Eat at the Shanghai!

If you ask them if they are Chinese, they will tell you they are American.

Their “ethnicity” is Chinese, yes. But their patriotism, allegiance, and citizenship are American.

I taught some of the family when they were younger.

All are now out in the world doing great things.

World citizens, yes, they are. But Americans, foremost.

I love this family so much, for so many reasons.

They represent everything that is great about America ...

and humanity.

This wonderful family owns a Chinese restaurant on State Street in Bristol, called the Shanghai. I will also state right here and now that their food is tasty and delicious. Over the past thirty or so years, I have eaten there more times than I can count.

I taught three of the children of this honorable family. I feel very close to them all.

Nearly all of the five children in this family graduated as valedictorian of their respective class while at Bristol Virginia High School. (You might want to read that last sentence again. How amazing a fact is that?)

Most of the children went off to prestigious colleges, most of them far away from Bristol. Colleges with names like Vanderbilt, Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth. One attended college closer to home at ETSU. All five of the children earned full academic scholarships. All five are now grown and doing wonderful things out in the world, making their careers here in America.

The last contact I had with them, three of the children were living on the West Coast. Two others were on the East Coast. This wonderful family has America covered.

I will tell you a brief story about one of the children, Devon.

Devon was the one you could often find playing classical music on the piano there at the Shanghai, even as a young child. Indeed, he was the youngest of the five.

When I taught him in elementary school, Devon begin to “slack” a bit. His mother asked me, “Why he not make straight A like the others?” I replied, “He’s every bit as smart as any of the others. But he also likes to have some fun.” She said, “He can have fun making straight A.” I told her I would talk to him about it, which I did.

Later, when Devon was a senior at Virginia High School, he wrote an application letter for a scholarship. Here is an excerpt from that letter, regarding my talk with him about how he should not “waste” his strong intellect.

Devon went on to make straight As the rest of the way, even while taking the most rigorous of subjects all the way through high school. He graduated as valedictorian of his class.

If you were ever a patron of the restaurant while the children were growing up, you’d see a couple of remarkable things going on while you ate there. You’d see the children either helping out in the family business or studying away at a table. You never saw any of the children sitting idly or wasting time. Ever.

An immensely strong work ethic and an abidingly deep honor of family; these two tenets were obviously instilled within these children since birth.

I will now return to the words I wrote at the beginning of this article. Good storytelling often repeats itself, as I will do here … right about now:

“If you ask them if they are Chinese, they will tell you they are American.

Their “ethnicity” is Chinese, yes. But their patriotism, allegiance, and citizenship are American.

I taught some of the family when they were younger.

All are now out in the world doing great things.

World citizens, yes, they are. But Americans, foremost.

I love this family so much, for so many reasons.

They represent everything that is great about America ...

and humanity.”

P.S. Eat at the Shanghai!