 Aloha, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. You can go to love in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman. You can go to love in Germany, Turkey, or Japan, but you cannot become a German or Turk or Japanese, but anyone from any corner of the earth can come to love in America and become an American. Welcome back to a Nation of Immigrants, a bi-weekly talk show program featuring the life of immigrants, diversity, and inclusion. Created by Sintank Hawaii and the Kingsville Law Office. We invite renowned immigrants to come to the show to talk about their life stories, immigration adventures, and their contributions to cultural diversity. Today's guest is Professor Zhuang Yi Liu from University of Minnesota. Welcome Professor. Thank you. Thank you for your invitation. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you very much Professor. We know each other for many, many years, and I always a pleasure to working with you and starting the World Education Expo in 2005, I believe, and in Beijing. Now both of us serve on the U of M China Center Board. You are the board chair, and I really appreciate your leadership. And I'm going to read your short bio to our audience. You Professor Liu received his undergraduate degree from Sudan University, the top university in Shanghai, China, and master's and doctorate degrees in mathematics from Virginia Tech in the United States. Professor Liu now is a professor at the Department of Mathematics, Swanson School of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Duluth. Professor Liu is also the chair of the University of Minnesota China Center Board. Professor Liu's research interests include, I'm going to try my best to hear, optimal control theory, differential equations, approximation, and the parameter identification. I have no idea what are they, but obviously they are important in the research areas. Professor, I want to ask you, the first question I want to ask you is from your bio, you graduated from Sudan University in 1982, which means you were admitted into college in 1978. That from the resume, non-Chinese probably will not comprehend how significant that is, but all Chinese when we look at your resume, we are super impressed, because that means you are a member of Qi Ba Ban, Qi Ba means 78, you entered the college in 78. Why is this important and significant? And because you are the best of the best, the elite of the elites of Chinese intellectuals and educated class. Why we say that? Because from 1966 to 1978, the Chinese colleges basically completely shut down. And the Chinese colleges and universities reopened in 1978, and you can think about it, 12 years of talent have been accumulated, have been waiting for this opportunity. So the college admission was extremely brutal and highly competitive. It's like one to a thousand ratio, something like that. But you were admitted to the very best university in Shanghai, China. So congratulations, a very late congratulations. But I do want to ask you your college experience and how you get into college and anything you would like to share about that period? Yes, I was one of the lucky ones to get into the college at that time. This is the cultural revolution ended in 1976 after Mao's death. And then we start a new era and there are hundreds of things are waiting to be done. And one of the things is to restoration of the university. Because there are 10 years, there are no the college admissions. So I remember that it was in 1977, the spring of 1977. And Deng Xiaoping asked, invited actually a group of senior scientists and the professors and to Beijing to have a meeting with them and ask them what the country should do, what the government should do for the education system. And the suggestion, many professors and scientists suggested the restoration of the college entrance exam to start the, to get the new student into the university as soon as possible. Well, usually in China, just like here and the new students start from September, the fall semester. But at that time, it's already like a June, it's too late to start the new, to give the college entrance exam and then admitted students into university for the fall semester. Then they decided, okay, let's do it in the spring. That is abnormal. You start a new school year in the spring, that's the spring semester, 1978 February. So in 1977, I was a construction worker. When I left the school in 1971, I was sent to the island, the farm in the island, which is on, I think it's at the Yangtze Delta, it's called the Chongqing Island. I was there for three years there. And then they say, okay, you're re-education by the parents was done, then they assign me back to the city, the Shanghai city, I become a construction worker for another three years. And during that time, I would prepare myself actually to become my hobby. I would love mathematics a lot. So I taught myself in what I did not learn in school because from my seventh grade to 10th grade, I only stayed in school for four years, then I was assigned to the farm. So we did not learn much. Actually, what I remember that the only thing for the mathematics part, I only learned so far right now, it's the seventh grade mathematics. So I actually, when I was in the farm and when I was a construction worker, I self taught myself. It's just for hobby. But I always have a dream, I say, someday, maybe the revolution and then if we reopen the university, I can get into the university and become a student there. Well, the good news comes in 1977. So when they announced that news saying that they were reopening the university, I took one month off from my work and to review, prepare for the exam. And with one of my neighbor and my best friends, and we worked together for like one month and prepared for the exams. So after taking the exam, I think, well, I feel pretty good when I took the exam. I think, oh, especially the math part, I think I did pretty well. And then you can select which university you want to go. So my choice at that time was you feel a form say, oh, what is your first choice? What is the second choice? And then according to your score and the university will admit you or not, they make decisions. So according to my math score, at that time, the best strong, I should say, strongest math program in China is Beijing University and Fudan