Mathematician, control theorist, and retired Harvard professor, Dr. Larry Yu-Chi Ho moved around a lot as a child, following his Nationalist Army (Guomindang) father to various places in the interior of China during WWII. (See post one.) At the end of the war, Larry and his families escaped to Taiwan. When he graduated high school at age 15, he came across the Pacific to attend MIT. He met many helping hands along the way. (See post two and three.) He graduated, found a research position in one of the first-ever washing machine companies, and won the immigration lottery. (See post four.) He returned to school, this time to Harvard where he was one of a handful of students. (See post Five.) In 2001, Larry tried to retire. Instead he was asked to provide guidance to the MIT of China. (See post Six.) With one foot in each country, I asked Larry what he saw as some of the challenges. He mentioned that while China is trying to woo students home, many of them remain in the U.S. to enjoy freedom. (See post Seven and Eight.) In the U.S., he sees that we have several issues: a mountain of debt, a mountain of garbage, and a refusal to move into the future. (See post Nine.)
I asked Larry if he was okay with China becoming the superpower of the planet.
“I don’t think they will….not for a long time to come. China
has too many internal problems to worry about. They won’t become a super power.
They are powerful enough , yes. They are one of the largest export nations. They hold a lot of U.S. debt. They are the largest holder of U.S.
bonds in the world. That’s why it’s important to learn to deal with them in a
cooperative fashion rather than as an adversary."
(To be continued. Next: Advice for Chinese-American Students.)
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