Despite all its problems (“We the People” have had enough!), America remains the best land of opportunity for many individuals to succeed, and I am a modern-day example of one who came to see his “American Dream” come true.
There are many American Dreams – Just to name a few: hitting a mega-lottery, being your own boss, or just for freedom. Here is my American Dream: to achieve modest financial independence and then do whatever I want, such as writing about politics and doing competitive ballroom dancing.
I realized my American Dream a few years ago, and have been living it since then.
1. Growing up in China (1959-1982)
I was born in China (Hangzhou, Zhejiang) in 1959 and grew up throughout the horrible days of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). I graduated from high school in 1976 without knowing what to do, as there were neither colleges nor jobs. Then good fortune came in 1977: China re-opened its universities after closing them for more than a decade, and I made it into Zhejiang University, a top university in China.
As China continued to open up, I learned a lot more about the West – I was determined to see it, and the only way possible for me, or anybody in China then, to do it was to earn a scholarship.
I studied very hard in college. The photo below offers a piece of evidence – Only 20 out of 5,000 students made it into this class!
After scoring the best in a national exam for graduate studies abroad, I earned a Chinese government scholarship and was assigned to the University of Tokyo (aka “Japan’s Harvard”) in 1982.
2. Studying in Japan (1982-1985)
I did well in Japan. Aside from pursuing the M.E. (Master of Engineering) degree in Electrical Engineering, I studied Japan in depth, especially its culture and history. One memorable thing worth mentioning: I participated in a speech competition entitled “How should we contribute to world peace?” and won, as shown in the photo below.
In hindsight, my interest in politics was there, because not only was it a well-written speech on world peace, I also delivered it very well. I just never had a chance to develop that interest further until 2008, when I started writing about politics.
Japan was good. But it was only my first step to see the West. In 1985, I gave up everything in Japan (e.g., the scholarship and Ph.D. in progress) and moved to America, as a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University.
3. Doing Ph.D. at Vanderbilt (1985-1988)
Upon landing in Nashville, Tennessee, I encountered two big problems right away:
- My stipend of $10,000 a year was hardly enough to support the two of us (yes, I was just married).
- My English was gravely inadequate: I could hardly understand the people around me, let alone have any meaningful dialog.
Fortunately, my job as a research assistant did not require much verbal communication up-front – just hacking out a lot of computer code with some good ideas and writing some research papers.
I spent most of my time, often up to 14 hours a day, in front of a computer, while picking up English as fast as I could, with one simple goal in mind: finish here as soon as possible, so as to start a “real life” anew.
Guess what?
I got my Ph.D. in a (then) record time of just three short years! I was not the smartest around, but I was the most focused. Most importantly, I got the job done! Additionally, in 1987, my wife gave birth to our first child.
Not bad for the first three years in America: a Ph.D. degree and a son!
4. Working in Europe (1988-1991)
I started my “real life” in 1988 by joining SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications), a Brussels-based European company (which has become much better known, thanks to the war in Ukraine – Russia Says It’s Ready for Disconnection from SWIFT). It was my last big step to see the West.
I lived in Brussels for almost three years and traveled throughout Europe for both business and pleasure. Oh, yes, our second child was born in 1989.
Europe was good, but America was better, especially for raising my family. With that conclusion, I joined NEC America (Dallas, Texas) in 1991, and finally settled down in America.
5. Working in Corporate America (1991-2004)
With a complete set of global experiences under my belt, I was ready to work my way up in Corporate America. However, a big problem soon became clear: I was foreign-born with a lot of deficiencies (e.g., English). To climb up the corporate ladder, I must overcome these deficiencies, fast. I tried, to the best of my ability, and I did move up steadily, but not fast enough for the ambitious me. Finally, I reached the conclusion that the only way for me to be happy was to run my own show, for which I had to start my own business. I did, in 2005.
6. Running my own business (2005-present)
I founded West-East International, an import-export company, on June 30, 2005. The first line of business was to sell “Made in China” transducers (which are the key components in electronic scales) in America.
What a fun run since then!
I wish I could have struck out on my own a lot earlier, such as in 1996 when I had the first opportunity. But at that time I was too obsessed with Corporate America to seize the opportunity.
Like all self-starters, I had to decide, as a first thing, how to position myself in the marketplace: a low-key also-ran or a high-profile game changer.
