logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2021
8m 50s

'Beautiful Country' looks back on a youn...

NPR
About this episode
Living as an undocumented immigrant means living in the shadows, says Qian Julie Wang. Her memoir Beautiful Country tells the story of her family's life in New York after fleeing China in 1994. Her mother worked menial jobs in terrible conditions. Her father struggled with his status as a man in a country that equated being Asian with weakness. They couldn't even seek out regular medical care for fear of being deported. Wang joins NPR's Scott Simon in today's episode to talk about how those experiences shaped and shamed her, even as she became a Yale Law graduate and successful attorney.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Today
'The Friend' author Sigrid Nunez is out with a new collection of short stories
Sigrid Nunez – author of novels like The Friend and What Are You Going Through – is out with a new collection of short stories. It Will Come Back to You features characters like a middle-age daughter coping with her mother’s memory loss, a Brad Pitt lookalike and a housekeeper wo ... Show More
10m 20s
Yesterday
ESPN soccer correspondent Julien Laurens on why Kylian Mbappé is “wired differently”
French footballer Kylian Mbappé was one of the World Cup's biggest stars this summer, despite France's loss to Spain in the semifinals. ESPN soccer correspondent Julien Laurens has written a new book called Kylian Mbappé: The Definitive Biography, which details the soccer star’s ... Show More
6m 38s
Jul 28
Author Tana French on the best summer reading set in Ireland
In preparation for an upcoming trip to Ireland, All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly has been tearing through Tana French's books. French is the queen of Irish crime fiction and has authored the popular Dublin Murder Squad series, among other novels. In today’s episode, K ... Show More
8m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2021
Wind Beneath My Wings
<p>Qian Julie Wang is just seven years old when her family arrives in America in 1994, and her whole world changes. Impoverished, isolated, and considered “illegal”, the Wangs must keep their immigration status — among other family truths — concealed.</p><p> </p> Learn more about ... Show More
56m 52s
Jul 2021
Loving Across Borders
<p>At age 11, Julissa Arce came to the United States from Mexico on a visa that expired three years later. For more than a decade, she lived as an undocumented immigrant, fearful of revealing her secret to anyone. “Every phone call or email I got from human resources would make m ... Show More
20m 55s
Apr 2023
#54 Yeonmi Park - Escaping the Horrors of North Korea & the Kim Dynasty
Yeonmi Park is an activist and author who fled to the United States after being a victim of sex trafficking. Park recounts her oppressive childhood in North Korea, starved and without electricity. She remembers how the lights of neighboring countries gave her hope for a better li ... Show More
2h 32m
Sep 2021
Leaving Your Homeland
Eva Hnizdo reflects on the impulses which drive people to emigrate - or not, drawing on her Czech Jewish family's experience of the Holocaust and her own as a political asylum seeker. "Whenever members of my family thought about emigrating but didn't actually leave, they made a m ... Show More
20m 53s
Mar 2021
Chinese American Adoptee
<p>A Chinese American woman shares her thoughts on the uptick in violence against Asians in the U.S. She also talks with Geth about what it's like having white, adoptive parents, and the layer of complexity it adds to the topic of race. Check out our show and many hilarious other ... Show More
1h 5m
Feb 2021
Red China
It's episode 3 and Billy's transported us back to post-1949 Communist China. Katie and Tom talk to Prof. Yangwen Zheng about her childhood under the regime, and she's got a fascinating story to tell. It's one of stolen pencil cases, the class enemy, disappearing family members, w ... Show More
41m 20s
Nov 2022
Iranian Immigrant: "Everyone Was N*ked"
Deyana shares her experiences immigrating from Iran to the United States. She discusses the insecurities involved in being a young immigrant, graduating from high school in two years, working for a law firm at 16, and her strong drive to achieve great things. If you have a uniqu ... Show More
1h 12m
Jan 2024
A Virtuosic Patient
Alice’s upbringing is one of simultaneous excess and absence, and in the deep canyon between the two, she loses herself entirely. In order to finally find herself and heal, she must confront the complicated truths and lies told by her artist parents.See omnystudio.com/listener fo ... Show More
52m 59s