Bombarded w stories about Eileen Gu’s parenting. She went back to Beijing every summer for math tutoring (Haidian Huangzhuang) bc her mom believed “ten days of Chinese math class = one year of American math class.” Apparently this worked & Eileen aced all her math in the US. 😜
But her mom isn’t a tiger mom actually. Eileen calls her a rabbit mom 🐰: super supportive of her doing what she loves, first and foremost. Chinese media painting Eileen as outcome of perfect pairing of American (creativity, passion) & Chinese (discipline) education methods.
Of course, genes & money play into it too, readers note. The parents are Stanford / Harvard grads. Eileen’s mom worked on Wall Street & in investing. But still, refreshing to hear that Eileen’s drive comes from herself, not imposed on her by her mom, as many Chinese parents do.
As for the Q on her citizenship, I love her message. She is clear: I feel both Chinese & American equally & I don’t plan to tell you what color my little booklet is or how many I have bc that’s not how I see myself, it doesn’t define me & I’m not letting you define me that way.
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