The latter, of course, for the ambitious me! For example, it was not a fashionable thing back then to openly sell the transducers “Made in China,” but I did it anyway. On top of everything, I went out of my way in marketing. A notable example: I managed to appear on the cover of the Weighing and Measurement magazine in June 2007, as shown below.
It was a coup for someone who had been in that industry for barely two years. More importantly, in the interview article, I clearly and boldly defined the industry for years to come, including the China factor. Controversial as it was at the time, that article remains a blueprint of the scale industry even to this day, time-tested!
Eighteen years and counting, we have succeeded wildly in the scale industry, because of our superior business model, sharp vision, perfect execution, and a unique way of doing business “my way” (more on this later).
7. Writing about politics (2008-present)
With success in business, I ventured into a new arena: writing about politics. It really started in April 2008, after a sports writer at the Chicago Tribune wrote a nasty article about China’s preparation for the Beijing Olympics. It was so unfair and irresponsible that I thought “he is not going to get away with it without hearing from me.” So, I wrote him an email, and heated email exchanges ensued. When it was all said and done, I realized that the entire chain of emails could be good material for customer education. So, I emailed it to my customers and prospects. To my surprise, far more of them than I expected were sympathetic to my cause. More importantly, they found my writings interesting and educational. So, I just followed with more writings and more emails. It is totally out of control now: I have published almost 800 articles and four books!
Now, if the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing got me going in writing about politics, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing further accelerated it. Two main reasons:
- The U.S. wants to contain China, Tonya Harding style.
- China-bashing is so fashionable in America now that Anti-Asian hate crimes rose 73% last year, updated FBI data says.
As a Chinese-American, I am caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, I wish China, my native country, well – She suffered too much over the past 200 years. On the other hand, I wish America, my adopted country, well – She must stop her precipitous decline. Most importantly, there must be no war, trade or otherwise, between the two largest economies in the world!
So, what do I do?
I write!
How do I write about politics?
Below is an interesting assessment.
For more, read Why and how do I write?
8. Doing business my way
One huge advantage of having your own business is that you can do whatever you want (and bear the consequence, of course). Here are three things I have done very differently from others in the scale industry:
- I use email as a big marketing tool. Today, my email newsletters, at least twice a week, are very popular in the scale industry.
- I found a way to fill my email newsletters with good content. The Friday funnies are quality jokes contributed by scale men and women around the world. My weekly political publications fill up the Wednesday serious letter. According to conventional wisdom, a businessman like me is not supposed to openly mix politics with business. Talking about politics in front of customers is a big no-no. But I did it anyway, with the calculation that I would end up with some more-loyal and better-educated customers over time. This strategy has worked out remarkably well for me.
- I pay little attention to political correctness. I write uniquely not only because of my unique life experience but also because I do not have a boss telling me what to do and what not. Most importantly, I do not write for a living (Brainwashing and America)!
No guts, no glory!
As I age into retirement, I will try a lot more new and big ideas, toward achieving my full potential!
9. Parenting and grandparenting
The image below highlights the net result of my parenting from 1990 (see image in Section 4) to 2023.
Two informative readings:
On March 23, 2018, I became a grandparent. The image below highlights three generations in my family.
Today, I am a 3-time grandpa!
10. Competitive ballroom dancing
In 2015, I took on a new mega-challenge: competitive pro/am ballroom dancing, for which I restored my youth by some 20 years, as shown in the image below.
For more, read America’s most efficient amateur man in ballroom dancing?
11. More on writing about politics
My American Dream has come true!
To thank America back maximally in my way, I want to save it with my pen (or keyboard, to be more precise). I believe I have the most accurate diagnosis for America, as well as the best solution.
The image below highlights an American nightmare forthcoming.
The image below is basic reasoning with America.
For more, read What happens to charges if Trump gets elected. Below is an excerpt:
If Donald Trump is elected president in 2024, any charges or indictments made against the former president by the Department of Justice would be “gone.”
The image below is profound reasoning with America.
Here are my two straightforward messages to my fellow Americans:
- The real threat to America is America itself, not China (or Russia). For more, read “We the People” have had enough!
- America, reform our failing political system, as I have suggested (History 2.0 – China’s Comeback vs. America’s Decline), or become a fiddle, second to China!
What I need to do is to sell my unique school of thought via weekly postings and books – Is there a bigger challenge in life than this?
12. Closing
Life is short. I will continue to make the best out of it by doing a variety of things, particularly in trying to make the world better with my keyboard!
Now please sit back and enjoy the video below – I am the first walking out of the stage.
