I was born on July 22nd, 1946, in Anqing, a city along the Yangtze River in China’s Anhui province. My father was Yuan Zheng Yao and my mother was Ayu Chen. I had 3 younger sisters. Unfortunately, my father died when I was only 12 years old. One of my biggest regrets to this day is that I wasn’t able to spend more time with him in my youth.

In August 1971 I married LianYing Fei, and we had two children, YiBin Yao in 1972 and Zheng Yao in 1975. YiBin Yao stayed in Shanghai and had one daughter, while my younger son Zheng moved to the United States in 2002 and had two children with his wife Chuan Lai. Their two sons are named Kevin and Derek Yao.

That was the day I went to college, a day bringing hope and promise. I knew that at college, I would have the chance to change my life and prepare for a better future. I still remember boarding the bus from Anqing to Hefei very early in the morning. The trip took eight hours, but I didn’t mind; I looked out the window and imagined in my head what I would find at my destination.

When I finally arrived at the school, I met thirty-one classmates, all eager to learn and begin a new chapter in our lives. I was both extremely nervous and excited of what was to come.

It was 1960. I was fourteen years old and just finished one year of high school. Life in China was rough. Survival was always a struggle for families due to lack of food, so every day, I traveled to the Yangtze River to grow vegetables and cultivate what used to be wasteland. I would dig the ground using a shovel and a hoe, clean the area of weeds, and plant seedlings; then I would have to water, fertilize, and trim the plants as they grew. Every day I would harvest a singular basket of vegetables. At that time, vegetables were eaten as entire meals. And if for whatever reason the vegetables didn’t grow, you would go to bed hungry. If it weren't for that job and for my grandmother leading me to do this work, it would have been very difficult to get by.

The first is “坚持学习”, to persist in learning. Only through learning can we acquire knowledge and master the skills of work. So we must persist in learning; that is, we should learn from childhood to old age, and learn until we are old. After all, learning is a lifelong journey that transforms how we see everything else.

In the early 2000s, I went to the Macungie Library in the United States and read a Chinese book that recorded the history of Chinese workers building railways in Western America in the 18th century. I was inspired by their history; these people were recruited from the Fujian and Guangdong provinces in China to build the Transcontinental Railroad. The history that these people wrote recalled the growth of their ancestors of past generations. So, I wanted to understand the history of our family, the Yao family.

I wrote down the memories of the people, and wrote about my childhood, growing up, working, and retirement. Inside, I included photos of myself and family members, photos of life. The purpose of writing these things? When my successors grow up and see this material, they’ll know that their roots are in China.

After all, once time passes, you can't ever find your roots again.

However, it also carries a deeper meaning: "Going Home" reminds me of my family, many of whom live too far away for me to travel and visit at my current age. I wish that they can come home more often so that we can be together.

From my pursuit of education, to dedication to work and self-improvement, I always follow the idea of lifelong learning, whether in learning to grow food, refining skills in presenting my company’s product, or preserving my family’s history.