Lao (old) Yang saw no future in his hometown of Beijing and sold his apartment in the 90s for 9000 Yuan (AUD$1200.00 back then). He set out for imperialist USA to follow his dreams and make his gold rush come true.
Midnight after midnight, reciting strange English words in the Chinese way to try and improve his poor English, he slaved away for twenty years washing dishes, cleaning restaurants, delivering pizza in snow laden cities. He was robbed seven times and beaten up three times, but he never gave up and lived a frugal life all the time chasing his gold rush and hoping to return home one day a hero.
Twenty years later, white haired and strung out, Old Yang reached his savings goal – a million US dollars! Back to the motherland where he could retire and enjoy his old age! Triumphantly he returned to where he had lived all those years ago. A million dollars to enjoy his retirement. There was his old apartment up for sale again – a price tag of 6.9 million RMB (AUD$1.1 million).
Suffering a nervous breakdown, Lao Yang remarked “Life is a drama”. (Such is Life in an Australian context).