The Lu Dynasty
Unfolds in Randolph
By Bob Eddy

Working on the renovation of their new rental space on Salisbury Street in Randolph are, from left Bill, Annie, Johnny, and Jackson Lu. (Herald / Bob Eddy)

Annie Ling and Zhi Biao "Bill" Lu were born in Canton, China, a city of several million inhabitants on the coast near Hong Kong. They had started dating when, in 1981, Bill came to the U.S. to live, study, and work with his brother, Ming, in New York City.

Bill went to high school and worked in Ming’s restaurant. Three years later, in 1984, he had saved enough money to return to Canton, marry Annie, and bring her back to New York.

This is an account of how, through 23 years of hard work and marriage, Bill and Annie have raised three boys and shaped their own American success story. They now own East Garden, a bustling Randolph eatery that employs half a dozen people. They also own a Brooklyn apartment building and their Randolph home.

Finally, in May of this year, they purchased the building housing their Randolph restaurant, a vacant storefront, and The Wilson Tire Company, their neighbor on Salisbury Street. Bill has spent the last two months renovating two additional commercial rental spaces, and there are three apartment rentals upstairs.

It Started in Brooklyn

Brooklyn was their new home in 1984. Annie and Bill lived upstairs from a Hispanic family in a two-story duplex.

Annie was a good student, and she and Bill determined it would be wise for one member of the family, at least, to become proficient in this new, difficult language. While Bill worked full-time in family restaurants, Annie split her days between English study with a tutor in Manhattan’s Chinatown, and five hours sewing in a garment factory. Leaving home at 8 a.m., she commuted to school, studied from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., grabbed lunch on the run and ate it in the shift change room at the factory before clocking five hours and returning home at 8 p.m. She did this seven days a week for two years. The pay of $8 an hour was good at a time when their rent totaled $450 a month. With Bill’s full time salary, they were managing to save.

Annie stopped working in her seventh month of pregnancy with their first child, Daniel, who was born in February 1987. Johnny came just 15 months later, and Jackson was born in January 1992.

With children at home, Annie could no longer go out to the factory. Instead, the piles of piecework were delivered to her door. She was able to watch and care for her growing family and still earn $300 to $400 a week.

Work Provided For Others

"It’s much harder for young unskilled people starting out today," Annie observed over green tea last week. "The hourly wage hasn’t risen from $8, but the rents have tripled to $1300 for the same space."

This wage issue is one of many factors making it more difficult for Chinese immigrants today. Conservative tightening up in China following Tiananmen Square in 1989, and in the United States following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, has taken its toll. Also, there is now a very robust work climate in China, as compared to a stagnating employment scene for unskilled Chinese here.

Despite these limitations, it is still expected that Chinese immigrants to America will provide all help necessary for relatives seeking to make "the big leap" like so many before them.

Annie and Bill have followed that code. They have provided transportation, housing, food, and employment for Annie’s parents, her sister and her husband, and her brother with his family. Help is provided, without question, for as long as it takes for the newcomers to make their own way.

In 1992, after Jackson’s birth, Annie’s mother, Guan Bi You, was brought to the United States to help take care of the boys. Annie went to work full-time in restaurants, from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. six days a week. That’s 80 hours, counting the commute.

By 1992, enough money was put aside for Annie and Bill to purchase their own take-out restaurant. "Lucky Way" cost them $45,000. No banks were involved. Bill and Annie put up $20,000 of their savings; the rest came from family. Asked about paper work and terms of these family loans, Annie reflects, quietly smiling for a minute, before saying, "There is no interest among family. There are no papers signed. We remember."

Following Bill’s strong recommendation, the family purchased their business before their home. "Business will help buy a house, and not the other way around; the business must come first."

"Lucky Way" was not a success. Nonetheless, in 1997, "Golden Wok" was purchased on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn for $135,000. The cash came from savings ($75K) and family loans.

Golden Wok was a take-out and eat-in affair. It was also a money-maker and, by 1999, the family was able to purchase a three-unit apartment house nearby with $100,000 down and a conventional $200,000 mortgage.

The competition among Chinese restaurants in New York is fierce and, by 2000, Bill and Annie had set their sights on Vermont. The Golden Wok sold for a disappointing $40,000 loss, but greener pastures, and mountains, lay ahead.

Vermont Becomes Home

First came the Wok and Roll in Hardwick. The business was purchased in 2002, the building in 2003. It was sold for a profit a year later.

The East Garden in St. Johnsbury followed. Unlike earlier ventures, this was a new restaurant, built from scratch by Bill, in a rented building. It, too, sold for a profit.

In March 2005, Annie and Bill built the East Garden here in Randolph. This May, just 26 months later, they purchased the property and are now collecting rent checks. Bill’s renovation of two additional commercial rental spaces on the first floor is now complete. Both have entrances on Salisbury Street. One, slightly larger, also has an entrance from the north, or Brooks Pharmacy side of the building.

In addition, the Lus have their own home on Sugar Plum Court in Randolph.

This remarkable success is born of unstinting labor. During their first year in Randolph, they worked every single day. Bill works in the back, while Annie takes orders and manages the house. Her smile and the sense of joy she shares with customers seems to lift her through the tired times.

The boys, by the way, are young men now. Daniel is a junior studying finance at CUNY in Manhattan. Johnny is entering his second year in preparation for pharmacology at SUNY Buffalo this fall. Next year he hopes to begin a four-year, Doctor of Pharmacology program. Jackson is still living with his grandparents at the Brooklyn apartment, and enters the ninth grade this fall.

Like most young people, they would probably rather be partying, playing computer games, or visiting with friends. Like their parents, however, they are prepared to work long hours with willing hearts.

As this story was being finished, I sipped green tea in the almost empty restaurant. Annie sang Chinese songs to the piped in music as she washed down the tables. Faint sounds of pots being washed came from the kitchen out back.

I cracked a fortune cookie for the Lu family and their expanded business. It simply read, "You will have good fortune."