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A historical narrative based on my family’s experiences.
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Shirley
By: Shirley
New Jersey, the state where my grandpa studied for the Mathematics PHD degree.
The PHD Qualification Test
Author’s NoteThe Open Door Policy started after the
Cultural Revolution ended in 1976. Deng Xiaoping, the former Chinese president, “opened” China, and had scholars from China travel all over the world to study and learn. Deng Xiaoping went to the U.S. to create diplomatic relations in January 1, 1979. Scholars had to take an English test to see if they would be able to understand the English spoken in the U.S. In 1979, the Lirst 50
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young men from China were sent to the U.S. as visiting scholars. In that same year, my grandpa also took the test, and passed. Even though he passed it, his English was still very poor. In total, the region he took the test in (Zhejiang Province) had 20 people qualify to go to the U.S. A year later, Jin Sheng was chosen out of the 2,000 studious people in China to go to the U.S. He arrived in New Jersey around 1981-‐1982, and there began his study for the Mathematics PHD degree, all because of the Open Door Policy. The qualiLication test was, if you wanted to take the PHD degree for a subject, you Lirst had to qualify, and then you could study and try to pass the actual test.
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Family Tree
My grandpa, the person my narrative is about
The PHD Qualification TestThe chestnut walls of the university
surrounded me as I made my way to the qualiLication room. I inhaled slowly. The refreshing spring breeze of February 1982 thrilled me, and brought energy into my soul. Radiant rays of sunlight spread warmth through my taunt muscles. Minuscule stubs of lime-‐green grass grew in small square yards between the buildings. I sighed blissfully at the glorious weather.
Minutes later, I arrived in front of a beige door. After smoothing down my navy-‐blue trousers and blue dress shirt, I ran my Lingers through my thick black hair as I braced myself. I thought gratefully for a moment, “Thank goodness Deng Xiaoping, the current Chinese president, created the Open Door Policy after the chaos of the Cultural
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Revolution. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.” Taking a deep breath, I hesitantly turned the brass knob, reluctant to let go of the alluring weather outside. As I lightly stepped inside, I blinked multiple times until my eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room. A handsome young American man sat at an ebony desk, arranging papers. Beside him were two other unfamiliar men.
The young American’s deep voice resonated through the room as he welcomed me cordially, "Good morning, Jin Sheng. I hope you practiced some of those math
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Jin Sheng studying
problems I gave you yesterday. These men here are two professors in the committee. They will ask you some questions, too."
“Hello, Mr. Falk,” I greeted politely. The two instructors had pens and papers
ready in their hands. They seemed impatient to begin. The one with ginger hair inquired brusquely, “Are you one of the 2,000 scholars to travel from China?”
Next to him, the brown haired man questioned curiously, “Are you one of the 20 scholars from Zhejiang Province, China? Did you take the English test?” My eyes stared at the ground as I nodded humbly. On the other side of the room, some other scholars sat listening.
Mr. Falk gestured for me to sit down at one of the gray sturdy desks pushed against the whitewashed walls. He coughed and recited, “Ehem. Mr. Morris, Mr. Codey, I will present the oral qualiLication test to Jin Sheng. If you do well, you will qualify for the Mathematics PHD degree. Then, you may
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begin studying here at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey. If not, you have the option of retesting, or the option of giving up. I will ask you a question, and you will answer. Do you have any questions before we proceed?” I shook my head. My eyebrows scrunched together as I wondered, “What did he say?” Seeming to register my confusion, Mr. Falk winked and whispered, “We have to recite that speech for every test.” I gave a small smile.
“First question. What is the “Finite Element Solution for the second order ordinary differential equation boundary value problems?” he asked. I stared at him for a moment. “Oh no, what does that mean?!” I thought in fright. My heart thumped faster and faster. Hot sticky sweat slowly trickled down the side of my face. The gears in my head had stopped whirring. I was paralyzed with the thought of failing. “Remember Jin Sheng, this is for your family. Stay calm and think this thoroughly,“ I muttered to myself.
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“The kids will be so happy if you get a PHD degree.” The picture of my son and daughter laughing and jumping around me in Guangdong arose in my mind. I forced myself to calm down. Seconds later, my brain suddenly clicked. I pushed my circular glasses upwards, jumped out of my seat, and walked to the black board. Slowly picking up the bit of white chalk, I scratched out some equations.
To fully understand the question, I Lirst wrote it down and then translated it into Chinese. Then, I pondered on that question, and the answer appeared. Finally, I had to translate that back into English. Proudly, I spoke the answer correctly. Afterwards, each teacher asked many questions. The remaining questions whipped by in a blur.
