By Great Wall

An Armenian Wife's China Adventure

By Great Wall

D eng Zhonggang is a peasant from the Zhanjiazhuang Village,in Rongcheng,Shandong,China.His wife,Noune used to be a nurse at a major hospital in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.Her father is the manager of a local factory and her mother is a doctor.How did an Armenian nurse become the wife of a Chinese peasant?What has her life been like since coming to the Chinese countryside?

Romance in a Foreign Land

In May 1994,the 27-year old Deng Zhonggang went to work in a factory on the outskirts of Yerevan as part of a labor export.

One day in September 1995,Deng suddenly caught a bad cold with a high fever,so he went to the hospital for treatment.There,he met the 26-year-old Noune,a nurse working at the hospital. In his seven days of hospitalization, Deng was under the intensive care of Noune and felt special warmth like nothing he had ever felt before.Deng had few connections in Armenia.Noune was also very curious about the young Chinese lad.The two thus exchanged phone numbers.

Though of peasant origin,Deng knew how to win the heart of a girl.He had a special set of skills he used in wooing the girls.From dealing with his parents and from preparing meals,he understood how skirting the issues and acting on the facts go hand in hand.Deng often told Noune classic Chinese love stories such as“The Butterfly Lovers”,“Legend of the White Snake”and“The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid”.Later,Noune invited Deng to go boating in Lake Sevan,well known in Armenia.“If I were the‘White Snake’,would you be‘Xu Xian’?”Noune said softly,while the two were paddling the boat and enjoying the wonderful scenery of Lake Sevan. Hearing this,Deng was overjoyed.“I will love you like Xu Xian loved the White Snake.”

Noune invited Deng to her home so her parents could have a look at this young Chinese fellow.At the sight of the yellow-skinned Deng,a sour disposition played across the faces of Noune's parents.

“With special care and sincerity,he made uniquely flavored dumplings for all my family,and offered to wash the dishes himself after dinner.He even helped my mother take out the trash.”O(jiān)n that day,Noune purposely called all her relatives to the house and they plowed through Deng’s dumplings in no timeflat.Everyonegaveabigthumbs-up and said that they had never eaten such delicious food before.In Armenia,men never go into the kitchen or do housework.Deng's move won the favor of every one in Noune's family.

Seeing her parents in a happy mood, Deng mustered up every bit of courage and said,“Allow me to marry your daughter and afterwards you can have such dumplings every day.”His proposal at first visit not only shocked Noune's parents,but also proved to be unacceptable to Noune herself.

Deng was in hot pursuit,but Noune did not agree in the beginning.She felt that the two of them were from two different worlds.It was not until one day, after the song and dance of a noisy dinner party to celebrate her younger sister successfully giving birth,did Noune suddenly remember that she had promised to meet Deng that day.When Noune arrived at her dorm two hours behind schedule,she was dumbfounded by the scene before her eyes:leaning on the entrance of the dorm,Deng had turned into a snowman.His hair,eyebrows and stubble all were white with snow.Nuone was deeply touched.Throwing herself in Deng's arms and in tears,she said,“I will marry you.”

Deng captured Noune's heart.Noune's parentsbelievedthat,althoughthis young Chinese fellow was not rich,he was an honest man whom they could entrust their daughter to for a lifetime,In December 1995,in Yerevan,Deng and Noune walked down the aisle together. A staff member of the Chinese Embassy in Armenia sent a congratulatory messagewiththewords,“Wholehearted congratulations to Noune,the first Armenian girl to marry a Chinese.”

A year later,the couple's beautiful twin daughters came into the world.

Follow You Wherever You Go

Life in Armenia was comfortable.However,Deng knew very well that his hometowninShandong,whichhe missed day and night,was where he really belonged.One day in June 1997, Deng confided to his wife.“My life, work and family in Armenia are all very good,”he said.“But,whenever I think of my home in China,I feel anxious to go back to the environment I was born and raised in.”Noune sank into deep thought for a long time.“By choosing you,I've chosen the final destination of my love,”with tears in her eyes,she said to her husband,“so I will follow you wherever you go.”

