Democratic Socialists of America: Reaction from a Survivor of Mao's China | Lily Tang Williams

[00:00:00] Lily Tang Williams was a little girl in Sichuan Province, China, during Mao's Cultural Revolution. The revolution lasted for 10 years. Food was rationed. People were forced into labor. Her family was very poor. And it was a very difficult time for them and for everyone in China. Years later, while studying law, an American student handed her a United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. She read them. And in 1988, she got out of China.

[00:00:29] Today, she is the Republican nominee for Congress in New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District. We'll be talking to her in just a minute. But first, let me tell you that this is the prologue to a series we're doing called Surviving Communism. We are going to be doing several one-on-one interviews with people who have survived communism at different points in history over the last several decades from different parts of the world. We also have a panel discussion that is several

[00:00:59] parts long that we'll be doing with them talking about what they experienced growing up in a communist country, the fears that they have about totalitarianism and how socialism leads to totalitarianism and what they see that is happening in America right now with the rise of socialism in America that gives them pause for concern. So, enjoy today's interview and be sure to tune in next week as we launch the Surviving Communism series.

[00:01:28] I'm Jenny Beth Martin, and this is the Jenny Beth Show. Welcome to the Jenny Beth Show. Joining me today is Lily Tang Williams. She is a candidate for Congress in New Hampshire. Lily, thank you so much for joining me.

[00:01:59] Well, nice to meet you. Thank you for having me. Oh, it is my pleasure. And Lily, I actually, we filmed this in Georgia in the suburbs of Atlanta, and I saw you back in 2020 or 2021 when you spoke in Canton, Georgia, as we're trying to get things reopened around the country. So I'm really excited to have you on the show today.

[00:02:25] Oh, I did not know I met you there, but I remember my trip and my talk and I really connected with the grassroots there. And I have not changed, but seems like I have a bigger platform now to get my message out. And I'm hoping that we can make a history in New Hampshire this year to send the communism survivor and to Congress. I'm the best antidote to all the socialists in Congress.

[00:02:54] Yes. So what I would love to do today is to talk to you about your background in your history and in the beginning of the interview. And then we'll talk about your run for Congress and what you hope to do if elected as well. So that way our audience can learn about what it's like to survive socialism and what you grew up under. And then we will go through and talk about what you would do if elected.

[00:03:19] Lily, what I remember from seeing you several years ago, you were probably it's I feel silly saying this because probably it should have had these conversations before. But listening to you that day was one of the first times that I spoke to somebody who talked to me about what it was like to be a child during that cultural revolution. And I would really just appreciate it for you to tell people about your experience.

[00:03:48] However, whatever you think are the most important points to to tell. Yes, I was basically two years old when Mao started his called the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 1966.

[00:04:05] It went on to 10 years political, social chaos and violence and indoctrination, oppression and power struggles and class struggles. And I was 12 when he died. And so as a child, I I was born into that. I did not have a choice.

[00:04:29] My parents, you know, just raised me in this community workers housing, eight families and lived together, shared one community restroom outdoor and one for all men, one for all women. Eight families with children. So everybody had to have a little party in their apartment in order, you know, to go to bathroom on time. And we shared a one community water faucet.

[00:04:59] Sometimes the water ran out. I had to stay in long line to go to get a water or you just cannot have access. And my dad was so handy. He built a concrete water holder in our outdoor kitchen to store water when there is water, when there's no line. So I got a little very strong little arms because I had to carry big pot of water to fill that tank up in our outdoor kitchen.

[00:05:28] I'm the oldest child of three children. My parents were very poor. My dad was in literate. We supposed to be the ruling class of communist society. It was all lie. It was the utopian and was just never come or never true because we were actually at the bottom of the food chain, live on food rationing.

[00:05:54] And I had to stand up like in long lines in the winter morning, 5 a.m. Get a little bang, like little stool so I could sit down if I was tired to carry government food rationing coupons to go get meat, bag of potatoes and bag of flour. And the one time I lost my family's protein coupon for one month.

[00:06:20] And so we basically did not have anything like eggs and meat. And I feel so bad. I cried without even my dad beating me or something like I just feel so guilty. I probably jumped up and down, keep myself warm and lost those coupons. Lily, what kind of promises were made before Mao took over and the Cultural Revolution began?

[00:06:49] Free. Communism is wonderful. And take whatever you need. Everything is free. And you will own land. The peasants will have their own farms. And so God, the people to buy into that utopian and also help the Mao to get rid of the Shanghai ship, which is a nationalist party,

[00:07:13] and chase them away to escape to Taiwan after the Civil War ended in 1949. And as soon as he won and take over the power, he started to do the land reform. So he promised to give peasants the land. Most people that time were peasants, like 70%. They supported that. Guess what? Promise not kept. He started to have land reform.

[00:07:43] He took the land back from the private land owners and killed too many of them. And then, but did not give to peasants. The Chinese constitution says the land belongs to the people. What is a collective concept of the people? It's a state. It's a government. It's a political ruling class in charge. So peasants did not give their land. And they actually were asked to work on people's communes.

