The Lure of Money

In the 21^st century, the value of money is higher than anything. However, when my mother was born before Reform and Opening Up, money had lost its value. Before Reform and Opening Up, China was in  World War II. In 1953, the Chinese government began the first Five-Year Plan of national construction form Xiaoping Deng. The Chinese government concentrated on developing heavy industries. The food had not enough difficult situation in acquisition and supply. The Chinese government did not have enough food to give to Chinese people because all the food was provided by the government, so the Chinese government-controlled whole the market. In 1955, the government announced a new Act called Interim Measures for the quantitative supply of grain in cities and Towns Act. People could not sell their goods to other people. They had to sell the food to the government and got money or stamps. In return, the stamps were limited. At that moment, the value of stamps was higher than money. After Reform and Opening Up, the Chinese government changed the policy of money, and my mother’s life changed. This new policy gave hope to my family.

After Reform and Opening Up, the living standard of my mother’s family grew because the government canceled the use of stamps. The only way my mother could buy goods was to use the money. The Chinese government did not control the market anymore, so the value of the money came back. People got more freedom to use and spend money. Meanwhile, my mother could sell her food or goods to other people or find a job to get money. Sometimes, my mother brought some handmade goods to sell to other people and earned money. That way buying and selling were easier. My mother could find work in a restaurant and just work for the government. She worked so hard, but she felt happy because she had a chance to make money and that made her family’s life better.

My mother’s life was going to the next level until my mother met my father. When my parents got married, my family opened a restaurant. The income of my family was more than before. Before Reform and Opening Up, my parents always worried about food, stamps, and money. But now, they had their own restaurant, and they could make money. My parents used the money from the restaurant and bought a new house for my grandparents. In addition, my parents brought some valuable food for my grandparents. My grandparents had poor upbringing When they were young. They did not have money to buy food. However, my parents had money so my grandparent could try some food they had never tried. For my parents, they were born in a little village, and they never traveled to other cities until they made money. They usually traveled to around the world. My mother’s dream was to go to the Maldives, and her dream eventually came true.

Three years later, when I was born, my parents began to focus their money on me. My parents all graduated from Junior high school. They did not have enough money to get a better education. However, they had money to let me get a better education. The education of my hometown was not really good, so my family moved to a big city in China. When I was seven years old, I went to an international school in another city in China. I learned more high education level than who was the age some like me. I studied in international, I could study different cultures from different students. However, if students who were the age some as me studied in ordinary school. They could study the culture from China not form the world because the international students were from all over the world. After I graduated from high school, my family moved to the U.S. and chose a great college for me. I had have learned different education from the U.S., not just China. For example, I could travel to other cities and learned the different culture of cities in the U.S. on my vacation. Traveling was one of the ways to get more education. I could know about history or culture form other cities. These were good experiences for me. Making money is important, but my education is more important.

My parents told me, they were very thankful for the Reform and Opening Up policy. This was a great change in China. The historic event not only had important infect to China but also changed my family’s life. I believe that money is very important to anyone. The Reform and Opening Up policy allowed the Chinese company traded freely with the foreign company so that not only the Chinese company but also the government accumulated a lot of money. The government used this money to develop the education, healthcare, and infrastructure. And Chinese company, since they earned much more money from free trade, they created more career opportunity and improved the benefit of its employee. The lure of money has to get bigger for everyone.