Entries Tagged 'China' ↓

My short life has taken place in three distinct places separated by oceans. They are China, Hawaii, and the San Francisco Bay Area. In terms of income, my family has made more money in the Bay Area than any other place in the world. However, I am not sure that our quality of life has drastically improved from the times when we were dirt poor. It is a bit mind boggling, but here is a side by side comparison of the places I have lived, and how my experience of life isn’t really vastly improved by money.

When I was young, China just opened up to the west, but most agencies were still state owned. My parents were college professors so we lived a pretty middle class lifestyle. We lived in a condo provided by their employer and had enough for all of our basic needs. The biggest purchase my parents made was a color television, and it worked quite well for many many years. I remember watching Ninja Turtles, Denver the Last Dinosaur, The Smurfs, and lots of other American cartoons from the eighties. The government also provided health care and schooling so everything seemed quite fine to me. The education I got in Chinese public schools was quite excellent and definitely gave me an advantage in school later. I knew that my parents didn’t have much money, but for the most part I felt that we had everything we needed. As far as I know, apparently many American people my age had the same kind of middle class suburban childhood as I did, and even watched the same cartoons.

Then we moved to Hawaii, and my parents were students and had no money at all. However,we always had a place to live and I qualified for the free lunch program at my school so I don’t remember ever going hungry. Hawaii is also a beautiful place and I loved living there. There was a kid in my class who came from Los Angeles and he hated Hawaii. I didn’t understand why he hated Hawaii, but he said it was because it is an island and it is so damn small. Since my family didn’t own a car, I felt that the island was huge. I didn’t understand why anyone would hate Hawaii, and I still don’t.

After my parents graduated from school we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area because my aunt already lived here and the economy in Hawaii isn’t that good. They both found jobs and we got a nicer apartment, and then a house, and cars to get to work.  In terms of material wealth, we did have more.  However, the entire Bay Area lifestyle was just so much more stressful than any other place we have ever been. People are just much more competitive and aggressive here and even after ten years I don’t think I am used to it. My parents made more money, but I don’t think our family became happier because of money. Instead, I think money actually created a lot more stress and worry for my parents and me. As they say, “mo’ money, mo’ problems”.

So now my husband and I both pull in decent incomes, and to some people it may seem that we make a lot of money for our age, but I feel that our quality of life is perhaps a little lower than my childhood in China. We have to deal with driving on crazy highways, the lack of job security, and potentially substandard education for our future children. We do live a comfortable life, and we are thankful, but I still long for a simpler and less stressful place to live. Perhaps my memories of China and Hawaii are a bit idyllic because I was still a child, but I would seriously give up my income to live in a place where things didn’t move so fast and the basics of quality education, health care, and housing are not so hard to come by.

Share This

This is a continuation of my family’s immigration story as told by my dad. In this chapter my dad chooses a major in college at the age of 38. If you missed the previous posts please check out the series’ category here:

Fifteen Years in America

Kapi’olani Community College’s Admissions Office is in a building with the backdrop of Diamond Head. I found it quickly and an administrator named Alice started to talk to me. I told her my background, including my experience as a college professor in China, but my English was quite poor and I wanted to repeat college. She listened to my stuttering English and often stopped me and said, “Excuse me, could you repeat? I don’t understand you.” After a bit of explaination, she understood what I was trying to say. She told me that it’s great that I want to attend the school and there are many older adults attending. There are even seniors studying courses of their choice. Additionally, there are some international students. With her introduction, I found out more about the University of Hawaii system. University of Hawaii is a public school system created by the state government, and includes three universities. The largest of the universities is the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It has over 20000 students and has masters and PhD programs for many different subjects. In addition to the three universities, there are seven community colleges on the major islands. These colleges generally have lower requirements for entry and also cost significantly less. At that time, each semester credit only cost 19 dollars and the max you had to pay was 228 dollars per semester. There are many subjects you can study and you have a choice to take classes you are interested in. After two years, you can get an Associate Degree and you can use the degree to find jobs or transfer to a four year university. I personally think that this system of higher education in America is commendable because it suits the needs of different types of students and saves resources for the society as a whole.

