Beautiful Country: A Memoir

Lao Lao sent sweaters to the Wang family; often, her packages arrived opened, with letters redacted by Chinese government censors. One night, as Qian and her family tried to stay warm under their comforters at night, they heard noise outside their door, only to find the landlady turning off the heat in twenty degree weather. She claimed their upstairs neighbors were too warm. Qian and her parents were struck by the absurdity and climbed back into bed, laughing. 

Qian learned to love Christmas in Mei Guo. At school, the teacher put up a tree and gave each student a small gift. Ms. Tang told the class that they would each be participating in Secret Santa and must buy a ten dollar gift for a classmate. Qian emptied the money she had made from working with Ma Ma in the sweatshop and bought a pink Hello Kitty mechanical pencil that she had been eyeing for months. She used it a few times and marveled at it; then she wrapped it back up in its brown package to give it as her Secret Santa gift. When it came time to exchange presents, Qian was embarrassed at the meagerness of the gift she bought for the richest girl in her class when she saw the elaborate gifts her classmates had purchased for one another.