Cathy Bao Bean
| Cathy Bao Bean | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Kwei-yee Bao August 27, 1942 Guilin, China |
| Spouse(s) | Bennett Bean |
| Parents |
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Cathy Bao Bean (Chinese: 包圭漪; pinyin: Bāo Guīyī; Wade–Giles: Pao Kuei-i) is a Chinese-American writer and educator, is the author of The Chopsticks-Fork Principle: A Memoir and Manual (We Press, 2002). She lives in Blairstown, New Jersey, with her husband, artist Bennett Bean.
The Chopsticks-Fork Principle, a humorous but poignant memoir, recounts Bao Bean's experiences as a Chinese immigrant growing up in the United States. Bao Bean uses the story of her own immigrant experience to explain how to reconcile the expectations of families and society at large. She also explains how to raise a child in a respectful context while also choosing the “path less traveled.”
Bao Bean was born Bao Kwei-yee in Guilin, China, on August 27, 1942, to Sandys and Dora Bao. Her father, Sandys Bao, represented the Republic of China at the International Sugar Council of the United Nations; he also served as Vice President of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation. Cathy Bao Bean has two sisters, Bette Bao Lord and Jean Bao (Bao Sansan), the co-authors of Eighth Moon.
When Bao Bean's father was sent to New York for a temporary assignment in 1946, he insisted on his family accompanying him. Her mother, however, thought that only the eldest, eight-year-old Bette, would benefit from the trip. When four-year-old Cathy heard of the plans, she packed her doll suitcase and parked in front of the door until her mother relented. The baby of the family, Jean, was left behind in the care of relatives to spare her the ordeal of travel. When Mao’s “bamboo curtain” fell in 1949, the four Baos remained in the United States and the youngest finally joined them in 1962. (Bao Bean's older sister, Bette Bao Lord has recounted the youngest sister's story in the book Eighth Moon).
Bao Bean's first taste of the American educational system was at Public School #8 in Brooklyn, New York. When Bao Bean started school she could speak no English. By 1949, when the Bao family moved to Elmwood Park, New Jersey, Bao Bean started "to think in English and forget in Chinese", as she notes in The Chopsticks-Fork Principle. The family finally settled in Teaneck, New Jersey, where she attended Teaneck High School.
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