Memories of home strung together by Chinese songs

At a traditional Chinese festival, my students at the Stony Brook University Chinese School sang Chinese songs beautifully, without making a single mistake. Their parents, many of whom were born and grew up in China before coming to the United States, soon joined the singing.

I could never have dreamed of such a scene some 20 years ago, when I was to take an elementary school music test, but couldn't sing a thing.

I was born in Luoyang, Henan province, in a family of music lovers. My mother loved movie songs while my father's favorites were military songs. My brother was into pop music and learned many songs from videos.