Home > Author > Leslie T. Chang
1 " The past has been there all along, reminding us: This time--maybe, hopefully, against all odds, we will get it right. "
― Leslie T. Chang
2 " Workers were required to stay six months, and even then permission to quit was not always granted. The factory held the first two months of every worker's pay; leaving without approval meant losing that money and starting over somewhere else. That was a fact of factory life you couldn't know from the outside: Getting into a factory was easy. The hard part was getting out. "
3 " A person cannot grow up through happiness. Happiness makes a person shallow. It is only through suffering that we grow up, transform, and come to a better understanding of life. "
― Leslie T. Chang , Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
4 " In China, people from such humble backgrounds rarely spoke in public. But here they were, each person unapologetic and full of faith that her personal story was interesting. "
5 " I would like a child to grow up to have a happy life and make a contribution to society. I don't mean to be a big scientist or something like that. How many people can do that? I think if you live a happy life and are a good person, that is a contribution to society. "
6 " The binders hinted at the reasons past relationships had gone sour. SEEKING A 28- TO 34-YEAR-OLD WITH AN OPEN PERSONALITY WHO DOESN'T GAMBLE. SEEKING A CULTIVATED PERSON NOT ADDICTED TO WINE AND WOMEN. An occasional brave soul would throw caution to the winds: SEEKING A 35- TO 45-YEAR-OLD. THE REST IS UP TO DESTINY. "
7 " SALES SPECIALIST. CAN EAT BITTERNESS AND ENDURE HARDSHIP. "
8 " If I only go to school, come out and do migrant work for a few years, then go home, marry and have children," Min said, "I might as well not have lived this whole life. "
9 " No one wanted to date a man who was only five feet three inches tall. "
10 " It isn’t very interesting,” my father said. “He just writes things like, ‘Today the Japanese army is closing in around the city.’ Stuff like that. "
11 " My grandfather came back, and his death bought the house at no. 6; half a century later it was turned into yet another journey to America. And that was fitting, because the history of a family begins when a person leaves home. "
12 " All the books in China just take their ideas from the outside,” he said. “China really has no original ideas. "
