History

In New York, the name Zhao is a well known one.

Zhao Chen and his wife, Xiuying, were not only members of New York City's elite social circles - but were also the wealthiest Chinese family living in the United States. Immigrants from Hong Kong, Chen owned and operated one of the largest international trading companies in the world - Zhao Oriental Imports - with branches in Hong Kong, London, New York, and San Francisco.

Within months of the young couple's arrival to New York to open a new branch of their company, Xiuying gave birth to a son on January 14th, 1863. To honor their new country and ensure that their child would embody their American Dream, he was not given a traditional Chinese name, but rather, he was named for the nation's Founding Father - General George Washington.

Despite the fact that their young son was not allowed to attend the same schools as the other children of the elite, no expense was spared by the Zhao family to provide young Washington the best possible education. Private tutors from prestigious institutions were hired to instruct the young man in a Classical Education.

By the age of 10, Washington spoke seven languages. By the time the boy was 15, he was studying topics with his tutors that other young men would not be taught until they attended University. Beyond the Study Room of his Greenwich Village Mansion, Washington's classroom was also the City itself - with his parents and tutors, he would attend lectures, art openings, and poetry readings across the growing city's cultural intuitions.

But where he excelled in academics, Washington faced the same challenges socially that his parents had been exposed to since their arrival to America. Their wealth bought them invitations to the galas and balls of the city's elite, but their names and faces would forever mark them as unwelcomed outsiders amongst the famous and influential Old Money families who controlled New York's Gilded Age social spheres.

At gatherings, the Zhaos were ridiculed behind their backs by the adults - and their children were instructed not to play or interact with Washington. Growing up, his only friends were his parents, his tutors, and the household staff that ran their mansion.

By Washington's 18th birthday, it had become painfully obvious that the young man would not find a suitable wife in New York, and so the decision was made in 1881 to send Washington west across the United States, to San Francisco. There he would board a ship destined to Hong Kong where he was expected to marry the daughter of one of Chen's business partners, before returning to New York to work under his father.

But Washington never arrived to San Francisco. Shortly before his train was expected to stop in Never, bandits forced the locomotive to a stop and robbed the passengers. In an attempt to protect the woman sitting beside him, Washington was stabbed and nearly killed. He was brought to Never to receive medical attention and to recover from his injuries. where he had a slow and painful recovery.

Washington never reached out to his parents to inform them of his location, as he had never wanted or agreed to the arranged marriage set up for him in Hong Kong. Neither does Washington have any interest in some day taking over his father's company. Wash wants to be a poet.

He hadn't the courage to stand up to his parents in New York, and so he took advantage of the chaos of the train robbery and attempted to make a life for himself out West instead, despite his growing homesickness and desire to see his parents again. He plans to reach out to them to tell them he is alive someday, but he's not ready to give up on his first real chance at freedom just yet.