[00:08:13] So you have a little commune here, there, and you turn over the food to the government. You have some left for you to share. I remember that, you know, people were eating in the community citchens and productivity was very low. And if there was hardship and bad weather, no harvest, then you were starving.

[00:08:37] Then Mao started the mass famine because of the central planning policies. And he blamed them on three years natural disasters. Actually, it was his own policies to tell peasants how to grow food because he was competing with the Soviet Union with agricultural output.

[00:09:00] And then, you know, bad weather, bad policies and estimate 40 to 60 million peasants who support his communism and starving to death. And people were treating their children, their bodies, to eat, to survive.

[00:09:24] You know, our people in this country need to learn a lot more about what happened that period of history. I mean, we should never, never let that happen here or anywhere. Yeah, you're exactly right. We can never let it happen here or anywhere. Explain to me what were parents doing with children. Explain that part one more time.

[00:09:51] Well, when they, when their children were starving to death in the countryside of Sichuan province, they could not eat their own kids, but they had to survive. And for the family and other kids to survive. So the neighbors, villagers were treating their dead children's bodies to survive. Campbellism. Wow. Was that absolutely horrible?

[00:10:21] Lily, what about labor camps? Did you have to be in a labor camp as a child? Well, Mao used the identity politics called the sounds familiar to you in America today, between the oppressor and oppressed. And he divided Chinese people into 10 classes, five black class and the five red class.

[00:10:48] If you are a landlord and a rich farmer, county's revolutionary, and the called bad influencers, rightist, you're under five black classes. If you are black class, you go to labor camps. Unless the children, like they draw the line, denounce their families, change their last names, so they could maybe be waived off going to labor camps.

[00:11:17] And that's what they do. They get a families turning chatter against parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, in order to be red child. And the child, I was so actually lucky that I was a red child because my parents were poor. But my grandmother had to go through one year public humiliation struggle sessions.

[00:11:44] They wanted her to confess, like, what did your former husband do? Because my real grandfather was killed as an outlaw country leader in the countryside. They thought he was a country revolutionary, anti-government. My grandma remarried to a worker class. My step-grandfather was just a regular poor worker.

[00:12:06] But they made her go through one year struggle sessions to write a self-criticism report and letters to say, my husband was killed because he was killed by his own man. An internal power struggle for the outlaw group, not because he was anti-government. That's the story I heard from my family, my grandma. And after one year, she was cleared and classified as red class.

[00:12:35] Otherwise, I don't know, my life could be totally changed. Under Mao, if we were black, we could go to neighbor camps. And we could like even not go to schools or something. I could never, never join Mao's kids' organization like Young Pioneer and Red Guard. I mean, my life could be totally changed. Maybe I would never even make to United States. What was it like?

[00:13:04] Did you go to school during this time, during the Cultural Revolution? And if you did, what was happening at the school? What was the education like? Well, Mao shut down all the schools, like at the beginning of his Cultural Revolution. So the urban youth from a middle school, high school to colleges, I mean, they all could just do his revolution full time.

[00:13:30] And they turned very politically violent to go after the enemy of the state, which are those five black classes. And I actually, by the time my school age comes was when I was six years old. And that was 1970. So the peak of the political violence, the school shutting down ended.

[00:13:53] And they said, well, they actually changed the policy to say, well, all the Red Guards will become very politically violent. You know, the dead bodies flowing down the rivers. The Chinese generals remind Mao to say, you've got to get those kids out of the street. So he reopened schools.

[00:14:12] I could go to the government school, which is six days a week, like eight to five, because parents had to all work full time in the Chinese government factories in order to get food, rationing coupons, their minimum salaries. And so I went to school. But here's another twist. I wanted to go to school.

[00:14:38] My parents always told me if they had a good education and they were red class, my dad could get promoted. They even made him to go to workers college. But he's illiterate. He could not read. So he dropped out. He said, I cannot finish this. Let me be worker. I just cannot study. And so they told me to study hard.

[00:15:00] So then they begged me to stay when you're behind to babysit my infant brother to, you know, nothing is for free. My parents could not afford my infant brother's childcare in a state factory. So they asked me, a six years old, to stay home alone to babysit less than when you're old, little like an infant brother. I cried. I said, I want to go school. I want to go school.

[00:15:29] I was so bored. No toys, no radio, no TV, nothing, nothing fun. I just wanted to go school to learn how, how to do, you know, and reading and how to socialize. And, and so I was put back because my parents begged me, we'll buy your movie ticket. Okay.

[00:15:48] It's foreign movie ticket was a luxury item, but please help us because we just cannot afford because another brother under me 17 months younger, he could go to the government daycare was cheaper because he was, you know, older, but for the infant, it just, they just did not have the money and nothing was for free. So I stayed home for one year. And then I went to school. I was such a motivated student. I made a 100% in every subject.

[00:16:17] I was a red student and I was put off one year to join mouse young pioneer because I bragged about my academic excellence to my girlfriend in school to say I'm the best student. I want to be the first one to be nominated to join the young pioneer, which is mouse grassroots kids red organization. I was put off because I was too confident. I never forget that lesson.

