China to Chapel Hill to Cinema

Most don't know the story of the man with a warm smile who stands behind the counter and goes by the name "Charlie Two Shoes."

But the big guys in Hollywood do. They agree that his story's importance and uniqueness has all the qualities of a blockbuster.

Los Angeles movie producer Stratton Leopold purchased the movie rights to a 1998 book, "Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company" by David Perlmutt and Michael Peterson. The book details the life of Tsui Chi Hsii, who has gone by the name of Charlie since he moved to the United States.

Leopold's most recent film was based on Tom Clancy's novel "The Sum of All Fears." It earned more than $97.3 million in its first four weeks of release.

But Charlie's story is not fiction -- it is a real-life story that began years ago in China, Charlie's birthplace. As a child, Charlie lived in a mud hut near Tsingtao, China, with nine other people. "We lived in a very poor condition -- barely enough to make a living," he said.

At the time, U.S. Marines were stationed outside Charlie's village and he became intrigued with their unfamiliar Western culture. Eventually, the Marines took him in as one of their own. Unable to pronounce his name, the Marines nicknamed him "Charlie Two Shoes."

"My experiences with the Marines completely changed my life," Charlie said. "They accepted to take me in and made me a little Marine."

Shortly afterward, Charlie began attending an American elementary school in China. He said he owes his life and good fortune to these years of educational and spiritual growth.

"Whatever I know now is what I learned then," he said.

After the Communists took over China after World War II, Charlie was faced with the task of making up for lost years in school. He eventually earned a degree in agricultural planning.

"After that, I was assigned to work for the government in my field," he said. "That's when the controversy with the U.S. began, and China wanted to mobilize citizens with propaganda to hate the U.S."

The government saw an opportunity to make use of Charlie's time with the Marines to convince the Chinese people that Americans were bad. "They approached me, but I would rather die than give myself up and betray the Marines," he said. "I have the Marine spirit in my heart -- once a Marine, always a Marine."

But Charlie said he could not refuse to cooperate. "I would be shot on the spot," he said. "I decided to make up a story and tell them I couldn't remember. "

Not long after that, he was fired from his agriculture job and sent home.

"If you're fired, you are under political suspicion," he said. "It didn't take long for them to arrest me, and I was sentenced to jail for seven years."

When Charlie was released, he still didn't have citizenship, and he was under house arrest. Eventually, China resumed relations with the United States and Charlie became a farmer.

Charlie applied for permission from the Chinese government to write to the United States. "I went to the security office to apply," he said. "They wouldn't approve because I had told them I had forgotten everything.

"I told them my relationship with the Marines was love and not political," he said. "Finally, they got tired and said I could write, but if anything happened I would take all the responsibility."

Charlie eventually started writing letters to the Marines.

"My Marine friends realized, 'Wow, Charlie is still alive. All this time the Communists didn't kill him!'" he joked.

The Marines decided it was time for them to fulfill their promise to Charlie Two Shoes and bring him to the United States. "The Marines began requesting the Chinese government to allow me to visit the U.S. The Chinese embassy was very confused -- all this publicity about Charlie Two Shoes?" he said.

Eventually, the Chinese government allowed Charlie to go abroad in order to help improve relations with the United States. "It was not an easy decision for me to leave the family behind, but I believed the Marines' promise to get us all over (to the United States)."

After 18 months in the United States, Charlie received his notice to return home to China. "We didn't know what to do," he said. "The Marines asked a congressman to speak to (former) President Reagan about the threat of deportation. They made a special law of 'indefinite deportation' -- that means no one can deport me."

Charlie was recently made an honorary Marine, a prestigious recognition given to only 18 other people.

The Marines helped Charlie find a place to live in Chapel Hill with his family. He worked as a restaurant manager, starting his own restaurant in 1987. He encouraged his children to pursue education, and both graduated from UNC and went on to be doctors.

Charlie said he is excited about the prospect of his story being told on the silver screen.

"There have been talks of movies," he said. "I feel good -- not about a movie about me -- but to pass the message that through all my hardships, I have no bad feelings toward the Communist government. What happened was the work of history."

Charlie said he would like the movie to present a message of peace, love and understanding -- a story that began with the Marines in his childhood and rests in Chapel Hill today.

"I want to be a goodwill ambassador, to spread a message to the world that we need to work together," he said. "I came from a war. But at the end, something good came -- better understanding between government and people and the idea that true love and friendship among people can conquer any hardship."

The Features Editor can be reached at features@unc.edu.