Chapter 271: International students helping each other? Association

'Huang Yi, Chairman Huang, you're finally back! This is great!'

With two excited shouts, two young students wearing glasses ran out of the house rented by the Brighton Chinese Students' Association. They looked very dishevelled, not only were their clothes tattered, but one of them also had a red patch on his head.

They ran up to Huang Yi and said in unison, 'Chairman Huang, where have you been? Why are you only just back? We've paged you several times. Is it because you're not available? Or is there something else the consulate needs you to help with? Can you put in a good word for us?'

Huang Yi, however, said, 'Come on, guys, it's just those guys again, isn't it? Look at the way you're acting. As Chinese people, haven't you joined this organisation with a sense of awareness?'

Hearing Huang Yi say this, the two young students were both a little stunned, but then they saw Zhou Ming standing next to Huang Yi and immediately asked, 'Chairman Huang, who is this, someone from our consulate who has come to help us resolve things?'

Upon hearing their question, Huang Yi suddenly felt a bit confused. He looked at Zhou Ming and hesitated, not knowing how to answer. Zhou Ming smiled and volunteered to answer for him, saying, 'I'm sorry, students, the answer may disappoint you a bit, because I'm not from the consulate. But you can tell me your problem, and maybe I can help.'

The two young students were disappointed with Zhou Ming's answer, but they still said, 'Thank you very much. I think we can solve our own problems. And since you are so young, you must also be studying in Brighton. If you encounter any trouble, you can come to us at any time.'

After they finished speaking, they wanted to say something to Huang Yi, but at that moment, Huang Yi lectured them first, saying, 'What kind of attitude is this? Do you know who this is? He is Mr Zhou Ming from the mainland. He went to Harvard with the finance class from Renmin University. The Consul General of the New York Consulate, Cheng Jun, personally went to the airport to pick him up. He also has a personal authorisation from the President of the United States.

Huang Yi's words left them a little confused. They asked in a daze, 'Chairman Huang, which Zhou Ming are you talking about?'

This rhetorical question made Huang Yi even more angry. He shouted, 'Of course it's the Mr Zhou Ming I often mention to you.

Although Huang Yi's words had a very reprimanding tone, they instead made the eyes of the two young students light up. One of them looked at Zhou Ming in surprise and said, 'Teacher Zhou Ming, are you the hero who single-handedly stopped the financial war that the United States had been planning for nearly half a century in Northern Russia? We have heard of you for a long time, and I never thought that I would be able to meet you here, which is really great! We all admire you!'

The other one said, 'I heard from Chairman Huang Yi that when you arrived, our Consul General personally went to the airport to pick you up, and that the President of the United States gave you authorization? You are really amazing!'

As they spoke, the two young students wanted to shake Zhou Ming's hand, but when they held out their hands, they realized that their hands were very dirty. Just as they were hesitating, Zhou Ming took the initiative to shake their hands first and smiled at them, saying, 'I am also very happy to meet you.'

Although it was just an attitude, they were still very moved to be able to shake Zhou Ming's hand, and they were so excited that their bodies could not stop trembling.

Zhou Ming still smiled and said, 'Okay, I think now we can find a place to sit down for a while, and then we can talk more about what happened here, such as in your association.'

Zhou Ming then led them into the room of the Brighton Chinese Students' Association without further ado, but once inside, they realised that it was worse than they had imagined: the tables and chairs were falling over, and the contents of the drawers and some documents were scattered everywhere, as if the room had been robbed; there was also paint splashed on the walls and chairs in the room, and even much of this paint had run onto the floor, and the air was filled with a pungent smell.

Looking at the situation in the room, Huang Yi and the two young students felt very embarrassed. Huang Yi even suggested to Zhou Ming, 'Teacher Zhou, why don't we go outside and find a place to sit down and talk?'

'It's okay, I don't think this area by the door is very clean,'

Zhou Ming said, pulling over a nearby chair that hadn't been stained with paint and sitting down. Huang Yi and the two young students saw that Zhou Ming had done this, so they had no choice but to find some paper to wipe the chair and then cushion it with something to sit on.

After everyone had sat down, Zhou Ming spoke first: 'Since we are all sitting down, then I need someone to tell me what exactly happened here.'

Zhou Ming finished speaking and looked at the three of them, but they all kept their heads down, as if they were having some difficulty speaking up. Zhou Ming had to call out their names: 'Classmate Huang Yi, is it not convenient to tell me? After all, in the future we will also be classmates at Harvard.'

Huang Yi, who had been named by Zhou Ming, was first taken aback. He hesitated for a while before finally making up his mind and saying, 'Mr. Zhou, in fact, there is no such thing as convenience or inconvenience. This is something that we would tell every student who comes to study in Brighton. And if he gets into trouble, we will try every means to help him. It's just that you, Mr. Zhou, make us a little embarrassed to speak up.'

