h before leaving Hong Kong, but, he recalls, "I had no idea how hard it would be to come into a strange culture and try to study completely in English."
He soon became fluent enough to maintain a 3.1 GPA at USC, but he continued to feel isolated. He says, "I was planning to finish my degree and go back home, as soon as possible. I didn't socialize much, and I made few friends at first." Chang did have two relatives living in the area, an uncle and a cousin, and he stayed with his uncle for the first year of studies. His uncle, who had become a U.S. citizen in the early 1970s, sponsored him as a full-time student.
His uncle also helped him get a job in a convenience store owned by another immigrant. Chang held this job until he had become fluent enough in English to find work with a financial investment company in West Los Angeles. Many of the clients he was assigned were Chinese nationals, and Chang's previous work experience in Hong Kong was useful for this position. This job allowed him to move out of his uncle's house into his own apartment, closer to campus.
He planned to finish his undergraduate studies and then pursue an advanced degree in business administration and international finance. With this training completed, Chang planned to return to Hong Kong and help run his father's company, a music recording business.
Chang developed an expertise in computers and soon found himself tutoring other recent immigrants. His fluency in Cantonese made him particularly adept at helping more recent arrivals cope with American culture and campus life, as well as university-level classes. He joined several on-campus organizations formed to foster Chinese-American culture; however, he observes, "I wasn't intending to stay here, and these groups seemed focused on helping you become more American. I didn't want to become more American, I just wanted to finish my studies and go home."
Chang was doing well in clas...