University. But that year, Beijing University's math program was not ready. They did not start to recruit students. So the only choice is Fudan University. So that's my only choice. I feel the Fudan University, I did not choose any other. Absolutely the best. Good choice. Fortunately, and the good news comes. And one day in my mailbox, I received a letter saying that you are admitted to Fudan University. I was so excited. Well, Professor, you, I just am amazed by your humbleness and you, you see this story with such a moderacy, it almost light hearted. But when I hear your story, there is a big throat, a big lung in my throat. I couldn't imagine the three years at the construction worker and before that years in the farmland and which you and your generation absolutely deserve the best education. And I agree, you are the lucky one. You waited and even you endured so much pain and suffering. But you endured and you waited for your turn. And you tried and also remind me the story of other, you know, intellectuals of communities when they work in the farm for a day. Then return, retire to their slum, they read and memorize the Shakespeare. And the same story. And you taught yourself mass, the multiple language. Certainly, yeah, because I think I'm just, I was one step ahead of many others. And in some way, I'm better prepared. And I know that that year, 5.7 million students took the college entrance exam and they only admitted 270,000 students. So the admission rate is like 4.7%. In my high school class, 50 students, I was the only one got into college. In my farm, when you remember that I went to the farm, we have like a team of 150 people, young people at the same age. I was the only one who got into college that year. So yeah, it was difficult. But I think the reason I was able to get in is just because I was one step ahead of others. Professor, you're too humble. You are the best. There's no doubt about it. Everybody were prepared. The 5.7 million applicants, all of them were prepared. Everybody studied hard, wanted to get into the college after these 10, 12 years wait. And absolutely, you were the best applicants. And how big was your class at the university, the department? The math department in that year admitted 160 students. You are pretty moderate, not too big. We had four classes and two in mathematics and one in computational mathematics and the other one in theoretical mechanics. Well, it's just amazing you have, you know, after all these years, you could have the opportunity to sit in a classroom at a Fudan University, very elite university in China in a study math. You must really, really happy. And how was, I will be curious, because of the Qibaban, the class of 82, and all of them, all of you are elite, elite of the elites. And you're either very accomplished scholar, professors, or in the government, or maybe studied abroad. So do you have a contact with your college classmates? Do you know what they do now? Yes, and we do have close contact. In 2015, my class had 40 students, and we had a class reunion. In the United States or in China? In Fudan University. Oh, Fudan University. So that class means actually a student in China, or most of them are? In my class, one quarter of them are in the United States. One quarter, yeah, 10 students are in the United States. Other class, our class is, well, because in that year, the students entered the college, the age difference is so big. Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. In 2015, the oldest is about 30 or 31. So when they divide us into classes, my class is the age, age, the limited older. So I was 24, the youngest in my class was 23. Other class have most of the younger kids. I see. Yeah, and for that class, actually, most of them I was studied abroad, and I think most of them in the United States, right? Not surprisingly, we wanted the best of the best. For my class, the students, most of them, if they stay in China, for those staying in China, they become college professors, most of them. I think the reason is, after 10 years at the clothing of the university, and the lack of university teachers, so after we graduated, most of them stayed there and assigned a job in university to become a teacher, become a professor later, yeah. Very good. Thank you very much. And I went to college in 1991, and my high school friends, many of them went to Peking University. I didn't go to Peking University for college, only for graduate school. But I think last year, they had their college, their classroom reunion, and I think except one, the entire class in the United States. I think biology, the biology class, at least one class, the entire class in the United States, except one student. It's just amazing to see that the cultural interdependency and how the Chinese can thrive in the United States. Now, I think I'm having one of the best oral history interview on this program. I really appreciate you, Professor Liu, to share with you like experience. Now we have to move on to the second chapter of your CV, how did you get to the United States? And you graduated from Fudan and you immediately applied for Virginia Tech? Yeah, the reason I applied to Virginia Tech actually started from 1981. One of the, remember that one, my neighbor, one of my best friends, we started to get prepared for the college entrance exam. And he is a physics major. In 1981, the Nobel Prize winner, Professor Zheng Daoli from Columbia University, he initiated a program in physics called the CUSP program, which selects a hundred top physics students from China and enrolled them in the United States universities to the PhD program in physics. So my friend was selected, so he went to Virginia Tech in 1981 and then he gave me a lot of information about Virginia Tech, about how to study in the United States. Because at that time, the information about the US is very, very rare. And we really don't know much about the universities and the lives in the United States. So my friend wrote to me and he said, yeah, you can come and you can apply to the math department. There are no Chinese students there and you can apply and you can apply for scholarship, like a teaching assistantship or research assistantship, so that we've got that time we cannot afford to pay tuition. So I said, oh, great, then just send me, we ask them, send me the application