After Alice told me the information, she asked me what my English score was. I told her my TOEFL score and she said that I already qualify for the school. So she took out several different forms from a drawer and told me to fill it out. As long as I turn them in within a week I could enter college the next semester. I was extremely excited and took the forms she gave me and hopped out of the school like a little sparrow. As I walked home, my thoughts were like the turbulent waves of the nearby Pacific Ocean. I thought of the words of one of Helen’s friends, “Be not afraid of being slow, but be afraid of being still”. These words contain a deep wisdom.

After I got home, I started to busily fill out my application forms. In addition to the basic application, I needed to prove that I had economic support. In the application there was a section about high school. When the Cultural Revolution began, I was only in the 4th grade, and the schools shut down after I finished two years of middle school. When I was 15 I was sent to work in a factory, so I have no record of attending any high school. Fortunately, I had my TOEFL score and my college diploma, so it didn’t matter. Helen already had a graduate teaching assistant scholarship so she is considered an employee of the University and we had medical coverage. At that time, the most important question is what major I should pick. A Chinese proverb says, “men are afraid of picking the wrong profession, and women are afraid of marrying the wrong man”. From the point of view of a traditional Chinese person, I was already in a stage where I couldn’t turn back. However, I had to rekindle my fire, and I really needed to pick the right career.

I chose to study finance and accounting based on my skills. The main reason is that my English was horrible, but my mathematical skills are quite decent. Second, I already had a background in economics and law, and that could be important in a financial career. Third, many people think that being an accountant is quite boring and tedious so there is a shortage of accounting professionals. In general, accounting jobs are easy to find because accountants are needed everywhere. Recently America added many financial legislation so that auditors and accountants are needed in larger quantities. It is very different from China because in America financial professionals are paid quite well and they are generally respected individuals. Recently, I saw a paper which listed the 25 highest paying professions in America. The first 10 spots were taken by various types of doctors, and the top median salary is around $160,000. CEOs were placed at number 14, and accounting managers are placed at number 25 with an average salary of $100,000.

The things I experienced later proved that choosing to be a financial professional was correct. The year before last I was invited by my alma mater in China to do a series of lectures about nonprofit companies in America. So I created a course based on my personal experiences and successfully delivered a special lecture. Afterwards, I saw one of my old assistants, who is now the dean of the business school. When we had dinner together he asked me what I do in America for a living. I told him that do some financial consulting and accounting. He said, “it’s such a shame that talent like you is being an accountant!” After I have been in America for so long my thoughts and prejudices have changed quite a bit. I remember that the great author Lu Xun once said, “if you don’t have that much talent, just pick something small to do.” I do not regret my choice for a bit. If I didn’t leave my position as a professor, my life would have stood still and living for one day would be the same as living for one year, and perhaps I would still be the same after ten years.

A friend left a comment in my blog that said, “when you are studying you find joy in work. I have once said that if it were possible I would spend my entire life at school, but reality would not allow you to do so.” It is true and I agree with her view. I am extremely lucky and glad that I was able to make a new choice, have a new goal, and live a new life. In fact, when I started college once again, I felt so much younger since my classmates were teens and tweens. How many people have a chance to return to that period of their lives?
To be continued! If you don’t want to miss a thing, please subscribe to the full feed!

Share This

This morning as I drove to work I heard   a barrage of news about protests against the Olympics in China. Here are some of my thoughts about the matter since a few friends have talked to me about it. I really think that people should leave the event alone and stop these ridiculous protests, and here are my reasons.

