"I had just graduated with a degree in English and was one of the newest faculty members at the university in Shang Hai. We were celebrating Teachers' Day [annual event honoring the contributions of educators] at the school, and my boss pointed out a new international colleague and suggested that I ask him to dance. He was an American and had come to China to teach English as a Second Language. A year later that 'new colleague' and I were married. We were planning to move to the United States, but the Tiananmen Square protests took place just a few months later (June 4, 1989), and nobody knew for sure how hard it would be to get out of the country. It was a very tense time, but my husband took me to the U.S. Embassy, they issued me a tourist visa, and we left on June 16. Since I already knew the language and my husband was American, the adjustment to life in a new country was not nearly as difficult as it is for a lot of immigrants. We lived in South Carolina for a while, then moved to Memphis twenty years ago.
"Memphis attracts a lot of Chinese professionals through the University of Memphis, the University of Tennessee, St. Jude, FedEx, and International Paper. Most Chinese people want their children to keep their language and culture, and I am the same way. I didn't want to lose my heritage, so several years ago I helped to create the Greater Memphis United Chinese Association. I was involved in establishing the Greater Memphis Chinese School as well, which is still going strong. My biggest failure in life is that my own children cannot speak Chinese, even though I sent them to Chinese school initially. They gradually lost interest, and I didn't stay on them the way I probably should have. Since my husband speaks only English, it was harder to push the dual language at home. My daughter has been studying Chinese dance since she was a little girl though, and she dances in the Chinese New Year celebration every year. This year was the first time she and I have danced together."
"Memphis attracts a lot of Chinese professionals through the University of Memphis, the University of Tennessee, St. Jude, FedEx, and International Paper. Most Chinese people want their children to keep their language and culture, and I am the same way. I didn't want to lose my heritage, so several years ago I helped to create the Greater Memphis United Chinese Association. I was involved in establishing the Greater Memphis Chinese School as well, which is still going strong. My biggest failure in life is that my own children cannot speak Chinese, even though I sent them to Chinese school initially. They gradually lost interest, and I didn't stay on them the way I probably should have. Since my husband speaks only English, it was harder to push the dual language at home. My daughter has been studying Chinese dance since she was a little girl though, and she dances in the Chinese New Year celebration every year. This year was the first time she and I have danced together."
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