My paternal grandfather purchased this English-Chinese vocabulary book in Shanghai on August 14, 1948. He worked in the Ministry of Health for the Kuomintang (Nationalist) government, which by then was rapidly losing ground to the Communists. Thanks to a fellowship from the World Health Organization, he left Shanghai in January 1949 to study at Purdue University in Indiana. He transferred to Northwestern University and worked for a local pharmaceutical company after graduation, which is how my family ended up in Chicago. My grandfather never returned to mainland China.

– Esther W.

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant