Synopsis
Shirley's memoir gives readers a glimpse into how life changed in China post-Cultural Revolution up to decades after the reform and Open Door policy, when China became the 2nd largest economy in the world. It also shares her story of living with bipolar disorder while maintaining a family and career.
Shirley was born in Shanghai, China in the late 1960s amidst the Cultural Revolution. Her mother died giving birth to her. She later had an abusive stepmother. During her childhood, she lived a life of scarcity, like most people in China at the time.
After Deng Xiaoping came into power in the late 1970s, China began its reform and open door policy and started to emphasize economic growth and education. Because of this, Shirley got a good education and later went on to a leading Chinese university. In her 3rd year of university, she experienced her first episode of mental illness (later diagnosed as bipolar I disorder with psychotic features) and was hospitalized. She later graduated from university and worked as a hospital nurse in Wuhu, in the Anhui province. After attending one year of intensive English training by a native speaker from England, Shirley became fluent in English and got a job working as a pharmaceutical sales representative of a multinational company in Shanghai. A few years later, she went to the first international business school in Shanghai (which later became the top business school in all of China) and got her MBA. After graduation, she worked at the Chinese headquarter of a leading American pharmaceutical company in Shanghai as a marketing manager. During her time at that company, she had a relapse of her bipolar disorder, which negatively affected her career advancement.
In her personal life, Shirley had a few unsuccessful relationships until she met an American gentleman via Match.com who later became her husband. After marriage, Shirley and her husband moved to Northern California to live with her parents-in-law for three years, during which she held a few low-income jobs and gave birth to her first son. Shirley and her family then moved back to China for three years during which she gave birth to her second son and had another relapse of her bipolar disorder, after which she was, hospitalized for a second time.
Shirley and her family moved to New Jersey in 2010 after her husband found a job there. She became a proud US citizen in 2014. Once her boys began attending school, Shirley started to look for work herself. With some luck, she became a work-from-home remote Mandarin interpreter helping people with limited English proficiency overcome language barriers. She had one severe, episode of bipolar relapse in 2016, and was, hospitalized in the US for the first time. She recovered and is now working with her psychiatrist to manage her bipolar disorder with medication. Currently, she is working two interpreting jobs to support her family while her husband is unemployed.
Life has not been easy for Shirley, but she is resilient. Every time she fell, she got up strong. She considers herself a lucky person. She got what she, wanted the most in her life, a family of her own, and is grateful for the family and friends who have been supportive throughout her life.