First of all, the Olympics is an economically draining event and not that many countries could afford it. The 2004 Olympics in Athens put Greece in so much debt that they are still trying to pay it off. When someone in San Francisco’s City Hall threw around the idea of hosting the Olympics the citizens actually said “Hell no”. Basically, no matter where you are from, you should be glad that the Olympics is not in your country for the sake of your money. In the case of China, the 2008 Olympics is really a special event for every single Chinese citizen. It is the first time China is hosting, and it is a symbol that China is now a great economic force that could compete with the United States and other developed countries. The country of 1.3 billion citizens has been preparing for the event for over eight years, and it is unfair to the Chinese people for the rest of the world to be so antagonistic to this event.

Second, the Olympics is supposed to be a time for the world to lay down their differences and compete in a civil and friendly matter. The ancient Greeks created the games as a break from war. When you throw war back into these games it never ends well. For example, back in 1972 a terrorist group kidnapped the Israeli Olympic team and murdered them. Then the Mossad (Israeli Intelligence) killed the people they believe were responsible. Violence just begets more violence, and I am very disheartened to see that people are injecting hate into the Olympics.

Third, protesting against and boycotting the Olympics is extremely unfair to the athletes. The athletes who compete in the Olympics train for years to get where they are. They want to make their own countries proud, and they want to accomplish their dreams. I am sure that they are also disappointed and perhaps even afraid to compete in the games with so much opposition. I would hate to see an athlete being spat on like a Vietnam War veteran because they competed in the games in China. Once again I reiterate that the Olympics should be about peace, and not war.

I don’t deny that some rights taken for granted in America do not exist in China, but there is no perfect government. If you look on the record of any reasonable large and powerful nation you will find corruption,abuse,and other atrocities. As to the violence in Tibet, here is how I see it. The Europeans who colonized America took away the United States from the Native Americans just like China annexed Tibet. Actually the situation in America is even worse because many Native Americans are still segregated on reservations while Tibetans are free to live in their own homeland. Just like Native Americans in the United States, the Tibetans receive various benefits for being ethnic minorities in China. Now if a bunch of Native Americans took up torches and destroyed homes and stores belonging to other races in the name of freeing their nation, do you think that the current United States government will not react with force?

Anyway, I am trying to say that China’s political flaws and racial tensions really shouldn’t be the reason for people to douse the Olympic flame. I think it’s despicable for people to advance their own political agendas by knocking down this wonderful event meant to foster world harmony. Supposedly there will be a giant protest in San Francisco when the torch arrives on Wednesday, and I hope it will not get out of hand. I really wonder if those protesters have been to China, and if they know what the games mean to a Chinese citizen; I wonder if they know the original purpose of the Olympics, or if they are just following the herd. I sincerely hope the Olympics torch will burn brightly in San Francisco, and the games in August will be a huge success.

Share This

Recently I read an article about financial planners talking with their clients about their childhood.  The point is that events that happened in childhood often shape how we manage our money.  So I thought about it, and I took a trip down memory lane. Here are a couple of my most distinct childhood memories about money, and how they relate to how I manage money now.

The Crayon Incident

When I was 4 or 5 my mom sent me to the corner store to buy a box of crayons.  I think it cost about 8 fen (1 fen is 1/100th of a yuan, the official currency of China).  So I clutched the coins in my hand and walked to the store. When I got to the store I laid down my money and asked for the box of crayons, and the storekeeper told me that I didn’t have enough money!  It seems that I lost a couple coins on the way. So I walked home with the coins I had and told my mom.  My mom gave me a couple more coins and told me to try again.  So once again I skipped and hopped to the store.  I put down my coins again, and unfortunately I didn’t have enough money again.  So I sulked a little and went home.  My mom laughed at me a bit, and decided to come along.  She asked me where I walked and I showed her, and she found the three or four coins I dropped.  Finally I got my box of crayons with my mom’s help.

I still sort of remember the fence I walked by and the grass I hopped on, and my mom repeats this story ad nauseum to whoever would listen because she thinks it’s hilariously cute.  I think this is an incident that made me wary of carrying cash in my hands. It has been twenty years since it has happened, but I still don’t like carrying a lot of cash because I fear I would lose it. Another habit instilled by this event is that I look at the ground for lost money when I walk around.