Soon, I conLidently Linished the last question. Mr. Falk declared, “Thank you, Jin Sheng, for attending the oral qualiLication test for entering the PHD mathematics studies. Your test results will come out in a day or
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two, so for now sit tight, and relax. You may leave now.” I thanked the teachers one by one while shaking their hands, and felt grateful for the time they spent testing me. I calmly walked to the door. As soon as I got out relief rushed through my heart. I straightened my back at the possibility of successfully passing the PHD qualiLication test. I whistled in ecstasy as I strolled back to my room.
Two days later, the passed list came out. As I spotted “Jin Sheng” in the sea of names, my heart Hilled with desire to accomplish the PHD degree.
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* * * * *
Author’s NoteIf you would like to know, in the end I did really pass the actual PHD degree test, so that was a great accomplishment in my life.
1. What were the exact dates of when this historical event started and ended? February 9, 1980 from Beijing to Karachi, Pakistan and then Paris. February 11th arrived in New York, then went to Washington D.C. Spent 2 days there, and then went to New Jersey. Traveled using an airplane except using from Washington D.C. to New York, that was by train. Finally, traveled to New Jersey.
2. What exactly was the transformation and open door policy of China made by Deng Xiao Ping? China sent intelligent peoples all over the world to learn about that place and learn about other things. For grandpa and the people going to the US, the main thing for them was learning English.
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Interview with Grandpa
Jin Sheng in the winter of New Jersey.
After the Cultural Revolution was over, China started the open door policy. There was a test to see who could go to other places. He took the test, and 2,000 qualiLied, including him. Zhejiang Province had 20, grandpa included. The people who tested were really good at studies, were picked out from others and then tested，mainly tested for English.
3. What speciLically was the formal Diplomatic Relationship?
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4. What were your emotions when you were picked to go to the USA?He was very happy. After he was picked, mommy, uncle, and grandma got citizenship in Hangzhou, and moved to Hangzhou.
5. What was the facility like in the Graduate school?
6. How did you learn English so quickly? Only learned for half a year. Read many books to learn English. Read a book called The Moonstone by (I think) Wilkie Collins.
7. Why were you one of the people who were picked out of all of the math teachers? Did you have some outstanding achievement that made the government notice you?
8. What were some of the things you had to do to achieve your PHD? Learn classes, pass the qualiLication exam, write thesis
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9. What was your Lirst impression of Hangzhou when you came back from the USA?
10. Did you miss Guangdong? What were the reasons?
11. Were there any other “students” that you became great friends with? Where there any other people that was with you?
12. How did this journey inLluence your perspective of the world? 13. What was your Lirst impression of the USA?
14. When did you go to the USA?
15. What type of transportation did you use to get to the USA?
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16. Were there any events at the University that made you really scared?Not scared of anything, a hard worker. Challenged anything. Grandpa and other student enrolled at the same time for the PHD, also for math, but the other student afraid, scared, and quit. But grandpa wasn’t scared and succeeded.
17. Are there any moments that really stick out to you? QualiLication: First you need to qualify, and then you can learn the PHD. The oral qualiLication test occurred in February 1982. It was very hard because his English is poor, oral exam very hard for him, need to understand the question and have to answer. Found a trick: Lirst write down the question the teacher asked, then he’ll understand what the question is quickly, then he’ll understand all of the question
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Mr. Falk, American, handsome man, younger than grandpa, has two children, grandpa’s teacher. There were 6 classrooms total, with 2 committees. The test was in a big classroom, bystanders listening, and there were 3 teachers for each test taker. There were a lot of chairs, a big blackboard, Grandpa was not nervous at all, very conLident, all “A” student. If your grades are good you’ll have a good impression on the professors. One roommate, American says he deLinitely can qualify to take the PHD. First question teacher asked. Finite Element Solution for the second order ordinary differential equation boundary value problems. Grandpa was thin at that time, 43 years old. The weather was super good that day, but they couldn’t go out because they had to study. The Taiwan person said, “I hate this!”
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After the qualiLication, after one year he earned the PHD. Grandpa worked hard to Linish PHD as soon as possible to come home and have reunion with his family. He is family man. After qualiLication, he felt really relieved, 很放松. Brazilian person didn’t qualify when grandpa passed, and didn’t even qualify after grandpa left with the PHD degree.
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Jin Sheng completed and earned the PHD degree!
Grandpa was Lirst computer science pioneer in Hangzhou University and in China.
