Singing About Migration
Digital History ID 7

Date:1852

Annotation: Songs, too, gave voice to the human meaning of migration, including the pangs of family separation.

Document: In the second reign year of Haamfung [1852], a trip to the Gold Mountain was made.
With a pillow on my shoulder, I began my perilous journey:
Sailing a boat with bamboo poles across the sea,
Leaving behind wife and sisters in search of money,
No longer lingering with the woman in the bedroom,
No longer paying respect to parents at home.

Source: Marlon Hom, Songs of Gold Mountain (Berkeley, 1987), 39