Life. On Purpose

Richard Hsung on the Chinese Immigrant Experience, Leaving Communist China as a Teen and How he Found his Purpose Editing his Mother's Memoir "Spring Flower"

March 23, 2024 Brandi Eilert Episode 55
Richard Hsung on the Chinese Immigrant Experience, Leaving Communist China as a Teen and How he Found his Purpose Editing his Mother's Memoir "Spring Flower"
Life. On Purpose
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Life. On Purpose
Richard Hsung on the Chinese Immigrant Experience, Leaving Communist China as a Teen and How he Found his Purpose Editing his Mother's Memoir "Spring Flower"
Mar 23, 2024 Episode 55
Brandi Eilert

Richard Perkins Hsung was born in China in 1966 and was one of the first teens to leave China legally after Mao’s Cultural Revolution. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago and became a professor at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, retiring in 2022. He spent ten years editing and completing Spring Flower (Earnshaw Books) by his mother, Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, MD. 

Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins was born unwanted during the 1931 Yangtze River Flood, adopted by medical missionaries, brought to the US for a few years, then trapped in Communist China. She was neither American nor Chinese "enough," yearning for acceptance and home her whole life.

 The Chinese immigrant experience, especially for women, is often overlooked and deserves to be told. Bridging two centuries, this story brings to life themes of displacement, hope, and a woman's coming of age, and brings history to life.

 The three-volume memoir chronicles her life as an adopted child of American medical missionaries, survivor of China's brutal communist regime, ophthalmologist, immigrant, and mother. 

Show Notes

Richard Perkins Hsung was born in China in 1966 and was one of the first teens to leave China legally after Mao’s Cultural Revolution. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Chicago and became a professor at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, retiring in 2022. He spent ten years editing and completing Spring Flower (Earnshaw Books) by his mother, Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins, MD. 

Jean Tren-Hwa Perkins was born unwanted during the 1931 Yangtze River Flood, adopted by medical missionaries, brought to the US for a few years, then trapped in Communist China. She was neither American nor Chinese "enough," yearning for acceptance and home her whole life.

 The Chinese immigrant experience, especially for women, is often overlooked and deserves to be told. Bridging two centuries, this story brings to life themes of displacement, hope, and a woman's coming of age, and brings history to life.

 The three-volume memoir chronicles her life as an adopted child of American medical missionaries, survivor of China's brutal communist regime, ophthalmologist, immigrant, and mother.