Anthony Wang

Resident of senior housing in Coney Island was born in Shanghai and survived the Cultural Revolution

This interview was conducted and recorded in Mandarin Chinese. Read Xiaoyan Li's transcript and translation below.

本采访以国语进行并记录下来。以下请阅读李笑岩的笔录和翻译。

Anthony Wang, a resident of senior housing in Coney Island's West End, was born in 1947 into a wealthy family in Shanghai. When he was a boy, his father, a high level official in the police department, was identified as a counter-revolutionary and sentenced to 15 years in a labor camp. As a result, Anthony suffered discrimination and was denied higher educational opportunities despite his academic achievements. He was left with no choice as a young man but to join a construction company working in remote regions of China. He shares memories of those difficult times and of surviving the Cultural Revolution.

安东尼·王(Anthony Wang)是康尼岛西区高级住房的居民,1947年出生于上海一个富裕家庭。小时候,他的父亲是警察局高官,被定性为反革命分子,被判在劳教所15年徒刑。结果,安东尼备受歧视,尽管读书很好,仍难以获得更高教育机会。他别无选择,只能在偏远地区建筑公司工作。他分享那些艰苦岁月和文革的幸存回忆。

At age 40, Anthony decided to immigrate to the United States. Arriving in 1992, he found his first job at a Chinatown gas station and later ran a nail salon in Brooklyn. He talks about his life as a retiree living in Coney Island, his apartment in a building owned by the non-profit New York Foundation for Senior Citizens, his experiences during Hurricane Sandy, and highlights of the neighborhood.

安东尼40岁那年决定移民美国。他于1992年到纽约,在唐人街加油站找到第一份工作,后来在布鲁克林开了一家指甲店。他谈及康尼岛的退休生活,他在非营利的纽约老年人基金会拥有一间公寓,在桑迪飓风期间的经历,以及邻舍生活点滴。