Ｔｓｅｒｉｎｇ Ｙｕｄｒｏｎ ａｎｄ Ｈｅｒ Ｈａｎ Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ Ｆａｍｉｌｙ

Ｗａｎｇ　Ｌｕ

Tsering Yudron is a localTibetan girl.However, she has aChinese mother withfour sisters and a brother in Beijing.In her childhood she had a hard lifebecause she was an orphan.However, for half a century, she hasnot only experienced family love,but has also had a happy family lifein Beijing. How did this happen? Weshould start from the verybeginning.

Tibetan and Chinese Sisters

Tsering Yudron was born into apoor family in Shigatse of Tibet. Inthe early 1950s, the peaceful liberationof Tibet brought new hopeto poor Tibetans. The death of herparents brought her to the attentionof the peoples liberation armyand she was sent to the CentralCollege for Nationalities to enroll inthe preparation class for theCollege.

In time she got to know a femalemiddle school student, Wang Lihua,a local from Beijing. Meetingfrequently, the two girls eventuallybecame good friends even thoughfrom different ethnic groups. WangLihua frequently took TseringYudron to visit her home.

In former days, the lives of ordinarypeople in Beijing were ratherdifficult. Wang Lihuas family hadseveral sisters and one brother.Though things were very tight financiallyfor the family, both youngand old they all devoted themselvesto take care of the little Tibetan girl.The family was not rich but full oflove between family members.Since meeting the family, she hadimmediately felt the family lovethat she had lost long ago. With such warmth all around her, shespontaneously called the benevolentparents of Wang Lihua“Father! Mother!” This formalizedTsering Yudron as a member ofthe big family. Thereafter, thefriendship between Han Chineseand ethnic Tibetans gradually extendedto a big group of people,such as Tsering Yudronsclassmates, colleagues, relativesand so on.

A Caring Han Chinese Mother

While Tsering Yudron wasstudying in Beijing, she went backto her new family every weekend(otherwise, the old Han Chinesemother would feel worried andmiss her very much). She wastreated the same as Wang Lihuain the family. Whatever WangLihua had, she always got exactlythe same. The mother took careof her by considering her food,clothes, whatever she could do forTsering Yudron she would tryhard to make available for theadopted daughter.

Gradually, little Yudron wastouched by the love given by hernew family members. Whenevershe came back to the family, shealways liked to stay at home aslong as possible. However the oldmother, worried about her safetyon her way back to the collegecampus, convinced her to leaveearly for the campus. Sometimes,her mother gave Yudron severalJiao (one tenth of a Yuan in Chinesecurrency) to take a bus backto the college. Nevertheless, littleYudron was an understandingperson. She saved all she got, andthen she spent her savings to buyseveral kilos of tomatoes for theat the weekend.

During the economically difficult period(the 1960s), everybody in the family couldonly get about 20 Jin of food (One Jin isequal to a half kg), which was barely enoughto survive on. The old mother dearly lovedher Tibetan daughter and did not want herto appear underprivileged. Though the Collegeprovided its students with food, accommodationand tuition, the whole nation wasin poverty. The mother, therefore, alwaystook care of Yudrons clothes and otherdaily living requirements. She selflesslycared for her adopted daughter. Generallyspeaking, during the period of Yudronsstudy in Beijing, she had fully become amember of the big Han Chinese family. Aftergraduating from college, Yudron wentback to Tibet Autonomous Region. Althoughher Han Chinese parents eventuallypassed away, the connection betweenthe two families naturally continued.

Loves Reciprocation

With the love of adopted Han Chineseparents, Yudron returned their love in herdepth of her heart. In return, she took herlifetime to repay what the Han Chinese family had done for her. She sent allher first months salary to her HanChinese mother.

For decades, Yudron never forgother family members in Beijing. Atthe beginning, she wrote to themconstantly to pass on her passionatefeeling for them. With the increasedavailability of telephones,whenever there was a holiday or afestival the two families alwaysphoned each other. Communicationbetween them remained frequent toreport every issue, whether big orsmall, that occurred in eachfamily. Though living in differentcities, they were still the samefamily.

When Yudron came to hinterlandfor business trips, she alwaystook any opportunity to visit herBeijing family. In particular, whenher adopted mother passed awayin 1978, she asked for specialleave to take the long journey toBeijing to pay her last respects toher Han Chinese mother.

In recent years, the situation becamebetter and better. Yudronwould never forget to send giftsand money to her Beijing familyfrom time to time to show hergratitude and that she missedthem.

However, the family membersin Beijing always refused becausethey believed that the economicsituation in TAR would not be asgood as it was in Beijing. It wastheir responsibility to take careof Yudron. Moreover, they wouldnever forget their mothers lastwords to take care of Yudron.

The Spread of Love toFriends and RelativesSpeaking of the touching storiesoccurring between a Tibetan familyand a Han Chinese family, it istremendously hard to be brief.The friendship and love betweenthem also extended to theirc hildren, relatives,and colleagues. The warmth withinthis family touched all of them.

For instance, Yudrons brotherin-law Dawa was one of the beneficiariesof the friendship betweenthe two families. About theend of the 1960s and the beginningof the 1970s, the economicsituation in Beijing was not good.There was a rice shortage.Yudrons Beijing mother tried tosave whatever she could andaccumulated, little by little,enough to give to Yudron whenDawa had a business trip toBeijing. Once when Dawa came toB e i j i n g f o r a m e d i c a lconsultation, he had difficultybuying milk. The Beijing motherdid not hesitate to give Dawa herbottle of milk every day. This wasthe way that the Han Chinesemother supported Yudron andher Tibetan relatives by expressingher generosity towards themeven through in the process shemight be making a sacrificeherself.

The Continuity of the Relationship of Two Families

Due to the death of the Beijing mother, the elder sister in this familytook on the whole responsibility of looking after the family members.She also directed all sisters and one brother to take care of Yudronand her family. The two families continued their relationship and becameeven closer.

Along with the improvement of the family economy, the elderbrother, on behalf of the wholefamily in Beijing, paid a visit to theTibetan sister. The news spread everywherearound the residentialarea. Everybody came to seeYudrons Beijing brother. Thebother and sister who had beenseparated for long time were veryexcited when they finally gottogether. It is worth mentioningthat the bother also brought his sonto visit Yudron. He said to Yudronthat the relationship between thetwo families would not end. So, inthe brothers honest words, be theyTibetan or Han Chinese, it wasnaturally the same family.