[00:16:45] I never forget that lesson in a collective society. You cannot be too confident. You cannot break yourself to your girlfriend. After that, I never learned to trust anybody, not even my own family members, not my girlfriends. No, how could you after, after that? And what's crazy about that is you were saying you wanted to be part of what Mao was Mao had and the programs that he had. It's not like you were trying to be a counter revolutionary.

[00:17:13] You were trying to be part of the program. And even that was looked down upon because you were, you were too good. You were, you were selling too much. I was not politically correct. I was too individualistic. Be too confident, not complying with the rest of group. They want to shut you down. I learned that I learned how to say yes. I learned how to hide myself.

[00:17:42] I know how to have a two face of life. One is private and the one is public. That's the way I had to survive basically 24 years in China. Yeah. Um, when is, um, let me ask one more thing about this, this period. And then if there's anything else you want to elaborate on, we can, before we, we move to what happened when, when you were 12 after he died.

[00:18:12] But what was music like? What was art and were, what was happening, uh, besides inside of your own family, uh, in, in your community and around the country? We were not allowed to listen to any other, um, like music on radios.

[00:18:34] Uh, I remember they were shortwave radios from, from Taiwan by this famous folk saying, and star Teresa Dunn saying love sounds. And it was labeled as a, um, um, um, spiritual pollution and bad sounds. So it's illegal to listen to her sounds through shortwave radios. And, uh, in school we were saying red revolutionary sounds.

[00:19:02] It's always a thank you party. Thank you, Chi Mai Mao. You are our savior. Without the CCP there'd be no China, no new China. And it was a very, very red. And some folks music sounds, but still the lyrics is always a thank you. And they do not want us even to show public love, affection towards our parents.

[00:19:27] There is a song called, you know, mom, dad, a dear, but the Chi Mai Mao is more daring. So you supposed to say long live Chairman Mao 100 years, another 10,000 years, double 10,000 years. I thought that he was God. I thought that he will never die. I never challenged you that. I never asked a question until he died when I was 12. I was very, very brainwashed.

[00:19:57] I was so brainwashed that when we were doing stern fry burning wood under a Chinese wok, his face will show up and smiling at me and talking to me. And when I look at the sky, I saw his face behind the clouds and smiling at me. And, uh, I will never forget that experience. I was a hundred percent brainwashed. I will say brain dead almost.

[00:20:27] That's why when he died and, you know, I finally just start to ask questions like, how did he die? Somebody lied to me. My entire generation lost our face and we were so depressed, you know, and that we supposed to cry for his death the whole time. Um, but I was truly depressed, not because he died.

[00:20:52] It's because I was wondering who lied to my generation and to, to China, to Chinese people. And I was not brain dead because I couldn't still ask that question. He was not immortal. So he died. He's a human being. And two years later, the party, then Xiaoping come out to say, Mao is a human. And he died. His cultural revolution was a 10 years mistake.

[00:21:22] So I lost, I was totally lost child after that. And then, uh, well, what happened when you were from the time that you were lost until, um, the next several years, what we would consider like high school years? Well, um, when I was 14, when I heard that, and that time that the university system was reopened. So, remember they shut down all the colleges.

[00:21:52] And I had the new hope to say, if I can pass nationalized college interest exam, I could go to best university to search for truth. And, uh, so my new goal become, I have to pass this exam. How do I pass it? My mom, dad could not help me.

[00:22:17] So I have to rely on my intelligence, my good memories and study so hard, long stop for three years in order to pass this nationalized college interest exam three whole days. And I remember my dad was so poor, but he boiled four eggs for me every morning to give my, you know, like my brain enough protein supply to say, you know, concentrate, you can do this.

[00:22:44] And, uh, you know, we want you to have the best, uh, you know, the protein supply for eggs every morning. And, uh, um, after three days, I think I took a one week break, just sleep to catch up my sleep.

[00:22:57] I was like a totally exhausted, but I studied hard and, and, uh, I had a good memory, um, because actually my dad's side, the family, my dad grew up as an, um, orphan because his dad was like a educated country and village, like a court man. And he would write court papers for the regular villages, but he died a mysterious disease.

[00:23:24] I, I think it's diabetes because my dad has diabetes type two. So he died. He sold all his land to treat his disease. So we all become so poor. My dad become orphan after he died. And, uh, then his mother working the farm, two jobs got a bite by an infected, you know, like a, like a repeat, the dog bite. And she died of infection. So six kids all scattered around.

[00:23:52] My dad was the youngest and the five become orphan and his uncle adopted him. So, so I have some genetics in my brain, you know, like, uh, I was not really born and stupid. I had some IQ. So I started very hard, had a very good memory. And I choose to study law at the age of 17. After I passed two, uh, like a, like a three days college exam. And it's kind of funny.

[00:24:19] You have to choose what you want to study at which school you want to go to. You have to be red child to pass a government. Uh, investigations in order to go to government college. And I was a red child. I scored well enough to go to top five Chinese universities. But when I was choosing my own major study law in Fudan University, and all my neighbors were laughing at me because they said that you are poor.

