1. Years of Struggle in a Foreign Land Comes to a Tragic End
Shangui Chen Dies, a Dream Unfulfilled
August 19, 2015
Feature Story by Mike Hong
It was the first time in the eleven years since the native from Fujian province, Shangui
Chen, who had started out on the long trek to the United States on July 8, 2004, was
reunited with his wife and daughter. However, at the time of the meeting, he would only be
there only in spirit. The day was August 18, 2015. Shangui Chen, who was only 48 years
old, had become ill with cancer and passed away. His body lay in the coffin in Wan Shou
Funeral Home at 1275 65th St in Brooklyn. After arriving in the United States, he had never
once been able to make the return trip to his hometown. At precisely 11 am, one of the
attendees at the memorial raised his voice above the din of the Taoist ceremonial music
and shouted, “It is time! Cover the coffin!” Xiyue Lin, Shangui’s wife of 22 years, rushed
over, trying to catch a glimpse of her husband’s face, the face of the man who had been
separated from her by thousands of miles during the last 11 years, but she was immediately
dragged away.
In less than two months after being diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, Shangui had
shrunk from a strapping man of 170 pounds to less than a 100. Illness had tortured and
disfigured him into a scrawny creature that was barely recognizable. His wife and daughter,
who were in Fujian province at the time, finally arrived in New York on August 1st after
several setbacks. However, due to the appalling condition of Shangui’s body, it took until
August 17th, the day of the actual memorial service and after the funeral home had
prepared the body, until his wife and daughter were allowed to see him. Seeing her
husband at long last, Xiyue broke down in tears.
Xiyue was only able to get a brief glimpse of her husband after so many years. Just as
Shangui’s body was about to be covered and sent to be cremated, Xiyue couldn’t help
rushing to the coffin and trying to touch the most important man of her life. “He shouldn’t be
touched. Let him rest in peace!” Xiyue was dragged away. Sadness overcame her. She
fainted and fell to the floor, her four limbs twitching. Friends and family at the funeral home
tried to bring her to by pinching her upper lip, a traditional Chinese method for reviving
someone who has fainted. She slowly came to after a while. With friends cradling her, she
watched the covered coffin being carried away.
Shangui was from Langqi Town, a village on the outskirts of Fuzhou, the provincial capital
of Fujian province in China. He started working as a carpenter to support the family when
he was still a young boy and lost both of his parents as a teenager. The then 26-year-old
Shangui and Xiyue married on April 22, 1993. Xiyue gave birth to their daughter Chubing by
caesarean at a local hospital in Langqi seven years later, on June 27, 2000. At the time, a

2. large number of Fujianese had migrated or were preparing to migrate to the United States.
By hook or by crook, nearly half of the residents in Shangui’s village had found a way to
America where they could more easily find work and support their families. Shangui didn’t
want to be left behind and, by making the trek, hoped to provide a better life for his wife and
daughter. He borrowed 500,000 yuan from relatives to pay for the trip and left his then 4-
year-old daughter to embark on the journey to America on July 8, 2004, full of hope for a
more promising future.
The trek took over a month. Shangui finally entered the U.S. by crossing the border from
Mexico into Texas in September of 2004. Family members explained that Shangui had
attempted the border crossing four or five times before he finally made it into the country.
The sharp and quick-witted Shangui, who had already acquired some carpentry skills at
home, soon mastered the skill sets needed to install electrical and plumbing systems as
well as handle renovation work, and started traveling from state to state with Chinese
contractors who renovated Chinese restaurants. Shangui was hardworking and frugal. He
paid back the money he had borrowed to make the trip in just a little over a year. He applied
for political asylum at a U.S. immigration services office on June 13, 2005, hoping to qualify
for a green card as many of his fellow villagers had done, and then bring his wife and
daughter here to start a new life.
However, the immigration judge declined Shangui’s application for political asylum on
December 12, 2006, on the basis of insufficient evidence, and initiated deportation
proceedings. Shangui filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals and was
declined again on October 31, 2008. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit overruled the appeal for a second hearing on January 11, 2010. Shangui’s dream for
a better life in America was no more.
“He knew that it was no longer possible for him to legalize his status. So he just wanted to
make some more money before going back home,” explained Ju Chen, one of Shangui’s
fellow villagers and close friend who had known him for over 30 years. Ju was also a
carpenter and had travelled around the U.S. with Shangui on renovation projects. Ju came
to the funeral home on August 18th to see Shangui one last time. He further explained that,
once a renovation worker has established a reputation in the field, the worker will start to
become picky about which projects he will take, and turn down ones that are too far away
or are felt to be too burdensome. But Shangui was never choosy. “He would accept any job
offered to him no matter how far away or how difficult the project might be. He also never
quibbled about the pay.” Ju recounted that Shangui had travelled to many states across the
country, “He has been to at least 30 states. He probably traveled to at least 10 states every
year.”
Shangui’s daughter Chubing still remembered the time before the internet became easily
accessible in their home town. Back then her father would periodically mail some pictures

