Far Travelers Oral History Project
Interview with Feng (Sing Xiang) Zhang

Click here for Word Document version of transcript

 

INTERVIEWER: Patricia Wakefield

DATE: April 4, 2006


PW: Please tell me your name and state today's date.

SZ: All right. My name is Feng X. Zhang. Today's date is April 4, 2006 .

PW: And I'm Patricia Wakefield and I'm going to be conducting an interview. What would you like to be called?

SZ: Feng would be fine.

PW: Okay. Feng, can you give me your full name, and what does it mean in –

SZ: Sure. My name is actually Zhang Xiang Sing (Feng) is my real Chinese name. In English it's translated Feng I'm not sure how to pronounce the middle name, so we'll leave it at that, and the last name is Zhang. What it means in Chinese is Zhang is the family name, which is passed down, and Xiang is actually relates to where I was born, actually where my father's origin was. There's a river called the Xiang River . My middle name was taken after that river, and my last name, is Feng, meaning peak of a mountain, which is derived from a mountain in that region. So in short, that's what my name means.

PW: That's very interesting. Do you have an American name?

SZ: Actually, I've been asked that; my alias when I used to make restaurant reservations as Jack, but I don't have a formal restaurant name. I did not change it when I was naturalized.

PW: Why did you choose that name?

SZ: Well, it's easy. You don't have to repeat yourself. You don't even have to spell out your name. I use it for reservations or anyone that I'm not too familiar with. That's my brief introduction to myself. Then once I get to know them better, I formally introduce my real name to them. At that time I have more time to try to teach them how to pronounce it.

PW: When and where were you born?

SZ: I was born in China , the very southern part, actually right above Hainan , a place called dzangjang or _____ , in the Guangdong Province . I was born May 17, 1978 ,

PW: And where do your parents live, and what are their names?

SZ: Currently, they live in Lawrence , Kansas , both of them. My father's name is Zhang Guo Dzen and the English translation is Guo, G-u-o, and then _____ and I don't know how to translate that to English, and the same last name as mine. My mother's name is Li Ma, in Chinese Ma Li.

PW: And what do they do?

SZ: Well, currently or when they were in China ?

PW: How about both?

SZ: Okay. Well, my dad was a heavy wheel auto mechanic in China , working for the government facility. Now he's working at place called Packerware, which is a plastic manufacturing company. My mother was working at a chemical engineering company in China , but right now, since she doesn't speak any English, she's actually working at Dillan's in the Chinese kitchen.

PW: Are both of your parents educated?

SZ: No. My father's highest level of education is high school. My mother was middle school or grade school, I forget. They both were denied the opportunity to be educated because of the (Cultural) revolution.

PW: Do you have any siblings?

SZ: Nope. I'm the only one. And Chinese law; only one child per family.

PW: Okay. Are you married or single?

SZ: I am currently married.

PW: And what is your wife's name?

SZ: She's also Chinese, so her last name is Hsu Shu-mei, her first name is _____. In Chinese it's _____.

PW: And how old is she?

SZ: She's twenty-one this year.

PW: How long have you been married?

SZ: Less than a year.

PW: And you said that she's from China . Where is she

SZ: She's from very north. Actually, she's just across the strait from Korea , it's called Tsingtao ( Qingdao ), where the beer comes from, and that is Shandong Province .

PW: When did she immigrate to the United States ?

SZ: August 2005. I can't tell you the date because I don't remember.

PW: How did you two meet?

SZ: I was a customer and she was the hostess at a restaurant. And then after repeated visits to that same restaurant, I guess we got a little closer.

PW: What does she do for a living?

SZ: She's actually an architectural engineering student at KU. This is her junior year. It's a five-year program, so she's got two and a half more years left.

PW: What does she want to do, or what would you like to see her do after she graduates?

SZ: What would I like to see her do? I'd like to see her do whatever she wants to do. And I think she likes architectural engineering, so she probably will become some sort of an engineer, either civil or architectural.

PW: Is she a naturalized citizen?

SZ: She's actually not a naturalized citizen. She's still an "alien resident." She has the opportunity to do so, she just hasn't got around to completing the application.

PW: Does she plan on doing that in the future?

SZ: In the very near future, yes.

PW: Do you have any children?

SZ: No, I do not.

PW: And what do you do for a living?

SZ: I work in the Army National Guard on active duty special orders, special work under the G1 Medical, which – do you want me to elaborate?.

PW: Sure. Would you please explain what you do?

SZ: Sure. I am the medical projects manager, or coordinator, for the State of Kansas . What I do is I plan medical projects, such as SRPs – Soldier Readiness Processes, from the time they receive the mobile order from tomorrow (?) to the time in which they leave the MO shop to their mobilization station. So in short, I help to manage the medical assets and the personnel to support the patrol unit to make sure all of their medical information is updated.