[00:24:46] Your parents have no connections, no power in literate. You just dream too big. They're laughing at me. But I believe in myself. That's where my confidence can play since the seven years old. I was too confident, but I believe in me myself. So I picked all top five universities and to choose to study law because of my teacher told me.

[00:25:10] Our country that time was ruled by man, not a rule of law. And he was a labor camp victim and very sick. So I visited him as a school student, like leader. And that just hit me when I was 16. So when I could have a chance to go study, I just want to say, I want China to become a rule of law, not a rule of man and madman and dictatorship government.

[00:25:39] That was my intent to go study law at the age of 17. But of course, that dream got shattered in college too. But say that last part again. That dream to change China to rule of law from a rule of man got destroyed when I was in college. And what happened when you were in college?

[00:26:02] In two weeks in college, our professor told us that our law model is a Soviet Union model. What is law's purpose? The purpose of law is true for the governing class to govern the masses. You're not individuals. They want to govern the masses, govern all the Chinese people.

[00:26:27] And I want to go study law for, you know, equality and justice because people like my parents who are treated like animals by government officials because they are poor. They are not educated. They're just like a worker machines to, you know, and working for the government. I was looked down on as a poor child. But I saw that I want to go advocate for those people who are have no voices.

[00:26:56] And after my professor told us that I become depressed again, I lost again. Why am starting so hard to become a tool of the government? So I start to skip classes. I was repenting in college. Well, you are not the first and only person who's ever skipped classes in college. That's for sure.

[00:27:21] And then at some point you wound up getting a copy of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. When did that happen? I was a third year in college. And remember that I went to college in 1981 to 1985.

[00:27:38] So that's about 1983 when Deng Xiaoping decided opening up economic reform and the Department of Education start to lose its rules that you could have dancing parties. You could lay your hair down. You could date and whatever, you know, kind of to be easy and college students because we're rebelling anyway, quiet way. So I went to dancing party.

[00:28:06] I met this student from America, exchange student. He said, have you ever heard about America? You know, I have something to show you if you come to visit me. I said, oh, I'm very curious. I would like to visit you. And he gave me his address. So for foreign students and scholars, they all live in protected buildings. So as a college student to visit him, I had to sign in.

[00:28:36] There's a guard at every, you know, building. And so I went inside to visit him and he told me about the Declaration of Independence. He showed me a little pocket constitution and read to me the first paragraph. You know, we hold those truths to be self-evident. And all men are pretty equal. I could not even understand that.

[00:29:02] I said, please, slowly, telling me a little bit more. And he explained to me, you have right, Lily, as individual, as a person, as human being. And your rights come from God, not from government. I had no clue. And he said, it doesn't matter if you are Chinese. You have yellow skin. And, but all men are created by God.

[00:29:29] Your rights come from God, not from your government. I think he turned my night book on and I could never turn it off. It was an alien concept for me, individual rights and liberty. And that was a third year in college. And after that, the second time when I went back to see him, I did not even register at the door to tell them, you know, and the, oh, what are we talking about? And what time in, what time out? I just cheated.

[00:29:58] I just waited until lady, the lady who goes to the bathroom, go pour hot water, tea. I could have just tiptoe and run upstairs. So, so I escaped the first, you know, my first rebellion to say, I want to talk to him more about America, but I don't want to tell that the university and, you know, what I'm doing. And so, and he told me a little bit more about, you know, the, the natural rights, the bill of rights.

[00:30:26] So I was just absolutely amazed. Like, this is an awesome country. Citizens have a guaranteed rights by, by the founding fathers documents. He put America into my head to say, Lily, if somebody, you have to escape China. This is a country I want to go. I never thought about other countries at all. After that, I only wanted to look at America as that shining city on the hill.

[00:30:56] But I was not even ready to leave in China yet because I still hold on to my dream to transform China in college until after I graduated. Wow. Lily, there's several things to unpack about that. First, this constitution holding it and carrying it around. It's important for people to do that because you never know who you're going to be able to sit down and talk to. Obviously, that person was in China.

[00:31:25] But I think today in our own society, there are several people we probably meet every single day who need to read, read and understand what's inside of it. Had you, did you believe in God when you heard that these rights come from our creator, that they come from God? What was that like for you? What was your religion like in China? Well, we were not allowed to talk about God. It was very just a spiritual concept to me.

[00:31:55] And all religions were shut down. And the communists are oasis. They don't believe in God. My mom and my grandma were actually Buddhist. And they had to comply and to tell people they don't have religion. And when I was a red child in school, I would go home, see my mom, pray privately at home. I would criticize her to say, Mom, stop doing that.

[00:32:21] And that's, you know, you know, you're believing in like, I'm sure you believe communism and Communist Party and chill my mom. And thank God I did not turn my mom into red guards because you're supposed to turn your pastor in to the government if they're not doing something at home politically correct. And I have some smart sense to say, I don't want to get my parents trouble. So I just criticize her as a child.

