With the ongoing protest movement in Hong Kong, it’s inevitable the Western press would anoint some 18 year old student as the future of China just as they did during the 89 TAM event. NYT not only featured him prominently they also have him wrote a column on democracy. Reading his naïve platitudes one can’t but be reminded of those old students now working on Wall Street with a different dream.
Living in U.S. for a long time not only concerned with events in China, but also what’s happening in the Chinese community here, I am encouraged with diverse achievements of Chinese Americans today. I would like to talk about Arthur Chu here. As some of you probably aware, he was a Jeopardy champion last year and caused some stir with his unconventional strategy and brassy talks. He leveraged his interviews and 15 minutes of fame to a column with “Daily Beast”. Recently I read his column in Salon.com on Gamergate, and then Google his old columns in Daily Beast and found them fascinating with resonance for me and maybe others. He personifies the stereotype of Chinese American male, being excellent A student, or a nerd, with limited social skills, a loner with few friends, with hobby in video games and science fictions, inarticulate with the oppose sex, yet adore those beautiful heroines in Japanese anime. He managed to overcame his rages and loneliness and achieved some success and balance. I do hope others can learn from his experiences.
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