PW: And how long have you been working at this job?

SZ: Since I graduated from college, which is about a year and a half ago.

PW: Do you enjoy working for the military?

SZ: Most definitely. That's why I'm in it.

PW: And what are your long-term goals?

SZ: My long-term goals - I have many. I'm not sure which route I will finally take. They're both medical related. I do like to get my Ph.D. in clinical psychology in the long term, long term being five or six years down the road. Or a physician assistant program. I have not decided which.

PW: Now I would like to talk about you coming to the United States . How old were you when you and your family came to the United States ?

SZ: Well, we came on different times. My mother came to the States six months before I did because of the administrative procedures delayed my entry. When I arrived in the United States , I was a month away from my twelfth birthday. That was back in 1990; April 17th, I believe.

PW: And why did your family come to the United States ?

SZ: At that time I was not sure. My uncle and grandfather had been in the States, I'm not sure for how long, a couple decades probably. At that time I really didn't have a conscious thought of why we moved because I thought life was okay. You have your routine procedures that you go through when you're a grade school student. So as far as why we moved here, it hadn't become clear until I became older that is freedom and opportunity.

PW: What do you remember about coming to the United States when you were twelve?

SZ: In general what did I remember?

PW: What did you remember? What was your first impression? Like you said, your first twelve years of your life in China you thought it was okay, so what was the first thing that you remember when you were coming to the United States?

SZ: My uncle picked me up at the airport in Kansas City . Basically, he showed me his car, which was a minivan at that time. He was trying to show me how the car drove itself without hands on. It was on cruise control and he just let it go. I thought, wow, America is great. (chuckles) That was the first impression. Then when I got to his house, I mean, the living standards are a lot higher in the United States than we did in China because we wasn't exactly a wealthy family, because of the education level of my parents. So my first impression was, wow, this is amazing. Then after a week later, being a child, I missed my home. I missed my father, because my father did not come with me. And I wasn't very used to the school system because I spoke no word of English. That's a little on into maybe your further questions, but those were my first impressions.

PW: Okay. What kinds of ideas did you have about the U.S. before you arrived?

SZ: (chuckles) I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Well, you're an eleven-year-old and you don't really think about ideology, what kind of government is it, or why you were moving, so before I came here, all I had was fear, because I'm moving to a different country, I didn't know what to expect, who's here. I mean, for the first time in my life I was seeing color and all the different races. So it was a shock. But what did I expect before I came here? I had no expectations.

PW: I guess what I'm looking for, what I'm asking you, with the television and Internet today, I can go on and I can find information about China and have an idea as to what to expect. Did you have any influences, like television or media or newspapers, that might have influenced about the United States - or did you have friends or family in China who knew about the United States ?

SZ: When I was a child? Before I came to the United States ?

PW: Yes.

SZ: I had no history, no research. I had no information about the United States, other than my mother was there and I was going.

PW: And how long were you two separated?

SZ: Approximately six months, from August to April.

PW: And then how long was it before your father joined you?

SZ: Another ten years.

PW: That must have been very hard.

SZ: It was, it was. Because – for me, most things.

PW: The next question I had was, did the ideas you had about the U.S. differ from your first impression of the United States ?

SZ: Well, I'm not sure how to answer that question because I came at such a young age. I didn't know what to expect before I came here, so to compare what to expect and what I experienced, I can't really make a connection because I had no previous experience or any information before I came to the United States .

PW: Did you live anywhere else besides Topeka ?

SZ: Yes. I lived in Topeka for about five years. Actually, our family moved around based upon need. But we only moved to a couple locations. Topeka , Burlington briefly, then back to Topeka . And now I've lived in Lawrence for approximately eight, nine years now.

PW: What was the hardest part about leaving China ?

SZ: Just leaving your usual life, your friends, your belongings. I didn't have much, but the little I had. The food, at the beginning, was a culture shock because I wasn't used to the food here. I think that's about it.

PW: How was the food different?

SZ: Well, I don't know where to begin on that. Well, we don't have access in the United States to certain type of vegetables because it's only grown in certain climates. It's only sold by ethnic stores. It was unheard of in the early nineties. Just the way it was prepared - a lot of dairy products are used in the American diet, which was absent in the Chinese diet. So from stir fried rice to hamburgers and fries, it was a shock, because I went, "Huh, this is weird. Where's my regular food?" Because we've taken it for granted because it's always been available to us. It was more of a shock to my parents than myself because I adjusted over a short duration, while my parents continued to have upset stomachs because of dairy products and et cetera.