[00:32:48] Of course, later, when I listen to this spiritual concept of God, I still don't know anything about Christianity. But I just like it. I feel comfortable. You know, I did not even really get into Buddhism because we were supposed to criticize all other religions. You know, we were the mouse children, red children.

[00:33:14] So I have to study a lot more after I come to this country. But I just feel there is something in me. It's a spiritual. I cannot continue to support the regime, the one party dictatorship. When I graduated as one of the five students got offered faculty positions to stay to teach in the same law school because we're the first graduation class 1985. They needed the lawyers badly.

[00:33:44] They needed the faculty members badly. And I got that job as a part time faculty member and part time manager for law firm on campus. That's when China started to do economic reforms. All the state enterprises needed the legal help to counsel them on international laws, on domestic laws. And so I worked with our dean of our law school to go out to visit those companies.

[00:34:14] At the same time, I taught one class as a faculty member. I learned a lot. But here's something people don't understand. Chinese universities are managed by two lines of supervisions. One is academic. One is political. Even today, political is controlled by CCP. And you have to be politically correct. And the dean is only academic supervising.

[00:34:43] So I was subject to two bosses, basically. I really like the academic side. I hated the Communist Party political side. And they constantly tell me how to behave, what to do and what to say and how to teach. After one year being school faculty member, I start to check into America again.

[00:35:07] And that's when they open up the university to Chinese students to say, you know, to go to graduate school in the US, but you have to pass TOEFL. You have to pass GRE. You have to find the American sponsors if you are an individual student without the Chinese government help. So so I worked very hard to make that happen. Finally, after two years, endless efforts. Wow. So I want to come to that.

[00:35:36] But let me ask you two things to follow up on what you said a minute ago, and then we'll come to getting to America. One thing when you were talking about meeting the person who showed you the pocket constitution, you said that they were allowing you to dance and to let your hair down for women to be able to let their hair down. So you weren't allowed to dance. What was what were those restrictions like?

[00:36:04] And then I have one other follow up question about a different topic. So when people talk about pressing, I always tell people, you really need to know how pressed we were. And as college students, 1981, we could not lay hair down past our shoulders, just like in our middle school, high school. You had to comply with approved hair cycles. We were not allowed to wear blue jeans because that was Western style.

[00:36:33] We were not allowed to date because you got to focus on studies. You had no personal freedom. You had no personal lifestyle choices. And dancing parties was Western also. So we always try to fight with those like a gate. There's a gate and guards. If you don't dress properly, hair properly, you could not let in to go to classrooms inside of that gate.

[00:37:01] Our dormitory was outside the university gate. And but when people constantly start to fight them and also who you are bound, you know, the the premier who died and cost the 1989 Tiamen Square, a massive student protest. He was talking about political reform because of his openness to political reforms.

[00:37:26] And the Department of Education started to lose up the rules to say, OK, kids, you can wear blue jeans. You can lay hair down. You can go to dancing parties. And that's the one I saw that I had the best time up to that point in my life. I could go to dancing parties, listen to awards with dance disco, you know, shake our booties and wear colorful clothes, lay the hair down. It was a sense of liberation.

[00:37:54] It was a sense of, you know, freedom. And that was just amazing, you know, years of my life. And and everything just happened for the purpose. And when China started to open up, we were talking about in coffee shops on campus to say, oh, this coffee tastes good instead of just the tea. And then we're talking about the argue and debate. Hey, what kind of country would you like to have? Would you like to live under?

[00:38:23] And that was so nice. I made a lot of friends and some are lifetime friends. But it was a short lived. And because I think that when Hu Yaobang died, I mean, that time, you know, just everything basically went to dormant for many, many years. And when Tiananmen happened, of course, I already came here in 1989.

[00:38:45] My personal story to come here is because after I worked for three years in the university system for government, I just cannot imagine my life to be. OK, climb the ladder, become associate professor, retire and die. I just cannot save my life and not to be that way. And I just have this voice talking to me. I got to get out of China.

[00:39:15] I got to live free. And the only way I could get out of the league free is by coming to the United States as a foreign student. So I focused all my energy on studying English, passed the TOEFL exam and applied by myself to universities as a graduate student and found an American sponsor because I had no money. The biggest challenge, how do I get the permission to leave China?

[00:39:44] I had to talk to my boss, the Communist Party committee boss, to basically lie to him. I want to go to sharpen my skills so I can do my job better. Could you give me permission to quit my job, go get my passport? Everything has to be given by government. You don't own yourself.

[00:40:09] People don't understand you don't own yourself even today in China because you don't have self ownership. You belong to the government and your children, your property all belong to the government. Even some rich people, you know, hey, they can get rich as long as you are in line with the government. Otherwise, you can lose everything overnight. I think that people in America don't understand that at all.

[00:40:38] So you came here to America and then what happened? I came here. I just thought I came to the greatest country on Earth. I have a guaranteed rights by the Constitution. I was not political. I had, you know, debt $1,200. I borrowed $100 cash and to come to this country. I did not know how to pay bills.

[00:41:06] Most thing I was worried about flying here is how I'm going to pay back the debt I owe to my American sponsor. How am I going to pay for school? I just had one dream. It's called the American dream. I'm going to make it in this country. But when I landed the first night, God was so good.

