Upward Mobility

Abstract

With the collapse of danwei system in the 1990s and the development of an urban economy, migration and urbanization have brought many people upward mobility. Wang’s fate changed as her father’s military career advanced. But the abundance of economic opportunities also created fertile soil for corruption among those who had power and status. Her mother’s suffering in domestic violence and suicide attempts were a wake-up call for Wang to rise from her comfortable life to depend her mother. This experience also left her with an emotional phobia toward men that lingered for the next decade. Wang’s conversion narrative shows how deeply meaningful conversions through unplanned encounters in the transient urban space often carries that sense of divine providence. The mother-daughter bond became a channel of grace when her mother also became a Christian believer.