Armenia and China are thousands of miles apart.The Deng couple first took a flight from Armenia to Moscow,andfrom Moscow,they transferred to a train to China.They stayed on the train for seven days and seven nights.

Although Noune had long prepared herselfpsychologically,theimpoverished conditions of Deng’s family were still beyond her imagination.For a few nights in a row,Noune shed tears alone in the empty house.

Noune's family in Armenia is relatively better off.She had never expected her husband's home so in the backward countryside of China,too hard for her to adapt to.Nuone wanted to get out of this place and return to her parents in Armenia.Nevertheless,Armenian women are naturally unyielding.The love for her husband and children kept Noune from leaving.She decided to stay and transform the home thoroughly by her own hands.

In 1998,with money sent by her parents,Noune and her husband opened a chicken farm that could accommodate 12,000 chickens.In order to save costs, they also contracted 6 mu of“family responsibility fields”,they ground corn and other crops harvested in the field into chicken feed.

Noune,a green hand in farming, learned everything from scratch.Plowing,sowing,weeding,cutting wheat, gatheringpeanuts,buildingchicken coops,stirring chicken feed,bending down to feed the chickens and so on; Noune got a sore back and legs from the chores.Her hands became rough with calluses and her lips began to grow blisters,but she clenched her teeth and stuck to it to the end.“No pains,no gains.”At theyear-end,thecouple made a calculation and found their annual income was actually more than 20, 000 yuan.

Later,the couple not only expanded the scale of the chicken farm,but also kept dairy cows.The life of the small family began to boom.From the life of an Armenian nurse,Noune gradually adapted to the ordinary peasant life in rural China.On the occasions of wedding parties and childbirths in the village,Noune would carry a basket of eggs to express her congratulations;and when the villagers dropped by to chat in herhouse,shewouldentertainher guests with fresh red apples and delicious fried peanuts.

New Legends in Urban Adventure

On her 35th birthday,a new idea began to emerge quietly in Noune's mind.She was thinking about leaving the village after living there for eight years and start a business in the city with her husband. The cause for moving from the country-side to the city was very simple and coincidental.Roune ran into a Russian in Rongcheng purely by chance.The Port of Shidao in Shandong is a rest and reorganization base for many Russian ships and a landing place for many Russia sailors.Noune's native tongue is Russian and doing business with Russian seamen is probably the best choice.

Nuoun Cafe was established with 50, 000 yuan in funding from an investor in the advertising industry and another 50, 000-yuan loan Noune borrowed from the bank.Ontheadvertising lamp box of the Cafe,it read“Story of Noune cafe”with the wedding photo of Noune and Deng printed on its left and the photo of the twin sisters on the right.

Shidao is a regular docking place for Russian fishing boats,with routine ship maintenance usually taking up to a couple of months to complete. Russian people often come to the small town in groups from their boats and spend big money here.Noune can cook presentable Russian snacks and speak fluent Russian,so her Cafe became a home for many Russian seamen.

Subsequently,she opened a“Noune Flavour Food City”with an enterprise sponsorship.On the second floor of Food City,there hung a large family photo with the Chinese words“Love in China”on top.After meticulous management,the“Food City”became a well-known brand for tourists in the local area.It is a common saying of many people that“he who hasn't been to‘Noune Food City’hasn't been to Shidao.”

16 years ago,Noune started the businesses with her husband in China.Running the business has been difficult,but joyful,and their life is getting better day by day.Now,Noune is doing border trade business and has becomeafamousentrepreneurinRongcheng. Even Armenian State Television dispatched reporters on a special trip to China to shoot a feature program about her. Nuone's parents no longer doubt or worry abouttheirdaughter'stransnational marriage and they decided to come to China and stay in their daughter's home for a while this year.

Love in China.The kind and sincere Noune not only established her love and family,she could finally realize her duty as a filial daughter to her parents as well.

(FromNiucheng Evening Paper.Translation:Transn.Illustration:CFP)