Zhou Ming just smiled at this and didn't say anything, quietly listening to him finish.

Huang Yi sighed and continued, 'Teacher Zhou, you know that our association is now called the Brighton Chinese Students Association, but when it was first established, it wasn't called that. It was called the Brighton Chinese Students Mutual Aid Association.'

'Mutual aid?' Zhou Ming asked with a frown, keenly aware of what the problem was.

Huang Yi nodded and said, 'It means mutual aid. The English expression is, but then for some reason, it had to be changed back to the Brighton Chinese Students Association.'

Zhou Ming noticed that Huang Yi used the word 'aid' here instead of the common 'help'. Although Zhou Ming knew that using 'aid' in an association would be more formal than using 'help', if it wasn't necessary, Huang Yi shouldn't have deliberately emphasised the English expression, because in English usage, 'help' is just ordinary help, but 'aid' is more of an important support and assistance in a situation.

More importantly, there is nothing wrong with the name of the association. Why did they have to remove the word 'mutual' in the end?

'The original intention of establishing this mutual aid association was to address the discrimination that Chinese students face in the United States,' Huang Yi said. 'In fact, the problem of discrimination is not only limited to international students, but also exists in various places across the United States.'

Zhou Ming nodded, understanding what Huang Yi was saying. Just in the short few hours since he had left the President's Building and arrived at the Academic Affairs Building, from the black security guard to the assistant provost and the President, he had experienced discrimination from so many people. And this was still at Harvard University, where there were senior intellectuals like the provost and the President who had obtained doctoral degrees, and he was still carrying a document personally signed by the President.

But the result was still the same. One could imagine what the situation would be like for Chinese students in other places.

'I don't know if you've heard of that word, Mr Zhou,' Huang Yi pointed at a graffiti on the wall next to him, "literally translated, it means "clear worms', worms from the Qing Dynasty. It's a very representative insulting term for the Chinese that has existed in the United States for a long time. In the eyes of those Americans, whether it's our compatriots in Chinatown or us international students, we are all the same, as long as we are Chinese.'

'In fact, this is not the first time our association has been treated like this. They are just trying to bully us even more. Even the mutual aid association itself cannot help, so what's the point of talking about mutual aid?' Huang Yi said helplessly, and the two classmates next to him both lowered their heads.

'So you're not going to call the police? Their behaviour can already be considered criminal, right? Although I don't think there's a country in the world that is completely free, equal and ruled by law, at least the US advertises itself as such. Aren't the police going to do anything about this?' Zhou Ming asked.

Hearing Zhou Ming's question, Huang Yi immediately smiled bitterly, and the two young students next to him immediately exclaimed indignantly, 'What a load of shit, the police are just as bad as the robbers!'

Huang Yi said to Zhou Ming, 'In fact, the earliest time when our association still had the word "aid" in it, something like this happened. At that time, the location of the association was still in the centre of the Harvard campus, and the founders of the association at that time were still relatively influential on the Harvard campus. At that time, the first violent incident occurred, and the first president of the association chose to report it to the police.'

'But the result...was that our association was forced to remove the word 'aid' from its name, and there were more and more violent incidents against the association. In the past, many international students would fight together, but now there are only the three of us left. The association also moved from the centre of campus to this completely remote area. The university made us move for the reason that we disturbed the normal order on campus.'

Huang Yi let out a helpless, wry smile: 'This reason is really impossible to refute. It's pathetic here. You can be convicted of racial discrimination for calling someone a nigger, but it's fine to call anyone Chinese a nigger. It's as if our status here is even lower than that of black people.'

As he listened to Huang Yi's account, Zhou Ming felt very heavy and depressed. Zhou Ming has never considered himself a cynic. In fact, as a psychological young man in his fifties who has been alive for two lifetimes, it is impossible for him to become cynical. However, when Zhou Ming heard what Huang Yi said and saw the tragic situation of the Brighton Chinese Students' Association, an irrepressible anger still rose in his heart.

Zhou Ming actually understood very well that what Huang Yi had said was so simple, but in reality there must be a lot more that he could not imagine, such as when the association was still called the Mutual Aid Association, the first violent incident occurred, and the police were called but instead they were forced to change the name.

There must be a very humiliating and helpless story behind it. As a result, the violent incidents became more and more rampant and lawless, and the association could only move out step by step with no choice, and finally it came to this place that almost borders the factory. Even if all the Chinese students join, they dare not come to this side of the association.

Their status is even lower than that of black people. Zhou Ming knew that Huang Yi didn't really mean it when he said that, but that he was more resigned to his fate.

Zhou Ming was about to say something when he heard a shout from outside: 'Hey, you yellow-skinned bitches, get out here!'