The Photo Incident

When I was about 12 my family lived in Hawaii, and we were quite low income because my parents were both immigrant graduate students. My dad tells the story of being a minimum wage souvenir salesman in his memoir here.  Anyway, we needed some photos developed and my dad went to the supermarket and dropped off the film. They had an advertisement that said if you choose express developing and they don’t deliver the film by 9am then they will give you the photos for free.  My dad fell for the advertisement and ordered express development.  Then the next day he sent me to pick up the photos.  Usually it cost $4 to $5 to develop a roll, but because of my dad’s folly the final bill came out to be $11.29 or something.  I handed over the money on the verge of tears because it just felt like I lost something.  Then I went home with the photos and cried.  Then my mom asked me why I was crying and I said that dad made us pay extra money for photos.  She kind of laughed at me again, but chided my dad a little bit for falling for the supermarket’s ploy and making me cry.

Of course, these days my mom makes fun of me for this incident, too.  I cried because I felt tricked, but also because I knew that money was hard to come by in my family at that time.  This was a time when we bought the overripened produce and clipped every coupon to survive, and $11 was a lot of money. Because of this incident I am very against paying for extras tacked on by stores and anything that is “express” or “premium”.  For example, I don’t buy extra warranties offered by stores, and I always just get the cheapest or free shipping.

Anyway, this post was very therapeutic for me and I hope you were amused by it. It is kind of funny to look back, but these memories do explain why I have such a cautious and frugal attitude towards money.  What are some of your childhood memories about money? Do they explain how you treat money now?

Share This

Happy new year everyone! Today is the lunar Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival. This is probably the most important festival for Chinese people in addition to the Mid Autumn Festival.  During the festival we generally eat a lot, light up fireworks, and give red envelopes to children.  Doors in China are also decorated with red paper with couplets written on them and there are often many parades with dragon and lion dancers. What is less known in America is the original reason for this joyous and boisterous celebration, and it is a pretty interesting legend that I shall retell here.

A long long time ago, there lived a ferocious monster named Nian.  It was bigger than an ox and so ugly that no man could lay eyes upon it without vomiting. Its favorite food was human and it was able to swallow several people in one bite, but it was so lazy that it would only hunt once a year.  Every year it came down from the mountains in the midst of winter on a moonless night and raided the first village it came upon. Thus the people dreaded the new moon in the coldest night of the winter, and feared for their lives every time the year ends.

One year, the hungry Nian came down from the mountains as usual and ran to a village under the cover of darkness.  Only one house in the village had its light on and Nian walked towards the home.  As it approached the window it suddenly heard a loud noise and was startled, and then it saw the home had red paper on its walls and it was even more frightened!  The giant beast was afraid of the color red and loud noises!  It howled in terror and ran away from the village.

The villagers rejoiced the fact that Nian did not take any of them victim, and the next year they were ready.  They all decorated their homes with red lanterns and red paper and prepared firecrackers and loud musical instruments.  On the night of the new moon in the middle of winter, they had a giant party with gongs, drums, and firecrackers.  The village was lit up in lights and glowed red.

Some say that Nian came by the village again and was killed as it cowered in fear, and others say that Nian just never bothered the humans ever again.  Nevertheless, the villagers continued the tradition of celebrating in the midst of winter with lots of noise and crimson decorations.  Thousands of years passed, and the word for “year” in Chinese became “Nian”.  If you look closely at the Chinese character, you can imagine that its a stylized picture of a beast with a horn, large mouth, and a long tail.  The expression for new year’s day is sometimes “guo nian”, which means “having past the nian”, or “having survived the nian”.  Red became a color of joy, celebration, and ward against evil and that is why it is the color many Chinese brides wear.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you have a Chinese friend tell them happy new year!

Share This