On January 30, 2001 (January 7, 2001 in the lunar calendar), Chinese Zhao Xiaolan became U.S. Secretary. Zhao Xiaolan On January 11, 2001, 47-year-old Chinese-American Zhao Xiaolan was nominated by U.S. President-elect Bush as Secretary of Labor. On the 30th, the nomination was approved by the U.S. Senate, making Zhao Xiaolan the highest-ranking Chinese in any U.S. government. When the news came out, Chinese people from all walks of life in the United States were very excited. Zhao Xiaolan, whose ancestral home was in Jiading, Shanghai, was born in Taipei City, Taiwan Province in 1953. She went to the United States in the early 1960s and is now engaged in charity research at the Heritage Foundation, a famous think tank in the United States. Eleven years ago, Zhao Xiaolan served as deputy secretary of transportation in the Bush administration. She has close ties to some union leadership in the United States. Zhao Xiaolan's husband is Republican Senator Mitchell McConnell of Kentucky. McGrady is a member of the Republican Party. He is the only Republican senator in Kentucky who has been elected three consecutive terms and is currently chairman of the Republican Senate Committee. In this election, the couple made great contributions in raising funds for Bush. The only one who can defeat you is you. Many Chinese living in the United States still clearly remember that a few years ago, a certain American television station invited Zhao Xiaolan and President Clinton to participate in a TV talk show. On the show, Zhao Xiaolan tells the story of her family when she first arrived in the United States. That year, at the age of 8, she and her two younger sisters came to New York with their mother to be reunited with their father who had arrived here three years ago. "We couldn't speak a word of English at the time," she said. "One day, my sister and I were doing homework at home. The doorbell suddenly rang, and we were all very surprised because no one had invited anyone. We opened the door and saw a large group of children disguised as monsters. They were carrying big cloth bags and standing at the door shouting. We were so scared that we really didn't know what to do, so we had to take out everything we ate in the kitchen and give them, apples, oranges, bread... A whole week's worth of food! Later we learned that it was Halloween. You wouldn't have imagined that on Halloween the following year, my sister and I would be the ones who wanted the most candies among the children in town." Zhao Xiaolan said that she told this story to show that every immigrant encounters difficulties in integrating into American society, and Asian immigrants are even more prepared. Many Chinese complain that they are often discriminated against based on their skin color in the United States. Zhao Xiaolan's answer is: "Racial discrimination will certainly occur, but the important thing is not to let such challenges defeat you. Racial discrimination will not defeat you. The only one who can defeat you is yourself." For decades, Zhao Xiaolan has relied on this fighting spirit to break into American politics step by step. She was selected as one of the ten most outstanding young women in the United States in 1987 and was listed by The Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 100 most influential women in the United States. Zhao Xiaolan's father, Zhao Xicheng, graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and was the youngest captain of Taiwan's ocean fleet in the 1950s. In 1958, Zhao Xicheng went to the United States to study. After graduation, he founded his own shipping company, and the family's life began to improve. Parents have strict requirements on Zhao Xiaolan and her children and adopt a combination of Chinese and Western education methods. They not only require them to study hard and maintain excellent grades, but also encourage them to exercise their ability to be self-reliant from an early age. In the early 1980s, Zhao Xiaolan graduated from Harvard Business School with a master's degree in financial management. Her father originally hoped that she could inherit the family business and engage in shipping business. Unexpectedly, after getting the opportunity to work as an intern in the White House, she chose the path to move into politics. In 1983, Zhao Xiaolan came to the White House. There, she met Elizabeth Dole, wife of Republican Leader Dole. Under the guidance of Mrs. Dorf, Zhao Xiaolan met many politicians. In 1986, she gave up her position as vice president of international finance at Commercial Bank of America in San Francisco, with an annual salary of more than US$100,000, and became deputy director of the Department of Transportation's Shipping Department. In 1988, she served as chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission and was later promoted to deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation. She was only 36 years old. During her tenure, Zhao Xiaolan demonstrated outstanding leadership skills. Some media in the United States judged when President-elect Bush began to form a cabinet that Zhao Xiaolan might be nominated as Secretary of Transportation. The basis for them is that when Zhao Xiaolan served as deputy secretary of transportation during Bush Sr., she handled the bombing of the Pan Am passenger plane, the oil spill case of the Exxon Oil tanker hitting the rocks, and presided over the road repair work after the San Francisco earthquake. She did everything very well. When the Gulf War broke out in 1991, Zhao Xiaolan assisted the military and successfully completed a large-scale transportation mission, which was unanimously praised by the military and the president. After the 1992 election, she left Washington with George W. Bush. At that time, Zhao Xiaolan had become the backbone of the Republican Party. During Bush's campaign, she had the opportunity to get to know Bush, laying the foundation for returning to Washington. Success comes from hard work. At the press conference after the nomination, Zhao Xiaolan also said: "I will do this job well as I did when my father came to the United States many years ago and worked three jobs at the same time." People familiar with Zhao Xiaolan say that her most admirable quality is hard work. Dolph called Zhao Xiaolan an outstanding role model."Her success stems from hard work and dedication." Bush also praised Zhao Xiaolan for her hard work when nominating her. Zhao Xiaolan can never forget her childhood immigration experience and her father's words and deeds. At about 12 noon on January 11, when Zhao Xiaolan learned that Bush would nominate the government's labor secretary, she only had more than two hours to prepare. As she rushed home to change her clothes, she was busy calling her husband and father, and began to think about her speech. People later saw on TV that Zhao Xiaolan once again mentioned her first experience in the United States in her speech when accepting the nomination. She said that their family was very difficult at the time and her father had to work three jobs to make ends meet. When she first entered school, she didn't understand a word of English, so she had to copy down what the teacher had written on the blackboard word for word and wait until her father came back from work that evening to translate and explain it to her. "Although life is difficult, we know that as long as we work hard, persevere, and have the help of relatives and friends, we will realize our American Dream." In 1992, the UNITEDWAY Foundation in the United States fell into crisis due to Chairman Alamoni's misappropriation of donations. Zhao Xiaolan was appointed to shoulder this burden in the face of crisis. After taking office, she worked hard to promote reforms, took the lead in lowering her annual salary, and required her subordinates to fly economy class for all business trips, like her, which finally put the foundation's operation on the right track and gradually restored its reputation. During that time, work pressure was very high. Zhao Xiaolan said that she would often look at the photo taken in front of her old residence when she returned to Shanghai with her father in 1979. The photo shows a dilapidated thatched hut. She said: "My father can succeed under those conditions. What challenges can I not overcome?"