PW: Can you tell me how big the area of Guangdong Province that you came from, how big was that area compared to Topeka ?

SZ: Guangdong Province is a state. Provinces compare to states. Zhanjiang is a city. It's actually a port city. So it wasn't too big, but I believe it had at least two to four million people at that time. I'm giving such a wide range there because I am not sure. [Compared] to a city with a population of to a little over a hundred thousand. So a little bit of downsizing as far as population. But for area, I never really seriously considered or did research on it.

PW: The next question I'm going to ask you, you already mentioned. Did you have relatives already settled in the U.S. ? You said you had some uncles that were here. How did they assist your family?

SZ: How did they assist my family? From what I recollect, American lifestyle is very independent; one household is very separate from the other. In China it's different because you're forced to live in a closer environment due to financial reasons. As well as population over-grow reasons. So to answer that question in a long way, they did not provide too much financial assistance, nor any hospitality towards our family. As soon as my mother moved here, she was moved to Lawrence to become a nanny. And then a month later after I arrived, she started working in a Chinese restaurant business because that's all she knew how to do - cook.

PW: You've already talked about your family situation when you arrived. Why did it take your father so long to come to the United States ?

SZ: It's because my mother and father were divorced before we came to the United States . I'm not sure for what reason at that time. And for my father to come to the United States , I must apply for him under my name. From twelve to eighteen I could not apply for him because I was not a citizen, which took a lot longer, and I had to become an adult at eighteen years of age. So on my eighteenth birthday I applied for my citizenship, which delayed it to when I was nineteen and a half. By the time I was twenty or twenty-one, my father was here. Or twenty-three, in fact, because it took three years waiting. So just immigration laws - I guess that covers it.

PW: And how did you feel about this separation?

SZ: Well, initially it was really tough, because I'm used to a two-parent household. My mother left to come to the United States , and then I came. So my father was the person who was in charge of my formal education. He was kind of a _____ person because he was always helping me with my schoolwork, for anything I needed advice on. Without that person, it was a little tough to get started in the school system - can you say the question again?

PW: Just how did you feel about being separated?

SZ: Well, as time went by - and I think time heals almost everything, and it does - I became less and less dependent upon a two-parent household. I learned how to live by myself.

PW: You mentioned before that you didn't speak any English when you first arrived. How did you learn how to speak English?

SZ: I guess at that age you can pick up a language pretty quickly, or at least I did. I was sent to a grade school here in town, by Wanamaker, actually. It's by a miniature golf course, I remember. It had an ESL program, English as a Second Language program. And like all the other children in the school, I was isolated in one room and for almost three or four hours a day I was taught English by an ESL teacher who spoke no word of Chinese, so I was offered audio tapes, books, photographs, and those media helped me learn English, along with interaction with other classmates. I was in math class and that was the easy part.

PW: Do you remember what other schools you attended in Topeka ?

SZ: Well, I started at Hudson Elementary School . Now it's closed. In the Highland Park area. Middle school - Eisenhower Middle School . High school, I moved around because of the family. Started from Topeka West - I'm sorry, say again. Topeka - no, no. One of the other 501 schools, Highland Park High School . I went there for approximately one year, and I then went to Burlington High. My uncle wanted to open up a restaurant there, and I was the closest native English speaker there, so I went to help him out. I was there for a little over one semester, helped out a little bit in his restaurant, and then I moved back to Topeka and attended Washburn Rural. I didn't like that school system, so we moved a little - we just moved across the street so I could go to the Highland Park district - so 501 district - and then I graduated from Topeka West.

PW: You mentioned that you did not like the Burlington High School . What was different about it that you didn't like it?

SZ: Well, it's a 3-A school. My class was fifty people, that's one class. Small town, so - it's not just the school, I think, it's just the whole environment. A population of two thousand, three thousand people. But the education system, to me, I thought it was greatly funded because of how new the building and the materials and the classrooms are. What I didn't like is, basically, the entertainment value and the classes that they offered. When I was a freshman, I was taking biology and algebra II, and at the Burlington High School , I was put with the seniors, because biology and algebra II were taken by seniors. And I realized I had nowhere to move after I'd taken those two classes, other than - well, it was not that reason alone that I moved back to Topeka . It was because my mother moved there.

PW: Were there other Chinese or Taiwanese immigrants when you were going to school?

SZ: Yes, at the 501 school district, but not at Burlington .

PW: Approximately how many other Chinese immigrants were there?

SZ: Immigrants or - ?

PW: Immigrants or Asian Pacific American people who were in the school.

SZ: At Highland Park ?. You want it by school?

PW: Just a general

SZ: In general, I would say about two to three percent, not being a scientific fact because I've never researched that.