3. back to the home in Fujian province. Yet, not one picture was one of him visiting a tourist
site. “They were all pictures of his daily life.” Ju, who worked side by side with Shangui on
many of the projects, continued the explanation, “He would just work day and night after
arriving at the project site. Once he finished a job, he would move on to the next one.” He
said Shangui never allowed himself any free time. When Shangui did, he would talk to his
family back home by phone. The phone calls easily lasted hours. “Sometimes, when we left
work, it was already after midnight, but he still wanted to talk to his family.” Although he had
been in the United States for 11 years, Shangui never stayed long enough in any one place
to put down any roots.
“Dad never mentioned to me or Mom whether the work was tiring.” Chubing said. Once the
internet became generally accessible, Chubing started using QQ, an instant messaging
service, to video chat with her father. In the background of the video she could tell that the
surroundings would change from time to time. “A lot of the times he was only looking at us
quietly, talking very little. I could tell that he was very tired.” Chubing said. During those 11
years, Shangui was only able to witness his daughter’s transition from a small child to a full-
grown young adult through the phone calls and the images on the video screen.
Without a legal status, there was no way Shangui could bring his wife and daughter to the
U.S. He channeled the longing for his family who were an ocean apart into his work. After
being denied the possibility of becoming legal, he put in even more hours than before in
order to maximize earnings in preparation for the eventual journey home. Ju said, to make
more money, Shangui “would use a month as if it were 40 days”, working both day and
night to get more done. “He worked very hard, yet he was never ungenerous to his friends.”
He explaned that Shangui would always lend a helping hand to friends in need. “He was
always willing to lend money to his friends when they needed it. Thousands of dollars at a
time.”
As a contractor, Shangui didn’t mind reducing his own monetary intake by adding an extra
worker on a three-person project in order to help out a friend who was having a hard time
finding work. Yet, Shangui was very stingy with himself. When he felt ill, he wouldn’t go to
see a doctor, as he didn’t want to spend the money. Ju remembered that Shangui’s health
started to not seem right—starting about a year ago, Shangui couldn’t seem to shake a cold
that had already lasted for several weeks. “But as he didn’t have a legal status, he also had
no health insurance. He begrudged having to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollar
to treat an illness.”
Shangui was working on a renovation project in Chicago on June 14, 2015, his 48th
birthday. It was on that day that he finally acknowledged that he could no longer ignore how
uncomfortable he was feeling. He could no longer keep down any food or water, and his
legs and feet were swollen. He hurried back to New York four days later, on June 18th, and
saw a doctor in Manhattan’s Chinatown. After the initial checkup the doctor knew right away

4. something was wrong. Shangui was immediately transferred to Bellevue Hospital where he
was diagnosed with an advanced case of liver cancer following an examination. The tumor
had grown so large that chemotherapy was no longer an option. He was told that he only
had a short time to live.
“If I am going to die, I want to die at home.” Knowing that his last days were near, the
longing to see his wife and daughter, whom he had not seen in 11 years, simply grew
stronger and stronger. His only remaining wish was to be reunited with them, before his
final day. “Even if I die right after I get off the plane, I would still die in my hometown with my
wife and daughter by my side. I would be at peace.” Shangui repeatedly expressed the wish
to the fellow villagers who visited him in the hospital and took care of him. Unfortunately it
was too late for him to receive any kind of medical treatment that would make it possible for
him to undertake the journey. The illness had taken its toll. After he was diagnosed with
cancer, he had been immediately transferred to the intensive care unit and his condition
continued to deteriorate. The doctors at the hospital told him that he would not be allowed
to leave the hospital and board a flight home.
On the other side of the ocean, his wife and daughter applied for visas to come to New
York. As Shangui had entered the U.S. illegally and never legalized his status, it became
extremely difficult for his wife and daughter to obtain visas. The first application was denied.
Finally, John Chan, chairman of Brooklyn Asian Communities Empowerment and fellow
Langqi native, intervened and the hospital issued a record of proof of Shangui’s condition,
then Queens congresswoman Grace Meng petitioned the Consulate General of the United
States in Guangzhou, China. It seemed a miracle when Shangui’s wife and daughter
applied for the visas a second time. The officer approved the application on humanitarian
grounds and issued the visas.
Shangui was already in hospice care. Hearing his friends and relatives remind him day and
night that his wife and daughter would arrive soon, he managed to hang on. Xiyue and
Chubing, after receiving the visas on July 29th, immediately purchased the earliest available
flight to the U.S. and arrived in New York on August 1st. But Shangui had passed away the
day before. The reunion that the three of them had been looking forward to for the last 11
years was not to be. Looking at the video their relatives and friends had recorded during the
last moments of Shangui’s life, Xiyue couldn’t stop sobbing. She couldn’t believe that when
she said goodbye to her husband those 11 years ago meant it would be the last time that
they would see each other.
“The memory of your voice and face is never far and on this day of commemoration, sorrow
is wrenching my heart.” It was 11 a.m. on August 18th, joss paper was scattered everywhere
under the handwritten elegies. The hearse carrying Shangui’s coffin headed slowly towards
Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. Xiyue and Chubing will fly back to their home town in
Fujian province on September 2nd with Shangui’s ashes. After having been a guest in the

5. United States for 11 years, Shangui would finally be going home with his wife and daughter
and be put to rest there forever.