[00:41:30] I met my husband first night and I got a job from the dean of say graduate school said that you can be my RA. I just said, Oh my God, thank God. I can continue to stay here. I can pay bills. I just have to learn English very fast and to do my job and to go through graduate school and get my master's degree.

[00:41:56] You know, my classmates and my professors were so nice to me. They understand I try my best. And they let me borrow their notes, record the lectures. And because of my TOEFL exam score was not very good. And I was conditioned to re-enroll. If I don't make average GPA 3.0, I will be kicked out of graduate school.

[00:42:22] So they all understand my hardship and they are all trying to be so helpful. So I managed just to make a minimum 3.0 for the first semester in order to stay in school. And, but because of that RA job, I got to pay instant tuition and got even some students' health care and the benefits.

[00:42:45] And because I immediately had to go to the hospital for a procedure because they found a lump in my breast. And I just come to this country. I was so devastated. Oh, I had to go to get a surgery. I could not even tell my family in China because I don't want them to worry about me. What if it's cancer? I have not talked about this in any other broadcast because I already forgot about it.

[00:43:11] And, but I found that my husband, my boyfriend, my friend at the time was with me. John said, Oh, no worry. It might be just a good thing. You just cut it out. It's not cancer. And I will be with you. I will stay with you. I mean, he was very nice. And I have lots of other friends who were wonderful to me. So I basically did not tell anybody in China and my family and the ones through that whole thing until December of 1988.

[00:43:40] And after the surgery, they said, Oh, it was not cancer. And you're good. Well, I say, thank God. Yeah. Because otherwise I have to pack my bag and go back to China. It's just like my dream would be stopped. Did you notice a difference in the healthcare system in America versus China? Yeah. Well, I told the story of my mother. We all lived under government controlled and socialist medicine.

[00:44:10] It was horrible. Long lines and filthy. And doctors, nurses don't care about the quality of care. We did not have money to do preventive care. My mom got infected blood and she got, you know, sick. They gave her infected blood and that blood transfusion ruined her memory. My mom got a dementia real early in the sixties, like age.

[00:44:37] By the time I brought her to this country, the doctors here found out, do you know your mom has this, you know, you know, sinfulness like a virus. I said, no, how long? It was like for over a decade. And I said, she said, don't worry. It's very easy to fix. We just gave her antibiotics. And I said, thank God we brought my mom here earlier. She could get treated, but it was too late.

[00:45:03] That just want to infect her blood cells in her brain for decades. And she developed a very earlier stage of dementia. And because there's no preventive care back then. They never went to prevention care. And because you could, you could not afford it. And that's why I always tell people, are you sure we don't want what happened to my mom happen here. We won't have a competition.

[00:45:30] My mom died at the age of 77 in 2020 with late stage dementia with COVID. I wrote a very moving, touching story of my modern state tribute to her. And, you know, and then my dad is 90 now. My dad, thank God he's healthy. You know, even with his diabetes and, and, you know, he, he's working care of, you know, by, by my family, my brother and his wife.

[00:46:00] And, and there are so many things we can talk about. We're still just grateful that the, you know, they are here. My mom treated her infectious disease very quickly. It just too late. That's why, you know, healthcare, you know, people got on stand. Even today in China, the government controls healthcare. You have to bribe surgeons to go get your bed for early surgery dates.

[00:46:26] And there are lots of dealings under the table for rich people to bribe doctors and surgeons to get earlier treatment, to get a bed for surgery. Because there's always long lines. And so that's not the system we want to copy at all. Um, Lily, I first, I'm very thankful you did not have cancer. And I'm sorry that happened to your mother.

[00:46:54] Um, but reminding people and explaining that in communist countries, you have to bribe people to get healthcare is, is something that I think they don't think. Think about when they talk about, um, free healthcare for everyone.

[00:47:10] They, they just don't understand that when, when you say that you're probably looking at long lines, mistreatments, um, misdiagnoses, and, and then, um, bribing surgeons, bribing medical staff just for basic care, much less for needed surgery. That is time sensitive. Right. How do you sue?

[00:47:34] Because, uh, you know, even if, if that thing happened to my mom happened here, we could sue, but you know, in China, you're through egg to a rocks. If you sue government and, uh, I don't want them to control healthcare because, uh, who are the government? They are just people like you and me who have the power to decide for you. And the bureaucrats, uh, who make decisions. I would rather, I make that decision.

[00:48:03] I decided who I want to choose to be my doctor, my insurance company, and, uh, then I can hold them accountable. And I can sue for malpractice, but when you have like a, uh, basically the government control the healthcare, the individual citizens will be marginalized. You will not have a guaranteed results. I think a lot of people, I understand they feel frustrated about the high cost.

[00:48:29] They turn to government to solve problems, but the government is the one who calls the problem to start with. They are not angels inside our government. There are lots of people are self dealing like the insurance company want to make money and their third party in between doctors and the patients. And you have bureaucrats who pass all the rules.

