I remember my childhood growing up in Vietnam. In 1978 we were deported back to China. We lived in a small town, and small house. I was the fourth oldest of seven children.

I started school when I was nine years old. In elementary school, I walked to school with my sisters. The classes were usually 20 -30 students. Boys and girls sat together. Public school did not have uniforms for students, but the students had to look clean and not wear slippers. Our teachers were very strict, if you did not finish homework, you could not go home until the homework is done.

In high school, the school was one hour from my house by bus. I lived on the school's campus. The class in the morning was from 8:00 - 12:00 and in the afternoon from 2:00- 4:30. We studied our language and also English, history, science, geography, politics and math.

The school year began in September and ended in June. We also had a short winter vacation and summer vacation. At that time, I could help my parents do their farm work.

After school we had to entertain ourselves, by playing basketball, ping pong and watching television. The telephone was not popular at that time, in the evening some students came back to class between 8:00 and 10:00. After they came back from school they studied hard.