Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2008 > July > 04 > Entry
An Asian American Fourth of July
“Welcome, welcome, welcome,” laughs CD Tam as each new guest arrives at his formal yet casual, indooor/outdoor Barton Creek house for a Fourth of July bash partly organized by Amy Mok of the Asian American Cultural Center. “Amy gave me one rule: Don’t serve monkey brains.”
Not to worry. Barbecued pork and sausage sizzle on the grill, as egg rolls swim in roiling oil. Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and English lilt across Tam’s terraced patio, while American flags fashioned like Chinese lanterns flutter overhead.
Al Mok, Amy Mok, CD Tam, Sandy Tam
Kids dash into the pool. Young adults clump near the balustrade overlooking a golf course. The older generation rises to greet the next wave of guests, introduced by the effusive Tam, and they come dressed in everything from swimming trunks to smart, lacy cocktail outfits.
Some are celebrating their first Independence Day in the States. Others have lived in Texas all their lives.
Certain stories — of coming to America for an education or economic opportunity — are familiar. Others unroll like novels. They share in common a look west to Asia instead of east to Europe or Africa or south to Latin America and the Caribbean for cultural inspiration.
The host’s hard-won store of worldly wisdom, measured out in jovial bursts, can be reduced to one phrase: “Education is everything,” he says. “It’s the one thing they can’t take away from you.”
Sunny Hui, Sammi Tan with son Anthony
At least part of Tam’s background is well-known among followers of Austin’s technical class. His grandfather was a Cantonese banker who left, in his will, 90 percent of his inheritance to the son who achieved the most academic excellence. Tam’s father studied Chinese literature, then took graduate degrees from Stanford and Berkeley, before teaching psychology at Chinese universities.
His mother, sensing danger, fled to Hong Kong with three children when the communists took over in the 1950s, and that’s where Tam grew up, going from privilege to privation, the scratching his way back to business success. He rose from the position of microchip designer, through sales, marketing and other departments, to head Motorola’s Asian branch, which, in 2001, grossed $10 billion.
After building a model science park in Hong Kong, Tam retired to Austin. He had become permanent resident, while his wife Sandy is a citizen. He’s active in the philanthropic community — the cultural center is holding a benefit for the survivors of the Chinese earthquake, Burmese and Philippine typhoons and Midwest U.S. flooding at the Long Center July 19 — but not all his guests stories are so unequivocably ascendent.
Emma and Justin Yang — they preferred to give their American names only — shared a bit of romance deferred. They were attracted to each other in their Chinese high school, but argued just before splitting off to different universities. He ended up in Austin, co-founding a small tech firm that was swallowed by Cisco, working harder on American holidays like the Fourth of July; she inched her way up to producer status at a Beijing television station.
Both had married and divorced, but they kept in touch across the globe by e-mail. When Justin returned to visit his hometown in the Anjui province, he took a 10-hour train to Beijing to visit Emma — and old embers were fanned. Yet is wasn’t easy for Emma to leave her position at the TV station.
Emma Yang, Justin Yang, Soo Young, Jin Suh
“Only he could make me move here,” she smiles. “But it’s a beautiful city and the people enjoy life here.” She’d like to make independent documentaries on American life for Chinese consumption. “They know America only through Hollywood. They don’t know Americans work hard, too, and love their families.”
Some families started out intercontinental. Fai Lee grew up in Hong Kong, but met Joe Steinberg in Colorado. They are raising daughters Shauna and Rachel, who spent six years at an international school outside Beijing. Rachel’s not interested in returning to live there and remembers mostly the food — and the friends she made.
Helen Zhang
“The Cantonese, like my wife, will say Cantonese is the best Chinese food in the world,” Steinberg says. “There’s always lots of food at a Chinese party.”
Joe Steinberg, Rachel Steinberg, Fai Lee
Jin Suh and Soo Young arrived in Austin via Soeul, Korea. He studies computer science at UT, she English as a Second Language. They had never celebrated American independence but described the more somber Korean Independence Day on Aug. 15, commemorating the end of Japanese colonization.
“There are no fireworks,” Suh says. “Korea suffered from Japan for 50 years. People fly flags and attend ceremonies. A few parties. Not many.”
As everywhere in the world, kids dart in and out among the adults. A clacking game of mahjong begins while “Independence Day” booms in the Tams’ home theater.
“Whose birthday are we celebrating today?” catechizes Mok.
“America’s freedom!” shouts fifth-into-sixth-grader Dylan Luo.
“No, the declaration from the Continental Congress,” says slightly older Helen Gong.
Kevin Luo, Dylan Luo, Rouyun Xu. Helen Gong
The youngest generation at the party titters at the Cantonese dialect spoken by Mok and Tam.
“We speak Mandarin,” says Ruoyun Xu. “And a little Japanese. Education keeps us from being ridiculed and from bad consequences like losing your job.”
Mary Ho, born in Beijing, but raised in Taiwan and 40 years in this country, taught Mandarin in the UT Asian Studies program.
“Although the Chinese dialects sound like completely different languages, there is only one written language,” she says. “And everyone in China understands Mandarin, except the very old. Some are very attached to their dialects.”
Each generation makes its own claims.
“I’m not from China! I’m from Houston!” announces Luo without provocation. “Someday I want to be governor of Texas. Or maybe I’ll join the legislative branch.”
Big ideas from someone entering the sixth grade. He credits his Cedar Valley teachers with his advanced notions of American government.
“We make laws to keep peace and protect freedom,” Luo says. “It would be really cool if I could do that.”
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By Jane Wu
July 10, 2008 8:35 PM | Link to this
Michael, thanks for putting Asian-American Austinites in the 4th of July Out-and-About spotlight. I salute you!
By D.Lloyd
July 9, 2008 1:19 PM | Link to this
Micheal,My husband is lookng for a C.E.O. for our company.Could you please have CD Tam contact us.Sincerely,D.Lloyd
By Tom Kamrath
July 8, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this
Michael,
Good article with an especially nice tone. No, I'm NOT becoming a groupie....am I?