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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - This PRC FT at least send his sons to NS</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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Place to build his career
Mr Yu Ping (above) sharing a proud moment with son Jianhong, who is a Singapore citizen. PHOTO COURTESY OF YU JIANHONG
Twenty-two years ago, farmer and odd-job labourer Yu Ping left his family in China's Fujian province for Singapore and earned a few hundred dollars a month as a carpenter in a furniture company in Kranji.
Today, the 44-year-old runs his own precision engineering company in Bukit Batok. He is also happily reunited with his family, who have mostly become citizens or permanent residents here.
'I have heard about Singapore since young and even now, I have friends in China asking me about coming over here. It's safe and secure and, as long as you work hard, you can do well,' he tells LifeStyle in Mandarin.
The first few years here were not easy for the young Yu, who could not speak English and was separated from his wife and three young children.
'It was worth leaving the family. A man must build his career for his family, it's his responsibility. Only then can we face our family,' he declares.
He was among a group of hundreds who applied to Singaporean employers to work here, but only 60 were chosen - something he is thankful for and proud of.
'Being able to come here was an honourable and grand thing at that time. When I went back during the first few years, people looked at me differently and I was very proud of it,' he recalls.
In his seventh year here, Mr Yu graduated from the Institute of Technical Education with a certificate in carpentry, obtained permanent residency shortly after and fulfilled his dream of bringing his family over.
He, his wife and two sons - their youngest daughter stayed back in China - crammed into a one-room apartment in Marsiling. They survived on his salary, which went up to $1,300 after graduation, and that of his wife Liu Meizhen, 46, who worked as a stall assistant.
But his pay dropped to around $800 when the furniture company moved its operations to Indonesia and he had to start all over again as a machinery apprentice.
In 2004, he thought of starting his own business as he had built up enough experience and a network of contacts. That became a reality two years later when he set up a small Bukit Batok office, which currently employs two workers.
Also, instead of the claustrophobic one-room apartment, the family now lives in a spacious four-room flat in Woodlands.
His two undergraduate sons, Jianbin, 24, and Jianhong, 22, are both Singapore citizens and have served national service, while daughter Xiaoyan, 21, came here five years ago and is on a student pass. 'In China, you can't live like this with just the skills I have. There is no such opportunity for people like us,' he says gratefully.
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Place to build his career
Mr Yu Ping (above) sharing a proud moment with son Jianhong, who is a Singapore citizen. PHOTO COURTESY OF YU JIANHONG
Twenty-two years ago, farmer and odd-job labourer Yu Ping left his family in China's Fujian province for Singapore and earned a few hundred dollars a month as a carpenter in a furniture company in Kranji.
Today, the 44-year-old runs his own precision engineering company in Bukit Batok. He is also happily reunited with his family, who have mostly become citizens or permanent residents here.
'I have heard about Singapore since young and even now, I have friends in China asking me about coming over here. It's safe and secure and, as long as you work hard, you can do well,' he tells LifeStyle in Mandarin.
The first few years here were not easy for the young Yu, who could not speak English and was separated from his wife and three young children.
'It was worth leaving the family. A man must build his career for his family, it's his responsibility. Only then can we face our family,' he declares.
He was among a group of hundreds who applied to Singaporean employers to work here, but only 60 were chosen - something he is thankful for and proud of.
'Being able to come here was an honourable and grand thing at that time. When I went back during the first few years, people looked at me differently and I was very proud of it,' he recalls.
In his seventh year here, Mr Yu graduated from the Institute of Technical Education with a certificate in carpentry, obtained permanent residency shortly after and fulfilled his dream of bringing his family over.
He, his wife and two sons - their youngest daughter stayed back in China - crammed into a one-room apartment in Marsiling. They survived on his salary, which went up to $1,300 after graduation, and that of his wife Liu Meizhen, 46, who worked as a stall assistant.
But his pay dropped to around $800 when the furniture company moved its operations to Indonesia and he had to start all over again as a machinery apprentice.
In 2004, he thought of starting his own business as he had built up enough experience and a network of contacts. That became a reality two years later when he set up a small Bukit Batok office, which currently employs two workers.
Also, instead of the claustrophobic one-room apartment, the family now lives in a spacious four-room flat in Woodlands.
His two undergraduate sons, Jianbin, 24, and Jianhong, 22, are both Singapore citizens and have served national service, while daughter Xiaoyan, 21, came here five years ago and is on a student pass. 'In China, you can't live like this with just the skills I have. There is no such opportunity for people like us,' he says gratefully.
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