US teenager dreams of bringing US, China closer
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In her dreams, Hannah Rudoff often feels like the Chinese butterfly kite hanging in her bedroom, flying, shuttling across the immense ocean between the United States and China.
In many ways, the 14-year-old girl living in Portland, Oregon, feels deeply connected to both nations and both cultures.
"I love China in many ways," she told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"The Chinese are always kind to me, and I love to make friends with them. The Chinese foods are so delicious, and I love the dumplings most. I like Chinese leaders, because they take care of their people and give Chinese kids a lot of hope. I couldn't wait for my next trip to China," she exclaimed.
Born in the Chinese city of Suzhou, she was adopted by a US couple at the age of one and a half.
Although Hannah was brought up in Portland, she has stayed in touch with her Chinese roots by learning Chinese from a very early age.
I must learn Chinese
Hannah had no idea what the Chinese language was until she was 4 years old, but her fondness for Chinese culture was "love-at-first-sight."
In 1999, when Hannah's US parents brought her to the newly-opened Chinese department in Portland's International School, she suddenly fell in love with everything Chinese.
Yafei Liu, a Chinese language instructor there at the time, still vividly remembers what happened to Hannah on that day.
"She kept asking her parents to let her quit the kindergarten she used to go to and stay with me to learn Chinese," Liu told Xinhua.
"I must learn Chinese!" Those are the exact words Hannah told her parents at the time.
The little girl has been studying Chinese since then, and now she can speak Chinese quite fluently.
Hannah has also developed a special bond with Liu, her Chinese teacher who treated her like a family member.
Liu, originally from China, used Chinese textbooks to teach Hannah so she could become immersed in Chinese language and culture despite growing up in the United States.
In 2005, Hannah passed the Chinese Proficiency Test at the age of 10, becoming the youngest person to pass the Chinese government-sponsored test in Portland.
Because she did so well in learning Chinese, Hannah was granted a scholarship from China and attended a Chinese language summer camp in Beijing in 2006.
In 2007, she became a volunteer at the Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Center and stayed there for two weeks.
Hannah worked hard there and made a lot of friends among the center's staff, local kids and adults.
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