A family's two-generation odyssey abroad

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-18 11:47

About 20 years after his first trip to Japan, Fan's two sons, Fan Zhen and Fan Zhe, were packed off to study in the United States. This time around, there was no political check up.

"My classmates at Shanghai Jiao Tong University all saw studying abroad as a good choice," said Fan Zhe, 37.

In 1998, Fan Zhe acquired an MA in mechatronics and automation at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and received a full scholarship offer from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

Now, having a company of his own at Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park, Shanghai, Fan Zhe looked back at the steps he took for his US study.

"You have to pass TOFEL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and GRE (Graduate Record Examination) designed by the US Educational Testing Service, writing application letters to different universities for admission and arranging an appointment with the US consulate for a visa interview. On every step you have to count on yourself."

Shortly after he arrived in the United States in 1998, Fan Zhe bought a second hand Ford Festiva at a price of 500 dollars, a deal his father couldn't afford during his first trip in Japan.

"Studying abroad gives me a fuller picture of the world and more options in the future," said Fan Zhe. "I learned to fit into different backgrounds, be it American, Japanese or European."

Keen on the latest developments in technology and on seeing another culture, Fan Zhe was among China's earliest e-mail users in 1995. His romance with Du Ying from central China's Hubei Province was the combined result of tradition and computer technology.

The Chinese traditional matchmaking gave Fan Zhe and Du a chance to meet while the Internet instant messaging software helped them know each other better via the Internet before they got married in 2000.

Du accompanied Fan Zhe to study computer science and engineering at Notre Dame in 2001.

After his graduation from Notre Dame's Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering with a doctorate in 2003, Fan Zhe worked in the States for four years as co-founder of a robotic vision company in Salt Lake City and later a senior computer engineer in Atlanta.

Though the couple were granted United States Permanent Resident Cards, Fan Zhe and his wife returned to China in 2007 and set up their own company in Shanghai one year later.

"This is the place where we are from," said Fan Zhe, who foresaw an exploding growth of information technology in China for its infrastructure, research and development, as well as market potentials.

"The roots of Chinese are in China," he said. "If we don't have roots, we won't have strength and confidence."

Fan Qijin, however, was not bothered about the identities his children or grandchildren acquired, be it American, or Canadian as in the case of his eldest son Fan Zhen.

"This does not bother me at all because they are all my descendants and all returned to China for their professional career," he said.

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