Da Chen, who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution, shared memories of his childhood at all six regional forums.

Keynote Speaker Da Chen Shares Personal Journey

Da Chen, a Columbia Law graduate, published author, accomplished bamboo flutist and brush calligrapher, was the keynote speaker at each of last month’s six regional forums. Varying his narrative a bit with each telling, Da Chen shared childhood memories of being a “skinny little big-headed boy” in a small village in southern China during the Cultural Revolution of the early 1960s. Growing up in the path of typhoons, Da Chen often had little to eat, and he spent his childhood barefoot, getting his first shoes when he was 9 years old. In winter, his feet got so cold on his 45-minute walk to school that he would look for fresh manure piles in which to warm his feet along the way.

Despite these apparent disadvantages, Da Chen had big dreams of transcending the place of his childhood. He was desperate to read, but books were nearly impossible to come by. His father recognized that his son had bigger desires than their tiny village could satisfy, so he took Da Chen to a local flute maker. Da Chen was dazzled by the many flutes hanging from the ceiling, all of which the shopkeeper had made from bamboo he grew behind his shop. Da Chen chose a flute and began his lifelong love of music. Da Chen practiced passionately, learning popular Chinese melodies by ear. Music was a spiritual escape for Da Chen, and through it he transcended his village — even his country — to feel part of something universal. During his keynote addresses, he played his flute, transporting himself and his audiences back to the place of his childhood.

Da Chen has maintained a strong sense of spirituality and patriotism, which he illustrated by telling of the moment he knew he was an American — Sept. 11, 2001. In that moment of anger and devastation, he realized how much he loved his new country. His pride for his adopted country was evident as he boasted about the excellence that the U.S. has to offer — nine of the top 10 universities in the world are in the United States. Da Chen also expressed how happy he was that his children are “ABCs,” or American-born Chinese, with all of the accompanying opportunities and benefits, and takes every occasion to point out to them how much better their childhoods are than his was, with school bus transportation, thousands of books in their school library and the limitless availability of every type of food imaginable. During President Barack Obama’s inaugural address, Da Chen made his son stop and imprint the moment in his memory, explaining that it symbolized the reason that he and millions of others had come to America — for the myriad opportunities that are accessible through education. Da Chen’s parents were teachers during a difficult period in China’s history. The struggles his parents endured to guarantee their children’s education instilled a deep appreciation for education in him.

Da Chen continued by saying that, in spite of the excellent education U.S. students receive, they are limited in the global marketplace by their lack of foreign language skills. The CEOs of Citibank, Google, Yahoo and many other U.S.-based global corporations came here from other countries and rose to the top. Americans enjoy the best postsecondary education in the world; but, because of linguistic limitations, they rarely venture out to corporations based in non-English-speaking countries and become CEOs. Americans who learn Chinese, for example, could rise to the top of Chinese companies, which will likely dominate the global economy in the near future. For Da Chen, learning English in childhood from an elderly Chinese woman opened up a world of possibilities for him.

Finally, he thanked everyone involved in education for the sacred work that they do “helping to create tomorrow.”

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