oldest sons off to school.

The oldest son went to college not too far away from home. WeiRan’s grandfather had high hopes for his eldest, and thought that he would be a great official in the village where they lived, or even in the small city not too far away. This son, however, had different hopes for himself, and with only $25 in his pocket took off to the city and created his own business from the ground up. He built his own machining business from scratch and now is a very successful business man.

WeiRan’s father is the second oldest son, and was the youngest to go to college. He started his own business just two years after his brother, another machining company. He has become very successful, and WeiRan says his family lives in a large house now. His father is also making enough money not only for WeiRan’s Intensive English Program, but also for his college later on. WeiRan’s father tells him that the cost of the education is not important, but that getting a good education is the most important thing anyone can achieve.

This story was inspiring, a true rags to riches tale.

I spoke to WeiRan about his aunt and youngest uncle. I asked him if there was a way they could pay for their own college. WeiRan explained that in China people can’t take out loans like they can here. Because of this, a man cannot move above his place in society easily. He says there is so little money in China that no one is willing to loan it on another for them to go to college.

I asked WeiRan about his future and what his parents expected of him. WeiRan says many families have parents that put expectations on their children and the kids don’t have a choice in life but he said his family is more modern in that they will let him choose. He said that he knows his dad would want him to take over his business. He said he hadn’t really ever seen himself as a businessman or engineer, but that he wanted to do it because it would make his parents happy and would give him an opportunity to take care of them.

WeiRan’s family has a great story, and he seems to look up to both his father and his uncle immensely. He hopes to one day be a great deal like them.