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Liang Runling (梁润玲), 56, stands for a portrait at Jamaica Pond, Brookline, MA.

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Liang gives her son, Jackie, a haircut.

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When Jackie, Liang's younger son who resides and works in Washington, D.C. comes home, the family gathers together to play mahjong. "We can play mahjong only when Jackie comes back home," Liang says. "Because we need four people for this game."

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After work, Liang usually spends time making food with her husband, Chen Yuning, for the family. When you enter Liang's home in Brookline, MA, on any given evening, you will find her in the kitchen making a meal for her family. From Cantonese steamed fish, roast duck, to slowly cooked soup, Liang pays homage to traditional Cantonese dishes.

After a long day, Liang takes care of her 17 by 15 foot garden, where she grows various vegetables. From a young age, she learned from her mother how to plant and sell vegetables. "It makes me happy to see the products I produce," Liang says.

Left: Three months after Liang's arrival from China in 2007, she picked up a job at a pen factory outside Boston. She worked 10 hours a day, only making 9 dollars an hour. Every morning, she woke up at 4 a.m. and would commute for two hours to work, never missing a day. Over time, she developed breathing problems after inhaling chemicals at the factory every day for over 11 years. Liang's declining health forced her to quit the job at the pen factory in 2018. She began to work as a child care worker. Most mornings and afternoons, she and the child she cares for play basketball and watch trains passing. Right: Sometimes Liang would take the child Liang takes for to her house. She knows the child loves fried eggs so she often makes them for the child.

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On weekends, Liang would commute an hour to Quincy, MA. The couple never obtained a driver's license but a driver's license is essential for economic mobility in this country. "We are afraid to drive," Liang says. "We can't speak much English to handle driving."

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Liang commutes for two hours to Quincy, MA, where she shops for groceries in the Asian supermarkets and prepares meals for the following week. Asian markets are one of the few places she finds a sense of belonging in a foreign country.

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Quincy, MA is where most of Liang's friends live. They would have Cantonese dim sum together at a local restaurant, chatting about things at home. But when Monday comes, Liang once again gets up early and goes to work. "If the horse dies, you step down and walk," Liang says. "This is how I deal with challenges in life."

Liang enjoys the sunset along the Charles River with her husband, Chen Yuning, in Boston, MA.

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Lisa Lai (黎麗莎), 65, dances during breaks in Dia Boutique, an alteration shop she has run since 2000 in Philadelphia, PA.

Lai greets her friends as her husband, Raymond Chan, 71, chats with them at their storefront in Chinatown, Philadelphia, PA.

In 2000, when Lai saw better housing options in Philadelphia, PA, she decided to move there, founding Dia Boutique, a shop in Chinatown that sells cheongsams and provides alteration services. Here, the couple arranges the cheongsams in the shop.

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Lai twists a button on the cheongsam for a customer.

Lai sews a dress by hand. "My wrist hurts at times after working for a whole day," she says.

The pandemic brought most of the businesses in Philadelphia's Chinatown to a halt. Lai says the shop was seeing only 10% of its regular business. "I have never experienced such a loss in the past 20 years," Lai says. As protests broke out across the nation in 2020, many smaller businesses were looted and robbed. Here, Lai boards up her shop.

Lai and her husband, Raymond Chan, have a small garden in their backyard where they plant their favorite flowers to cope during tough times. As Lai fertilizes the plants, Chan sings a love song to her.

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After work, Lai and Chan make dumplings. Chan raises his wine glass as the couple jokes.

Lai's faith in Buddhism manifests in her daily life and gives her strength during tough times. "I have been praying with my mother since I was a girl," Lai says. "I still carry the same Buddha statue with me I had in Guangzhou."

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Lai is holding on. She relaxes by doing two hours of yoga each day.

Public Story

NPR: Two Cantonese Women's Journey: A response to Atlanta Spa Shootings

Updated Dec 2021

Topics Journalism, Media, Multimedia, Photography

Two Cantonese Women Share Their Immigrant Journey

Photographed For National Public Radio

Photo Editor: Xueying Chang & Michele Abercrombie

The Atlanta spa shootings in March 2021 murdered six women of Asian descent, including two women from China. As a response to the shootings, I wrote and created a multimedia project about two Cantonese women immigrants and their lives in the United States. They are Liang Runling (梁润玲), a caretaker in Boston, and Lisa Lai (黎麗莎), a tailor in Philadelphia. They are mothers, wives, daughters, and community contributors with an unwavering work attitude.

The multimedia presentation of images alongside audio clips is also featured here on NPR's Instagram.

Dec 1, 2021

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