18. Do you remember your dorm mate’s names? Don’t know19. Were all of the qualiLication tests on the same day? Committee has 6 people for grandpa, on the same day 20. Did you feel sad when you remembered that your family was still in Guangdong while you were in the US? Missed home a lot, because it was too far away, and that time the phone money was expensive. Miss the kids and wife, relatives. Miss kids the most. In apartment, the other room lived two people from Taiwan, Indian. Not much chat with any of the 3, because they’re all very busy. After classes, they either do homework or sleep.
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21. How many people were in one dorm room? 2 people in a room, 4 in a apartment, an apartment has 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, smaller than grandpa’s Hangzhou house, one person is also testing for PHD mathematics22. What did your friends/roommates call you? Jin Sheng Jiang23. How many questions total in oral qualiLication test? Don’t remember24. Was there also a writing test? No, only oral qualiLication, some you need to use the black board to calculate25. Where the two other people in the test room students or teachers? 2 teachers from the committee listened also have to ask questions including Mr. Falk, they score the points, and some other random people listened. Mr. Falk also taught grandpa some stuff before the qualiLication test.
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In Math Lirst you need to understand the question to do it1-‐2 days later, the results came out. Super excited, very relieved. 26. What did you see/hear/taste/smell in
the USA?See: Hear: Smell: clear air Rutgers University/The State University of New Jersey
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ReflectionWhat speci+ic challenges did you face during this project?
I think a challenge was probably interviewing my family member. A big obstacle was that his mother tongue is Chinese, but I’m better at English than Chinese, so the communication was a bit hard. But, I resolved that by having my dad help translate the Chinese into English. Also, I didn’t feel very comfortable with interviewing my grandpa, because it was in person. After a couple minutes of interviewing, I grew conLident so it was easy to talk to him.
What did you learn about your family member? (Personality, character…)
I learned that he is a hard worker, a straight “A” student, and challenges anything. I also found out although it was very hard in the
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university, they only studied and slept between breaks, there were still small moments of humor and fun.
What did you learn about yourself? (As a learner, as a family member)
As a learner, I learned that I am a good listener, and can type it down at the same time. As a family member, I learned that I have a very educated, hardworking, and conLident Grandpa. I hope that I will be have the same kind of characteristics, too.
How have you grown? (As a writer…)
I feel that my Word Choice, Ideas, Voice, and Conventions have improved a lot since the beginning of the school year. Now, my word choice is more vivid, and my ideas are clearer and more focused. I think that I know more about how to correct convention errors, such as numeral problems, comma splices, etc.
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Lastly, my narratives have become more detailed and you can picture it easily.
Why do you think doing a project like this is important?
I think this project is important because you get to know more about yourself and your family member. Also, your small moment could be something that you can be proud of, and even boast about . Also, knowing more about your past can be very interesting.
What part of this process did you enjoy most? Why?
I enjoyed learning about my grandpa in the interview, because it was interesting to know about his life in New Jersey. He also included some entertaining events about his stay there. It was very casual and we were at ease.
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What part of this process did you least enjoy? Why?
I think I didn’t really like researching, because I’m not really good at researching. Also, my historical moment was quite hard to Lind. It wasn’t in the encyclopedia or the world book. After searching on the Internet for a long time with my dad, we Linally found some facts. We even had to search on some Chinese websites.
How do you plan to share this project with your family/ family member?
I plan to share this project maybe over the phone, like I could call my family member. Or, when I visit my grandpa I could show him. I’m going to show my dad and mom though, because they’d like to know how my narrative turned out.
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Bibliography - Websites1. "Overview of China-‐U.S. Relations." Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America. N.p., 1 July 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.china-‐embassy.org/eng/zmgx/ocusr/>.2. "公派留学人员成重要人才资源－公派留学，留学人员，1986年，1980年，留学生涯－中国宁波网－教育." 中国宁波网. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cnnb.com.cn/jy/system/2008/12/01/005896555.shtml>.3. Yuan, Fang. "Study Overseas: From Elite to Common People." China.org.cn. N.p., 2 Apr. 2008. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.china.org.cn/china/reform-‐opening-‐up/2008-‐04/02/content_16644814.htm>.4. "百年沧桑百年风华 -‐-‐纪念欧美同学会成立100周年." Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association. N.p., 6 July 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.china-‐sorsa.org/shtxh/node22/node24/u1a2354.html>.5. Jiang, Jin Sheng. Historical Narrative Interview Shirley Tang. 4 10 2012.
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Bibliography - Photos1. "John Stuart | Quiet Title Action." John Stuart | Quiet Title Action. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://privateaudio.homestead.com/John-Stuart-Quiet-Title-Action-Teacher.html>.2. "Outlet Centers by Map of USA." Outlet Malls and Stores by Map of USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.factoryoutletstores.info/outlet-malls-by-map-of-usa/>.
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