PW: I understand. How were you treated by other students, say when you were in elementary school and then later on in high school?

SZ: I felt no different in elementary or middle school, other than the fact I couldn't speak English. I feel like I was treated fairly. People thought I was great in math, which I wasn't very good in math, just because of my origin. So in general, I don't feel discriminated. Actually, at Burlington High I was the only Asian person there, so I was the unique person that everybody liked to talk to. But other than that, there was nothing else I'd like to mention.

PW: And how did your high school experience differ from your elementary school experience?

SZ: Well, I don't know how to answer that.

PW: What I'm asking is, when you were in elementary school you said that you could hardly speak English. As you had lived in the United States for several years, can you explained how life changed maybe for you?

SZ: As far as the school system goes?

PW: The school system, growing up, as, say, as a teenager, in America

SZ: Oh, sure. I didn't like to party, so I always stayed home where my few groups of friends that I had throughout my stay here in the United States . In my opinion, it didn't differ too much. I learned a few more words, a few more slang. Otherwise, I didn't feel a tremendous difference, other than more workload. I guess my experience differed from other people; I wasn't discriminated at all, nor did I feel that way throughout my school years. That's why I didn't feel a difference.

PW: I think you mentioned before that you believe that your high school was diverse, or was it?

SZ: Yes, it was. The reason I preferred Topeka more than Washburn Rural was because of the diversity.

PW: Did you participate in any extracurricular activities?

SZ: Not in high school. Not until I was in college.

PW: And we'll talk about that here in a little bit.

SZ: Sure. Actually, I did Math Club, Chess Club, stuff like that. Nothing that required too much physical activity.

PW: Now I want to talk about your home life in the United States , and we're going to cover some areas - what it was like to grow up, until today. Do your parents speak English?

SZ: Well, my mother speaks as much as she needs to at a Chinese kitchen in Dillons, so she knows proper greetings, she knows proper questions to ask that pertain to her job. Other than that, not really. She can pick up on a few gestures, a few words here and there, but she's never been formally educated. My father speaks no English at all. That's why I'm here, to take care of him kind of.

PW: And what is the primary language spoke at your home?

SZ: Cantonese. That's a dialect in the southern part of China .

PW: What kind of neighborhood did you grow up in? I know you said you moved around quite a bit, but - like in high school, what type of neighborhood did you grow up in?

SZ: I lived an apartment life most of my life, until recently. By neighborhood do you mean like single-family home, multifamily home, or -?

PW: Whatever you would like to tell me about.

SZ: I don't know if I can elaborate too much on it. I was just living from apartment life to apartment life because we were moving so much. And the apartment was right next to the school, so it didn't require much transportation, because we didn't have any, or I didn't have any.

PW: What you describe as apartment life, is that comparable to how you lived in China before you moved?

SZ: A lot roomier. There's heating and air conditioning. A lot newer. I believe the building that we lived in China was built in the 1960s. It's a two-story building, not very well maintained, so there were leaks. It's a concrete building, two stories. It seems like they were expanding around us, but they never kind of tore down that building. Housing was government subsidized, subsidized by the government. Based upon your eligibility in that company and based upon the monetary values you have in your savings, you are on some sort of a list to move up to a better facility, or better housing unit. It seems like my dad never cared. We stayed there most of the time. How that compared to what we have? Much roomier, a lot better. Well, we had a bathroom in our apartment here, which we had to walk down approximately about two hundred yards to use a public restroom in China where we lived.

PW: When you talk about this apartment life, were there other Chinese immigrants that lived in that area?

SZ: I don't recall. It was a predominantly Caucasian American neighborhood, I believe. That's what I think, at least.

PW: Did you and your family socialize with other Chinese immigrants?

SZ: Yes. Well, in fact, my uncle helped us when we moved to the United States . He did provide us housing at the beginning, he did find my mother the job, but he was busy taking care of his family because I believe he was in some sort of hardship. So we had met another Chinese family. Actually, the Chinese family moved to Vietnam as a refugee and came to the United States . It's a long story. They were able to help us as far as transportation, delivering me back and forth to grade school, and they became good friends with my mother in addition to my mother's co-workers, which are predominately Chinese immigrants, in the Chinese restaurant business. And that's about it.

PW: Had you and your family ever visited China while you were growing up?

SZ: Yes, many times. When we first came here, we miss home a lot. We traveled back every other year, I would say. That's another reason why we moved around, because we didn't have too many belongings, so we were able to move from one housing to the next by storing what belongings we had in my uncle's garage. So for the first ten years we went back about five times. That frequency has lessened in the past eight years, or six years, or so. I've been in the States sixteen years.

