University--an Unexpected Opportunity

Silicon Valley Tech V.P. Dr. Tong Liu was born in 1961 in the countryside near Yangzhou, the southern part of China. (See post one.)

Although Liu’s parents always stressed education, and he was bright (bright enough that he graduated high school at age 16), everyone was pleasantly shocked when he was able to go to college.

“That was a very important event for me. In my days, I never thought I would go to college, because in the early days (60’s, early 70s) you cannot go to college through the entrance-exam process because of the Cultural Revolution.  In order to go to college you’ve got to go to the countryside (to be re-educated) or go to the military or go to the factory and then be recommended by The People. College was not based on your academic merits, but based on

--How well you live and

--How hard you work and

--How much you follow sincerely the Communist Party’s policy.” 

But in 1977 when Liu was in high school, Chairman Mao died, and Deng Xiao Ping came to power.  Deng believed in order for China to be strong, it was necessary to work on science and technology. It was necessary for college to be based on academic merit. The idea of testing came back.

Sitting for college entrance exam 1977

At the time, less than 1 percent of students were able to pass the merit exams and go onto college.  Liu became a part of that one percent, heading off to Nanjing University.

(To be continued. Next: Overseas Chinese T.D. Lee Builds a Bridge.)