When Jinlan Liu arrived in the United States seeking political asylum in 1990, she had very little.
Liu had left China the year after the Tiananmen Square massacre, following her husband Han Zhang, a well-respected surgeon studying under a research fellowship at Johns Hopkins, to the United States and hoping to begin a new life.
Almost 30 years later, Liu — the mother of Williamsburg City Councilman and W&M law student Benming Zhang — is giving back.
“When I came here, I only had a penny inside of my pocket,” Liu said Friday as her son stood beside her in a small room in Morton Hall.
On Friday, William & Mary’s Asian and Pacific Islander American studies program got a boost — in the form of a $100,000 research endowment from Liu.
Benming Zhang said his mother’s gift is the first major gift to the Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) studies program, and hopes it will help expand the program.
“She’s very headstrong … but she’s incredibly, incredibly invested in both her kids’ success,” Benming Zhang said during the gift-giving event. “… This research endowment is very much an embodiment of who she is as a person.”
History of the program
The university’s APIA studies program was officially established by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in May 2016, on the same day Benming Zhang was elected as the first Asian-American on Williamsburg City Council.
Benming Zhang graduated in 2016 with a self-designed major in Asian-American studies
“Often times we see a sharp contrast between black and white, but there’s also another story to be told with this vast group — and not a monolithic group — called Asian-Americans,” Benming Zhang said Friday.
The program covers the history of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, as well as transnational issues affecting Asia and the Pacific Islands.
The program currently only offers a minor, but students like Benming Zhang can still design their own majors.
The family story
Benming Zhang’s family first made ties with the United States in 1988 when Han Zhang traveled to Johns Hopkins for a one-year research fellowship sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Foundation.
Han Zhang was getting ready to return home to China in June 1989 when the Tiananmen Square Massacre happened — and his flight home was canceled. At the time, George H. W. Busch gave a briefing that gave express priority to Chinese students stuck in the United States.
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While Han Zhang stayed in the United States, Liu, a nurse at a pediatric intensive care unit in China, treated victims of the tragedy.
Liu and Han Zhang eventually became naturalized citizens, working as health care professionals in the Chinese-American community in Brooklyn.
Benming Zhang, the future councilman, was born four years later. He and his sister Margaret were raised on Long Island in New York.
On Friday, Benming Zhang said his mother had been a constant support throughout his life, even traveling 90 miles to a New England boarding school when he needed help.
And when her son decided to change his major at William & Mary from public policy to Asian-American studies, Liu was “incredibly supportive.”
That support has grown to encompass more than just her son: Liu’s gift supports the APIA program, and by association, its future students.
“I never thought I would be standing here … to set up a research endowment under my name,” Liu said. “As an immigrant parent, I spent a lot of money and time in order to provide opportunities for my children, Benming and Maggie, because I see a lot of potential for their success. Since Benming and Maggie were born in the United States, they mainly learn about American history, but it is important for them and other Asian-Americans to understand the historical and current experience of the people of the Asian descent.”