PW: Can you share your first experience when you went back to China after being in the United States .

SZ: Sure. It's different. I'm not sure how to say this, but when you live in one place so long and you move away, when you come back, you have a vision that everything in the area is stagnant because not much has changed. I missed my home, I missed my friends, but although the place didn't change, the people changed. Because you're away for two years. The close bond that you thought you once had has kind of diminished, I guess. You don't really feel that close connection with your close friends after a couple of years away. I guess the first experience wasn't too much different because at that time, financially, we were still about the same level. We wasn't very wealthy, just trying to go back and have some fun and see family - both being I guess just lower middle class wealthy. I guess immigrants have a different standard because they still have almost nothing. Well, we did. A lot of immigrants start out with just the basic necessities and they kind of built themselves up from there. So the first time back in China was great because I was able to enjoy some beverages that we can afford. I was able to enjoy some restaurants that we never really thought about because of the financial hardship we were in. So - does that answer the question?

PW: I think it does.

SZ: Okay.

PW: How were you treated when you went back to China ?

SZ: They thought I was rich. (laughs) People want to come to America because they think back to the Gold Rush in the Los Angeles area. They think you come here for a couple years and you're wealthy, you're well along. We have visitors at our old house, kind of down the street. Not lined up per se, but they would come visit us thinking we would offer some sort of monetary values to them, because that was the custom. They would bring fruits and vegetables to our house to visit, and in our area we would give them a red envelope with money in it for good luck. So people were lined up for a couple days. Not really lined up, but we had frequent visits, let's say. Other than that, I wasn't treated too differently. I didn't have any close friends there, so I would stick with my family most of the time.

PW: As you continued to visit China , did your thoughts and feelings about visiting there change?

SZ: I visited there for two reasons. One is family. My father, my grandmother, and a couple aunts lived that there. And another reason is travel, sightseeing that we were not able to because of financial reasons. Did my perspective change? Yeah, I think. When you grow up -

[tape off to change disc, then resumes]

PW: What Chinese customs and courtesies did your family practice living in Topeka ?

SZ: Well, I don't know how to answer that again. Customs and courtesies. In Chinese families we were taught to respect elders. That was the most important one. We didn't really practice the strict custom and courtesy rule that - actually, I never did in China . We were taught a certain set of rules to go by, such as courtesy and respect for elderly. That's why I call everyone older than me "sir," and I have problem with older sergeant calling me sir because it's against my custom.

PW: Were there any American traditions that your family embraced and practiced?

SZ: Holidays. We enjoyed the vacation. We celebrated Christmas not for Christmas as a religious holiday, just a day to get together with family and presents. So, yeah, we embraced almost all the American holidays without too much meaning to it. I learned throughout the years to understand it, but slowly I'm trying to teach them what is really behind it.

PW: Do you have any funny stories that you would like to share about your family living in Topeka ?

SZ: I don't know. I don't even know where to start on that.

PW: Okay. You had mentioned several times that you were never discriminated against. Was your family discriminated against?

SZ: Well, yes and no. Yes if they don't speak English. So discrimination may not be racial, ethnic, but rather it's an easy target because there's no way to retaliate. That can be taken at the workplace where another worker maybe blamed things on my parents because of certain things they did. So, yes because they don't speak English. Now, I'm not sure if it's racial or ethnic.

PW: Do you possess family heirlooms or keepsakes from China ?

SZ: Not exactly, because we came here with almost nothing. So - no.

PW: What Chinese values and beliefs differ from American? How do they differ, from Chinese to American.

SZ: Religious, or just general?

PW: Just generally speaking. We've talked about respect for elders in China . Is that different than respect for your elders in the United States ?

SZ: Yes, because it's a stricter sense in Chinese culture. Thousands of years ago Confucius spelled out those rules and said this is the relationship between mother and father, this is the relationship between child and father. So those rules were all spelled out and by a philosopher a thousand years ago. So we live - since I learned [about?] the eastern civilizations - we do live by those rules, even though we sometimes choose to deny them.

PW: How do you refer to yourself when asked about your ethnicity?

SZ: I say I'm a Chinese-American.

PW: And are you an American citizen?

SZ: Yes.

PW: When did you become an American citizen?

SZ: Nineteen ninety-eight, I believe. Nineteen ninety-eight, ninety-nine, somewhere around there.

PW: How did it feel becoming a citizen?

SZ: I don't know. My picture was bad on the naturalization certificate, so I don't think very highly of it. American passport's great because I can travel all over the world, but in order for me to travel back to China , I gotta pay the Chinese government a visa fee, so I don't agree with that. But as far as how I feel, I guess I feel privileged to become an American citizen, that I have the opportunity to do so.