form so I applied. Then in 1981, about December, I received admission letter from Virginia Tech, and which they offered me a scholarship, however, I was not able to enter the program. The reason is the government already assigned us, because we are, when we go to university, everything was provided, you don't pay tuition fee, you don't pay the dorm fee. So everything provided by the government. So now they say, okay, you are in our plan to assign you to a job. In that plan, you cannot leave. You have to serve for the country for two years. And I said, so we have to work for two years before you can leave. So I rolled back to Virginia Tech and said, I'm sorry, I cannot come because of that policy. Well, it's so nice of them, they renewed my admission and the scholarship every year for two years. So until 1984, then I finally completed the two years work requirement. And then, so I went to Virginia Tech, the professor there, the director of the graduate study, the first thing he said to me, finally, finally you come, finally you come. At that time, I was the first Chinese students from mainland of China to the Virginia Tech Math Department. Wow, historic. Well, professor, again, you said this is such a light tune, but we all know how difficult it was. That means you had very high level of English proficiency. Well, in a Chinese college, a studying math, otherwise, they wouldn't admit you. And second, your GPA must be the 4.0, and the highest possible in order for them to award you a tuition, labor, and a scholarship. And you must be the best of the best, otherwise, they wouldn't wait for two more years just to admit this particular student. So Virginia made the right choice. And we made the right choice to have you here at the U of M. But I just remind me, I came to the United States in 2000. And I had my undergraduate education in China, total seven years. And I got the same tuition free and a very tiny stipend. But anyway, basically, I have seven years of free education in China. But when I wanted to study abroad, a different story, they didn't want me to work because there's no assigned job already waiting for you. They just said, pay the tuition back. So I paid seven years of tuition and a stipend back to the education authority and then was allowed to study abroad. However, here's a little dramatic twist. Many years later, the people who was in charge of charging these study abroad students these fee was arrested because obviously, the money didn't go to the treasury instead of go to somewhere else. So I thought I'd digress, but I couldn't help. Just remind me. But I'm glad you had two years in China and came to the United States without further obstacles. When I first came, I remember at that time, the current exchange rate is $1 to Remy B. And you are only allowed to exchange $60. $60. So I came to the United States with $60 in my pocket. I arrived at New York at Kennedy Airport and I took a taxi. I was sent me to Queens and one of my friends lived there. And from there, I took the Greyhound bus from New York to Blacksburg, Virginia. But with that $60 at the airport, the taxi driver said, OK, I give them the address. They said, OK, we can drive you. How much money do we have? I thought about it. I said, $40. Smart. Give me the $40. I don't know. That was an overcharge, wasn't it? That I mean overcharge. Yeah, definitely overcharge. It's a completely new experience for me. I thought that I still had kept the $20 in my pocket. I'm sorry that New York didn't give you a very, very good welcome. Well, it's amazing, you know, our program goes so fast because we should double the length of our program. But before we go, I do want to ask you at least. We only get a chance to cover, like, 10% of our questions. But I do want to ask you, even when we only have less than two minutes left, why math? What do you find about so fascinating about the math? Why do you think math is you want to commit your entire life to math studies, teaching, and research? First is when I was an elementary school student, my math skill is pretty good. I think maybe because of my mother, the elementary school math teacher. OK. And I inherited a little bit of that. Yeah, I was the class representative for the math part. But after that, when I was assigned to the farm, I want to keep studying because we didn't learn much knowledge in my high school or middle school to high school that we didn't learn much. So I thought, OK, I want to know more. So that's kind of saying you really want to learn the knowledge. And you don't want it just to be a farmer forever. So what do you can learn? At that time, you cannot self-study chemistry because you need experiments to experiment. Physics, chemistry, all you need to do experiments and so on. So that's another reason that the mathematics you only need a piece of paper and a pen, you can study by yourself. So I kept going in the math direction. OK, well, because you learn more and more and you really find, OK, you really love. I really love the mathematics part. So that is why I picked that direction. You are the natural born mathematician. You feel natural. Other people might find that a piece of paper and a pencil, that they cannot produce anything. But you produce mathematic equations and make it a beautiful language. But I have to say that you are fitting the professor, you're fitting the stereotype in the United States. So you are a model immigrant and also you're good at math. So that's just a double confirmation of the stereotype. I was not the best student in my college class. I was OK, but many of my classmates are really smart. I was intimidated a lot about that. 5.7 million, the best, the very top of the pyramid. You are already in the elite club. Well, I'm so fortunate that we were out of time. But what an amazing conversation, Professor Liu. I learned so much from this conversation. I hope we will invite you, come back to the program and we will continue to talk about mathematics. I really very much look forward. I hope there's a lot of stories about the way to lead to me to the United States and how to become the immigrant. So yeah, we can chat later. Absolutely, look forward to it. Thank you, Professor. What a throw. Thank you for your time. Aloha. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Check out our website, thinktecawaii.com. Mahalo.