[00:48:54] Congress people pass all the laws in favor of certain groups and not a totally free market. I want to free market competition and a free enterprise spirit. This is what Americans ideals are. But now we are going down the wrong path. That's why I feel like my powerful stories experience us so invaluable and to help people to realize that. And I have a mission to accomplish in this country.

[00:49:23] After I survived communism, maybe there is a calling for me to do right things and to help Americans and to keep our government small, limited and accountable to the people. The ideals I had in my mind is, you know, people, the government for the people by the people of the people. We don't want them to control us. We want to actually them to serve us. So you're running for Congress now.

[00:49:51] And I know we're skipping from getting here in 89 to to Congress. I I can go longer, but I also know you're running for Congress. I want to be very respectful of your time. Why? What is your platform? What are you hoping to do if you are elected? I want to give you a quick summary. I did not jump into politics. I was independent after I become citizen. I study parties platforms. I choose the Republican Party, small, limited government.

[00:50:20] I got activated as a grassroots mom because Obama's common core and the Colorado government is gun control. And I know those two bigger issues got me activated. And I, you know, but when people look at the Internet, it's only started like a just like over 10 years ago or something. And I people accuse me even from Democrat side. It's like, oh, you're just a wrong, wrong, wrong. You know, it's like my my my interest in politics.

[00:50:48] No, the reason I'm running is because I want to save our country. I want to repeat that they tell my stories. I want to stop this country from becoming the country I left. So I did not win and I'm keep running because the country seems like sometimes in my eyes got worse, worse.

[00:51:09] And the pandemic scared me like I really was having PTSD is how I'm going to lose freedom, liberty in this country. I got the shutdown by U.S. government, by state government. And I did not trust the Chinese government to do that. But I never dreamed we will have so many mandates during pandemic.

[00:51:30] And we will have this identity politics when people take their bend their knees to identity politics instead of you like Americans. So I I run 2022 because of a pandemic, because people say, Lily, why don't you run, tell your stories? And that's when I use my slogan. And I'm running because I fear the country I love becoming the country I loved. And I liberty is my North Star.

[00:52:00] I just want to keep that American dream alive for my three children. So I won the nomination 2024. I got a 47% of the votes in the general election without money, without one TV ads. I went viral with my debate against my opponent Congresswoman now, Maggie Goodlander. So this year I won my nomination again with 65%. It will be rematch with her.

[00:52:28] So I'm looking forward to still be discovered by the whole country. I was wondering sometimes where are the anti-communist socialist groups and patriots. I'm like a one to four in terms of cash on hand. And I have no PACs. I have no super PACs. I have no endorsement except, you know, the small ones. So I have uphill battle to fight.

[00:52:54] But I'm still happy warrior because this is the greatest country. I come here with nothing, $100, got married, raised three wonderful children, start my home business. I have a financial freedom. We are still running our home business. So we don't have nine to five jobs. But we have the financial freedom and to focus, you know, full time on my messages and getting interviews and organized grassroots.

[00:53:21] And I have, you know, such a perfect, exciting grassroots, organic. My volunteers sometimes just make me feel so loved and so trusted. And I have 100 of them, all the county chairs and town chairs and individual donors and all over the country and top donor states in New Hampshire. I just feel so grateful.

[00:53:46] So I think that no matter what happens, I'm not going to give up fighting to save America. And that's my mission. And I'm not going to stop fighting for our leave free or die state. And I'm trying to be positive, unifying. And we have lots of independents in my state. And they just need to discover me, my platform, my stories and my humble background and my long journey to freedom.

[00:54:13] And they should make that judgment themselves. Who do I trust to represent me in D.C.? Somebody who is made in America, not a bought, not a corrupt and truly want to serve the people, believe, embrace our leave free values. Or they want somebody who is from D.C. Swan, who has been in government all her life, who was born in Littes with millions and millions of trust fund.

[00:54:42] I need the people to judge. But I'm doing town halls all over in my district right now. Well, I'm very glad that you are doing that. And people can go to LilyTingWilliams.com to sign up for your to to see what you're about to donate to you. And also, is there a way for them to volunteer if they don't live near you? They can.

[00:55:10] I need a national patriot to back me. Social media is a big one. They can donate. And if they don't have money, they can talk to other people who have money. Refer me to some people. We are in line in terms of political values and ideologies and policies. And I'm trying to even talk to the moderate Democrats and RFK, JFK Democrats because I'm endorsed by Maha.

[00:55:38] I really wanted to make America healthy and great and free and prosperous. My slogan is about American dream. It's not partisan. I'm running as independent voice because I want to serve the people, all the people in my district. I want to speak for them because they don't have a voice. And DC is full of lobbyists and special interests and corporate pets.

[00:56:03] And for the regular working class who are busy working, some are like 80 years old in my district still working. They cannot survive on Social Security. And so those people, then they need me. They trust me to say, Lily is not elitist. She grew up poor. She understand regular people's sufferings, concerns and catching table issues. Everything is cost so high. Inflation is high. We are $40 trillion in debt.

[00:56:33] It's because the government caused all those problems. We cannot rely on them to be our saviors. We have to rely on ourselves. Every vote matters. Every person matters. I came here all over from China to speak up in this country. Because of that, I'm blacklisted by CCP in China.