PW: Has anyone else in your family become an American citizen?

SZ: Immediate family? No. But my uncle and aunt that's lived here for decades, yes.

PW: Did you say your wife was in the process of becoming a citizen?

SZ: Right. So she complete some paperwork and sends it forward it to the INS, and then it's procedural that you go through a special security clearance to make sure you're not a terrorist – you're not anything like that; to make sure your credit history's good. I'm not sure what they look for. It's a simple questionnaire that you submit pay three hundred some dollars, and then get a couple fingerprints to make sure you're not a criminal. That's basically it.

PW: Did you attend college?

SZ: Yes, I did.

PW: Where did you attend college?

SZ: At the University of Kansas . Well, I graduated from there. I attended no other college.

PW: And what is your degree in?

SZ: Well, I have a bachelor of art in psychology, economic, and I have a minor in history -Eastern history.

PW: And do you plan on seeking a master's degree?

SZ: Well, that relates to the earlier answer that I gave. I plan to seek a Ph.D. in psychology. If I do it at University of Kansas , it's a from bachelor to Ph.D. program without actually being a master program. And if it's a PA [physician's assistant] school, then, yes, it'll be a master program.

PW: What community did you live in when you were going to KU?

SZ: Well, a couple years of my college career I lived with roommates, also in apartments, so I tend to like it.

PW: Did you live in Lawrence ?

SZ: Yes, I did. Off campus.

PW: How was your community? What was it like when you were in college?

SZ: The community - well, my mother just lived across the street. I was living with four roommates in a predominately college student neighborhood.

PW: Were you involved in any Chinese ethnic organizations?

SZ: Let me think about that one. I think I was involved in a Vietnamese organization, because one of my roommates was Vietnamese. So a Chinese organization, the closest I can get to it at the time was the Taiwanese-Chinese Student Association.

PW: What did you do in that organization?

SZ: Well, I didn't do much. I was just a member. I attended all the activities, which is the gatherings, the barbecues, the soccer - just social gatherings. I was put on the planning committee for some sort of show that was presented at the lunar new year. I don't recall the year, I don't recall the time.

PW: And do you speak traditional Cantonese?

SZ: Yes, I speak both Cantonese and Mandarin. My wife is Mandarin. She's from the north. And I speak Cantonese with my family.

PW: How do the two languages differ?

SZ: I don't know how to say it. They're just very different. If you understand one, you will not understand the other. In China you have provincial languages. Like you have a mountain that separates two communities, you might have two languages. If you cross a certain border of a river, you have a provincial language that's way different from what you've heard in any other place. So the two dialects are completely different.

PW: How do you speak to your wife then?

SZ: Well, we talk English. I speak Mandarin as well. She's Mandarin. So is my family. Mandarin's actually the official language in China , so we were taught that language in grade school.

PW: You said you had been married almost a year.

SZ: Right.

PW: Where did you get married?

SZ: Well, here's the thing. I thought I was deploying with the - well, let me take that back. We got married in July at a courtroom because I had a OBC date of September, and after I got back, the _____ was going to deploy. I already got the notification. Or one of the field artillery units, and I was notified I most likely would deploy. We were talking about marriage anyway, planning a wedding, but I wanted her to have the same benefits that I do and have access to my account. So we did a quick courthouse marriage for that reason. But somehow everything changed, and she didn't think we were married because - she was like, "I need a ceremony." I said, "Great, we'll plan that, but I'm unsure of when I'm going to be deployed."

PW: When she says she needs a ceremony, is it a traditional Chinese ceremony, or is she talking an American ceremony.

SZ: I think it'll be a mixture. She likes wedding gowns. She doesn't like to get on her knees and present tea to the family members. So I'm thinking more leaning towards the American because she likes the Western style of marriage.

PW: Do you practice a religion?

SZ: Not daily. I understand several religions. I agree with certain, at certain times, and another at different times, so - Buddhism is the official religion in China , so we practice Buddhism somewhat. But I didn't understand it, that's why I took up history with an Eastern emphasis to actually gain more knowledge of my religion, the religious background I had.

PW: Are there Chinese or Taiwanese traditions and customs that you and your wife celebrate or practice?

SZ: Not really. We celebrate all the American stuff. Well, we celebrate August Moon, which is the Moon Festival in Chinese New Year's. The Moon Festival, it's by the lunar calendar, August 15th. I don't know the story behind it. There must be some love story, some beautiful story behind that, but I don't remember that off the top of my head. And Chinese New Year's. Those are the only two Chinese holidays, though.

PW: Can you explain a little bit more about the Chinese New Year?

