Tong Zhang

Before MVHS parent Tong Zhang decided to immigrate to the United States, she was faced with the decision of either accepting a faculty position at Tsinghua University, where she was getting her master’s degree at the time, or pursuing her PhD in the U.S. To others, taking the faculty position seemed like the obvious choice — she would be guaranteed a life of success and stability — but Zhang wasn’t so sure. She felt that by staying in China, she could envision her whole life laid out ahead of her, and she felt like she was relinquishing her only chance to experience a new world. With that in mind, she began the long and arduous process of chasing her dream of living in the U.S.

The first step was to be admitted to a PhD program in the U.S. Zhang knew she wouldn’t be able to afford to study in the U.S. unless she received a full scholarship. In addition to submitting applications to a variety of colleges, she also cold emailed professors and told them about her research as a student in China in hopes that someone would both say yes and provide her with a scholarship. After many emails, the University of Southern California responded to her with an opportunity to study there for free, provided that she worked as both a teacher’s assistant and research assistant. She accepted.

Zhang then had to find a way to physically travel to the U.S. Other than the process of getting a student visa requiring her to collect stamps from several different Chinese embassies, she also had to buy a plane ticket, which, at the time, cost five thousand dollars — equal to 10 months of her salary in China at the time. It was a costly decision, but Zhang ultimately decided to take it, and after a long and nauseating (it was her first time on a plane) flight with two layovers, Zhang landed in the Los Angeles International Airport with 200 dollars in her pocket.

Zhang remembers facing multiple culture shocks after landing in the U.S. The first time she entered her dorm at USC, she immediately called her mom to gush about the plush red carpets in her bedroom — she had never lived in a room with carpet before. She also remembers being shocked by her friends buying bunches of bananas at the supermarket:  in China, they only ever bought one banana at a time, and only as a special treat when someone was sick.

Ultimately, Zhang says that other than not being able to visit her mother in China for Chinese New Year before she passed away, she has very few regrets regarding her decision to come to the U.S. Although she sometimes wonders about the alternate life she could’ve had in China, she says coming to the U.S. allowed her to both experience a new world and give her two daughters the opportunity to grow up in a more stable country.

“I just could not have any expectations,” Zhang said. “I think [the new] generation is much luckier than my generation. Back then, there was no, ‘Oh, I want to be a journalist or a lawyer or a doctor or whatever.’ Now, [my daughters] are here, and they received a good education, and they have those options.”