susan li
"my parents' view of china was that it was very closed, and that western countries offer everything." - susan li, cctv-9 broadcaster

li, like many expats, enjoys a lifestyle she might not have back home. like other expats, the cctv-9 broadcaster has greater opportunities here - for example, she gets to interview canadian politicians when they visit here, a perk available only to the most senior broadcasters when she worked at the canadian broadcasting company. li's family emigrated from guangzhou to toronto when she was 2, and she had been thoroughly prepared for her visit to china - "my family was into chinese movies, chinese tv shows, the latest music and videos."

on her parents' reaction:

my parents' view of the country was that it was very closed, and that western countries offer everything. they said, "how can you give up your stable job?"

on growing up chinese in a western world:

i did go to chinese school [a weekend cultural school]. i felt "different" from the other kids. and i could have been playing with my friends.

on success both in business and in one's familial bonds:

 my grandmother has satellite tv, so she watches my broadcasts. my parents are proud - their daughter is back in the homeland as a broadcaster, where they had grown up admiring broadcasters.

steve yang

until college, yang's chinese vocabulary consisted of "blue" and "green," he says. "when my sister and i hit kindergarten, we thought, 'nobody outside our family speaks chinese. we don't need to know this.'" a linguistics major from the united states, he came to china to teach english and learn about his heritage. he got more than he bargained for - a penchant for teaching, first prize in a kung fu competition and a korean-chinese fiancée, angela li, who plans to return with yang when he goes home to get a master's degree in education.

on why china entices:

we would go to other chinese families' houses and they would do things i thought were "weird." i had thought, "if i don't do something, my kids won't know anything about their culture."

on growing up chinese in a western world:

i was in elementary school, doing these tests, and for statistical reasons they had you check off your "race" - there was "white," "black," "hispanic" and "other." i knew i wasn't white, and i knew i wasn't black, so i thought, "oh, i must be hispanic."

on dual identity:

 a lot of western people at work i run into think, "he's chinese, so he must be really good at kung fu." but then chinese friends think, "he's american, so he's probably not very good."

"i was in elementary school, doing these tests, and for statistical reasons they had you check off your "race" - there was 'white,' 'black,' 'hispanic' and 'other.' i knew i wasn't white, and i knew i wasn't black, so i thought, 'oh, i must be hispanic.'" - steve yang, english teacher

wendy mock

"i have white and black friends who speak mandarin much better than i do. at a restaurant, when they order, the waiter keeps looking at me, like i'm a ventriloquist." - wendy mock, china radio international host
mock, a san francisco native, seems the ingénue: though she came here a few years ago for a seven-week program teaching americans about china, her sparkling eyes still look impressed by the country she'd only heard about from her parents, both of whom were from guangzhou. "i feel like i understand where my parents are coming from," says mock, a china radio international host. " i made a deal with them - if i learned all this chinese stuff in beijing, i could go to south africa. when i got here, i fell in love with china, the culture, the language. i really wanted to stay."