Deep Roots: Recognizing The Value Of Culture with William Poy Lee

MP3 Download William Poy Lee's family comes from a small village in China where they lived for a thousand years before immigrating to San Francisco. Poy Lee was born in San Francisco and grew up in its Chinatown. Were it not for his mother, he may have become lost between cultures and places. Poy Lee describes how he found his identity in his ancestral past, and how his discovery of a culture's values and traditions offer wisdom and insight to his adopted country at the present time. He recognizes and honors his mother's part in guiding him to this discovery. His experience gives us insight into the immigration experience and demonstrates the power of living universal values. Poy Lee's Toisanese mother made eight promises to her mother before coming to the United States. The first seven were related to culture and family, but the eighth shaped her life and her son's. Poy Lee says, "It is the Eighth Promise to live with compassion toward all that I think of as the ever-living promise. T