SZ: Sure. When you're in China , you get two weeks off. You have the New Year's Eve that you have the big meal, and then your New Year's Day will be much of - there's a certain set of rules where we live. The first day of the new year you see a certain part of the family. If you're a child, you get lei szi, or hu bao in Mandarin, which is that red envelope with money in it. So your parents always take you to see the family members on the first day. On the second day, you go to see your intermediate family members. And the third day it may be friends and family. So I don't really know what's behind it, but I know it's just a new year that we celebrate much like in America , but back then were fireworks and food festivals. Now fireworks not authorized, so we do everything without.

PW: Are there certain traditions, customs, and cultures that you would like to pass on to your children? Chinese traditions and cultures.

SZ: I don't know. I mean, certain Confucius things taught and not others -are two extreme. I'd like to incorporate who I am and what I have learned and teach them what I think is the best. As far as which set of rules, I don't really know because I'm not at that point. I'm not at that mental age to have children. So I never thought about it really officially.

PW: Has your perspective of being a Chinese-American changed as you've aged?

SZ: Well, I have stronger opinions about one thing or another, but as far as in general, I don't know how to categorize myself. I see the world as a different place because of what I know and what I have learned. I don't really know how to elaborate or answer further.

PW: Do you still have family that lives in China ?

SZ: I have an aunt that lives in Hong Kong . That's on my mother's side. She's really wealthy so she doesn't want to come here. I have an uncle on my father's side. I think that covers them all, of the immediate family members.

PW: Do you still stay in touch with them?

SZ: My aunt in Hong Kong , yes, because every time we visit Hong Kong , she grants us hospitality.

PW: What do you mean when you say she grants you hospitality?

SZ: Well, she takes us around, let's me use her car, shows me what the new place to eat is. And she takes us into her house and we stay there.

PW: And do you stay current on the state of affairs in China ?

SZ: I try. I look at the news almost every morning, pay a little attention to all the world news. Do I pay particular close attention to China ? No. I pay more attention to the Middle East than China . Currently, so…

PW: Do you have plans to visit China in the future?

SZ: I do. Actually, my wife and I – that's where I proposed to her, is in Hong Kong about a year and a half ago or something. I do plan to visit there once I become financially stable where I can visit the places I would like to visit, to do the things I care to do without the thought of, oh, my God, I'm out of money.

PW: Would you ever consider returning to live in China ?

SZ: No, not at all.

PW: What kinds of activities would you like to see or do if you visit China ?

SZ: With my wife or my family?

PW: Either one.

SZ: I like to visit nature sites. She likes to shop. So we try to compensate and find a tourist spot. I don't like tourist spots because they're a little fake. You can see how the local attraction tends to have a tourist spot around it. I would like to see the local attractions, and then she would like to see the tourist spots, to eat, to shop. So there are some famous mountains, some famous rivers written in novels here and there that I would like to visit. I've been to many, many places in China , so -

PW: I understand when you went to KU you were involved in the reserve officer training course.

SZ: Right.

PW: What was that like for you?

SZ: What was that like? It was a unique experience that taught me what leadership meant. I was an enlisted member as an aircraft mechanic on the reserve side before I joined the - I was four years into it before I joined the ROTC program. The most important thing that they taught me was how to be assertive, how to become a leader, which I am still in the process of learning.

PW: Why did you join the United States Army?

SZ: Well, I always wanted to do some combat role in some sort of organization. One of my distant cousins is in the DEA, and another cousin's in the FBI. It's always been my dream to join some sort of agency that has some sort of acronym name attached to it. And army was my choice because - I don't know. I think I was mad at the time at somebody and I just signed up. (laughs) But long-term-wise, I would promote to someone else that they get education tools, get discipline tools, get a way to go to college on your own on money issues, and just a great way to grow into yourself and understanding what your limits are, have basic training in all that.

PW: How did your family feel about your joining the military?

SZ: They hate it because I'm the only child. They think the army is dangerous. Sometimes it is. And they absolutely hate it. (chuckles) Actually, I wanted to join the FBI and I got accepted except for my vision – it needs correcting. And I thought about my family, and I'm like, oh, that's a little more dangerous than the army in most instances.

PW: Did you ever experience discrimination in the military?

SZ: Not openly.

PW: Can you explain that a little bit better?

SZ: Well, not that I've seen in my own being. Maybe someone talked behind your back about it, but then again, it's not really discrimination because everyone else does it sometimes. In my view, at ROTC I thought I was because - well, no, I take that back. I didn't feel I was discriminated in any area.

PW: And what are your future plans with regard to your military service?

