Happy Valentine’s Day! For 40 years, I celebrated Valentine’s Day by writing poems and songs for my wife and best friend, Susan Marie, who was born and raised in Taiwan.

情人节快乐！40年来，我一直以写诗、写歌的方式来庆祝情人节，献给我的妻子，也是我最好的朋友，Susan Marie，一位在台湾出生和长大的女子。

But last Valentine’s Day, we had Sue’s funeral, which destroyed any love I have for this holiday. But in Sue’s memory, I will briefly share the secret of why Sue originally said she’d live anywhere in the world but China—and why she changed her mind!

但是去年情人节，我们和Sue进行了最后的告别，这让我对这个节日的所有爱都不复存在了。但为了纪念我的爱人Sue，我将简要地分享为什么Sue最初说她会住在世界上除了中国的任何地方，以及为什么（后来）她改变了主意！

Like many Western youth in Taiwan, Sue could not wait to finish high school and move to the U.S. She  lived at the American school, all of her friends were foreigners, and she had no Chinese friends. She studied Chinese because it was mandatory, but because she resented being forced to live in Taiwan, she never learned it well eough to communicate with Chinese. When she moved to the U.S., she said she would be happy living anywhere in the world except China! And yet within two years, her goal was to return to China—although to the mainland, not Taiwan.

像许多在台湾的西方青年一样，那时候的Sue迫不及待地想要高中毕业后，搬到美国去。她生活在美国人为主的学校里，她所有的朋友都是外国人，她甚至没有一个中国朋友。生活在中国台湾，她不得不学习中文，但她讨厌被迫生活在此，所以她从来没有好好学中文，也没有与中国人交流的想法。当她搬到美国时，她说除了中国，她生活在世界上任何地方都会很快乐！然而，在不到两年的时间里，她的目标变为回到中国——但是是回到中国大陆，而不是中国台湾。

Sue disliked China because she knew nothing about it. But in California, she met many Chinese who spoke English, and the more she learned about China and Chinese, the more she wanted to know. She determined to return to China, and even took college courses to prepare. And then she met me, and when we found that both of us wanted to move to China, we became best friends, and then married. So China truly was our matchmaker!

Sue为什么不喜欢中国，因为她对中国一无所知。但在加利福尼亚（生活时），她遇到了许多会说英语的中国人，她对中国和中文了解得越多，她就越想知道更多。所以，她决定回到中国，甚至参加了大学课程来为此做准备。后来她遇到了我，当我们发现我们都想搬到中国时，我们成为了彼此最好的朋友，然后结婚了。所以中国真的是我们的媒人！

We moved to Xiamen in 1988 with a goal of staying here 1 or 2 years, but we all fell in love with Xiamen, and the rest of China as well as. We drove with our two boys over 200,000 km around China, and made sure our own sons learned all they could about China. And only two years before Sue died, she said she would stay in China the rest of her life. And she did. 

1988年，我们搬到厦门，原本的目标是在这里呆上一两年，但我们都爱上了厦门，也爱上了中国的其他地方。我们带着两个儿子在中国（驱车）行驶了20多万公里，并确保我们的儿子尽可能地了解中国的风土人情。就在Sue去世的两年前，她曾说过她将在中国度过余生。而她也确实做到了。

Sue’s life is a perfect example of why we need to tell China’s story to the world in their own language. Many foreigners misunderstand China and even dislike it, but this is because it is impossible for them to know China from Western media, educators or politicians. They need to hear the true China’s Story from the Chinese—people like you!

Sue的生活就是一个很好的例子，说明了我们为什么需要用外国人的语言向世界讲述中国的故事。许多外国人误解中国，甚至不喜欢中国，这是因为他们不可能从西方媒体、教育工作者或政治家那里了解到真正的中国。他们需要从像大家这样的中国人那里听到真实的中国故事！

Learning a second language is helpful not ony for children’s mental development but also the mental health of adults. It’s also good for your career, whatever your profession. Best of all, science has shown that adults can learn a second language as easily as children—and even surpass children.

学习第二语言不仅对儿童的心理发展有帮助，而且对成人的心理健康也有帮助。这对你的职业生涯也有好处，无论你从事的是什么职业。最重要的是，科学表明成人学习第二语言和儿童一样容易，甚至会比儿童更加容易。

So I hope that you will commit to learning a second language, and persist with passion until you can help foreigners like my best friend, Susan Marie, come to love China. China has achieved the China Dream, and we need to help the rest of the world realize that they share the same dream.

因此，我希望你能致力于学习第二语言，并保持热情，直到你能帮助像我最好的朋友，我的爱人Susan Marie这样的外国人爱上中国。中国实现了“中国梦”，我们也要帮助世界各国认识到他们也有同样的国家梦。

Happy Valentine’s Day.

祝大家情人节快乐。