Jacky Lee was a farmer who was born in Beijing, China in 1960. He was the eldest son in the family containing two younger brothers and old parents. They lived in a little house besides their farm that was in the outskirts of Beijing, a populated city consisting of many peasant farmers at that time. His family had to work very hard on their farm to earn a living and feed themselves. At the age of twenty, in the year 1980, he got married to a local girl and two years later, his twin sons were born. Life became really hard for Jacky who now had extra mouths to feed in his family. China being a poor country at that time was not much cultivated and floods and droughts brought more trouble to Jacky's life making the crops dry and dead.
Some men from Jacky's area had visited Canada for the gold and his elder cousin was one of them who had gone during the gold rush in the mountains.
The last, last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railw...
A Canadian Pacific Railway freight eastbound over ...
An old CP Rail car outside the Brockville, Ontario...After spending quite some time there, his cousin returned. He told Jacky about the various opportunities in Canada and that Canadian employers were looking for Chinese men to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway. His cousin convinced him that the pay offered there was lot more than he could even except and that he could send a small amount of it for his family residing in Beijing. He also realized that on the other hand it would also mean that it could take years for him to meet his family that at times would be hard to consider and acknowledge. But still Jacky realized that the future of his children and family was more important and that he also had to support his younger brothers and parents. Therefore, he...