Who You Are Matters

I was born and raised in Suzhou, a renowned historical city located in southeastern China. Whenever people talk about Suzhou they always would like to mention an old Chinese proverb to describe her beautiful scenery: In heaven there is paradise, on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou. Suzhou is a city with culture heritage, especially, my hometown is famous for her elegant gardens. If you have a chance to go to the Huntington Library which located in Los Angeles Country in San Marino, do not miss visiting the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, “the largest Chinese(Suzhou)-style garden outside China and built by architects and artisans who come from Suzhou.”

I am currently applying transfer to the Leventhal school of Accounting and it will be informed the final decision on June 9th; if my application gets rejected, then I decided to enter Economic/Mathematics major and pursue a career in a business-related job in the future. At this stage, I wish I could graduate from college to find a job and be able to support myself, realized financially independent as soon as possible since I do not want to rely on my presents’ financial support anymore.

My parents considered the stability of life is most important in their traditional mind, while, unlike my parents, I have more adventurous spirit than them. Studying in the United States is the idea that I proposed which strongly opposed by my parents at first, because of I am the only child in my family and they are worried about my safety—they afraid that I will encounter the danger of studying and living abroad alone. Finally, I persuaded them and got their financial support toward to my college education, also I prove to them that I could take care myself very well. I am grateful for my parents for respecting my choice.

My role model is my grandmother, she was born in the late 1930s when China was in the grip of war. In order to escape from war, my grandmother moved several cities of China with her family when she was a child until the battle was over and settled down in Suzhou in the 1950s. However, my grandmother was not affected by the turbulent situation and never give up every single invaluable opportunity to continued her study. She was one of the few higher educated women in China at that time after she got the college degree and finally became an agronomist. Definitely, I love my grandma, she is a person with kind, open-minded and full of wisdom. When I was a child, she always taught me that it was more important for a girl to receive a good education than to get gorgeous clothes and jewelry. Regrettably, my grandmother was passed away before I attended college. I think if she was alive, she would be happy to see that I came to USC now.

I do not have greatest connection with animals, but I am a huge fan of Panda—they are lively and adorable and people love them. The plant I have special connection with is fig tree in my grandma’s yard, where all my childhood memories took place. As a child, I used to play games, sing a song and share the little secrets with my friends under the fig tree. when the fruit was ripe, I would climb to the tree and pick and eat fresh fig with the help of my grandparents.