Quin (at home in Paris 75019)

In France since 1997. Born in 1980.

Five brothers and sisters.

I set off for France when I was 17… in 1997… it was my parents´ wish… they thought life would be easier for me. One of my sisters had come five years before… she hadn´t studied… she came here to work. I came with a false passport and a tourist visa that belonged to someone else… this trip cost me a lot. When you come to France they take away your passport… so from one day to the other you become an illegal immigrant…and you have to pay. My parents paid them. You work illegally for one, two years to be able to pay them. I don’t remember the name on the passport I had despite having learned it well by heart. At first, I was desperate… it was so different from what I had imagined… I didn’t know how to speak French. I lived three, four years at my sister’s and took French classes.

I married a Frenchman and now we have a son.

What’s difficult in France is to get integrated… even if you’re French you aren’t really French, because of the differences… the face… it is difficult. I don’t regret anything but it’s tough. At the moment I don’t want to live in China… actually I don’t really have the option. After living eleven years in France it isn’t possible to go back to China… Deep down I’m always Chinese. What’s missing… sometimes… I’d wish to be comfortable in… I don’t know how to say it… I feel a little bit alone in my universe.