[00:56:54] I made a sacrifice to be American patriot because I haven't stayed my family for 11 years since they blacklisted me and threatened me with death threat. So live free or die model is more than just a model to me. I'm practiced every day. So I'm asking for national support so we can make history. If I won, I will be the first one who survived Mao's regime to serve in Congress.

[00:57:24] What a great message for the people who love freedom all over the world. What is the biggest, like, word to all the commies in the world. I think that would be awesome. But regardless what, I'm happy warrior. And I will never give up. I will never be discouraged. I think that's what my calling is in this country. Lily T. Williams, thank you so much for joining me. You are an inspiration.

[00:57:51] You paint a very vivid picture of what life is like in a communist country, but also trying to have a government fulfill all of those utopian promises. The it doesn't happen. And the effort to try to to fill to fulfill those promises is a very totalitarian experience, which you experience in your childhood.

[00:58:18] And I'm so thankful you're here in America standing for liberty and for our basic rights that are endowed to us by our creator outlined and our constitution and that we all have an obligation to protect. Thank you so much, so much to have me. And I appreciate it. I'm still waiting to be discovered by other big podcasters because I have a lot to say. I have lots of stories tell. And, you know, I'm not that partisan.

[00:58:47] I will go to liberal ones. I will go to conservative ones. I will go everywhere because we are all Americans. I think we have so much actually the common ground if we just put the politics aside and have conversations. That is exactly right. Thank you so much for joining me and everyone go to LilyTingWilliams.com to sign up on her website. And then if you like this episode and you want more like it, two things.

[00:59:15] First, hit the like and the subscribe button so that you can can get more of it from us. And then be sure to tune in, to keep tuning in every day. And then next week we're launching a surviving communism series as we head into, well, throughout the month of October. So be sure to tune in on Monday of next week as we launch that series. And we'll be doing three different interviews a week, at least, about surviving communism.

[00:59:43] Now, some of you may be going, well, why are you doing this and what is the why are you talking about communism? We're talking about it because it is on the rise in America and socialism is on the rise in America today. And even President Trump has said that what we're seeing on the hard left right now, they're just trying to skip communism. I mean, skip socialism and go straight to communism. We have to warn our fellow Americans about the dangers of socialism.

[01:00:10] But we also have to make sure that they understand from real experiences of people who've lived under these kind of totalitarian regimes what the reality is like. When you go to the Democratic Socialists of America's website and you read through the website, there are all sorts of promises, very utopian style promises.

[01:00:34] But we just heard from Lily Tang Williams and we will be hearing from even more people in the coming weeks that the reality is not what is promised and the promises cannot be kept. So it's very important that we're getting that message out. Now, if you want to get involved, we need you to be involved in helping us get out the vote. You can go to TeaPartyPatriots.org, TeaPartyPatriots.org.

[01:01:03] And from there, you can click through to be a poll worker or a poll watcher. We've got that, which is help at the polls dot com as well. We still need people signing up to be poll workers and poll watchers. Then we also have something that you can click on called I Will Save America or you or you can just go to I Will Save America dot com, which is on your screen right now. I Will Save America dot com.

[01:01:31] And from that, we've got a form that you can fill out. And there are 10 different items that you can do to volunteer this election season. It includes registering people to vote, sending handwritten postcards to fellow voters. And we really need help with that in this week and next week. We're trying to get those mailed out in the next 14 days or so. And we still have postcards that need to be need the notes handwritten on them.

[01:01:59] So that is the urgent need from us right now. You can make phone calls, text your friends and family, go door to door, sign up to be a poll worker or a poll watcher, volunteer with a local campaign. Volunteer with someone who's like Lily Tang Williams in your own local community and make sure that you are helping them get out the vote this election season. Also, you can donate to campaigns.

[01:02:24] You could donate to Lily Tang Williams campaign and other campaigns across the country of conservatives who are standing up for constitutionally constant or constitutional rights and also who are trying to stand up for common sense against the craziness we are seeing from the hard left.

[01:02:44] And the last thing is that you can recruit five friends to join the effort and to take these same kind of actions, at least one or all of the 10 actions listed. So again, that is I will save America dot com. Go there and sign up today and then be sure to stay tuned in the coming days as we have more on the surviving communism series.

[01:03:07] And tomorrow we're going to have a very special episode with a woman who is an angel mom. Her son was killed by an illegal immigrant and she'll be talking about the importance of border security and why we need to continue to remember that as we go to vote this year. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Jenny Beth Martin and this is a Jenny Beth show. If you enjoyed today's conversation, go ahead and hit like and subscribe.

[01:03:34] It really helps us reach more people who care about liberty and the Constitution. You can find this and other episodes at Jenny Beth show dot com, as well as Facebook, YouTube, Rumble, Instagram, X and your favorite podcast platform. The Jenny Beth show is hosted by Jenny Beth Martin. The Jenny Beth show is a production of Tea Party Patriots Action. For more information, visit Tea Party Patriots dot org.