SZ: Well, I plan to stay in until I retire in the army, if I could, either as some sort of project person, whatever opportunities I want to do. If I cannot get a full-time job in the guard I would like to go active duty, pending my wife's graduating from engineering school. I would like my career to be in the army, either as a doctor or a general officer. Just like general, not one-star general, but general manager, like in the officer's job.

PW: Do you believe your military service has helped you with regards to being a Chinese American?

SZ: Personally, yeah, because it helped me to grow up into who I am today. Professionally, yeah - t's given me a great job, great pay and benefits. I'm not sure if that answers that question. Has it helped me as an Asian American?

PW: Through your military experiences, has it helped you as a Chinese American?

SZ: In general, it helped me develop myself, personally.

PW: As a person.

SZ: As a person, in my career – I'm not sure which….

PW: How do you think your life would have been if your family had stayed in China ?

SZ: Let me think about that for a second. Well, to put it in layman's terms, pretty crappy. (laughs) Because we had no opportunities. This is just my personal opinion, and it's not that it's political or anything else, that if I was to remain in China , it's about who you know rather than what you know. When you're in the U.S. , it's about what you know and who you know sometimes, but it's more of a what you know factor and what you can do. In China it's a communist government, so there are certain limitations for how far you can go. And being over-populated, skilled labor is abundant, so even though you possess knowledge, there may be millions of others sharing your own boat.

PW: If you would have stayed in China would you have been in the military?

SZ: In the Chinese military?

PW: Yes.

SZ: I don't know. Maybe. For the simple fact that I like to do field things, shooting weapons, crawling in dirt, and all that stuff, so maybe. But maybe I wasn't presented the opportunity to join because I'm not sure what the procedure is to join the Chinese military. In the U.S. it's a volunteer force. I'm not sure if that's the case in China .

PW: I think we're getting ready to conclude here. I just have a few more questions. What has surprised you most about living in the United States ?

SZ: What's surprised me the most is that I can get to the current status from where I was, from nothing to having a single-family home, have a dog. In China there's no way I could afford that, because my toys were passed down, my clothes were passed down. From where I was, to my ability to purchase my necessity in life. I mean, I don't know how to say anything else beyond that, so…

PW: What do you think Americans can do to help immigrants coming to the United States ?

SZ: Well, be more accepting of them to overcome the hurdles, understand that they're not here to take your jobs away and to worsen your economy and to overtake the culture. We're just looking for a new home, a better place to live, a better employment in the future. The American Dream, I guess, in broader terms.

PW: What is your definition of the American Dream?

SZ: Well, so far, it's owning your own house and owning your own car. In China I would never have owned a - whatever vehicle I have now, or owned a home because of the stuff and the procedure you go through to acquire that. And if you're working at a nine-to-five job, a typical job, the pay is not very good. You may be educated, but it's the opportunity, knowledge is nothing. The American Dream, I guess, is the freedom to express your thoughts and the ability to support your family and the ability to acquire anything within your limitations, without government influence, to a certain extent. That's just my personal opinion.

PW: What is the biggest difference between life in China and life in the U.S. ?

SZ: I don't know. It's the culture, food, the environment, the cleanliness of the street that we're on, anywhere from friendlier neighbors. China may be developing its economic power and acquiring military power, but to me, when I'm visiting there - I'll give you a personal example. I was waiting in the airport – not all people can afford to fly in China . The airport was considered somewhat of a higher class facility. I was waiting behind a clerk who was helping someone else. I was standing maybe three feet distance in the line, and this group - I was standing there waiting, and this group just cuts right in front of me. I'm like, "Hey, excuse me. I was in line." Looks back. That's it. That was rude. For someone who can afford an airplane ticket in China - right now it's still kind of a high-priced item - and did that, I wasn't very impressed with that. People are just not too willing to help each other, in my opinion. Like in America , if I pull over on the side of a highway needing help, about ten minutes later I'll probably get help. We don't get that in China .

PW: What are the similarities between the two cultures?

SZ: Similarities between the two cultures? That's tougher than the differences, because I never thought about that. Well, China is trying to become more of an Americanized society, in a way. Since the early 1900s, we have adopted – we, the Chinese people, have adopted a lot of the Western technology and culture. If you see on TV weddings are less and less traditional, rather it's more and more Westernized, with the gowns and big weddings with - I don't know. We share the same food to a certain extent. McDonald's, they are expanding in China . I can't find too many similarities. If I think about it formally I would come up with a lot, but right now, on the fly, I cannot think of much.

PW: And the last question that I'm going to ask, is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?

SZ: I can't think of anything. I would, but if I could add to it later, I'm like, hey, I should have added that.

PW: Well, this concludes my interview. Thank you very much for your kind assistance.

SZ: You're very welcome.

END OF INTERVIEW